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Green Shoots & Big Shifts is hosted by Reetu Gupta, who started the show to have open, hopeful conversations about what it really takes to make sustainability part of how we live, lead, and work.
Each week, she talks with people doing innovative, meaningful work, turning ideas into action. From startup founders and corporate change-makers to community leaders - reimagining how business, society, and the planet can thrive together.
These are stories about innovation, collaboration, possibility, and the everyday shifts that move us toward a more abundant and resilient future.
you're listening to Green Shoots and Big Shifts
the show that spotlights the people and ideas
transforming our world for the better I'm your host
Reetu Gupta in every episode
I'll be talking with innovators and trailblazers
who are reimagining
our relationship with our planet earth
whether it's a small spark of innovation
or a sweeping shift in how we live and work
we'll explore the stories that give us hope
and the actions making a difference together
we are planting seeds of change and driving big shifts
for a healthier abundant sustainable future
hi this is Reetu Gupta your host for Green
Shoots and Big Shifts podcast
today I have with me Veena Jayadeva
she is the founder of Kareena's Closet she's been
a leader in sustainability
international development
highly accomplished and we met through another
another community called
for South Asian women called Bad Cheat so
giving a shout out to Sandia Jane who started it
welcome
welcome Vina it's so great to have you on the podcast
thank you for having me well so
our audience would love to learn more about you
you know diving in
tell us more about like you've had a diverse
very diverse rich
career in sustainability international development
and now you're a founder you're an entrepreneur
like share with us your your journey
like how did you get started
you know being an entrepreneur is not easy
and not for everyone so just curious about like
how did it all happen
so I actually never thought that I would
be an entrepreneur myself I started out my career
early on as you had mentioned
in international development
so I focused primarily in on
microfinance so early in my career
I worked at institutions like the World Bank
and non profit institutions
where I focused in on microfinance
which is really about investing in women
and it was these micro entrepreneurs
these are women who fell below the poverty line
across the world and one of the things I Learned
was that when you invest in women
it is quite possibly the best investment anybody
can ever make because the impact is not just economic
impact on the women and their families but
the community and society at at large
and so I spent a lot of my time in this social impact
kind of space whether it was at the World Bank
United Nations these multilateral institutions
then I moved
into the non profit space I was directly on the ground
helping these female micro entrepreneurs and then I
decided to go to business school and learn the
I guess the the the tips and the tricks and the
all the things that I thought would help me be more effective
bringing a business mindset
to this kind of social impact work
end up going back into the non profit
world after spending a couple of years at the Boston
Consulting Group and
I really feel like it was an extension of my MBA
like honing my skills working in the private sector
then to
continue in this impact work that was always the goal
I find myself a few years later working
at the intersection of the corporate world and
social impact
so for me at the time it was corporate social
responsibility so I did a lot of work around
strategic philanthropy corporate philanthropy
community engagement
and that morphed into a career in ESG
which is environmental social governance
so is a broader spectrum of
okay what does sustainability actually mean
it's not necessarily only about people and communities
it's about the planet also and how all of that is very
interconnected
so how does that all relate to Kareena's Closet
Kareena's Closet
at its heart it is a peer to peer designer direct
rental and resale platform for South Asian formal wear
that seems pretty
straightforward individuals they can either
sell or rent their items from their own closets
in terms of items that they hardly ever use
or don't use anymore so we're trying to take a waste
what is like a something that's considered a waste
into a resource and we're trying to combat this
notion of over consumption
in the in the South Asian community because our
standards for what it means to show up at
weddings and cultural celebrations
that standard has gone up you know our incomes
have all gone up but I also think with the advent of social
media
and just this pressure to always wear something new
because you're going to be photographed
because you're going to be featured
you know within your family and your friends circle
there's this need for something different
every time and so we're trying to cater
to that through our platform
saying you can wear something
different but it doesn't necessarily have to be new
right off the rack and be something
that somebody's only worn a couple of times
and you'll still have that same kind of experience
and oh by the way you're gonna spend less money
and for me all this comes together because
I realized I no longer wanted to work in the corporate
space full time
I felt like I was fulfilling somebody else's mandate
and trying to do work
in a time especially in the United States where
whether it was from a political
standpoint a regulatory standpoint just that climate
and not to put a pun on it in terms of climate
here in the United States has been
very anti Dei very anti community very anti
environmental sustainability and
though these are these are things that affect everyone
across communities in the United States
