In the beginning of 2023 I spent 2 moths in India deepening my yoga practice and diving into the Indian culture. I spent most of my time in Gokulam, Mysore, where the yoga school I attended was located. This is where I also met Theja - together with her husband Basava they run Old Green House Cafe - one of the nicest family-run restaurants with the yummiest South Indian food in the area. Old Green House was one of the first places I checked out when I arrived in Gokulam, and I was met with such genuine hospitality, that I immediately fell in love with the place. Theja greeted me first with a big smile and a “Namaste”. She exuded such contentment and joy just by being, that I immediately wanted to figure out what the secret to this happiness and contentment is. Me and Theja talked about happiness, family values, growing the children, managing the cafe, and so much more. I am so happy we managed to make it happen, and hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Milica Spiric. Milica hails from Serbia but she’s moved to Milan, Italy, for her business studies at Bocconi 10 years ago. Afterwards she moved to Vienna for her masters, where she met Dessie and has been a dear friend since. She’s built an impressive career in talent acquisition, she is passionate for diversity and inclusion, and a proud feminist. She is very passionate about music as well, and spoiler alert, she sang a little something at the end of this episode.  Mili and Dessie talk about diversity, inclusion, working cultures, overcoming bias, and feminism. About learning about yourself from communicating with others and thus learning about others. They discuss concepts such as the stereotype threat - the perception that women are not good with numbers etc. that leads to “male dominated industries”, and motherhood penalty, or the decrease in salary for a woman after giving birth. They also address toxic masculinity, and on the other hand the rise of the feminine, that is bringing wealth and health on every level, including an increase in GDP in women-lead countries. 

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Sabrina Satzinger.  Sabrina is the founder and maker behind Saborka - a Vegan Bag brand based in Vienna, Austria. Saborka makes timeless, unique, and high quality accessories for all walks of life, fairly produced in-house by the founder, Sabrina, herself.  Craftsmanship, local production, responsible use of resources and materials are at the core of everything Saborka does. Dessie and Sabrina talk about transparency, sustainability, and the importance of an open conversation when it comes to sustainability.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Selina Ho. Selina is the Founder & CEO of Recloseted, the first one-stop consultancy for sustainable fashion. Selina and Dessie talk about best practices within the sustainable fashion space, as well as mindful ways to avoid overwhelm in the daily business of managing a sustainable brand.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Jessie Peterson. Jessie is a nomadic humanitarian, yoga enthusiast, spiritually curious, and ultimately committed to making the world a better place. After growing up in a small town in Nebraska US, she set her sights on manifesting a life she loved to live through exploration of the world, herself, and the cosmos. They talk all about life between working as a humanitarian, and running a mindful fashion business, manifesting, limiting beliefs, and the feeling of home.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Podcast Dessie welcomes Kayane Mahrejian. Kayane is a construction engineer for 27 years turned fashion designer, who followed her dream to establish her own fashion brand - Kaiane Designs. The brand is a platform of artistic expression and a sharing of her own life experiences about love, travel, passion and conscious living.

In this episode of "D Sustainability Issue" Dessie welcomes Mauricio Alpizar. Mauricio Alpizar hails from Costa Rica and is now based in Bali, where he currently designs and produces his ethical and sustainable clothing brand. His prints are inspired by nature, and created using eco-friendly inc and printed on 100% sustainably sourced woodline fabric. For his latest collection Mauricio collaborates with SMESTA Fabrics, using a quite innovative acacia woodchip fibre for his designs, which is sustainably sourced and printed in Indonesia. The whole production process, including the release of water into the environment, is designed in the most environmentally friendly way, to ensure the least impact possible.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie shares exciting snippets of her meeting with Sadhguru at the SaveSoil Event in Vienna in March 2022. You will hear about: 1. What does a Guru have to do with the fashion industry? The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, and more than 60% of the fibres used in it are synthetic. For our health and for the health of our planet, we need to more to more natural fibres in fashion. Sadhguru created a big campaign called Fashion for Peace, which advocated for that at NYFW in 2019. 1. #SaveSoil - the purpose of Sadhguru’s visit to Vienna and what you can do to help too. Soil is a living organism, and it enables all life on the planet. Over the last 100 years 50% of the world’s top soil has been degraded and destroyed. This leads to draught, food shortages, and climate disaster. With his movement Conscious Planet, Sadhguru is addressing this and trying to get world leaders on board, so we can ensure the future of the next generations. 1. Sharing snippets from the conversation with Sadhguru after the Save Soil event in Vienna. Hope these simply inspire you the way they inspired me to learn more about these topics, and most importantly, to take action.

In this episode of "D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Orsola De Castro. Orsola is a pioneer in sustainable fashion and co-founder and creative director of Fashion Revolution - a global movement for transparency and accountability in the fashion industry which started in response to the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013. Orsola’s career began in 1997 when she founded “From Somewhere”, her label that combined sustainable thinking with using luxury designer pre-consumer waste. In 2006 she founded Estethica - the sustainability arena of London Fashion Week. Alongside revolutionising fast fashion culture, Orsola is a regular keynote speaker, educator, and mentor. Most recently, she published her first book Loved Clothes Last - How The Joy of Rewearing And Repairing Your Clothes Can Become a Revolutionary Act.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Julie Allen. Julie is an author, a sustainability awareness activist, the CEO of Mary Rose NW Boutique, and founder of the Mary Rose Foundation. Julie started Mary Rose NW Boutique because she recognized the need for a clothing shop that focused on body acceptance, self-love, and helping all bodies feel beautiful and confident in their clothes. Julie talks about the huge gap of size inclusion in the ethical fashion industry, and the way to move forward.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes João Botelho. João has been working on sustainability projects with Farfetch, a Luxury Fashion online marketplace. He studied Business at WU Vienna, and has been passionate for sustainability and circular economy for a long time, having started his own initiatives such as Recycle Geeks. We talk about Positively Farfetch - Farfetch’s dedication to sustainability, which has three main focus points - Circularity, Reduction, and Consciousness. To hear all about Farfetch’s approach to sustainability and João’s personal take on the topic, join us and listen to the full interview. 

