In Episode 331, Kestrel welcomes Ben Mead, the Managing Director of Hohenstein Institute America, to the show. In Ben’s role, he serves as the company’s liaison with government agencies, industry collaborations and trade associations, and he also oversees OEKO-TEX® responsibilities for the U.S. “You can’t make any real good decision around chemistry or you know how a product is made, if you don’t know who’s making it and what’s going into it.” -Ben MAY THEME — HOW TOXIC CHEMICALS FROM OUR CLOTHE...
May 20, 2025•41 min•Season 7Ep. 331
This episode is a little different than what you’re used to, as it’s a special swap with Commons and their Second Nature podcast. It’s an amazing listen and I’m stoked to share it with y’all! “I think this is inspiring people to move away from being passive consumers to instead becoming stewards of their belongings and have that sense of responsibility and it goes beyond this individual action…For us, democratizing repair isn't just a luxury or a trend, it's something essential to creating this ...
May 06, 2025•42 min•Season 7Ep. 330
In Episode 329, Kestrel welcomes Jennine Jacob, a personal stylist and Instagram phenom, to the show. You may know Jennine from viral videos that explore the many layers of nuance connected to the power of finding your own style. “Anytime I see people quote unquote dressing for their body type, those outfits that look good, they can all be explained through style principles. The rule of thirds, contrast, proportion, texture, color theory. So why do we have to attach a value to a person's body sh...
Mar 25, 2025•45 min•Season 7Ep. 329
In Episode 328, Kestrel welcomes Dana Zhaxylykova, an environmental scientist & microplastics researcher, to the show. Originally from Kazakhstan, Dana is currently based in Germany — through her Instagram platform, she shares practical and actionable tips about microplastics through a scientific lens. “As a scientist, I want to assure you that every little action in avoiding plastic, it can have an impact. And as scientists and as a scientific community, we expect people, not only the gover...
Feb 25, 2025•49 min•Season 7Ep. 328
In Episode 327, Kestrel welcomes Sanchali Pal, founder and CEO of Commons, an app that rewards you for living and spending sustainably. On Commons’ app, you can get rewarded for shopping sustainable brands and for taking climate actions like thrifting, taking public transportation or eating plant-based. “When people think about the actions they can take that are sustainable, the most obvious ones are things like flying less or recycling or eating more plant-based. People don't always think about...
Feb 04, 2025•44 min•Season 7Ep. 327
In Episode 326, Kestrel welcomes Anna Bario, the cofounder of Bario Neal, to the show. Bario Neal creates stunning jewelry while being committed to respecting human rights and environmental sustainability. Anna cofounded the brand alongside Page Neal, in 2008, with an interest in bringing sustainability into the discourse surrounding creativity, fine jewelry and craft. An exceptional designer and also a specialist in responsible gold and gemstone sourcing, Anna’s work in sustainable initiatives ...
Jan 28, 2025•58 min•Season 7Ep. 326
In Episode 325, Kestrel welcomes Emily Fenves, the founder of lander line - a platform she created in September 2021 - after feeling burnt out with her own consumption habits. As a regular shopper, Emily found herself spending an exhaustive amount of time browsing, buying, returning, and purging. She embarked on a journey to learn more about the “why” behind her overconsumption, and decided to help others do the same. “I think a lot of people assume that investment pieces mean luxury. For me, sp...
Jan 14, 2025•43 min•Season 7Ep. 325
Episode 324, Kestrel welcomes Camille Forde, a mother and entrepreneur working at the intersection of business, sustainability, and community-centered solutions, to the show. With over a decade of experience, Camille has led corporate responsibility efforts at top professional services firms, earned an MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on sustainable business, and spearheaded seller and brand partnerships at one of the largest fashion resale platforms. As a mother of two, Camille is deeply commi...
Oct 29, 2024•55 min•Season 7Ep. 324
Episode 323 features Kestrel (just me!) in the first-ever solo episode of the show. With a primary focus on vulnerability, Kestrel shares some of the rollercoasters she has faced personally over the last year (from health to finances), why she and Nat are parting ways when it comes to regularly hosting the show, the true costs of producing a podcast, as well as a question on whether performative vulnerability is what we are seeing too often from the industry. “To all of you interested in sustain...
