Impact India: Recent Episodes
Causeartist
Impact India takes a look at the social impact and start-up scene in India and across South Asia. Host and social entrepreneur, Jazzmine Raine, connects with innovative leaders and founders of travel, fashion, and tech start-ups to share their stories and impact, with a goal of highlighting the future of India.
“It takes a collective mindset to fix it.” - Anjana Aravind
We all feel the weight of climate change from time to time (or daily!) as we try to take in the size of the problem and how to solve it. Now imagine being in it, everyday, as a climate researcher and seeing first hand what’s really going on with our planet.
In this episode, Anjana Aravind joins the Curated Consciously podcast to break down the misconceptions about climate change, and how our systems, consumer choices, and the media play vital roles in the health of our planet.
Anjana works as a climate researcher for a wind energy consultancy where she studies how large-scale climate phenomena affect client sites, which are mostly focused on the global tropics, and wind farm performance and associated risks. She has previously worked on Antarctic ice shelf modelling at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, worked within the Climate Change Research Center in Germany, and studied the effects of southern ocean warming on global rising sea levels in Sydney, Australia.
Anjana’s love for the oceans has led her to work at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa. Last year, she was the only person of Indian nationality who was selected for a marine research expedition across the Atlantic Ocean organized by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany.
Aside from her corporate job, she is a columnist for Law & Order, an online academic publication where she posts articles on the relation between socio-economic systems and climate change.
In this episode, Anjana and Jazz dive into:
- Three common misconceptions about climate change.
- Identifying the many diverse and systemic issues that impact the future of our planet.
- How we, as individuals, can do our part in tackling climate change.
Connect with Anjana on LinkedIn and Instagram, and read her work on Law & Order.
Continue the conversation with us on the Conscious Bad Asses Facebook group and follow along at @curatedconsciously.
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In episode 31 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Jitendra and Shivani Sinha, co-founders of SAI Sustainable Agro.
SAI Sustainable Agro is a social venture working to improve the livelihoods of tribal and marginalized farmers in Odisha, India, using agroforestry to redevelop degraded land.
The goal: to develop a truly inclusive and sustainable business model that uplifts marginalized people and farmers worldwide.
Jitendra is a veteran of the agricultural industry in India and a passionate social entrepreneur. His diverse career has included serving as International Chief Technical Advisor to UNDP/GEF and Ministry of Agriculture to the Government of Iran.
In 2019, he co-founded SAI-Social Purpose Corporation (SAI-SPC) in America, and has been replicating his agroforestry model across Africa in Uganda, Ghana and South Africa.
In his spare time, he mentors entrepreneurs in resilient agriculture supply chain development across Asia and Africa.
Shivani has been working passionately on women and children issues since 1999. She initially worked as Vice Principal of an educational institution before moving working in the NGO sector to focus on healthcare for women and children. She currently leads SAI Sustainable Agro’s initiatives to improve healthcare and education for the tribal communities they work with in Odisha.
Prepare for a fully packed episode as Jitendra helps simplify how SAI’s agroforestry model operates, and how their framework continues to support marginalised farmers and be self-sustainable (even during COVID-19).
In this episode, Jitendra, Shivani and I dive into:
- The disconnect between levels of government, nonprofits, and NGOs working with marginalized communities.
- The need to create sustainable jobs in tribal and marginalized communities that foster localization.
- Reconnecting city dwellers to where their food comes from and the people who fuel our agriculture system.
Connect with Jitendra and Shivani, and learn more about SAI Sustainable Agro, at sai-agro.org and on YouTube and Facebook.
In episode 30 of the Impact India podcast, I welcome back Kriti Tula, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Doodlage.
Doodlage is a fashion brand based in New Delhi working with post-production and post-consumer textile waste to curate womens, mens, and accessory collections.
During the pandemic, Doodlage has been working to partner with homegrown brands aligned with their upcycling and zero waste values. Their most recent collection Indigo Chronicles was curated with Iro Iro, a zero waste B2B textile brand based in Jaipur. Together, these two leading conscious fashion brands have come together to deepen their efforts to reinvent the fashion supply chain.
