Rebecca van Bergen is the Founder and Executive Director of Nest, a nonprofit supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of the artisan and maker economy to build a world of greater gender equity and economic inclusion.

Rebecca founded Nest in 2006 – the same year in which she graduated from Washington University with her Masters Degree in Social Work and Mohammed Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microfinance. Inspired by the massive potential of craft-based microentrepreneurs to drive financial and social impact within their communities – as well as the need for these microentrepreneurs to have a comprehensive ecosystem of marketing and capacity-building support in addition to just financing – Rebecca launched Nest from her apartment in St. Louis at the age of 24.

17 years later, Rebecca leads an organization that is partnering with brand leaders such as Etsy, Madewell, Patagonia, Target and West Elm to improve transparency, social wellbeing, and economic opportunity for handworkers which includes both artisans and less skilled manual laborers, often working from their homes. Nest’s comprehensive suite of artisan and maker programming reaches over 250,000 handworkers working across 1,500+ artisan businesses in 124 countries. From the open access Nest Artisan Guild which serves craft entrepreneurs globally to Makers United which is driving a more vibrant and inclusive makers movement in the United States, Nest is working in partnership with brands, philanthropists and artisans to unlock the power of craft to change our world.

In December of 2017 at the United Nations, Rebecca led Nest to launch the Nest Standards for Homes and Small Workshops, delivering the industry a standardized tool for improving rights and wellbeing for the world’s estimated 300 million home‐based workers (ILO). The program is accompanied by a Nest Seal of Ethical Handcraft, the first consumer-facing Seal providing customers with the assurance that the handmade product they are purchasing is made by a handworker whose economic and social rights are protected.

Rebecca is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Rebecca has been the recipient of the Elevate Prize And C&A Foundation’s Fabric of Change Award. She is an Ashoka Fellow, a Levi Strauss & Co. Collaboratory Fellow, Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, Cordes Fellow, and former GLG Social Impact Fellow. She is regularly quoted in international media outlets including Fast Company, The New York Times, WSJ, Quartz, ELLE, Glamour and more. She has been spotlighted by the New York Mayor’s Office as an NYC Catalyst and as one of 50 Women Making the World a Better Place in 2021 in InStyle’s Badass Women issue. Rebecca and Nest have also been honored as a PBS Changemaker, a CNN Young Person Who Rocks, named by the White House as one of the Top 100 Entrepreneurial Enterprises led by a young person.

As Nest’s CFO/COO, Chris oversees all of Nest’s programming, including direct-to-artisan business training and mentorship of over 500 artisan businesses across 90+ countries, strategic initiatives to solve for universal sector challenges, as well as partnerships with pioneering brands. He directs all financial activities for the Nest organization including annual budgeting and auditing, as well investment of assets.

A member of the Nest team since 2011, Chris has helped spearhead Nest’s ethical compliance program, and has worked to guide the organization through years of exponential growth and impact.

The first decade of his career was spent rooted in the arts sector as a performing musician and orchestral administrator. As a Classical Trumpet player, Chris made steady appearances with ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony, and served as the Director of Development & Marketing for the Delaware Symphony Orchestra.

Chris received an Executive MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU, specializing in Global Business, Strategy, and Leadership, holds music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, and a degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester. In addition to his lifelong love of the arts and international development, Chris is an avid cook and proud father of two amazing children.

Ashia is the Chief Strategy & Partnerships Officer, leading Nest’s development programs by channeling the power of partnership to mobilize funding, resources, and industry efforts to advance handworkers worldwide. Joining Nest in early 2015, Ashia led the development of Nest’s revenue generation strategies, implementing key revenue streams that have lead to organization’s growth and ability to scale impact.

Ashia is deeply committed to equity, inclusion, and cultural/environmental preservation. Prior to Nest, Ashia spent 4 years at the National Audubon Society overseeing all major fundraising and partnerships initiatives across NY State. There she launched the first young patrons program to engage millennials in conservation, created the WIC Field Internship Program to support women in science based careers and served on Audubon’s diversity committee, ensuring programs were reaching diverse communities and constituents. Before Audubon, Ashia worked for the Rockefeller family overseeing high profile initiatives and collaborations including the National Rachel Carson Award, the Human Rights Symbols Campaign, and a grassroots Brownfield Remediation program.

Ashia holds a dual degree in Anthropology and International Development from Dartmouth College where she studied the intersection between community structures, organizational systems and intangible heritage. Ashia has led trips to Poland, Belarus and Ukraine to restore cemeteries destroyed after WWII. She previously lived and worked in Brazil and spent time studying indigenous culture and craft in New Zealand.

Sara is Chief Handcraft Compliance & Research Officer at Nest where she has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Nest’s Artisan Advancement and Ethical Compliance Program, as well as Nest’s other Global Solutions projects which aim to address common challenges faced by artisans globally such as wastewaster management, providing living wages, and technology solutions for supply chain transparency. Sara previously worked as Nest’s Program Manager at its flagship project in Varanasi, India, where she has resided for 3 1/2 years consulting closely with artisans on the ground, allowing her to deeply understand the cultural, economic and logistical challenges they face, as well as to develop practical, sustainable solutions that support the long term growth of their businesses in an ever changing global marketplace. Prior to working with Nest, Sara served as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, where she consulted with several micro-enterprises including artisans and a micro-finance organization on basic business skills, marketing and internal systems development.

Sara graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Arts Management and a concentration in Marketing. She is also an avid photographer and traveler.

Sara’s career began with a keen interest in the cross section of art and business and an appreciation for entrepreneurship. At the age of 16, she began an internship with an independent record label, Righteous Babe Records, founded by folksinger and social activist Ani DiFranco. She spent 9 years with the business, eventually becoming Executive Assistant and Venue Manager for the company’s multi-use venue housed in a restored 19th century church. Prior to working with Nest, Sara served as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, where she consulted with several micro-enterprises including artisans and a micro-finance organization on basic business skills, marketing and internal systems development.

Sara graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Arts Management and a concentration in Marketing. She is also an avid photographer and traveler.

Lindsey brings a decade of experience in nonprofit management and organizational capacity building to the Nest team with expertise in nonprofit governance, process improvement, financial accountability, and social impact reporting frameworks. Previously, Lindsey led CSR engagement for a nonprofit in Russia and was part of the leadership at Charity Navigator where she developed an improved methodology for evaluating financial health and nonprofit effectiveness. Lindsey has consulted for Intentional Futures and GLG Social Impact working with high-performing NGOs and social impact leaders on evaluation frameworks, industry trends, and organizational growth strategies.

Lindsey holds an M.A. in International Development and a B.A. in Communications from Duquesne University, with certifications in Intercultural Relations from Duquesne and Program Strategy and Evaluation from Stanford University. She has served on the boards of TIP Global Health and the Mary J. Heerdt Charitable Trust and is a member of NYC Sustained Global Impact Community of Practice and Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE-NYC).

