Sustainably Speaking Podcast with Aalia Mauro

This week's episode Join SSP host and Vertemode founder/CEO, Aalia Mauro is joined by Salome Sallehy, Founder of Sugar Sugar wax, as they delve into the art of building a sustainable brand and its profound impact on shaping a better future. Gain valuable insights into the crucial aspects of brand building, such as conscious sourcing, eco-friendly packaging, and transparent business practices. Learn how to integrate sustainability into every step of your brand's journey and make a positive impact on both the environment and society. 

In this thought-provoking episode of the Sustainable Speaking Podcast (SSP), CEO of Returnity innovations, Mike Newman joins Aalia Mauro to share his unique journey from his roots in environmental policy with the Sierra Club to his current role of combating waste in the shipping industry. Mike discusses the need for a sustainable shift in packaging materials, especially with the exponential rise of e-commerce. Highlighting the alarming growth in packaging waste, the complex landscape of consumer behavior, where the willingness to adopt sustainable practices often falls short in practice.

This episode is a must-listen for those interested in sustainability, supply chain management, and environmental policy.

"Sustainably Speaking" invites you to engage in essential conversations about our environment's future, hosted by the serial entrepreneur and sustainability guru, Aalia Mauro. This podcast platform unites the thought leaders of our time - including progressive innovators, decisive policymakers, forward-thinking academics, and discerning scientists - to discuss the urgency of environmental protection and the journey towards a lower-carbon society. We'll delve into the innovative solutions that can shape a more sustainable, brighter future. Join us on "Sustainably Speaking" as we challenge the status quo and spark a global dialogue around sustainability.

Welcome to The Greening Show. In this episode VV host Aalia chats with nature activist, photographer, and filmmaker Molly Ferrill. You will learn about Molly's journey into becoming a National Geographic Explorer dedicated to capturing and changing the relationships between people and nature, Wildlife tracking issues, solutions,,and wildlife tourism. 

Join Aalia and Emma Bottomley, CEO, and founder of Eloma Design, as they converse on supporting women weavers across Indonesia thru back strap weaving and alleviating and eliminating systemic poverty. Formerly in the fast fashion industry, Emma explains the phenomenon of fast fashion and the speed of consumption as global retailers operate under a system of exploitation and environmental damage. Highlighting unethical business practices that feed the consumer and their yearning hunger for newness. Bottomley encourages consumers to honor and love what they wear by investing in businesses that benefit humanity and the planet—expressing her compassion for ethical fashion and reiterating that people matter and the women and people making these clothes deserve humane conditions with equal rights and opportunity. She notes how these same conditions would not be suitable for the same brands enforcing such unethical practices as operating with an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality. For over a decade, Emma has dedicated her life to creating a positive social and environmental impact, committed to respecting, celebrating, and honoring artisans and producers, especially disadvantaged women, and focused on The preservation and future growth of textiles and ancient craft forms through collaboration and partnerships. Finalizing their textiles with natural dye, its captivating nature colors are designed and co-created to highlight and honor the textiles through to the end product and hero it from the monopolization of fast fashion. Emma Bottomley is CEO and founder of ELOMA design, which is launching this year. Emma received her bachelor's in Textile and Fashion Design and Business Studies from the University of Brighton. After University, she worked as an assistant buyer for Dorothy Perkins, negotiating cost prices and delivery deadlines with a $24 million department. In May 2019, Elma Sdn Bhd arose an artisan fashion, textile, and craft for a fairer and more ethical manner. In February of 2021, Bottomley launched Eloma Consultancy, providing sourcing, product development, quality control, logistics, and production by connecting fashion and lifestyle brands with artisans and ethical partners. Fast Forward to November of 2021, Emma started her own Podcast show titled "Fashion is not all it seems," interviewing industry experts—creating a dialogue around the ethical and environmental issues faced by the fashion and textile industries. Emma's expertise has allowed her to create a footpath within the fashion industry, fine-tuning the industry's blind spots and, most importantly, amplifying the voices of garment workers. 