In this episode, Kriti and I dive into:
- How Doodlage was able to support their artisans during this uncertain time
- Pivoting your marketing to connect more meaningfully with your audience when operational priorities are constantly changing
- What to expect from the Indigo Chronicles collection and future collaborations from Doodlage
To shop the Indigo Chronicles collection, click here. Be sure to follow their journey on Instagram as well @doodlageofficial.
A little about the collection: Indigo chronicles tells the story of the vast textile industry of Jaipur through its waste. Indigo is a commonly used natural dye with a distinctive blue hue. No where it is as visible as it is in the lanes of the Pink City: running through the drains, blotted on walls, widely used in fabrics, sarees and tunics flaunted by not just the people in the city but across the country, in rugs, Jaipuri blankets, and Rajasthani turbans. They all narrate the story of arguably the oldest known natural dye.
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In episode 29, I sit down with fellow co-founder of Sustainable Travel Network, Kelsey White.
Sustainable Travel Network is a community of sustainable travel leaders breaking the silos of the industry and fostering collaboration across the sector.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on India have been devastating, especially as we have watched our beloved tourism industry crumble before us.
However, as travel begins to open up in India and around the world, this is our opportunity as leaders in travel to create the new normal and a sustainable base for the tourism industry to thrive.
As we prepare to open registration for our 2020 Tourism Shala, we wanted to come together again to discuss the current challenges India’s tourism industry is facing, and how STN is focused on collaboration for creating sustainable solutions to rebuild the industry post-pandemic.
Listen in as Kelsey and I dive into:
- The need for diverse voices to be heard during a time of rebuilding
- The advantage we have right now to build a sustainable industry
- What to expect from the 2020 Tourism Shala for domestic and international organizations working in India’s tourism industry
To learn more about the 2020 Tourism Shala on September 26 & 27, visit www.sustainabletravelnetwork.com/tourismshala or follow along on Instagram @stn.india.
Sustainable Travel Network’s Manifesto
Tourism is a powerful platform for experiential learning and sustainable development. In India, it is also a catalyst for opportunities that can eradicate poverty and preserve culture and heritage, while instilling a need to nurture our earth by connecting its diverse landscapes with citizens, both domestic and global.
Tackling injustices and carving new paths of discovery starts with leveraging diverse voices and levels of experience and knowledge from leaders in both rural and urban communities.
Ultimately, travel is a learning platform and through Sustainable Travel Network, we are building a community of lifelong learners who are consistently striving to do better. Through virtual and in-person educational experiences, policy creation, and community building, help create the future of travel, where people and the planet are placed first, helping the industry scale sustainably.
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In episode 28 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Pallavi Yadav and Mehak Tariq Beigh of WeAreLabeless, an eco-conscious brand aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals led by the United Nations. Working closely with craftspeople across India, with a focus on employing women, their goal is to help achieve SDG 5: Gender Equality, and SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production.
Pallavi has always been passionate about incorporating sustainability into the fashion industry. She has worked with organizations such as Upasana in Auroville, Doodlage in New Delhi, and also participated in the The Copenhagen Fashion Summit in 2018 as a student candidate from India.
Mehak’s main focus is cultivating the human aspect of business. She has worked with INTACH Srinagar and women-led projects in Kashmir, and had the opportunity to showcase her Phirkath collection at Vancouver Fashion Week in September 2018.
Through WeAreLabeless, the power duo create womenswear, menswear, and accessories from upcycled and handloom fabrics including handwoven cotton, chanderi, silk and linen.
Since COVID-19, WeAreLabeless has focused their production on creating masks from upcycled textiles. So far, they have donated over 500 masks to vulnerable communities across several states in India.
In this episode, Pallavi, Mehak, and I dive into:
- The story behind their brand name.
- Zero waste production and sourcing handloom fabric from Bihar.
- The current challenges Indian weavers are facing in connecting with designers.
- The challenges of sourcing sustainable packaging as a start-up.
Connect with WeAreLabeless at wearelabeless.com and on Instagram @wearelabeless.