Jessica serves as the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Nest spearheading the dynamic relationships between brands and makers globally. Jessica brings 15 years of experience in press, marketing, and partnerships to the Nest team with a unique combination of brand, production, and sustainability expertise. Forging her career at KCD Worldwide, HL Group, and PROJECT, she has had the privilege of working in partnership with hundreds of leading brands to help them grow their sales and brand awareness.

After life changing trips to Zimbabwe and India, Jessica became aware of the massive impact of fashion’s global supply chain on garment workers. This was the impetus for launching her own company, THR3EFOLD, a sourcing platform connecting brands to ethical factories and providing sustainability training and community events for the fashion industry globally which she ran the last 9 years. Jessica remains committed to empowering makers around the world and is constantly amazed by their talent and inspired by their joy and determination.

Jessica’s expertise has been featured in top publications including FORBES, WWD, Nasdaq and more. She has also been invited to speak at top conferences globally on the importance of humanizing sustainability to create increased adoption from brands and consumers alike.

Jessica graduated from Winthrop University with a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. After over a decade in NYC, France, and Italy, Jessica now resides in Charlotte, NC, near her family. She enjoys hiking, creating art and craft for her home and loved ones, and jetting off to explore new cultures around the world.

Tara builds social impact and sustainability programs, focusing on robust social impact strategies, ESG, partnerships, marketing and communications. She has developed strategic roadmaps and marketing plans for brands and companies in the fine jewelry and fashion space. Tara guides companies to integrate their values into all facets of their business—driving growth and impact while improving brand positioning, perception, and image. A dynamic, holistic storyteller, she translates complex ideas to a wide range of audiences via PR, marketing, and digital channels.

With a strong commitment to equity, Tara led the Natural Diamond Council and Lorraine Schwartz’s Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative, a program to bring an equitable future to the fine jewelry industry via education, mentorship and industry access for BIPOC designers. Prior
to that, as Head of Communications at Swarovski, Tara spearheaded global programs in sustainability, philanthropy, corporate communications, and led projects for the Swarovski Foundation in Americas. She oversaw CFDA partnerships, emerging designer strategies and B2B incubator programs. Cultivating a partnership with the United Nations, she managed the brand’s UN Women Program. Previously she was Public Relations Director for Iconix Brand Group, responsible for CSR, celebrity campaigns, financial earnings, and buyouts for 30+ brands.

Tara received an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a B.S. in Textile and Apparel Management from Cornell University. She has served on the Board of the Accessories Council and Free Arts NYC and is involved with the Women’s Jewelry Association and Black in Jewelry Coalition.

Ashley is Nest’s Director of Creative & Content. In this role, she oversees communications efforts to advance the organization’s reach and support Nest’s growing community of brand and philanthropic partners. Ashley joined Nest from Charity Navigator where she created multichannel content to help American donors make more informed and impactful giving decisions, and helped build the organization’s fundraising program.

Ashley earned a degree in Political Science and Gender Studies from Calvin University and, after graduating, completed a term of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA working with older adults and unhoused veterans outside of Portland, Oregon.

Outside of work, Ashley enjoys hiking and spending time outside or in the pottery studio.

Dominique is the Creative Communications and Design Manager at Nest. Dominique serves as an internal graphic designer leading the creative direction of Nest’s strategic projects. Additionally, they support Nest’s marketing and communications needs with a focus on social media and audience engagement.

Prior to their role at Nest, Dominique worked in the home furnishings field supporting the product design and development teams at retail companies including Restoration Hardware and Arhaus Furniture. Most recently, they worked with lighting designer Michael Almodova to develop the brand Mavisten Edition, leading the marketing and graphic design efforts for the company. In 2017, Dominique founded Oaksmith Furniture, where they design and produce bespoke furniture and home decor out of their wood shop in San Francisco, CA.

Dominique graduated from the Academy of Art University with a BFA in Traditional Illustration. They enjoy a good brunch, road trips, and hanging at the park with their dog, Ollie.

Ryan Schaafsma serves as the team’s Communications Associate, focusing on Nest’s social media channels, email marketing, press relations, and internal and external content and creative direction. He is passionate about his role on the team and the ways in which it supports the greater Nest mission.

He graduated from Drexel University with his BSBA in Marketing in 2023, and spent the first year of his professional career on the Sustainability and Social Impact Team at the retail and fashion giant, Anthropologie, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. With a robust history of previous positions, at Comcast Business, Saxbys and CareerSpots, among others, Ryan is equipped with the proper skills to drive meaningful change and lasting impact in his role with Nest.

Outside of work, you will find Ryan watching NBA basketball, playing table tennis with his partner, volunteering with various orgs, and out for walks with friends around his home city, Philadelphia, PA.

Abrima Erwiah (based between Accra and New York), with actress and activist Rosario Dawson, is the co-founder of Studio One Eighty Nine, an artisan produced fashion lifestyle brand and social enterprise that has recently won the prestigious CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability. The brand is made in Africa and produces African and African-inspired content and clothing. The brand currently operates a store in NY and Accra (Ghana), an ecommerce site, a manufacturing facility in Accra, and supports various community led projects in Africa and in the USA. Studio 189 works with artisanal communities that specialize in various traditional craftsmanship techniques including natural plant based dye indigo, hand-batik, kente weaving and more. Studio 189 focuses on empowerment, creating jobs and supporting education and skills training.

Erwiah teaches an undergraduate BFA course called “Systems & Society” at Parsons School of Design at the New School.

Erwiah believes that fashion can be an agent of social change and her mission is to to do work that contributes to society, that has sustainable impact, that is innovative and strategic. Erwiah is a luxury goods industry executive with experience in sustainable development, global sales and marketing, production, operations, digital, general management and international development. She has worked in luxury goods, fashion, accessories, beauty as well as in the agriculture sector. She has worked with corporations, NGOS and governments. She has worked as an advisor to the United Nations International Trade Center Ethical Fashion Initiative and has worked as the Global Associate Communications and Marketing Director as well as the Worldwide Social Media Director at Bottega Veneta (Kering Group). Additionally, she has held various positions at luxury brands including Hermes/John Lobb, Cesare Paciotti and Bureau Betak. She has worked and traveled extensively internationally and has lived in New York City, Milan, Florence, Kampala and Accra. She is fluent in English, French; proficient in Italian and understands Spanish.

She developed a master’s at NYU Gallatin studying the economic impact of luxury goods in Africa and wrote her thesis at NYU Ghana. She graduated with a bachelor of science in finance and international business from NYU Stern School of Business.

