D Sustainability Issue

In the beginning of 2023 I spent 2 moths in India deepening my yoga practice and diving into the Indian culture. I spent most of my time in Gokulam, Mysore, where the yoga school I attended was located. Mysore is a little yoga paradise in the south of India, where yoga as we know it today originated. This is where I also met Theja - together with her husband Basava they run Old Green House Cafe - one of the nicest family-run restaurants with the yummiest South Indian food in the area. 

Old Green House was one of the first places I checked out when I arrived in Gokulam, and I was met with such genuine hospitality, that I immediately fell in love with the place. Theja greeted me first with a big smile and a “Namaste”. She exuded such contentment and joy just by being, that I was mesmerized by her presence. I think it was at that moment when I had the idea to maybe interview her for the podcast one day, in order to figure out what the secret to this happiness and contentment is. 

Santosha is the second of the Niyamas of Patanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga, translating as contentment, and Theja was the perfect embodiment of that Niyama. Later on, I met her two wonderful children and her husband, who were just as sweet and joyful as she was. Both husband and wife are so very generous, and also very dedicated to work, be it Basra who works at three different places, or Theja, who works at the restaurant, and takes care of the home and the children each day. 

Me and Theja talked about happiness, family values, growing the children, managing the cafe, and so much more. I am so happy we managed to make it happen, and hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. So without further ado, I’ll leave you to the podcast episode. 

You will find Old Green House Cafe here https://goo.gl/maps/QxsuGP9so7vBBUbGA

For more mindfulness inspiration join the conversation with Dessie on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/iamdessiegeorgieva/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Milica Spiric. 

Milica hails from Serbia but she’s moved to Milan, Italy, for her business studies at Bocconi 10 years ago. Afterwards she moved to Vienna for her masters, where she met Dessie and has been a dear friend since. She’s built an impressive career in talent acquisition, she is passionate for diversity and inclusion, and a proud feminist. She is very passionate about music as well, and spoiler alert, she sang a little something at the end of this episode. 

Mili and Dessie talk about diversity, inclusion, working cultures, overcoming bias, and feminism. About learning about yourself from communicating with others and thus learning about others. They discuss concepts such as the stereotype threat - the perception that women are not good with numbers etc. that leads to “male dominated industries”, and motherhood penalty, or the decrease in salary for a woman after giving birth. They also address toxic masculinity, and on the other hand the rise of the feminine, that is bringing wealth and health on every level, including an increase in GDP in women-lead countries. 

Mili speaks about how singing represents a healing mechanism for her - when going through sad times, grief and pain, and a mechanism to connect to herself and others as well. 

We forget to create for the sake of creating. 

Mili mentions other practices that have helped her grow and heal - meditation, hypnosis, reading, tarot reading. She also speaks about the importance of standing for yourself and leaning on your values when it comes to important decisions in your life. About being gentle with yourself, and listening to yourself, as well as to your body. 

Resources: 

Brene Brown Daring Greatly

Linda Scott The Cost of Sexism

Rupi Kaur - Healing Through Words

Connect with Milica here: 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/__milila__/ 

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicaspiric/ 

For more mindfulness and sustainable fashion inspiration follow me on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva. 

Interested in yoga and mindfulness for yourself or your organisation? Check out my yoga schedule here https://www.dgoldenhour.com/golden-hour-yoga  or set up a quick call with me to see whether we can work together: https://calendly.com/dessie-georgieva. 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Sabrina Satzinger. 

Sabrina is the founder and maker behind Saborka - a Vegan Bag brand based in Vienna, Austria. Saborka makes timeless, unique, and high quality accessories for all walks of life, fairly produced in-house by the founder, Sabrina, herself. 

Craftsmanship, local production, responsible use of resources and materials are at the core of everything Saborka does.

Sabrina went to fashion school at the age of 14, but it was not until later in life that she went back to fashion and created her first bag on the side and “by accident”, as she says. We talk about sewing and bag making as a craft, and the importance of elevating that image of the seamstress, since nowadays we have been so disconnected of the idea that is taken human hands to make pretty much every piece of clothing or accessory. 

With her brand Saborka Sabrina wants to give people the opportunity to buy something that is locally produced, and show the importance of preserving the skill and the craft. 

Furthermore, Sabrina and Dessie discuss transparency, and the responsibility of the brands, suppliers, politics, and consumers for a more sustainable, conscious, and transparent industry. 

Sabrina shares her take on real versus vegan leather, which has been extremely refreshing, and one of the most honest conversations about this topic I have ever had. She shares ways that enable one to prolong the life of vegan leather, and debunks the myth that real leather is a waste product of the meat industry and thus does not drive demand. 

Sabrina works with pineapple-based vegan leather Piñatex and other innovative leather alternatives, as well as headstock materials. 