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Farah liz Pallaro. Farah is a mentor, an educator, and an author. She has more than 20 of experience in fashion design, trend research, brand management, and teaching. Recently she also launched her own online community platform for self-discovery, alignment, and growth.  She’s collaborated with some of the most renown international brands and institutions such as DelPozo, Dolce & Gabbana,  Borsalino, Luisa Via Roma, Marangoni, Coventry University and so many more. In 2018 she published her book: “Fashion.Business.Spirituality: A call to the light workers of the fashion industry”, which is a manual for fashion professionals who want to approach their work in a more mindful way. She shares her insights on the business of fashion, spirituality, as well as all the ways to make our lives better and more aligned.

As Coco Chanel said, “Fashion comes and goes but style lasts forever.” Liisa Jokinen’s life philosophy is a full embodiment of that quote. As she says of herself, she is not into fashion at all, but into style. Style tells a story and says more about a person than any fashionable item can. Liisa is a real street style legend, having photographed street style since back in 2005. Originally from Finnland, she now lives and works in New York. She is the creator of NYC Looks and Her Looks street style sites. Since most recently, she is the founder of Gem Vintage search app - a search engine for vintage fashion globally that you should definitely give a try. Alongside the benefits of shopping vintage and expressing yourself through it, we discuss super practical tipps for shopping successfully for vintage online. I could definitely take a few away, and I’m sure you will too. Check out the full podcast episode for all of them and our super inspiring conversation.

Jasmin is an expert in sustainability, circular economy, and mindful consumption. She has more than 10 years of business experience - from finance to fashion tech. Jasmin wrote her bachelor thesis about sustainability in the European fashion industry and did a master in sustainability and responsible businesses. She’s been working as a consultant and auditor at KPMG Austria, where she established the department circular economy. In March 2020 she founded WeDressCollective - a fashion rental platform with the vision to build an ecosystem where everyone can enjoy fashion in a sustainable way. Check out the full episode for all the details of her story and rental venture.

Ever experienced that pride feeling when purchasing something that's labeled "Made in Europe"? Yes, me too. For the sustainability conscious among us, it can give a sort of "clean consciousness" feeling, but let us uncover what actually stands behind it.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Podcast, Dessie welcomes Alina Bassi - a Chemical Engineer turned entrepreneur with a big passion for sustainability. With seven years experience designing and building factories that turn waste into energy and biofuels, she decided to start her own venture, Kleiderly, to tackle the issue of textile waste. She has developed an award winning, patent pending solution to transform textile waste into a plastic alternative, which can be used to produce anything from furniture to clothing hangers to sunglasses. Hence Kleiderly is solving two environmental problems with one solution. Alina is an advocate for women in STEM (Science technology, engineering, and mathematics), as well as one of the founding members of Tech In Colour, an initiative supporting female founders of colour to raise investment. More recently, she joined the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2020, in the Manufacturing and Industry category. Besides fashions’s waste problem and it’s solution, we talk about leadership, as well as mindfulness practices that support Alina as a founder.

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but the majority are less-than-friendly to the environment and the people involved in the mining and production process. In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes the founders of Aether (https://aetherdiamonds.com/) - the world’s first positive-impact and truly sustainable diamonds: alchemized from air and hand-set in responsibly-sourced metals.

In this episode of “D Sustainability Issue” Dessie welcomes Iris Skrami, Founder of Renoon, the smartest tool for finding sustainable clothing from multiple websites at once. Iris was born in Milan, and started out her career in digital and innovation at various multinational companies including Luxottica, NIKE, and PVH, which saw her relocate to the Netherlands. Since the launch of Renoon in 2020 it has gained a huge recognition internationally. Dessie and Iris break down the tool, the business model behind it, and how it can help shift the industry towards more sustainability, how does the team define sustainability and what does this mean for the products you find on the platform. They also touch upon Iris’s passion for yoga, and how this journey has influenced her career. 

In this episode Dessie welcomes Janice Sommer - a model, podcast host, sustainability activist and sustainable business growth strategist. She founded and is the host of the podcast and blog "In Conscious Conversation" (https://www.inconsciousconversation.com/), as well as part of Model Mafia, an organization that fights for a fairer, safer, and more inclusive fashion industry. They talk about career switches, what is it to be a model activist, and how to take better everyday fashion choices.

In this episode Dessie welcomes Joanna Dai, founder and CEO of innovative womenswear brand DAI. The brand is committed to empowering women and making positive environmental and social impact through eco-certified materials, timeless aesthetics and tech-enabled fit. Before taking the leap to start the brand, Joanna was an investment banker for 8 years at J.P. Morgan in New York and London.