“We need to do more than just make clothing. We need a solution towards the problem.”
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In episode 27 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Nidhi Lodha of June, a homegrown brand reviving the crafts of Gujarat by making wearable art.
Nidhi is a copywriter by profession with a passion for working with textiles and colors. After her short stint in advertising in Mumbai, she returned home to Gujarat to specialize in working with Kutch handwork. This led to the launch of June.
June is led by a team of female artisans reviving Kutch handicrafts, native to Gujarat. The team uses vintage and contemporary materials—from old coins and mirrors, to shells and bharat handwork—to create unique and beautiful accessory collections.
In this episode, Nidhi and I dive into:
- The challenges of wearing too many hats in your business
- How she ensures her team always has work, by partnering with like-minded brands that her team can also lend their skills to
- The need to connect more meaningfully with the items we buy
- How June is supporting the wild elephants of India
Connect with Nidhi at studiojune.in and on Instagram.
“Creativity needs its own space to breathe.”
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In episode 26 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Shradha Kochhar, a knitwear designer, textile artist, and the co-founder of LOTA India.
Shradha’s work combines sustainability and craftsmanship, and although based in New Delhi, is being recognized globally for her talent. Her latest works were seen at London Fashion Week 2019, which featured her knitted ‘khadi’ fabric, using Kala cotton, and knitted sweaters for the ASHISH AW19 collection.
LOTA India is an exploration into the intersection of sustainability, fashion, and visual identity, creating a parallel economy to the mainstream fashion model. LOTA aims to give a new life to the thousands of tonnes of fabric waste that are discarded every hour by the mainstream fashion industry.
In this episode, Shradha and I dive into:
- The history of Kala Cotton and its connection to colonization
- Changing the beauty standards in South Asia by creating “virtual models”
- The connection between mental health and the art of making by hand
Connect with Shradha at shoplota.com and on Instagram @shradhakochhar and @lotaindia.
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“There is a need to recolonize design and art...and reclaim what works for our country, our land, and our farmers.”
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In episode 25 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Kush Sharma of Rural Odyssey. This incredible social enterprise promotes sustainable tourism as an additional livelihood opportunity for rural communities, by building community-owned and community-lead tourism models.
Kush is a naturalist at heart with a passion for promoting and preserving the Indigenous cultures of India using sustainable tourism as his platform. Kush is a firm believer of learning from native wisdom and nature, and works actively with young children as an Outdoor Educator.
Rural Odyssey handpicks culturally rich villages in India and brings the community together to open up their houses for travelers and open a gateway to mutual learning. While travelers get to learn from the native wisdom of various indigenous communities of India, locals get to acquire new skills from the travelers, while generating an additional livelihood for themselves. Aligning his work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Rural Odyssey is using tourism as a tool to connect the rural and urban economies and help in preserving India's rich culture, craft, and ecology.
“There are two sides to sustainable tourism: business and ethics”
Connecting on our mutual love for experiential education through travel, Kush and I dive into:
- The need for more knowledge exchange between urban and rural communities
- The impacts of “Instagram” travelers on vulnerable destinations
- Why small group travel is best for exploring culturally rich destinations
Plus, learn about Rural Odyssey’s incredible geology and astronomy travel programs for youth in India.
Connect with Kush at ruralodyssey.com and on Instagram and Facebook.
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In episode 24 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Jitna Bhagani, founder of Shakti.ism and she will survive.
Shakti.ism is a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers and employs disadvantaged women in India. She will survive is a global gender-equality advocacy project that provides resources to women around the world facing gender-based violence.
Jitna is a survivor of sexual violence. Her lived experiences and knowledge of eradicating gender-based violence has led her down a unique journey in navigating her trauma, and healing herself by building platforms that empower marginalized women and survivors of violence.
In this episode, Jitna and I dive into:
- The systemic issues that perpetuate gender-based violence
- How technology is changing the way we empower marginalized communities
- How she launched her social enterprise during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Addressing gender-based violence with young children
Connect with Jitna at shaktiism.com and shewillsurvive.com, or on Instagram at @shaktiismproject and @shewilsurvivedotcom.