Lastly, one of the most important points Sabrina addresses is how important it is to show up and have an uncomfortable conversation without perfect knowledge (which, by the way, doesn’t exist). We learn and get better by having conversation about the topics that are important. I am for sure extremely grateful that she decided to have this one with me. 

Connect with Sabrina here: 

Saborka on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/_saborka_/ 

Sabrina on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamsaborka/ 

Website https://www.saborka.at/ 

Piñatex https://www.ananas-anam.com/ 

For more mindfulness and sustainable fashion inspiration follow me on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva. 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Selina Ho. Selina is the Founder & CEO of Recloseted, the first one-stop consultancy for sustainable fashion. Recloseted launches + scales sustainable fashion brands and helps existing brands become more conscious through their programs and consulting services. Selina leverages her experience working at startups and Fortune 500s, and now leads an all-star team of consultants, sourcing experts, and material scientists to transform the harmful fashion industry. She is also the self-published author of “The Recloseted Handbook: Your Sustainable Fashion Guide”, a 200-page ebook detailing exactly how to become a stylish yet conscious clothing consumer. 

In this episode we discuss

Selina’s “why” behind helping small and established fashion brands implement more sustainable practices.

Current trends and best practices in the sustainable fashion space

Mindful measures to take care of yourself and prevent overwhelm (the 3 Ds - Delete, Delete, or Delay)

How to sell sustainability within a company?

For the whole conversation, tune into the podcast episode with Selina. 

Connect with Selina here: 

Recloseted Instagram

Recloseted Radio Instagram

Recloseted Website 

For more mindfulness and sustainable fashion inspiration, follow Dessie on Instagram here

Interested in yoga and mindfulness for yourself or your organisation? Check out my yoga schedule here  or set up a quick call with me here to see whether we can work together. 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Jessie Peterson. Jessie is a nomadic humanitarian, yoga enthusiast, spiritually curious, and ultimately committed to making the world a better place. After growing up in a small town in Nebraska US, she set her sights on manifesting a life she loved to live through exploration of the world, herself, and the cosmos.

Jessie talks about her why for living and working in a war-zone. She explains her reason with the quote: 

“Never go into this work unless you have to. Unless there is something inside of you that just says that you have to.”

When she is not in the Ukraine, Jessie resides in Kenya, where she founded a mindfully made luxury loungewear line called Dawa Wear (which in both Swahili and Arabic means medicine). She aspires to create pieces that are not “extracting from the earth”, but are something meaningful that is made in a collaborative process with not just humans, but the earth as well.  After all, as she says, all things carry energy, including the things you wear. The idea for the business was born out of love for great textiles, the need to explore her creativity, and the wish to push the sustainable fashion movement forward. 

Jessie talks about the challenges of building an ethical value chain in Kenya and Tanzania, choosing the most ecological dyes, as well as collaborating with awesome partners, such as the Design Co-lab for her design and production in Kenya. 

We also dive into topics such as manifesting, mindfulness, , “the feeling of home”, and limiting beliefs that are often the only thing standing between us and our dreams. 

For the full interview, tune in to the podcast episode. 

Connect with Jessie here: 

https://www.instagram.com/jessiempreston/

Dawa Lifestyle Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dawa_lifestyle/

Design Co-Lab Kenya

https://www.instagram.com/design_co_lab/

For more mindfulness and sustainable fashion inspiration follow me on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva. 

Interested in yoga and mindfulness for yourself or your organisation? Check out my yoga schedule here https://www.dgoldenhour.com/golden-hour-yoga  or set up a quick call with me to see whether we can work together: https://calendly.com/dessie-georgieva. 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Podcast Dessie welcomes Kayane Mahrejian. Kayane is a construction engineer for 27 years turned fashion designer, who followed her dream to establish her own fashion brand - Kaiane Designs.  The brand is a platform of artistic expression and a sharing of her own life experiences about love, travel, passion and conscious living.

Armenian by origin, Kayane has lived in Lebanon and travelled through the Middle East a lot due to her work as a civil engineer. This is where she got inspired by the cultures of the people she worked with - especially in Saudi Arabia. 

Her designs are mostly comprised by knits, which are made of natural materials, and mostly handwoven.  She creates them through collaborating with women artisans from around the world that she strives to empower. 

Furthermore, they are a Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Partner of the United Nations 

Listen to the podcast episode to hear our full conversation, and follow Kayane’s journey here: 

Website

https://kaianedesigns.com/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/kaiane_designs/

Sustainable Fashion NOLCHA Shows @ NY Fashion Week 

https://nolchashows.com/ 

For more sustainable fashion and mindfulness inspiration follow me on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva. 

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Mauricio Alpizar. Mauricio hails from Costa Rica and is now based in Bali, where he currently designs and produces his ethical and sustainable clothing brand. 