and so I thought could I be more effective
in terms of bringing my perspective
for social impact and environmental sustainability
and bring it into my own company
that is trying to push the needle in my own kind of way
I think those of us who are doing this kind of work
and I imagine a lot of your podcast
guests also and yourself we're all pieces of a puzzle
trying to come together to really
make that societal impact and make that impact
in our communities but also you know on on the planet
and so Karina's closet to me is a manifestation
of that what can I do
where I can bring my whole self to the table
I'm bringing
this professional perspective I've had I'm bringing
my passion and it's something for my community
and it's something that can make a tangible impact
so much of the time when you lead these functions
in these large corporations
you're setting lofty goals
you're talking about things in a very
lofty type of a way using all this very specialized
language and acronyms and all these things that's quite fancy
that sounds great in a report
but in real life what does that actually translate
to how are we taking this perspective
and actually impacting people's everyday decisions
Queen's Closet is a way for me to make people think
okay I may not be able to save the world
but maybe this one decision that I make
can be good for my wallet and good for the planet also
I hope that answers
the question in a very long winded kind of way
I love it I love it and
you know as you can imagine it's it's
a topic I'm personally interested in and I'm
I'm South Asian I'm Indian I've been to many weddings
and all all the different celebrations
which we have which are lovely
and I've also seen the escalation of like
what you need to wear
and how you need to show up and every
and it going from like two days of a wedding to like five days and
five different outfits
and you know you can't be like I will be the one who will come in like the old
sorry when
everyone is like dressed up
so you kind of wanna do it but at the same time I personally
struggled like from a moral perspective
is like my God another dress like you know
what am I doing to this
to the world so I love what you're doing
and I also think is what you're doing
what I like about it is it has a community
aspect because as you were saying sustainability cannot
be talked down it can't be like we have these goals
let's just go implement them it has to it's
it's we need a cultural change we need
a societal change and that's why I also love what
what you are doing because it's changing forcing
people to think in a different way
while still having fun right so I love that
you know we'll come back to sustainability
in a minute but I you know
and I it's a reflection of your background in
microfinance and how you were working
with women and to support them
Kareena's Closet is not just about you know reusing
or reinventing the clothes
you are creating an ecosystem
of or connecting an ecosystem of women other women
entrepreneurs
can you talk about that a little bit absolutely
I mean at a basic level when individuals especially
the women in our community
who are participating on this platform
and they are they have a they have an opportunity to
to rent or resell their outfits they themselves kind of
become their own micro entrepreneurs
and I think a lot of times I forget about that
because I'm focused in on the partner designers
that we work with so we partner with
US based South Asian designers who are
interested in in piloting
a rental model as a source of revenue for themselves
but they're also increasingly
South Asian designers that are very
interested in sustainability
more broadly so the rental model
really speaks to them because they want to obviously
run a financially sustainable business
but they also are trying to find ways to make it more environmentally
conscious and it's not just in terms of the materials
they use or the the I the garments being made you know
made in an ethical kind of manner
but also that rental is a way to
not have to keep feeding the machine
having to produce produce produce produce
in order to make a living
right so the hypothesis is how can we support
small South Asian designers here in the United States
and have rental as a potential
stream of revenue for them
the other piece of it that was really
important to me and this leans
back on that background in microfinance and supporting
women entrepreneurs is
we are building out an ecosystem
of small micro businesses that specialize in the
refreshing
repairing revamping of clothing so what does that mean
it means the dry cleaners that we trust
who know how to take care of our South Asian garments
it is the tailors that everybody has access
to because they have a text thread or WhatsApp group
with their aunties and their friends and their cousins
saying who do you trust right so how do we actually
pull all that collective knowledge to say
here across the United States
these are kind of the vetted trusted
small businesses that you know protect our clothing
that will repair our clothing
that will help extend us longevity
all that is actually very important
pieces to what we consider sustainable fashion
so we have the tailors
and there's an ecosystem of repairs also
so increasingly there's a real interest
in how do I prolong the longevity of my garment by
repairing it so it's not just repairing a zipper
or replacing a button
it is how do we make these garments stronger
how do I reinforce
some of the detailed work that is done so that
I can then
continue to wear this you know into into the future
so and then the last piece of it is
there are people who are truly interested in taking
existing garments and making into something new
so it could be another type of garment it could be
another type of
something that is used in the household
it could be something related to accessories
whatever it is
