Our Speakers
DR. AMY TWIGGER HOLROYD
Dr Amy Twigger Holroyd is a designer, maker, researcher and writer who has explored the emerging field of fashion and sustainability since 2004. Her work has been featured in various exhibitions, books and publications, from Vogue to Fashion Theory. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University. Projects include Keep & Share, a craft fashion knitwear label active from 2004 to 2014; Folk Fashion: Understanding Homemade Clothes, a monograph published in 2017; and Reknit Revolution, an ongoing initiative supporting knitters to rework the items in their wardrobes. Current initiatives include Crafting the Commons a network interrogating intersections between craft practices and emergent academic research on the commons; Stitching Togethera network fostering critical dialogue around participatory textile making methods in research and practice; and Fashion Fictions, a project that brings people together to imagine and explore alternative fashion Worlds. Amy’s recent inaugural lecture provides an overview of her work in fashion and sustainability over the past twenty years.
CLINT BEHARRY
Clint Beharry is a VR & AR interaction designer with a background in research, stories, product, and engineering. Currently he’s a Product Design Prototyper for Facebook’s Oculus VR Media team where he designs and builds new types of immersive stories and empathic social experiences. Previously he designed VR apps for The Wall Street Journal, Within, and Emblematic, as well as three interactive documentaries that earned Emmy & Webby nominations. As a researcher he spent 5 years with scientists studying how stories change the world, then designed products to help stories impact social issues. Clint holds degrees in Interaction Design and Computer Engineering.
KATE SEKULES
Kate Sekules is the author of MEND! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto (Penguin). She holds an MA in Costume Studies from NYU and is pursuing a PhD in material culture at the Bard Graduate Center, NYC. She has taught the history, politics and techniques of repair at, among others, Parsons, NYU, FIT, Tufts, Drexel, RISD Museum, the Textile and Costume Societies of America, and the Association of Dress Historians, UK. Sekules is a board member and consultant at Common Objective, UK and on the advisory council of the New Standard Institute, New York.
NGOZI OKARO
Ngozi Okaro advocates for a fashion industry that honors planet and people. Ngozi founded Custom Collaborative, to support immigrant & low-income women launching sustainable fashion careers. Custom Collaborative serves US designers who want to design and produce locally, fashion-industry workers, and consumers who want ethical fashion. Among other distinctions, Ngozi is NYC Fair Trade Coalition "Changemaker of the Year", New York Women's Foundation "Spirit of Entrepreneurship” awardee, and a 2020 “World-Changing Women in Conscious Business” winner, from Conscious Company Media and Kate Spade. She is certified by New York University’s Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising, was a 2014 Environmental Leadership Program Fellow, and is a graduate of the Coro Leadership New York program. Ngozi is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Morgan State University. She is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and New York.