TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, "SUSTAINABILITY," AS WE KNOW IT, WASN'T JUST ON THE FRINGE... IT DIDN'T EXIST. THERE WERE NO BLOGS. BARELY BOOKS. NO (REAL) BRANDS. CERTAINLY NO STORES... BUT THERE WAS GRANOLA. LOTS.

YET AN INTRODUCTION AND A TRIP TO WHOLE FOODS, A RANDOM EXPERIENCE FOR A TEENAGER IN 2000, SPARKED MORE THAN A "FEW" THOUGHTS AS IT SENT ME OFF INTO THE UNKNOWN. 

FIRST, A LITTLE BACKGROUND...

AT FOUR, I GOT MY FIRST PAIR OF HEELS. AT FIVE, I WAS IN MY FIRST FASHION SHOW. AT SEVEN, I WAS PRODUCING THEM. AT TEN, I DECLARED I WAS MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY... FOR FASHION. THEN, AT THIRTEEN, THERE WAS CLUELESS. 

TO SAY I KNEW WHAT I WANTED AND HAD LIFE PLANNED... THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT. HOWEVER, HERE I WAS, AT EIGHTEEN, PULLING BACK OZ'S CURTAIN AND FACED WITH REALITIES YOU CAN'T UNSEE.

FASHION. WITH A SIDE OF GRANOLA WAS MY ANSWER.

I BUILT A CAREER AND CURATED LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION AND CONSCIOUS LIVING... WHICH AT TIMES DIDN'T ALWAYS "MAKE SENSE" TO OTHERS, BUT TIME EVENTUALLY CHANGED.

THEN, AFTER TWENTY YEARS... I WALKED AWAY FROM THE MOVEMENT. TRIED AT LEAST.