Learn how you can play a role in eradicating gender-based violence in this follow-up article by Jitna on our sister platform, Curated Consciously.
“The more you normalize these topics, the less stigma will be around them”
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In episode 23 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Arushi Aggarwal of The Initiative, a social enterprise providing sustainable livelihoods to low-income craftspeople through a nationwide platform selling their handcrafted products.
Arushi Aggarwal is a designer for social good, connecting the stories of handmade products and their makers with consumers. Combining handicraft processes and design, with a focus on the consumer experience, Arushi is creating social impact and consumer value through The Initiative.
In this episode, Arushi and I dive into:
- The customer experience of product development and services, from crafts to waste management
- Her experiences working with craftspeople in Mumbai and across India, and the current challenges and opportunities facing the crafts industry
- The challenges of running a retail platform during and post COVID-19
Connect with Arushi at theinitiative.in and on Instagram and Facebook.
“With the current COVID situation, you either embrace technology or you disappear.”
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In episode 22 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Anya Gupta, a sustainable and conscious lifestyle advocate who shifted her city life to live on her family farm to study and create micro ecosystems.
Anya’s homegrown venture Aura Life is a quest to bring concepts of low waste and sustainable living to her home city of Chandigarh. In her spare time, she uses her voice on social media to share tips on conscious consumption, with a focus on fashion and lifestyle.
In this episode, Anya and I dive into:
- The power of social media for sharing messages of conscious living
- Why we need to break away from convenience and embrace accountability
- The need for intention behind every action in conscious living
Connect with Anya on anyagupta.com or Instagram, and be sure to check out the Aura ecosystem at Aura Life, Aura OKG, and Auro Pottery.
“When earth heals, you heal too.”
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And I’m back with Season 3, and much earlier than I thought.
When I ended season 2, I was feeling super uncertain and nervous about moving through COVID-19.
That hasn’t changed.
I also thought I would use the season to dive into the shifts social businesses in India were going through post-pandemic, but that has yet to come.
Now here we are—three months later and the change we are seeing is constant. However, it’s also become a beautiful time to go inwards, absorb, reflect, and re-strategize on how you lead your lifestyle or your social business.
In this episode I’m coming at you from my kitchen, diving into conscious living and how individual and diverse it is for everyone. I’m also introducing what to expect from season 3 of Impact India, my reflections on quarantine as a social entrepreneur, and why I’ve been busier than ever during the pandemic (especially in launching Curated Consciously!).
As we trek on through the pandemic, holding our heads high, be sure to follow along and hit me up on Instagram and follow us over at Curated Consciously.
“Sustainability starts at home.”
In the final episode of season 2 of Impact India, I sit solo in my front yard (the furthest outside I can get right now) to chat about moving forward with personal and professional goals in a time when the future is so uncertain.
In a country with the strictest lockdown policies, India has entered stage 3 of COVID-19 (meaning community transitions—new cases have no identified infection source or travel history) and panic is starting to really set in. However, it is so important that we sprinkle a little bit of positivity into our lifestyles and work through absorbing, reflecting, and strategizing on how to thrive in the now.
In this episode, I dive into:
- How to shift your social brand to meet the current needs of your audience during the pandemic.
- My thoughts on the tourism industry over the next year.
- How I made the hardest and best decision for my social business, Hara World.
Thank you all for listening to season 2 and for taking the podcast global. I am so grateful to know that so many people around the world want to support the stories and impact of innovators here in India.
Season 3 will be coming at you as lockdowns open up over the next month. My goal is to focus the season on following the stories of entrepreneurs navigating business growth post-pandemic.
Wanna line up an interview or just wanna connect? Hit me up on Instagram @jazzmineraine.
To receive a free brand audit for your social impact brand, jump over to sunshineandraine.com and subscribe to my mail list.
“I’m not sure how to move forward at the moment, and being vulnerable about that is okay. As a social entrepreneur, the greatest thing you can do right now is to continue providing for the needs of your community.”
In episode 19 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with fellow Sustainable Travel Network co-founder, Kelsey White.