but these are all people that we want to
support as part of this ecosystem
so that entrepreneurship piece of it is our members
it is ourselves obviously
as as owners of this company founders of this company
it is the designers we support
through our partnerships and then it's this ecosystem
of the refreshing
revamping and repairing up garments
that we're trying to foster across the country
yeah I I love that because again you're building
as you said you're building an ecosystem I've seen
digressing a little bit I there's another company
I don't remember the name that
trying to do that in shoe repair
and I love that all these
models are coming up like yours this other company
so that we can start to value
like we used to value our our belongings
maybe two generations ago even one generation ago
a lot like you know
pass it on from one generation to another generation
something happened in the last 20 years that
you no longer value that so I love this again
this is a cultural
piece I love that you're bringing that back that
you value what you have you enhance it you keep it
I'm sure you have many
interesting lovely stories where you added joy
to people's life by giving
you know something old a new life
can you share like some
some stories there's so many stories
and what I love about what we do in Korea's closet is it is not this
notion that you must rent from us
you must buy a pre loved
piece from us that's not what it is at all
in fact there's
a holistic set of services that we provide
we will go into people's closets and say
you have these wonderful things what can we do with it
how can how can you pair
it up in a different way with something
you already have
how can you enhance it in this kind of way
how can you style it in a different way
and the sari is the absolutely
perfect example of a garment that has been passed
down from generation to generation
and for our generation
typically just sitting in the closet right
we don't get invited to the type of maybe
the type of event
we think we should be wearing a sorry to
and by the way you can wear a sorry for anything
and that's a myth that we're trying to
dismantle with some of the work that we're doing and
and and we do dressing and draping and styling and
sorry is a perfect example
it is the most universal garment out there it fits
everybody
and so how do we make it into something that works
for you as an individual
so I have always enjoyed draping the sari in fact
that is what I wear
for most cultural religious celebrations
I don't have much more in my closet in terms of
but we consider ethnic wear
except for saris and I've always felt like an outlier
and what I've loved
about what I've seen in social media in the last few years
is this resurgence of
you know how do we take this beautiful textile
and drape it in so many different ways that
sometimes you can't even tell that it's a sorry so
for example
I went to a recent non profit gala and I used this
beautiful
Assamese textile it had been given to me sorry
as a as a gift and I paired it with one of the
blouses that I had from one of our designer partners
called love and designs and I took this this textile
the mekhla chador from Assam
and I draped it almost it was just like a skirt
but the whole outfit came together like a gown
and I don't think anybody could have told
could have been able to tell that I wore a blouse
from one designer
and then I wore this really beautiful
traditional textile as as the bottom of my garment
we've taken beautiful silk saris
and we've done it in princess
drapes we've done very unusual drapes
we've done it for corporate events
you've done it for galas
you've done it for the valley celebrations
I have gone to corporate galas
I've gone to non profit galas that are not South Asian
wearing saris before so that is my favorite
that's very personal to me I wish
more people would want to explore that with me
we have been thinking about doing workshops
so this is a side to encourage individuals
so we're very you know we're very
inclusive in terms of who would like to join us
but learn how to drape
wherever different items in your in your closet
have fun with it and that joy
piece of it the creativity piece of it that you were
alluding to that
is at the core of all of it it is how do we celebrate
and honor
the culture the traditions that we that we come from
it has
there has to be an aspect of joy in it it's the color
it's the texture it's the
the embellishments it's it's all of it and
none of it's too much
I think that's the other piece of it where it's like oh
this is just gonna be too much for the occasion
no no no no
it is about that maximalism it's okay embrace it
embrace it to its fullest
and you know show up as your full stuff it's as full self
it is absolutely OK yeah yeah absolutely and
I when I whenever you're offering those workshops
I will if I if they're online
I'll sign up because I have to admit
like I have these beautiful stories so my mom likes
to collect so she collected these beautiful
saris from different parts of India like
they are like one in a in a like a thousand because
some of them you can no longer get if you get
wanna get it's like 40 times the price and
I have to admit
I'm guilty I'm not very good at draping
so but I look at them and I'm like they're beautiful
and then I put them back so it would be I'm sure that
I'm not the only one who's like that no absolutely not
and there are designers
increasingly of course there's always been tailors
in India who do this but there are also designers
who are increasingly
taking these fabrics and making them into garments
that can be worn
more often so we partner with a designer aramsey
with a beautiful wonderful
human being Megan Chaturvedi who is the designer she
takes these banarsi saris
and makes them into various garments
so she has a wonderful suit
like a power suit that a woman can wear
that just looks stunning