She was appointed marketing mentor for Afripads in Uganda through the Kering Foundation for Women’s Dignity & Rights. She supports various organizations including V-day, the Lower East Side Girls Club, Fashion Revolution USA, 14plus foundation, the High School of Fashion Industries committee, Shine on Sierra Leone, etc

She has also recently joined Vanity Fair and One Young World’s list of people leading the charge towards achieving the UN’s 17 SDGs. She was featured in Nike’s campaign celebrating Women entrepreneur’s. She is the recipient of various awards including the Martin Luther King Jr Social Justice award from Upenn, the MOCADA Social Justice award, the Design Miami Visionary award, the Filming On Italy Social Justice award, the Africa-America Institute Entrepreneur Impact Award, the international women of power sankofa award and more.

She is a published author. She has guest lectured at various universities and spoken at various conferences including Harvard, NYU, Upenn, RISD, Radford University, Google, CFDA, IMG, Estee Lauder, One Young World and more.

Agathe is Head of Human Rights at Chanel, responsible for driving social progress within the company’s supply chains, reinforcing its expertise and providing insights on emerging issues related to human and labour rights.

Agathe has 13 years experience as a Corporate Social Responsibility expert. In her previous role within Chanel, she was Responsible sourcing director for Fragrance & Beauty, overseeing design of fair-trade and sustainably-grown plant-based supply chains, and operation of Chanel’s agroecological farms in different ecosystems across the world. She was also  Fragrance & Beauty’s representative on the board of the CHANEL Foundation, which advocates for gender equality and the advancement of women and adolescent girls as agents of change in society.

Prior to joining Chanel, Agathe was Program Director at Pur Projet, a social business developing environmental and community impact programs. She also spent eight years within Sustainability Services at Deloitte, designing strategies for businesses, foundations and NGOs. In 2012 she established Deloitte’s Business and Human Rights advisory practice, and conducted assessments in several countries in Africa and South-East Asia, engaging with vulnerable workers to evaluate the risks posed to human and labour rights in rural and informal environments.

Agathe holds an MBA from the French business school ESSEC, with a specialization in social entrepreneurship. She is board member of Human Resources Without Borders, an NGO dedicated to preventing the risks of child labour, forced labour, and indecent work in globalized supply chains. She is also involved with the NGO Utopia, which provides temporary emergency housing to migrant families in Paris.

Alex Bellos is the President of West Elm, the fastest growing brand within the Williams- Sonoma, Inc. portfolio. In his role, he is responsible for the merchandising, product development, inventory management, creative services, visual merchandising, brand finance and operations of the brand. In particular, he is focused on driving the Responsible Retail movement, identifying and facilitating opportunities for economic empowerment among communities where West Elm operates.

Prior to his current role, Bellos led Rejuvenation, another Williams-Sonoma portfolio brand. Over the course of three years, Bellos expanded the brand from a small lighting and house parts manufacturer into a lifestyle brand for the home, increasing market share and providing outstanding quality, value and service to its customers.

Assuming the role of West Elm President in June 2017 was a homecoming for Bellos, who returned to the company after serving as Vice President, Strategy and Development for the brand from 2010 to 2013, where he led strategic projects, global expansion, and operations. Bellos, holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Amanda is an activist and Cofounder of the hybrid luxury ethical fashion retailer, MAISON- DE-MODE. The concept, born in 2012, fuses pop-up brick & mortar experiences alongside a seamless online boutique, specializing in unique ready-to-wear, fine jewelry, accessories and home goods. She is a member of the Executive Board of The Humane Society of the United States, Founder of Friends of Finn, an organization dedicated to stopping the inhumane treatment of dogs in puppy mills as well as on the Advisory Board of the NEST foundation. Hearst is also Special Projects Editor of Town & Country magazine and has also worked as Marie Claire’s Associate Market Editor.

Amber Valletta is a fashion icon who has worked with some of the most prestigious names in the fashion world and graced countless magazine covers over the course of her modeling career. After moving to Los Angeles, Amber found success as an actress, and has transitioned seamlessly between modeling and acting over the last 12 years. Her screen credits include “Hitch”, “What Lies Beneath”, and “The Spy Next Door”, along with television roles on ABC’s hit show, “Revenge,” ABC’s “Blood & Oil” and TNT’s “Legends.”

Raised in Oklahoma, Amber never lost touch with her American Midwest roots, even as she travelled the world as an in-demand supermodel. She has always devoted much of her time to promoting and encouraging environmental sustainability. Recently, Amber spoke at the Sustainable Brands Conference San Diego 2015 where she introduced herself as a “valued influencer”—a creative connector whose experience and lifestyle matches their principles. Valued influencers simply speak about what matters to them and demonstrate it out in the world with how they live, and how they spend their time and resources.

As a valued influencer, Amber co-founded A Squared Films, whose first project, Driving Fashion Forward, featured a series of documentary shorts for Lexus’ L-Studio on the subject of fashion and sustainability. “Growing up, all of my enjoyment and entertainment came from being in the natural world,” she explains. “It only makes sense, especially with a child of my own now, to do what I can to protect our world.”

Doing what she can sparked an entrepreneurial spirit within Amber, and eventually led to the launch of Master & Muse. In partnership with Yoox.com, Master & Muse by Amber Valletta became the premier online store for responsibly made fashion—offering stylish, cutting-edge fashion, created and produced by some of the most socially responsible designers working today. The company’s name is inspired by the many Masters and Muses with whom Amber has worked over the years, as well as by the many roles she has had the privilege of playing as a model, actress, activist, and businesswoman. Embarking on her latest adventure, Amber was reminded of the words of Philosopher/Muse Aristotle: “Where the needs of the world and your talents meet, therein lies your vocation.” Amber is thrilled to have arrived at that very point in her life and career. She serves as a mentor for the CFDA + Lexus Fashion Initiative. She is a Juror on the H&M Global Change Award 2015. And, serves on the advisory boards for Cradle-to-Cradle’s Fashion + as well as Nest.

Amy Christiansen is the founder of the socially conscious, luxury fragrance house Sana Jardin.

Sana Jardin was built on the principles of a circular economy; their alternative business model enables women in the supply chain to become micro-entrepreneurs by upcycling the waste products from perfume production.

The brand’s Beyond Sustainability™ model empowers the floral harvesters with the skills and materials they need to increase their wages through commerce, not charity.  The model is based on “flower recycling” within a circular economy and illustrates that luxury business can be used to drive social change. The local women develop and sell their own products – candles and orange blossom water – from the waste of the perfume production, receiving 100% of the profits.

Sana Jardin contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, to empower women (goal 5), promote sustainable economic growth with full, productive employment (goal 8), and ensure sustainable production practices (goal 12).

Sana Jardin launched in 2017 and now retails in eighty luxury retailers globally including Harrods, Net-A-Porter, Liberty, Galleries Lafayette and Harvey Nichols. The brand has been featured widely in the press including the New York Times, Vogue, The Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar and Forbes.  Amy is considered a thought leader in the sustainable luxury space and has delivered talks at a variety of conferences including Google, Cosmetic Executive Women, and the Costa Rica Sustainable Fashion Summit.