Originating from the foothills of Alberta, Kelsey was raised on the values of local living with awareness of global impact. As the head of Tour Operations at Hara World, she develops and leads multi-day tours across north India focused on sustainability and community development.
Kelsey’s background in educational leadership includes working with all ages as an experiential learning facilitator. From early childhood development through play, to guiding wilderness treks in both the Canadian Rockies and the Indian Himalayas.
Kelsey is one of four co-founders of Sustainable Travel Network, alongside myself, Himanshu Shekhar of Delhi By Cycle and Jen Fanucci of Big Picture Travel.
Sustainable Travel Network is a community of sustainable travel leaders breaking the silos of the industry and fostering collaboration across the sector. We provide tourism organizations and travellers with resources that help create a sustainable tourism industry and support sustainable development in India.
In this episode, Kelsey and I dive into the unique challenges of the tourism industry in India and the “why” behind the STN story. We also reflect on the past year in strategizing and shifting STN’s services to keep up with the needs of sustainable travel organizations, and what to expect at the 2020 Tourism Shala in Gurgaon, India this upcoming World Tourism Day on Saturday, September 27th.
Connect with Sustainable Travel Network at sustainabletravelnetwork.com, and on Facebook and Instagram.
To connect with Kelsey, visit hiddensprings.com. You can also hit her up on Instagram and over email at kelseykaywhite@gmail.com.
In reference to brand storytelling for social impact brands, check out sunshineandraine.com.
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In episode 18, I chat with Gayatri Jolly, Founder and Creative Director of MasterG on breaking the cycle of poverty and stigma through fashion.
Gayatri is a Fashion Designer from Parsons, New York and a Business Graduate from Babson College, Boston. She worked for 2 years in the fashion industry in New York with companies such as Armani, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Dennis Basso. She has also designed costumes for clients of international acclaim such as Dana Fuchs, Jay Hill, and Lady Gaga while at Diane Von Furstenberg! She divides her time between designing and training women who desire to get into fashion design and production, but lack access to quality training and opportunities. This is how MasterG came to be.
MasterG connects women from low income communities and fashion clients through design and production. Their comprehensive training enables women to challenge societal norms and earn a dignified livelihood. MasterG’s program helps break the barriers between training and employment that usually occurs due to the social and cultural barriers.
HEIMAT is MasterG’s first in-house brand. From making patterns, interpreting tech packs to stitch and packing – all activities are carried out by their skilled MasterG women.
In this episode, Gayatri and I dive into the meaning of MasterG and how the organization is breaking social stigma around women in this role, how they engage women to partake in their training programs, and why Gayatri calls her partners her “allies”.
“What’s holding women back is themselves, and how others view them as authority figures.”
Connect with Gayatri, MasterG, and Heimat on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or at masterg.in
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In episode 17 of the Impact India podcast, I chat with Raj Jain of School Chale, a creative not-for-profit and educational content platform that creates design driven stories to teach and empower young people at school, online, and on TV.
Raj is currently the Partnership and Program Lead based in Mumbai. He leads their Map of Me digital content youth channel, their coding program for girls in Bihar partnered with Microsoft (which will teach 10,000 girls to code!), as well as supervises the scripts and production for their national television show, Children’s Scrappy News Service. Their stories have been incorporated in national curriculums where they are read by 10 million children, and their films are aired on national television which are watched by over 100 million people!
“We live through stories, and that’s what people identify with.”
In this episode, Raj and I dive into the need for storytelling and diverse representation in education, the unique challenges when working in marginalized communities, how to manage working with so many stakeholders, and how School Chale is empowering young girls through computer literacy.
Learn more about School Chale at www.goingtoschool.com, and be sure to watch their television show at www.scrappynews.com. You can follow their journey on Instagram at @schoolchale and @scrappynewsservice.
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Vera - Vera is a simple way for businesses to offset their plastic footprint. By becoming Vera-Certified, you'll help create new jobs for people who collect ocean-bound plastic. You'll not only alleviate poverty, but also ensure that plastic never ends up in our oceans! The best part about Vera, is that everything is transacted through the blockchain, which creates a traceable, auditable supply chain that guarantees our promise. Join Vera's collective who already offset more than 40,000 plastic bottles every month!