she will take these textiles and make them into beautiful
skirts and pants and and blouses and all all types of
all types of items then I think about long time ago
maybe I must have been in college let's say in my 20s
and this there was this notion of how do you take these saris
and upcycle them and do you know pillowcases
and curtains and then this sort of a thing right
which is pretty basic now you can take these beautiful
garments and and make them into
pieces that you can use every day right
you can make blouses out of them
make suits out of them jackets out of them
beautiful dresses out of them and so we have
a lot more opportunity to make use of those textiles
whether you're draping them or not
you know my hope is how do we educate people
not just it's it's not this guilty
feeling of I don't know how to drape
you must learn how to drape
for those who are interested
we would love to serve as that resource
that more than anything
it is how do we celebrate and make use of these beautiful
textiles that are laying around it's not a prescriptive
you must do it this kind of a way
it is let's open the door and see what's possible
and what works for you that's the most important thing
yeah beautiful so
want to switch subjects a little bit
and go back to where we started sustainability I I know
we've talked a little bit like
you see this as a platform to make impact
and sustainability is one of the areas of impact so
how do you like
I can think about like there's generational differences
there is regional like India is not a monolith
right there are regional differences
there are cultural differences there are
you know generational differences how do you educate
like how do you start the conversation
depending on where the person is on like hey you
don't need to buy a
I'm sure you don't do it that way but like you know
you don't need to buy a new thing you can
you know create from what you have you can buy or rent
a pre
loved one like how does that go like I can imagine
some people are like more open versus
not so I totally agree that
South Asia is not a monolith so we're talking about
generational differences
we're talking about all the various communities
within India and then you take into
account and I I say this as as a Indian American
and then of course you have
all the countries that represent South Asia
and then you have the diaspora on top of it and we're
including Indo Caribbean and Indo African communities
so we're definitely not the monolith
and so what we do does not resonate with everyone
and we have to be comfortable with that right
and we spent the first year before we actually launched
our I would say not our formal
platform but actually launched our rentals
spent all that time talking to hundreds of people
mostly women I will say cause we were originally
focusing our business on the rental business and women
we spoke to a lot of South Asian women
across generations across the United States
trying to get a sense of
are what is what we are proposing
is that something that you need are we solving
a problem or is it this only in our head
or are we only trying to solve our own problem
but not trying to think about what the community needs
the other piece of it was
what else are we not offering that you need
so it is what is your problem and how can we solve it
we came in with the solution
but we wanted to make sure that the
solution was needed and trying to figure out
how else should we be enhancing it
and so hence we went from only doing peer to peer
to also partnering with designers
and then moving from just rental to also resale
and then for a lot of women we're just busy
professionals let's be honest
about it we don't have time to do this side
hustle of I'm going to you know rent
out my closet and there are plenty of companies
that do that we will actually take
individuals garments
and we will then be able to market
them and be able to rent
them out or sell them for for someone
and so that is a service that we decided to take on
before we did our launch because
this is what the community needed so we've had to pivot
in lots of different ways to make sure that we were
keeping to what the to what hour
what we think our community what our members want
and then
from that we realized that we have a set of services
that are not gonna work for everyone
so some people will want to rent
because it makes economic sense or they feel that
they don't have the space in their literally
don't have the space in their closet to buy all the time
or they have some kind of environmental sustainability
lens that they're putting into this choice
and I'll be honest sustainability is not
like that is not the core
of what a lot of our members are thinking about
I think through time and through engaging
and educating and engaging our membership
that and I think about this
writ large in terms of society
we're going to be thinking about it more
in all the decisions
that we make but we're not there yet
so we're not trying to
say do this only because it is what is environmentally
better everybody
has a different reason why they're doing it
and we honor all those different reasons
and there will be people who think
I don't wanna give up I don't wanna give up these items
then don't right there's no pressure to do so
if you think there's some sort of
I don't know karmic I don't know essence in the garment
from the person entanglement that
from the previous owner then please by all means
this is not something that you need to do
right however you know people in the community
you know that there are others
with whom this could resonate
like let's get the word out and figure out what
you know where we can pull from in the community
the other piece about what we do in terms of being
inclusive because I'm mentioning all these different
regions of South Asia
because we all come to it with our own you know our own
from like a stylistic
standpoint right and the textiles and the history