Prior to founding Sana Jardin, Amy had a career that spanned twenty-five years in the non-profit sector in the US, Middle East and Europe.  She began her career as a direct practice social worker (MSW) where she provided outpatient psychotherapy to low-income children and families on the West Side of Chicago at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s family planning clinic, a domestic violence shelter and a public school.

Amy then shifted her focus to address economic inequality on an institutional scale through posts at the New York City based Robin Hood Foundation, The Clinton Foundation and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, where she worked to empower women economically by supporting female entrepreneurs in developing countries through mobile technology, enterprise development and mentoring programmes.

Amy holds a Master of Social Work (summa cum laude) from Loyola University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Social Work (cum laude) from Illinois State University.

Amy is a Board Member of the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation whose mission is to provide both creative learning experiences for children and professional development training for adults in Egypt and Italy. She is also a Georgetown University Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security.

Amy is a Founding Trustee of the London based Responsible Fashion Accelerator Foundation which helps fashion designers develop sustainable collections and a mentor to BIPOC small business founders.

www.sanajardin.com

Andrew is an internationally recognized director focused on telling stories for a better tomorrow. His experience includes a broad range of work that spans narrative and documentary storytelling for both commercial and film projects. After studying cinematography at the Los Angeles Film School he went on to co-found Untold Creative, a hybrid filmmaking studio where he currently serves as the creative director. He is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post and speaks regularly on the power of storytelling as a tool in the ongoing fight for human rights around the world. Andrew lives in LA with his wife Emily and their four children.

Ashley has focused her personal and professional pursuits on girls’ and women’s empowerment in developing and developed countries. A native Californian, she completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University in Philosophy and Visual Arts. Following five years in the fashion industry in various capacities, she pursued her Masters in Business with a focus on Entrepreneurship at INSEAD in France and Singapore. There she incubated a social venture focused on girls’ empowerment which became True Girl, an organic bath and body product line for pre-teen girls that encouraged girls to respect and care for their bodies. Equally as compelled by women’s studies, she gained a Masters in Science in Gender, Development, and Globalization at London School of Economics. Now living in London, Ashley leads the research team within Adjaye Associates. This unit explores the relationship between design, social and economic development, and the built environment.

As Vogue India’s Editor-at-Large, responsible for planning, visualizing and ideating fashion features for the ultimate style bible, Bandana Tewari has one of the most enviable jobs in Indian fashion. Her ringside view of the rapidly evolving industry coupled with her signature ability to take the long view in every commentary has made her one of the nation’s foremost authorities on fashion.

Bandana writes comprehensively on fashion. Her pieces have appeared in well-regarded publications such as The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, US Vogue, UK Vogue, Wallpaper*, and Tank, in addition to several leading Indian journals. She has scripted and hosted 50 episodes of ‘Simply Style’, India’s first primetime TV show on fashion, and hosted two seasons of the first fashion webisodes in India on www.lfwtv.com.

In 2006, she was named fashion journalist of the year at the Fashion awards in Mumbai. She has been featured in Industrie magazine’s guide to the most powerful figures in fashion for 2012.

A columnist for the Business of Fashion, she is also a member of the BoF500, which is  a professional index of the people shaping the global fashion industry. For BoF, she has written extensively on a variety of topics from indigenous ‘made-by-hand’ economies of India and Indonesia, to transgender and LGBTQ representation in fashion.

A regular attendee at international fashion weeks, Bandana commissions fashion stories, and presents fashion forecasts and analysis within the context of popular culture, state- of-the-economy and consumer behaviour. She believes that fashion is not a linear phenomenon. And to understand the significance and impact of fashion, we  need to approach it as a social anthropologist. She has been a longstanding champion of indigenous industries of handloom and made by hand.

She has written a book called “A Little Guide to Italy” which has been translated into two Indian languages and Italian.

“Her insightful commentary informs and educates Indian consumers and global luxury brands alike about each other’s heritage and culture.”—Business of Fashion.

Advisory Committee member—MoMA 2017 exhibition titled “ Is Fashion Modern”. Advisory board member—NEST

Advisory member—Eco Chic Design Awards

Expert panellist—H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award

Global Change Agenda (Copenhagen Sustainable Fashion Summit)

In December 2017, she, along with award-winning documentary film-maker Andrew Morgan of The True Cost and New York Times Fashion Director Vanessa Friedmen, will be speaking at the United Nations, New York on The New Handworker Economy.

2017: Jury-Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2017 SKO I-SKOOL™ Denim Design Award competition

2017: Panellist, Sustainable Fashion Movement Talkshow, Jakarta Fashion Week

2016: Speaker—Conde Nast International Luxury Conference on Mindful Luxury held in Oman. Topic “Gandhi and Fashion”

2016: Panellist—Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Topic ‘The Power of Media” 2015: Speaker—Fashion Forward Talk, Amazon India Fashion Week

2014: Speaker—India Unlimited- Indo-Swedish Conference, Stockholm

2014 Speaker—Lakme Fashion Week. Topic “Game of Threads- Disruptive Thinking in Fashion”.

2014: Speaker—United Nation’s Young Changemakers Conclave, India.

Over the course of her twenty-year career as an art director, Barrie Glabman has helped many beloved global brands shape their visual identities. After completing a B.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she began her career at The New York Times Magazine as a graphic designer. She was soon recruited to lend her talents to iconic brands, including Bloomingdales, Conde Nast, and J. Crew, as a consulting art director. Barrie also provided art direction for various lifestyle brands, including Rosenthal China and Paul Stuart at the boutique advertising agency Henszey and Albert. Later in her career, she led all art direction for Liz Claiborne.

Barrie also created the brand identity for Articulate, the e-learning software company her husband Adam Schwartz founded in 2002. Her remarkable work helped establish Articulate as a dominant force in the e-learning industry. Today, Articulate has more than 115,000 customers in 161 countries, including all 100 of the Fortune 100.

With her keen eye for design, Barrie also does interior design for select clients and was recognized by Hamptons Cottages & Gardens magazine with a cover story in 2018.

Barrie serves as advisor and brand builder to Marfa Stance, a London-based luxury apparel company that designs multi-functional, versatile and uniquely sustainable clothing.

Barrie is passionate about child development. She served on the Board of Trustees for The Children’s Museum of the East End for a decade and continues as Trustee Emeriti. Barrie also served for a decade on the Ross School as a Trustee. Barrie has been honored by the Ross School and by The Children’s Museum of the East End for her tireless dedication to improving the lives of children.

Brittany Watson Jepsen is the founder and creative director of The House That Lars Built (Lars), a craft and design lifestyle site and shop focused on artful living. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Martha Stewart, House Beautiful, Vogue, Domino Magazine, Le Monde, and more. She is the author of Craft the Rainbow and My Life in Color as well as various coloring books. She has licensed work with various clothing and homewares companies.