His prints are inspired by nature, and created using eco-friendly inc and printed on 100% sustainably sourced woodline fabric. 

For his latest collection Mauricio collaborates with SMESTA Fabrics, using a quite innovative acacia woodchip fibre for his designs, which is sustainably sourced and printed in Indonesia. The whole production process, including the release of water into the environment, is designed in the most environmentally friendly way, to ensure the least impact possible. 

Connect with Mauricio here:

Website

https://www.mauricioalpizar.com.au/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/mauricio_alpizar_fashion/

Sustainable Fashion NOLCHA Shows @ NY Fashion Week

https://nolchashows.com/

For more sustainable fashion and mindfulness inspiration join the conversation on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie shares exciting snippets of her meeting with Sadhguru at the SaveSoil Event in Vienna in March 2022. 

You will hear about:   

What does a Guru have to do with the fashion industry?

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, and more than 60% of the fibres used in it are synthetic. For our health and for the health of our planet, we need to more to more natural fibres in fashion. Sadhguru created a big campaign called Fashion for Peace, which advocated for that at NYFW in 2019. 

#SaveSoil - the purpose of Sadhguru’s visit to Vienna and what you can do to help too.

Soil is a living organism, and it enables all life on the planet. Over the last 100 years 50% of the world’s top soil has been degraded and destroyed. This leads to draught, food shortages, and climate disaster. With his movement Conscious Planet, Sadhguru is addressing this and trying to get world leaders on board, so we can ensure the future of the next generations. 

Sharing snippets from the conversation with Sadhguru after the Save Soil event in Vienna.

Hope these simply inspire you the way they inspired me to learn more about these topics, and most importantly, to take action. 

Let me know what you think on Instagram @iamdessiegeorgieva and follow along for more of these conversations. 

Follow @sonciousplanet and @sadhguru

Here you can read more about Fashion for Peace at NYFW: 

https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/blog/article/fashion-for-peace-newyork-fashion-week-event-highlights 

Here is where you can inform yourself about soil, and what you can do to help: 

https://consciousplanet.org/

https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/topic/save-soil?gclid=Cj0KCQjwr-SSBhC9ARIsANhzu16QZajLbiy0rpSJGaDl29gEsurVCbxdxc8_rqzvk7fdYp0b5zgvtP4aAgYVEALw_wcB

Sadhguru’s interview with Imran Amed, Founder of Business of Fashion, at NYFW: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUxpV_F55_Q&t=135s 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of "D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Orsola De Castro. 

Orsola is a pioneer in sustainable fashion and co-founder and creative director of Fashion Revolution - a global movement for transparency and accountability in the fashion industry which started in response to the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013. Fashion Revolution impacts millions of people worldwide each year, with 4,2 million taking part on social media last Fashion Revolution Week alone.

Orsola’s career began in 1997 when she founded “From Somewhere”, her label that combined sustainable thinking with using luxury designer pre-consumer waste. In 2006 she founded Estethica - an innovative British Fashion Council initiative and sustainability arena she curated for London Fashion Week.

Alongside revolutionising fast fashion culture, Orsola is a regular keynote speaker, educator and mentor, lecturing at renowned institutions internationally such as University of Arts London and Central Saint Martin.

Most recently, she published her first book Loved Clothes Last - How The Joy of Rewearing And Repairing Your Clothes Can Become a Revolutionary Act. The book provides a practical “how-to” for achieving a more sustainable wardrobe, while truly inspiring the reader to understand the importance of caring for and loving the clothes already in our wardrobes.

Some useful links:

Find Orsola in Instagram here

Fashion Revolution here

By Hand London here

For more sustainable fashion inspiration, reach out to me on Instagram @dsustainabilityissue

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Julie Allen. Julie is an author, a sustainability awareness activist, the CEO of Mary Rose NW Boutique, and founder of the Mary Rose Foundation. Julie started Mary Rose NW Boutique because she recognized the need for a clothing shop that focused on body acceptance, self-love, and helping all bodies feel beautiful and confident in their clothes. The three pillars of her boutique include sustainability, inclusion, and social justice.

Julie has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, which motivated her to found her size-inclusive boutique. We talk about the huge gap of size inclusion in the ethical fashion industry, and the way to move forward. Julie talks about helping fund treatment for eating disorder patients and educating on the topics of body image and eating disorder prevention with the Mary Rose Foundation. Her own sustainable size-inclusive women-centric line Hope Continues is set to launch in March. 

Find Julie here: 

https://www.instagram.com/maryrose.boutique/

https://www.maryrosefoundation.org

For more sustainable fashion and mindfulness inspiration follow Dessie on Instagram here. 

Music credit: 

Wholesome by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/