Oct 15, 2024•16 min•Season 7Ep. 323
Episode 322 features Nelson ZêPequéno , a Ghanaian-American Artist and the founder of Black Men With Gardens and Sustain Creative, alongside Cayetano Talavera , a fiber artist, zero waste fashion designer, and the creative force behind HECHO BY CAYE. Through ‘Black Men With Gardens’, a digital and print publication, Nelson spotlights the connection Black and Brown communities cultivate with nature through agriculture and the arts. He further exploring cultural identity and environmental stewards...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 322
Episode 321 features Teju Adisa-Farrar , the founder and co-creator of the Black Fiber & Textile Network and the creator/host of the Black Material Geographies podcast, alongside Layla K. Feghali , the founder of River Rose Remembrance, a Plantcestral & Ancestral Re-Membrance practitioner, cultural worker, author & story re-collector (archivist). Teju is currently the Director of Outreach & Programs for the Fibers Fund, and co-creates with members of BFTN. Layla’s book, The Land ...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 7Ep. 321
Episode 320 features Wafa Ghnaim , a Senior Research Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Curator for the Museum of the Palestinian People and Founder of The Tatreez Institute, alongside Dr. Tanveer Ahmed , a Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Race at Central Saint Martins and also Course Development Lead for MA Fashion and Anthropology at London College of Fashion. “Inherently, just by being Palestinian and by teaching about Palestinian life and history, and including oral history in my work a...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Season 7Ep. 320
Episode 319 features guests Stella Hertantyo, the co-host of the Conscious Style Podcast, alongside Emily Stochl, the host and creator of Pre-Loved Podcast. Stella also works as writer and communications coordinator, while Emily also works as the Vice President of Advocacy & Community Engagement at Remake. “There are so many painful roots when you look back at the way that certain dyes came about and you know, cotton farming — there are so many different legacies of colonialism that existed ...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 319
*DISCLAIMER — this episode features stories connected to eating disorders and sexual abuse. Episode 318 features guests Francisco Alcazar, a zero waste designer based in Los Angeles, California, alongside Ella Wiznia, the founder and designer of Series NY. Using his 25 years experience as a structural engineer, Francisco is leading the movement that promotes circularity in fashion, and expanding these principles to other disciplines, whilst celebrating the material stories of each textile and th...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 318
Episode 317 features guests Megan L. Schnitker , an Indigenous Traditional Herbalist and Niha Elety, a fashion advocate, designer, chef, and storyteller. Megan is the owner of Lakota Made LLC , who offer plant medicinals and personal care products. Niha is the founder and CEO of fashion brand, Tega Collective , a brand that co-creates with Adivasi (Indigenous) communities celebrating their craft and knowledge with each collection. “American herbalism was founded on Indigenous knowledge and use o...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 317
Episode 316 features guests Lina Barkawi , a Tatreez practitioner, preservationist, and educator based in Brooklyn, alongside Eman Toom , a Palestinian Tatreez artist, teacher, sewer and crafter. “Part of just doing tatreez, in my personal opinion, is a form of resistance because we’re basically just existing and we’re showing our Palestinian identity, but there have also been very explicit uses of tatreez as a form of resistance. And so you have thobes that came out of the intifadas in the ‘90s...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 6Ep. 316
Episode 315 features guests Amy Denet Deal, the founder of 4Kinship , a Diné (Navajo) owned sustainable artwear brand, alongside Sha’Mira Covington, Ph.D., an interdisciplinary scholar-artist and Assistant Professor in Fashion. “Thinking about sustainability beyond just the textiles, thinking about the land that we’re on, how we can live in reciprocity with the people, the four-legged relatives, everything, the plants, the animals here — in all the work we do. Which is why community focus is so ...
Feb 13, 2024•58 min•Season 7Ep. 315
In episode 314, you’ll hear our first official roundtable format, featuring guests Beth Jones, YouTube star and creator of B. Jones Style , alongside Dounia Wone, the Chief Impact Officer at Vestiaire Collective , a platform that showcases luxury preloved fashion. “It’s few and far between that the fast fashion holds up against vintage or really quality pieces maybe made by a designer or things like that … Even if it has a vintage look to it, there’s something about it that doesn’t hold up in a ...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 314
In episode 313, you’ll hear from co-hosts (yes, co-hosts!) Kestrel Jenkins and Natalie Shehata in the launch of Season 7. This is also the first episode in which Kestrel and Nat showcase their new co-host dynamic. With this powerful community-driven change, they’ve teamed up to reimagine some aspects of the show. Here’s what you can expect this season: Roundtable Discussions — featuring at least 2 guests per episode Focus On Making The Conversation More Circular — bringing more folks to the tabl...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 7Ep. 313
In episode 312, Kestrel welcomes Denali Jöel, a non-binary Multidisciplinary Artist, Designer, Educator and Fashion Griot, to the show. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Denali has been an asylee living in the US since 2014, recently obtaining their U.S. citizenship this year. Their art praxis intersects design, performance, media and community engagement with particular focus on queer identities and Afro-diasporan histories, futures, collective healing, and radical imagination. “It comes ba...