The House That Lars Built started as a class project in 2008 while studying interior design at Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC and later textile design in Copenhagen, Denmark. After interning at Jonathan Adler and interior designer Celerie Kemble in New York City she had the pleasure of working on projects for companies like Tiffany and Co. An opportunity to travel to a small village in the mountains of Nepal in 2011 photographing and writing about an architecture project led her to meet dozens of enterprising women artisans. This furthered her interest in the handmade economy. She later moved back to Copenhagen where she began working on Lars full time and later back to the states where the blog grew into an 8 person company and shop now based in Provo, Utah.

She has garnered an audience and community of people who like to be inspired and make things with her hands. She believes that there is a creative project and time frame for every person and she’s on mission to show people how to do it.

Cakmak has extensive experience in forging strong partnerships as a business strategist and sustainability expert for some of the largest, most prestigious retail companies and luxury brands in the world.

With his expertise in the field of sustainable design, he is focused on guiding the academic programs into a new era where an emphasis on socially conscious and transformational design formulates the educational approach and training of the next generation of venerable creators.

Cakmak has facilitated successful collaborations for over a decade with a wide range  of stakeholders including suppliers, retailers, NGOs, governments, and media to drive positive, ethical industry change.

Prior to joining Parsons, he worked at Swarovski Group as the company’s first Vice President of Corporate Responsibility where he established global programs fostering environmental stewardship. Under his leadership, he implemented best practice industry standards across all business functions, including raw material sourcing, supply chain management, crystal manufacturing, jewelry assembly, and retail operations. In addition, he led the Swarovski Waterschool Initiative’s education program that reached over 2,500 schools worldwide.

Previously, he acted as General Manager of MADE-BY Benelux in the Netherlands advancing fashion sustainability practices for brands such as H&M, Tommy Hillfiger, Acne, Primark, Ted Baker, and G Star among others. Prior to that, Cakmak spearheaded innovation-driven sustainability strategies as the first Director of Corporate Sustainability for Kering luxury brands under the Gucci Group umbrella; including Gucci, Bottega Venetta, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Sergio Rossi, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, and Boucheron. His career in the fashion industry began at Gap Inc. where he served as the Senior Manager of Social Responsibility in their San Francisco and London offices for 8 years.

Cakmak is passionate about education and has established projects and partnerships in the US, UK, France, China, Brazil, and India. He played a vital role in the creation of the Sustainable Technology for Future Luxury Scholarship at the University of the Arts London Central St Martins, and the MFA Fashion Design Scholarships at Parsons. He has also lectured widely as a visiting professor at SKEMA Business School in France and China.

Carmen Busquets is a Venezuelan entrepreneur, strategic investor and philanthropist whose career in the luxury fashion industry spans over three decades. A pioneering member of the fashion-tech space, Carmen champions its potential to advance sustainable development, turning the luxury fashion industry into one that balances profit with purpose.

carmenbusquets.com is her current investment and philanthropic vehicle, a natural continuation of a career that has been forged by a commitment to experiment, disrupt and challenge existing ideas. From the avant-garde luxury fashion boutique Cabus in Caracas, to the launch of CoutureLab a boutique, e-commerce and content platform with a focus on selling one-off handcrafted pieces and promoting fashion-transcending trends, Carmen has always chosen to uplift creative companies and founders that value artisan craftsmanship and cultural heritage as much as innovative technologies.

Having practiced the mind and body disciplines of mindfulness and meditation from an early age, Carmen advocates for the benefits of balancing material life with spiritual well-being, a set of practices she believes to be inherently linked to her business success.

In addition to her investments in the luxury fashion, lifestyle and technology sectors, Carmen leverages her entrepreneurial expertise to help non-profit organizations engaged in the conservation of the earth’s natural resources, in sustainable economic development, and in providing education and human rights for all.

Deborah Palmer Keiser is a seasoned retail executive known for her pioneering work on supply chain stewardship for iconic global brands such as Limited Brands, Gap Inc. and Williams Sonoma, and for boutique innovators like All Saints, Alabama Chanin, and RITUEL, the lifestyle brand she founded and runs. For 30 years, she has held senior strategic and operational roles during times of unprecedented growth, leading product development, sourcing, and production teams, and in directing business development across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Her singular expertise is in building quality products by fostering long-term, strategic relationships across cultures and industries. Before it became a catchphrase, Deborah used principles of sustainability to drive forward her vision of a new paradigm for designing and manufacturing quality goods — one that respects natural resources and human dignity as essential components. Deborah currently resides in Northern California with her husband of 23 years and their teenage daughter.

Donna Karan’s desire to address people, not just dress them, led her to establish The Urban Zen Foundation in 2007. This lifelong traveler and yogi, mother and grandmother is dedicated to adding the missing link – mind, body and spirit – to healthcare and education, while preserving the wisdom of ancient culture.  Karan works with established organizations such as the Clinton Foundation, Grief and Nomad Two Worlds. The Clinton Global Initiative was Karan’s inspiration for Urban Zen: to bring like-minded people together in a place and space – the Urban Zen Center – to affect change through collaboration and creativity.

Inspired by the illness of her husband Stephan Weiss, as well as close friends suffering with disease, Karan founded the groundbreaking Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) Program, which integrates eastern healing modalities with western science. The Program has partnerships with UCLA, Beth Israel Medical Center, Kent State University and YogaWorks.

For Karan, Haiti is where Urban Zen’s health, education and culture initiatives come together. Alongside The Clinton Global Initiative, Karan helps develop and support sustainable opportunities as part of The Foundation’s Haiti Artisan Project. Donna works directly with artisans to elevate design, provide vocational education, job creation and raise awareness to the global market as part of her Philanthropic and Commerce model for the Soulful Economy mission.

Where World Tradition Meets Luxury Fashion

Elizabeth Muir is passionate about working at the intersection of fashion and international development, a crossroad where traditional cultures meet modern day.

While Elizabeth has more than 15 years of experience in client delivery at top businesses and organizations including Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), The World Bank, and Marriott, she has also successfully developed, transformed, launched, and modernized numerous consumer brands worldwide. Clients have widely ranged from Fortune 100 companies to the US Government to musicians signed to major record labels to consumer brand start-ups to companies based in Afghanistan wanting to enter Europe’s luxury market by way of Milan.

A ‘brand whisperer,’ she makes brands look and sound like they should be competing on the world stage, and has established market linkages between producers and brands so that they could. The launches that she designed and produced for Afghan companies and for a US-led African business initiative resulted in global press coverage in more than 400 online, print, and television outlets in addition to social media with a reach of 17 million people and trending on Twitter.

Aware that partnerships between the private, non-profit, and public sectors are a powerful way to achieve results, she formed strategic partnerships with companies (including Levi’s, Bono and Alli Hewson’s EDUN, Aveda, Gibson Guitars), non-profits, and music celebrities to leverage brands to raise awareness for United Nations Association (UNA) Fashion Fights Poverty’s eco-ethical fashion campaigns for which she produced multiple fashion photo shoots and catwalk segments for the fashion shows promoting how working with producers in developing countries can be a solution to economic development.