around all of that it's so diverse
and it's so beautiful
and it's so rich and we want that reflected in
the variety that we have available on our platform
the other piece of it is how can we just be more
inclusive period
so this is size inclusivity this is a notion that
if you wanna wear it and it makes you feel good
then please wear it right
we have women who are renting
sherwanis from us because they look fabulous in them
these are beautiful pieces
why should they not wear it
why are we saying only men should wear this and women
should not wear this right so we are open to whatever
makes you feel good and makes you feel like you are bringing
your full self to the table and so that's
that's a piece
that we are very passionate about too so it's really
diversity and inclusivity
inclusivity in its fullest self at fullest sense
and so I think this is a journey that we're on that we're
going to just keep exploring and expanding over time
but this is the concept that we have in mind
yeah thank you for sharing that
so where where do you want to take it like what is
what is I'm sure as a founder you're thinking about
what's like where do you want to take it in the next 3
5 years I would love to open up a physical showroom
for our pieces
because I think that there are such wonderful
garments that our members want to see in person
we do a lot of in person fittings that's
another thing too so we do a lot of online
you know transactions
and we have people who are going to our website
people who see us on Instagramour website by the way is www.kareenascloset.com
and our IG handle is @shopKareenasCloset
K A R E E N A
so we we have a lot of people who come to us online but
we're talking about garments and textiles
this is a very like tactile kind of a thing
right I know a lot of people do online shopping
but I still think that nothing beats
that in person experience
because if you have somebody
there with you who can bring a different perspective to the table
I can't tell you how many times I've had a stylist
or like a personal shopper introduce me to something
that I would have never picked out for myself
because I'm always going towards
what I'm comfortable with and then I feel amazing
and something that somebody else picked for me
so that in person experience
I think is really key and we do have people who come
come into our spaces to do this
but I would love a dedicated
showroom to create that beautiful curated
private experience for our members
I see us partnering with not just
big name designers I've never been
interested in that actually I've never been
interested in the big designers because basically
they have they have
enough people who are supporting them they have
they have a sustainable business on their own I'm talking about the smaller designer
they're coming in with a point of view and they're
taking this risk and putting themselves
out there and starting their own brand
starting their own business
those are the people that we want to support
I think about the collaborations that are possible with
all kinds of small businesses
especially South Asian small businesses
and that's what I wanna do
that's what I would love to do with the physical space
that's what I would like to do with our
with our brand and our platform I can't wait to
build out this network
of micro and small entrepreneurs that do the
you know the the dry cleaning
and the repairing and the tailoring because
we have access to national platforms
that we can introduce them to
to build their own businesses right these tailors
don't need to only cater to the South Asian community
they can be a resource for all so
yes I want to throw them business
in terms of our membership and
what we need at Korea's Closet
I also want to elevate what they do
and have our platform be a way for them to access
other work like sustainability
is not just about environmental sustainability
right it's about how do we ensure livelihoods
and how do we ensure that people have dignified work
and you like you were saying
our communities used to value this work in the past
you're talking about shoes
you know I always get my shoes resold
the best ones are the ones that I've kept for
so long that I've been getting
you know getting resold and and taken care of
those are my best those are my best pieces so I think
we've been doing this for a very long time as a community
and we've kind of lost it along the way
so how do we bring that value back
and part of it is being willing to
like pay that fair wage to do so
and we've gotten so used to just like cheaply made
synthetic I mean let's be honest
synthetic just means plastic
by the way right so we're just all wearing plastic
clothes that are poorly made
and some of them are actually really expensive
I was trying to explain that to my daughter
just because something expensive
is expensive doesn't mean it's better
you can still pay a hell of a lot of money for plastic
and it's also poorly made
it's just expensive it's just
expensive crap quite frankly
so price doesn't mean really anything
in terms of quality so
that's a whole other conversation that we could have
but
but these are the things that I think about right like how do we
how do we encourage people to buy less
take care of what they have think about
supporting small businesses
that's where I see ourselves and me personally
I would love someday and I'm putting this
putting this out into the universe
I would love someday for this platform
to serve as a way for designers and maybe myself
I'm putting I'm putting the
thought there in the universe out even to myself
do we design garments
that are actually meant for rental
like we're not designing
for retail we're not designing for things to be
made in a factory and have
100 produced of one size and one skew
that's not sustainable for for the planet and honestly
are your customers gonna be wearing it 100 times
no likely not so how do we then encourage
