~ by Barbara van den Bogaard
I meet Rachel via ZOOM. She is in a coffeebar somewhere in London. Our digital connection is stammering but our personal connection is there from the start. Rachel has been a designer and design manager in the commercial fashion industry for over 20 years. She has been working within sustainability for the last 3 plus lecturing in sustainability and ethics in business.
I’m really exciting to talk to her since her connection to regenerative structures and processes is so interesting to me. She tells me how the passing of her mom five years ago has transformed her view on the world. She looked at her kids and she felt the letting go of her mom and was tremendously aware of the interconnectivity between generations.
I connect to the passing of my own father when she tells me about this experience. I too had this broadening of perspective. I felt a deepening of my understanding of life and my connection to all living creatures.
She uses this powerful metaphor to describe and give story to her efforts to build a new ecosystem within the fashion industry. She explains: “In a forest we are not alone. In a forest we share nutrients. We collaborate for the survival of all, for survival of the whole ecosystem.”
Her life is dedicated to the transformation of the fashion industry and to spreading the regenerative wisdom but as she describes so beautifully, she also holds the bridge to the old industry so she can help them on their way. Rachel: “I know now that once I stepped on this path, and fully accepted this transformational journey, there is no turning back.”
And then she shares a very profound experience with me that at first she was reluctant to share with the world because it sounds so weird. And when she found the courage to share it, more and more people described to her same experiences. And it is this story that will be part of storybook. So proud that Rachel is part of our community.
You can meet Rachel and many other special people and their stories and images in Storybook.