Entrepreneurial, Elizabeth founded her own award-nominated fashion social enterprise for which she developed and managed the end-to-end supply chain from concept to distribution. She loves immersing herself in local culture, exploring bazaars, finding gems in time-honored crafts, and creating sophisticated products that are a fusion of traditional and modern. She purposefully integrated into the supply chain craft-based artisans and a women-run factory (NGO) in fragile and developing countries to preserve crafts and simultaneously provide income generation and economic development opportunities for them to help lift them out of poverty.

Her designs have been requested for over a dozen industry events, including celebrity gift bags for the Radio Music Awards, American Music Awards, and Country Music Awards as well as US Presidential Inaugural Balls and on the catwalk at Miami Fashion Week and UNA Fashion Fights Poverty. Her work has been featured in media worldwide including The Washington Post, Miami Herald, OK Magazine, Grazia, Reuters, NBC, Fox, Voice of America, and more. She was a top 10 nominee (out of 100+) for the LL Cool J-hosted Fashion Delivers Pay It Fashion Forward design awards in New York, an honor highlighting up-and-coming design industry leaders with a positive influence on the community, as well as a nominee for Fashion Group International’s Fair Trade Design Award. She has designed for and wardrobe styled music artists, including those signed to Universal Music Group, Curb Records, and Virgin Records.

Elizabeth attended Vanderbilt University and Université de Paris-Sorbonne. She learned the design and production supply chain hands-on in a work-study role in India normally reserved for design students from Europe’s top fashion schools. She spent several months developing collections at one of the country’s most famous design centers and factories known for preserving tradition in its textiles, home furnishings, and fashion. She has traveled to 49 countries and lived in 8 of them. She speaks multiple languages.

Ellice Sperber is an embroidery specialist, tracing the art back to her great grandmother, who sold her hand-embroidered fashions from her Los Angeles boutique. Ellice practiced needlepoint as a young girl and later apprenticed in embroidery while performing with the Zadruga Folk Ensemble in Los Angeles, where she worked on the company’s collection of Bulgarian, Serbian and Croatian costumes. Ellice was the Artistic Director of The LA Sign Company (a theater company that blended the talents of hearing and hearing-impaired actors), and, after receiving her BA in Linguistics, enjoyed a career as an American Sign Language Interpreter. While raising her two daughters, Ellice served on non-profit boards in the fields of education and learning, including, Gateway Public Schools, Parents Education Network, Northern California Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and Northern California International Dyslexia Association.

Ellice has continued to embroider since her days as a young dancer. Finding her passion for the art form continuing to deepen, Ellice began studying with the Royal School of Needlework and achieved a Diploma in 2014. Dedicated to preserving and promoting the knowledge and practice of hand embroidery, she co-founded San Francisco School of Needlework and Design the following year. She restores heirloom embroideries out of her home studio and is writing a book on Pulled Thread Embroidery.

Iliane sits on the board of FilmAid International, a humanitarian agency that uses the power of film to educate, empower and entertain in refugee and slum communities (www. filmaid.org). She is board member of IRC UK (www.rescue.org) and is a trustee of the Children’s Hospital Trust in Cape Town (the Great Ormond Street Hospital of Africa —www. childrenshospitaltrust.org.za). Iliane is also a trustee of an early childhood development centre in Mathare, Nairobi; We the Change Foundation. Iliane is an advisory board member of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Clinic.

Prior to this she was Global Alliances Director at Diageo, after heading Business Development for the Diageo Venture Group. She was eCommerce Business Development Director at Yahoo! Europe, Marketing Manager at Yahoo!UK and was part of the Strategy practice at Accenture in London. She started her career in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble. Iliane is a philanthropist and entrepreneur with a focus on women’s protection and empowerment and Africa.

Iliane was born in South Africa, is a Dutch national and can speak five languages. She lives in London with her husband and sons, and two dogs.

Ivanka Mamic is an experienced senior sustainability professional with over 17 years’ experience in the sector. She is currently Senior Director for Responsible Sourcing at Target where she leads global teams working on social and environmental matters relating to Target’s manufacturing supply chain. Prior to this, she worked for the International Labour Organization providing technical leadership and advice on the ILO’s CSR related activities including the ILO/ IFC Better Work programme. Ivankaholds a PhD from University of Cambridge, UK, together with a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland, Australia. Ivanka’s work on CSR has been published in several books as well as in leading journals and she has undertaken collaborative research on CSR with leading academics from Columbia University, Harvard University and Sydney University and others.

James (Jim) Brett is the CEO of J Crew, the iconic American fashion brand launched in 1983 as a mail order catalogue, which then became a cultural reference point. Six years later, the J Crew flagship store opened in Lower Manhattan’s South Street Seaport, an early example of modern urban place making, and today there are more than 500 locations throughout the USA (including those under the J Crew factory and Madewell banners).

Prior to his role at J Crew, Brett was President of West Elm, bringing that startup homeware retailer to a billion dollar brand with seven consecutive years of double-digit comparable revenue growth. In2015, he launched West Elm Workspace, solution-oriented work place furniture mixing residential aesthetic with commercial durability, winner of that year’s “Best of NeoCon” award, and in 2016, initiated the development of West Elm Hotels, a collection of hospitality venues, each reflecting the culture and architectural heritage of its community, opening 2019.

An advocate for the preservation of traditional handicraft and the power of collaborations, Brett spent six and a half years with Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters, Inc, first as merchandise manager for the multi-channel subsidiary Anthropologie, creating the sophisticated brand identity and merchandise mix that is Anthropologie Home today, and then as Chief Merchandising Officer for the diverse Urban Outfitters brand, generating record sales and productivity despite a challenging retail environment. In addition, Brett has served in various merchandising roles with other leading retailers during his twenty-five year career, including the J.C. Penny Corporation, Inc. and May Company Department Stores.

As an Advisory Board Member, Brett is committed to supporting Nest in helping artisans sustainably develop their businesses. He is active in the Dumbo Improvement District, championing revitalization for one of New York’s earliest industrial neighborhoods, and was the largest individual fundraiser for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 AIDS Walk NYC. He makes his home in Brooklyn, NY.

Josh Silverman is Etsy’s Chief Executive Officer, leading the company as it builds a platform that empowers creative entrepreneurs around the world. He is also a member of Etsy’s board of directors.

Josh’s two decades of leadership experience include growing consumer technology companies and scaling global marketplaces. He previously served as President of Consumer Products and Services at American Express, CEO of Skype, and CEO of shopping.com, and he held various executive roles at eBay. Earlier in his career, Josh co-founded Evite, Inc. where he also served as the company’s CEO. He is currently on the board of directors of Shake Shack.

Josh has a deep commitment to community and civic engagement. He currently serves as Chairman of Code Nation, a non-profit that equips students in under-resourced schools with both fundamental coding skills and professional experiences. He was previously a member of the Stanford Business School Management Board and the Lincoln Center Theater Board.