this different way of producing
something that is ethically made well made
made to last and it's made for rental that can reach
so many more people than you just creating a garment
that one person is gonna wear and keep forever and
buried in their closet so there's so many places
where this can go but I feel like we're just starting
and I just can't wait to see the next handful of years what will happen
yeah I'm so excited to see your journey
it just made me think also like you know
we were just talking before we started recording
about the heat wave in New York and
a lot of these synthetic materials
of what's on the market
is not very breathable as it gets hotter or
humid or colder in certain areas
with climate change like how do we adapt that garment
how do we you know put that thinking and care
for the person who's wearing it so they're also
they look good but they're also comfortable in
what they are wearing I totally agree
sustainable fashion is not just something that is
like a surface level
kind of a thing right it's not a shallow consideration
actually people think of sustainable fashion
they think oh it's just about how you look on the outside
no actually when you're talking about the rising
temperatures
and here in New York it's 100 degrees which is crazy
what you wear is actually really important
it's almost like a climate mitigation strategy
if in terms of what garments
are you going to choose to wear and choose to keep
because of these
extreme fluctuations in temperature so
I would say you know take your synthetic aka plastic
garment and put it outside for a while by itself
in the hot sun and see if it melts and then realize
I probably should not be wearing this mm hmm
yeah I'm trying to speak maybe that's an experiment
hahaha yeah it's an experiment we should try
or it's like can you breathe
can you breathe like can you like you know survive
I'm trying to replace everything in my closet with
you know either like like pure materials like linen
cotton silks because
you know I just wanna be comfortable
yeah I totally hear you yeah one
one other point I wanna make about sustainable fashion
is I think it's really
important for people to think about
these more natural fibers of course
but the other piece of sustainable
fashion that I think about is if we have
enough clothing currently
on this planet to clothe the next seven generations
we likely don't even need to produce
another piece of clothing
so what does that mean for all the existing textiles
that are out there in the world
so either you wear the outfit
or the outfit has to be made into something else
but the thought of it going into a landfill
should be unacceptable
so sustainable fashion to me is also and this includes
synthetic clothing which most of our clothing is
I mean most of the garments
in the South Asian you know formal wear sector it's
there there's a lot of synthetic components
to it if not being completely
synthetic let's be honest
so what do we do with that
so I love the idea of natural textiles
but I also am very interested in this notion of
even if we have so much synthetics all over the place
what do we do with it because we cannot just simply
throw it like discard it and say well this is not what I want
anymore because those materials are here to stay
if it takes them 400 years to decompose completely
these garments will be around for entire
lifetime or children's lifetime and so on and so on
so what do we do with that
that to me is sustainable fashion it's not only
garments that are made of natural fibers
and all these new technologies
that are coming out in terms of sustainable fabrics
it's what we do with what we have right now absolutely
that is so important I know they I read somewhere
or I watched a documentary they're not only going to landfill
but they're being shipped to other countries
where then they they float in the ocean
it's it's just not good for anyone
or they're just in literal trash piles
where you have people having to go through it and find
find items and they're scavenging and it is
the most horrific conditions
that you can imagine for these human beings and
we shouldn't be doing that we should not be exporting
our waste
we should be able to see what we're producing
we will be we will be disgusted
if we were to see what it is that we're
shipping off to other communities
we would be ashamed yes definitely
so this has been great
thank you for being on the podcast anything
else you would like to share
before we start to wrap up
I just feel like we've covered so many topics
in this one conversation
I don't know how it went by so quickly
but I feel like any one of these threads
we could pull on further
just have a very specific conversation about that
haha absolutely absolutely so
again thank you so much I like to ask my guest
if they want to leave a word for our audience to like
take away as part of the podcast
if if you want to share a word so a phrase that I have
thought of a lot for the last couple of years is
comparison is a thief of joy
and so if you try to live somebody
else's life if you are always trying to be something
else other than yourself
that's where you are robbed of the joy that you could potentially
have so for me it was leaving the corporate world
starting this chopping off all my hair you name it
many things that I thought I wouldn't have done years
ago but when you live your own life authentically
and this sustainable fashion piece of it is
it is is related to it right
if you don't feel this pressure
to do what everybody else is doing
maybe you'll live a more authentic values aligned life
and maybe that in itself will bring you more joy
so we need to stop with the comparisons
so true it is so true comparison is the
what did you say killer of joy
enemy of joy thief of joy yes thief of joy
yes absolutely so
with that thank you so much Vina
for being on the podcast
thank you so much for having me