Dominique: “i’ve actually been thinking about paths a lot lately, and every aspect of my path has led me here. my family upbringing, my education, random conversations i’ve had in life, things i questioned in my youth, my ancestry, my birth chart — all of it. the mosaic of my experiences led me here, doing exactly what i want and need to be doing as my legacy work. i’m most inspired by people on the ground in targeted communities who are doing the work in various ways but aren't social media-recognized or don’t have any grand notoriety. the everyday hard-working Black and Brown folks in particular who are unsung heroes — they inspire me the most, especially the youth as creative vessels of expression and activism.”

Whitney: “i grew up in the Midwest. working class family and before that sharecroppers and before that enslaved. so I would say that path led me here. my mother is an artist, so that’s the seed that was nurtured and watered and grew into a passion for protecting the intellectual property of Black artists. i received a full tuition scholarship to a boarding school in Newport, R.I. when i was 13 and that opened my eyes to the higher standards dominant culture set for the education of their children. so i gained somewhat of a skill in navigating a drastically different world from the one i grew up in. after that, i moved to DC to attend George Washington University, where i became more engaged in organized activism. i helmed a few social justice organizations and graduated into a recession. i worked as a paralegal (which i was terrible at) and quickly realized i could be paid five times more to do the same shit. so i went to law school a couple of years later. i also wrote grants for an adaptive athletics organization for children with disabilities between college and law school. my property professor introduced me to fashion law during my first year of law school. this was 2011. it was also the first year of Fordham’s fashion law symposium, which i attended. during my second year, i linked with some Black women at Howard University School of Law, who actually started a week-long fashion law symposium before Fordham’s. anyway, that’s when i started creating intentional spaces for community education about topics that impact them, but are routinely kept out of public discourse. especially when it comes to sustainability. over the past decade, i’ve maintained that commitment to non-traditional education, and community activism, especially within fashion in various capacities.

i’m inspired by people who live full lives. i am fortunate to be surrounded by so many amazing and nuanced humans, especially Black women. i’m inspired by the people i know and love daily. i’m driven by this overwhelming aversion to injustice i’ve had since i was a small child and the promise i made to myself to live a liberated life despite. the work i produce and ideate is an extension of that aversion and promise.”

Whitney: “life is hard right now. i am dealing with the grief of losing loved ones to COVID-19. i am dealing with financial insecurity. i am worried about the future of this country my ancestors willingly and reluctantly have called "home" for more than six generations. but i’m also reclaiming my time and my liberation now more than ever, meditating on the fact that none of the deaths of my ancestors by the hands of broken men were in vain. i’m finding motivation, most days, to get up and work on the various initiatives Sustainable Brooklyn is ideating for our community. i’m resting much more, and becoming more intentional about putting my health, imagining and care first. outside of this global pandemic, nothing about these times is crazy to Black people. all of this has BEEN crazy. de jure and de facto violence and discrimination are part and parcel of our existence.”

Dominique: “for me, life is actually the same with the exception of consistent air travel. fighting against racism, anti-Blackness, genocide while building sustainability through community has been consistent in our work from the beginning. since before the pandemic, i was growing my own food in my backyard, discussing the importance of intersectional paradigms in fashion, food and wellness, integrating healing into my personal rituals, checking on community, writing / reading, etc. my immediate lifestyle hasn't shifted much and my work has been streamlined in that way, but, of course, made even more important, especially for the BIPOC community who is continuously impacted. however, i’m absorbing the waves of a global pandemic, anti-Black epidemic and climate change — all of which disproportionately affect the Black community and Native Brown indigenous communities globally — and for that — there is a shift in my thinking and daily practices and my urge to help build solutions and stability.”