Krista’s lifelong interest in textiles began when she started weaving at the age of two. Being the daughter of a Textile Curator gave her the opportunity for much early exposure. While still in high school, she wove for artist Sheila Hicks in her studio in Paris. Krista completed a history degree at Brown University while attending classes in the textile department of Rhode Island School of Design. While at RISD, Krista won awards with both the Japanese Textile Foundation and the Amoco Trace Student Design Competition.

Upon finishing school Krista went to work for her mentor and idol, Jack Lenor Larsen, eventually becoming Larsen’s Director of Design when he retired. His approach of bringing to market both craft from around the world and cutting edge textile technology is a continuing ideal. Krista later worked for mills in both Turkey and India, enjoying a more hands experience with design. Since 2005, she has worked under her own name, Krista Stack Design, continuing to work with both editors and mills around the world. She also creates custom carpets in India and fine art pieces in her Brooklyn studio. She continues to weave on her loom, which serves as a sketchbook of experiments and ideas.

Libby Wadle is the Chief Executive Officer of J.Crew Group, overseeing J.Crew and Madewell brands, as well as serving on the board of directors. She has a proven track record of leading companies through periods of significant growth with a focus on customer-centric retail and building purpose-driven brands.

With over 25-years of experience in the retail industry, during her tenure at the J.Crew Group she has held executive leadership roles across J.Crew, Factory and, most recently serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Madewell, where she drove the brand’s growth from start-up to the highly successful leader in denim retail it is today. Prior to Madewell, Wadle served as President of J.Crew and held leadership roles at Coach and Gap Inc.

Dedicated to lessening industry waste and building responsible brands, Wadle has set ambitious sustainability and social impact goals for the Group.  She pioneered the organizations’ partnership with Fair Trade USA, working with them to certify their first denim product, and launched Madewell’s circular fashion partnership program with thredUP.

She has been named in Fortune’s 40 under 40, Rivet 50 for denim leadership, and one Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. She graduated from Boston College with a degree in Literature and now lives in Brooklyn with her family and three dogs.

Mara founded her label in 2000 after graduating from Parsons School of Design in New York City. Serving as President and Creative Director of her privately owned and eponymous company, Mara uses her platform to share an honest and empowering message on the way we live, care for the world, and treat others; hoping to influence the relationship society has with clothing while simultaneously fostering mindful consumption habits. Her strategy centers on sustainable materials, processes, and production in order to improve and extend each garment’s life. Above all, Mara keeps her creative commitment to presenting collections devoted to color, each a celebration of women. Headquartered in New York, where she is an active member of the CFDA, she calls Brooklyn home with her husband, artist Javier Piñon, and their son Joaquin.

Marissa is the founder of Beespace, a nonprofit incubator in New York City helping to identify and launch the next generation of innovative nonprofits. Utilizing the tech incubator model, Beespace provides these organizations with a suite of shared services, office space, and the support of an innovative community to grow their impact. Marissa is a ‘social venture catalyst’. She was a founding sponsor and activist for charity: water and has worn many hats since: identifying new projects, securing funding, photographing ongoing projects in the field, introducing sponsors, as well as raising awareness for other small nonprofits and helping them to scale. She is also a published photographer whose work highlights social injustice in ways that elicit empathy rather than guilt and, she hopes, encourages people to learn and contribute.

Martin is the co-founder of The Punctilious Mr. P’s Place Card Co., a luxury home accessories brand. Mr. P’s is the manifestation of their love affair with ‘town and country’ entertaining— fueled by their creation of The Joy Economy™, a life compass that gives luxury purpose. Martin, who is a 30-year veteran of the fashion industry, served as VP Design, Burberry; Chief Creative Officer, Belstaff; Creative Director, Lands’ End.

Martin is also the founder of OrchisArts, Ltd., an independent consultancy providing one stop, end-to-end creative services to the fashion, interior and art worlds.

He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Parsons School of Design (where he received the Norman Norell Memorial Scholarship), and has served as a member of Parsons’ Board of Governors and on the President’s Board of Alumni Advisors for the New School University. He has been an active member of the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) since 1993. Martin and his family live in Old Chatham, in the heart of New York’s bucolic Hudson River Valley.

Melissa Joy Manning has created a socially responsible fine jewelry brand featuring unique, modern designs influenced by her passion for travel, art and culture. The line encompasses multiple collections including one-of-a-kind pieces, signature designs and custom, non-traditional wedding jewelry.

After receiving her BA from San Francisco State University, Manning studied traditional silversmithing at the Instituto de Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and European design principles at the University of Barcelona. Today, the San Francisco Bay area native resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Manning purchases her materials, found worldwide, from only trusted suppliers who share her belief in both social and environmental responsibility. Each piece is handmade, to order, in the Melissa Joy Manning California or New York studios, by skilled artisans using traditional, time-honored techniques. The collections feature a mix of precious gems, upcycled stones, conflict free diamonds and 100% recycled precious metals, along with antique tribal and reclaimed charms. Manning’s design development is not only meticulous and detail oriented, but her production is also certified “green” by the State of California.

In 2011, Melissa was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) where she founded and co-chaired the CFDA Sustainability Committee. As the 2012 winner of the Lexus Eco Fashion Challenge and current Advisory Board member of the CFDA + Lexus Fashion* Initiative and NEST, Manning continues to advocate for cumulative change through ethical business and production practices.

The first Melissa Joy Manning store opened in December 2010 in Berkeley, California, followed by a SoHo, New York store in 2014 and Brooklyn, New York store in 2015. At all three locations, over 80% of the space was created using recycled materials, including the jewelry cases and display objects.

Melissa Joy Manning jewelry can be found in approximately 300 high-end boutiques and specialty department stores worldwide, including ABC Carpet and Home, Bird, Net-A-Porter, Nordstrom, Steven Alan, Twist and Ylang23. Her pieces are consistently featured in numerous fashion and lifestyle magazines and websites, films, television programs and commercials. In the last year, Melissa Joy Manning jewelry was featured in over 60 media outlets, including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, W Magazine, Vogue.com, Refinery29, WhoWhatWear, Bloomberg TV, The New York Times and Forbes.

Nadja is Chair of the Swarovski Foundation, which she established in 2013 to support projects that foster culture and creativity, promote human empowerment and preserve the environment. She also heads up the Swarovski Waterschool, which works across six continents teaching young people the importance of water conservation. Nadja was the first female member of the Swarovski Executive Board, becoming a major patron of the creative industries by supporting emerging and established design talent.

Nancy cares deeply about the well being of others. She is a keen listener and is intensely curious by nature. Nancy loves math, finds beauty in all things and embraces the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi. Her mother was an exceptional seamstress and embroiderer, instilling in her a great appreciation for craft. Nancy is a needleworker, painter, cook and gardener.