Join Aalia and Alia Mahmoud, CEO/Co-founder of Fouta Harissa, as they dabble on Tunisian heritage and the wonders of being a sustainable entrepreneur. Alia speaks about how her curiosity initially started during her sophomore year of college, teetering between her desire for a greater world and the unending complexities of the world's issues until she learned of the social entrepreneurship realm. Alia felt called to understand better how to one day leverage the business/profits models and use them to improve outcomes for real people actively. Alia discusses her devotion to her homeland and the uniqueness and versatility of the Fouta, wanting to build a company with a positive social impact by crafting consciously. Fouta Harissa is Artisan-made, sustainably sourced, zero emission producing,and produced in small batch orders to maintain authenticity of their values. Alia is the co-founder and CEO of Fouta Harissa, alongside Lamia Hatira. This social enterprise designs high-quality, hand-loomed textiles that preserve artisanal weaving in Tunisia and celebrate the soul of Brazilian beach culture. Based in Miami, she is also a consultant with Radical Partners, a social impact accelerator dedicated to investing in South Florida's most promising social entrepreneurs. Passionate about the intersection of business and social good, she came to Miami by way of Tunisia, where she served as the Regional Citizenship Manager for Microsoft in the Middle East and North African region. Alia has delivered multiple TedxTalks on entrepreneurship and innovation and was named one of the “10 Most Inspiring Arab-American Leaders to Watch'' by the Huffington Post. She is also the co-founder of “Le15,” a seed fund and accelerator program for innovative startups in Tunisia. She graduated from New York University with a Master of Science in International Business and Economic Development and earned her bachelor’s degree in International Development from George Washington University. Alia seeks to continually help diversify the economy by utilizing artisan businesses, honoring the culture and the story that unfolds with each thread.

Join Aalia and Elizabeth Peyton-Jones, CEO and Founder of Models Trust, as they address making the modeling industry safer and more sustainable. Elizabeth touches on how to elevate workplace environments for working models. And the wide range of workplace risks that endanger not only their physical health but their emotional and financial wellbeing,  circling back to their diets which enable these same conditions. While living abroad in Hong Kong and Russia, Elizabeth was introduced to holistic medicine and began her journey to becoming a master herbalist. For over two decades, Elizabeth has been a naturopath, herbalist, and therapist starting her career with private clients in a London Clinic, which grew into a global company called EPJHealth. Her passion for changing people’s perceptions of what good health really looks like, excelled in 2016, as the British Fashion Council invited Elizabeth to create a diet for models. Initially puzzled, she researched for a year. Speaking with models, casting directors, and photographers abroad, noting the problem of the industry's obsession with the size zero and the consequences of enacting these restrictive conditions at such a young and impressionable age. In the face of complacency, Elizabeth set up Models Trust. In 2017 Models Trust ran its first model workshop with Europe’s leading model agency, Models 1, and a year later, a one-week induction program for new models in collaboration with the London College of Fashion. Models Trust also planned and executed the very first industry-wide conference on modeling, bringing models, model agencies, brands, photographers, casting directors, agents, and publishers, to talk about standards needed in the industry. Models Trust was the first to champion elevating workplace practices and norms for models through industry-wide standards. It signed up models, model agencies, and fashion brands to The Pledge and later was invited by James Scully to inform LVMH and Kering on their own set of standards, We Care for Models. More recently, Models Trust has campaigned to keep modern slavery and human trafficking out of modeling, which has led to Elizabeth talking about her vision to the United Nations General Assembly.  Concerned about the slow progress of improvement, in March 2020 Models Trust launched Brighter Future: a year-long, industry-wide consultation aimed at identifying the most effective solutions for making modeling safer and more sustainable. From the results of Brighter Future, Models Trust developed an anonymous feedback survey, allowing models an anonymous voice to speak up while allowing agencies to demonstrate good representation, rewarding high-performing agencies by awarding them the prestigious Models Trust Certification Mark. Elizabeth continues to work tirelessly with the fashion industry to change the perception of what it is to be a working model. 

Join Aalia and environmentalist Isaias Hernandez as they discuss the topics of environmental and social justice. They highlight the disparities that those of different racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds face with respect to the environment and various lived experiences. The two make it clear that we must challenge the status quo and provide education and equitable resources to those that face racism, classism, misogyny, environmental, social, and food injustice. Isaias is an environmental justice educator and activist from Los Angeles, CA. Growing up, he lived in a community that faced environmental injustice and it changed the way he saw the world. His platform @QueerBrownVegan is an environmental education page that exists to teach about environmentalism to anyone and everyone, with a focus on social justice and topics not traditionally covered in environmental spaces. He has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent his college years working on a variety of diversity inclusion work in environmental spaces, academic research, and creative work. After graduating, he helped start the digital publication Alluvia Mag before becoming a full-time educator and creator. 

Join Aalia and zero waste advocate Tara McKenna as they discuss how prevalent the issue of waste is around the globe and how we can address it with our individual actions. Tara highlights that we can reduce waste in all aspects of our lives including our food, clothes, toiletries, and other home goods as well as utilizing waste management practices and speaking out when we notice things that could be more sustainable. Tara is the author of Don’t Be Trashy: A Practical Guide to Living with Less Waste and More Joy and created The Zero Waste Collective lifestyle blog and community to inspire people from all walks of life to live with less waste. Tara has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning and lives with her family in Guelph, Canada.