Nov 07, 2023•52 min•Season 6Ep. 312
In episode 311, Kestrel welcomes Julius Tillery, founder of BlackCotton, to the show. A 5th-generation cotton farmer from North Carolina, Julius founded BlackCotton to help center and uplift the Black community closest to the cotton fields in Northampton County, North Carolina. “There’s so many demons and like bad spirits and bad tropes around cotton and the industry in general, and you know, just coming from the South, and people having these perspectives of cotton production relating to slaver...
Oct 30, 2023•36 min•Season 6Ep. 311
In episode 310, Kestrel and Natalie welcome Cassandra Pintro, the founder of The Consumption Project, to the show. With a focus on making impact cool, The Consumption Project serves as a catalyst for educating folks about the impact of their buying habits and nurturing a collective mindset that values quality, longevity, and the environment. “So, it was — how do I find myself in this space and how do I make space that opens up a door for other people to feel comfortable, and you’re starting from...
Oct 24, 2023•58 min•Season 6Ep. 310
In episode 309, Kestrel welcomes Jeanell English, the founder and CEO of ELIZABETH, to the show. An experienced facilitator and people operations leader, Jeanell has worked in an array of roles, most recently as the Executive Vice President of Impact and Inclusion at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, before she dove fully into her own company, ELIZABETH . “Because the reality is — you’re never gonna win everything you aim to win. It’s not really a competition, it’s about progress....
Oct 17, 2023•48 min•Season 6Ep. 309
In episode 308, Kestrel welcomes Muchaneta Ten Napel, the founder of Shape Innovate and FashNerd.com, to the show. As a fashion economist, a lecturer, a writer, a consultant and the founder of Shape Innovate and FashNerd.com , Muchaneta is powering change through a multifaceted approach. “To many people, today, to be sustainable is a way of draining money out of your company — it’s not a money-making initiative. And that’s the kind of thoughts that I would like to really change. Because for me, ...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 308
In episode 307, Kestrel welcomes Rachel Arthur, a strategist, journalist, and the Advocacy Lead for Sustainable Fashion at the United Nations Environment Programme, to the show. Rachel is the lead author of The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook , which was published earlier this year by the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Climate Change Fashion Charter. “Communicators themselves, on a couple of levels, have had the ability to participate and to contribute I think is what...
Sep 26, 2023•48 min•Season 6Ep. 307
In episode 306, Kestrel welcomes Tameka Peoples, the founder and CEO of Seed2Shirt, to the show. A Black-woman-owned vertically integrated ethical apparel production & boutique cotton merchant firm, Seed2Shirt is focused on rebuilding equitable systems and institutions. “You’re seeing laws put into place like the 1862 Homestead Act where there were millions of acres of land just given to white families. And Black people were at the same time, being burned out of their communities. What I mea...
Sep 19, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 306
In episode 305, Kestrel welcomes Lisa Diegel, the Global Sustainability Director at Faherty, to the show. A family business, Faherty is focused on making high quality clothing. “They knew they wanted to do things differently and not follow that conventional way of take > make > waste in the fashion industry. They wanted to build a feel-good brand. And I think to do that, you need to be accountable and you need to take responsibility for the products you put out into the world.” -Lisa As we...
Sep 12, 2023•40 min•Season 6Ep. 305
In episode 304, Kestrel welcomes Eric Liedtke, the co-founder and CEO of UNLESS, to the show. A collective of innovators, engineers, artists, and activists, UNLESS make plant-based streetwear designed to leave zero plastic waste. “I think sustainability is one of those hygiene words at this point — like everybody can talk themselves into they’re doing sustainable things . I think we need to get more specific. I think as marketers and storytellers, we need to really be very clear with our consume...
Sep 05, 2023•44 min•Season 6Ep. 304
In episode 303, Kestrel welcomes Natalie Shehata, Conscious Chatter’s new Social Media Strategist + Storyteller, to the show. A sustainable stylist, community organizer, speaker and writer, Nat brings exceptional experience and knowledge to how we approach storytelling. “I feel as though storytelling for me has been a very powerful medium in being able to instigate change. I feel like stories really shift culture and they can shift culture on a really large scale as well. But personally for me, ...
Aug 15, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 303
In episode 302, Kestrel welcomes Jessie Frances (@cuppuccinosandconsignment) to the show. Highly knowledgeable on the world of preloved fashion, Jessie holds a BFA in Fashion Design and French with a Minor in Art History. Through her work, she shares ideas around luxury vintage savviness, smart travel tips, and slow-living hacks, and also consults companies on luxury resale. “It is an addiction. Even when you look on YouTube and whatever social media, you see thrifting hauls. I remember hauls we...
Jul 18, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 302