She received her BA in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. She has served on the boards of the Edgewood Center for Children and Families, the Katherine Delmar Burke School and the Grabhorn Institute, all in San Francisco, where she and her husband Doug live when they are not in Nantucket. In Nantucket, she serves on the Board of the Nantucket Historical Association.

Natalie “Alabama” Chanin is the owner and designer of Alabama Chanin. She has a degree in Environmental Design with a focus on industrial and craft-based textiles from North Carolina State University. After graduation, Natalie worked in the junior sportswear industry on New York’s Seventh Avenue, before moving abroad. For over a decade, Natalie worked as a stylist and costume designer, travelling the globe. In 2000, Chanin returned to her home to begin the sustainable work that has become Alabama Chanin.

Since 2000, Alabama Chanin has expanded to include a family of businesses: the Alabama Chanin collection, The School of Making, The Factory Store + Café, and Building 14 Design

+ Manufacturing Services. All facets work together to create a collaborative community and idea exchange, healthy growth, and a love of quality goods that last.

In 2013, Chanin won the CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge, an award competition that identifies and celebrates the greatest American designers working in the realm of sustainable fashion. Chanin continues to learn and to teach craft traditions, using them to bridge generational, economic, and cultural gaps. Chanin is also a mother of two, an avid gardener, and an enthusiastic cook from her home in Florence, Alabama.

Pam Baer is a native Texan who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a marketing/finance degree. Pam started her career in New York City in the financial services arena before becoming an entrepreneur in brand
marketing and strategy services, focusing on direct mail. After getting married she navigated cross country managing her business while starting her family in San Francisco. Since then, Pam has used her talents and resources to become a San Francisco based community leader whose philanthropic work includes projects related to
social good and healthcare for the vulnerable.

Pam joined the board of the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation in 2002 and served until 2019 when she was named a lifetime director. She founded and continues to chair the Transform Mental & Behavioral Fund.

Pam is a member of TPW Philanthropy and also serves as a Founder’s Circle Member of Every Mother Counts (EMC) advocating for women’s healthcare. Pam is also a Board Member of the Giants Community Fund and an Advisory Board Member of Nest, an organization dedicated to improving women’s well-being and preserving important cultural traditions around the world.

In addition to her foundation work, Pam has held many trustee and board positions such as the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Jewish Women’s Giving Circle along with schools and initiatives that benefit her local community. Pam is an Aspen Institute fellow, and in 2023 she joined The Kennedy Forum’s Alignment for Progress special committee. Implementing solutions for society’s vulnerable issues is a passion.

Pam is married to Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and together they have four children.

Phoebe has over twenty-five years of experience in business development, marketing and corporate/non profit partnerships. Campbell Associates, the boutique firm she founded in 2002 “married mission to marketplace” via strategic brand licensing between not for profits and major manufacturers and retailers. Collectively these generated millions of dollars in financial support while raising awareness and public engagement for clients’ missions.

Currently Phoebe divides her time between writing a book on the equestrian sport of three day eventing and working with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to develop a hybrid licensing/cause marketing initiative. She is an advisor to the Curry/Stone Design Prize, Nest, Ideo.org and served on the board of Architecture for Humanity from 2013-2015.

In her free time, Phoebe shares an enjoyment of horses, cooking, art and travel with her husband and two children. She recently adopted a 300-year-old cottage (with similarly aged termites) in rural Connecticut.

Sean Ansett is a sustainability professional with nearly 20 years experience. Sean provides strategic advice to corporations, social enterprise start-ups, UN agencies and non-profit organizations on ethical trade, human rights and environmental sustainability globally through his organization At Stake Advisors. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Board Liberty & Justice Clothing/UNIFORM, Senior Associate/Tutor at the  University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and was Executive Director of the Bangladesh Safety Accord and Chief Sustainability Officer at Fairphone.

Sean Ansett was the Director of Corporate Responsibility at Burberry in London. Previously, Sean was the Director of Global Partnerships at Gap Inc. where he led Gap Inc.’s social responsibility and stakeholder engagement strategy related to labor, environmental and human rights issues. He was the chief architect behind the company’s stakeholder engagement strategy significantly enhanced the company’s reputation.

He has served on several global multi-stakeholder initiatives including the Advisory Board of Social Accountability International, the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 expert committee, the Ethical Trading Initiative, a founding member of the MFA Forum and UNCTAD’s committee for integrating CSR indicators in financial reporting.

Sean is a regular speaker and writer. He has contributed and is quoted in Bloomberg, Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal amongst others. Sean is a returned United States Peace Corps and World Food Program volunteer. Sean has a Masters degree in Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge, Wolfson College and a Master’s of Science degree in Business Administration. He is fluent in Spanish.

Shea Soucie is Principal and co-founder, along with partner Martin Horner, of Chicago- and Naples, Florida-based interior architecture, and design firm Soucie Horner, Ltd. Established in 2000, Soucie Horner, Ltd. is comprised of three distinct business divisions. Soucie Horner Interiors designs highly personalized spaces that define, embody, and enhance each client’s unique idea of living well. Soucie Horner Collections creates custom furniture, lighting, and textiles. SH Studio leverages nearly two decades of experience designing high-end luxury interiors to partner with developers to elevate the built environments in which people live, work, and play.

Soucie is also co-founder of SHIIR Rugs, an artisanal rug company established in 2012. SHIIR Rugs is represented in eleven showrooms across the United States and Europe, including Holly Hunt; Jennifer West; De Sousa Hughes; David Sutherland; ALT for Living; David Adler; Estudio Casa; and Tim Page Carpets in London.

In addition, Soucie is a member of the Leaders of Design Council, dedicated to strengthening the design profession through education programs and networking; a member of the Design Leadership Network; and a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization. She is also an Executive Board member of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, which prepares low-income students with the scholarship, discipline, and honor necessary to succeed in college and lead exemplary lives, and also serves as a catalyst for education reform in Chicago. She is a former faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Soucie attended the Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture.

Shea lives in Chicago with her husband and four children.

Steven Kolb is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). He oversees all operations for the American fashion industry’s group of 500 designers, and manages CFDA’s membership, activities and philanthropic efforts such as Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, disaster relief and HIV/AIDS.

In his role, Kolb also helped cultivate emerging American fashion talent through programs such as the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and the CFDA {Fashion Incubator}. Under his guidance, the annual CFDA Fashion Awards has become the preeminent spotlight on American fashion.

Kolb also led the CFDA in the acquisition of the Fashion Calendar, spearheaded the launch of New York Fashion Week: Men’s, and established CFDA’s Strategic Partnerships Group.

Additionally, he was instrumental in creating CFDA’s Health Initiative to address health issues among models.  He also helped develop Fashion Manufacturing Initiative to revitalize   New York City’s garment industry.

Kolb works directly with CFDA Chairwoman Diane von Furstenberg and the Board of Directors comprised of America’s foremost designers. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University.