Buy Good Feel Good Expo - From fashion and beauty to lifestyle and travel, Buy Good. Feel Good. Expo celebrates the power of the conscious consumer. An uplifting weekend full of energizing entrepreneurs and brands with purpose, the Expo inspires the change maker within us all.
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In episode 17, I chat with Bhaavya Goenka, founder of IRO IRO. This zero-waste lifestyle and fashion brand works with handweavers in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The brand weaves recycled textiles to create beautiful, modern, and handmade clothing, helping close the loop on textile waste in the fashion industry. They have been featured in many publications and nominated for awards such as Lakmé Fashion Week's Lexus Design Award.
Bhaavya Goenka is a graduate in craft design with a specialization in textiles from the Indian Institute Of Crafts And Design. Her studies involved understanding design intervention in traditional Indian crafts, with a goal to bring contemporary context to them and develop products and services with these traditional practices in the modern fashion industry.
In this episode, Bhaavya and I dive into the importance of industry connections as a student and as a young entrepreneur, and how she leveraged B2B opportunities to grow her brand. We also explore her process of weaving recycled textiles, and the beautiful sense of community and support among circular brands compared to mainstream fashion brands.
“Every opportunity to design is an opportunity to communicate.”
Bhaavya also dives into the story behind her upcoming summer collection that aims to reclaim the color saffron from its connection to extreme nationalism to its original meaning: courage.
Saffron in India is directly associated with highly-religious Hindus and the need to make India a Hindu country. This controversial topic is often a terrifying thought for the many religious and cultural groups that have been residing in India for thousands of years.
Get in touch with this epic young leader at iroirozerowaste.com or on Instagram @iroirozerowaste.
In episode 15, I finally deliver on an episode that takes a spin–I’m diving into the perspective and opinion of travellers in India with travel blogger and dear friend Eileen McDougall.
After a decade working in London, Eileen swapped flashy buildings for a notepad and camera and set off to Asia. She fell in love with India, and it was here she started writing about her travels and the culture she was becoming immersed in. She is at her happiest on a bus alone heading off to somewhere new, but seems to spend most of her time near mountains, mainly the Himalayas.
In this episode, we dive into the advantages of slow travel, the diversity (and extremes) of India as a whole, and the positive and negative impacts of the tourism industry on the country’s development from an economic, cultural, social, and environmental lens.
This is quite an intense episode, especially if you are thinking of working in the start-up or nonprofit world in India. To help you navigate your journey, we also cover the challenges around westerners and long-term “stayers” investing in local communities, a lack of women in the tourism industry and in public spaces, cross-cultural relationships and marriage, and how government bodies and leaders can take a stand on social justice in India.
“It’s very hard to know and understand what a culture is like until you’ve been in it for 5 to 10 years.”
Connect with Eileen at nomadicnumerist.com or on Instagram @nomadicnumerist.
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How did Megha’s love-hate relationship with her mother's resourcefulness inspire her journey in conscious living and fashion? Find out as I sit down with Megha to chat about innovation in fashion, and navigating the many challenges of accessibility.
Megha Rawat is the founder of Kurio, a sustainable fashion brand that conceptualizes and manufactures upcycled, handmade, and locally crafted footwear.
Megha is by choice a sustainability practitioner and by degree a coder. Her passion for sustainability led to the launch of Kurio Designs. Her mission is to design and create products that make people aware of our fragile environment while offering them beautiful fashion that makes an impact.
Kurio Designs is an award nominated brand here in India, and Megha has been recognized for her work by many platforms such as The Better India and LBB. She has also been selected for countless impact accelerators and of course, I'm one of her biggest fans.
In this episode, Megha and I dive into how to identify valuable collaboration opportunities for your start-up, channelling all 5 senses in the customer journey, and the challenges around telling your story as a conscious brand.
Connect with Megha at kurio.in and on Instagram @_kurio.
In episode 13 of the Impact India podcast, I speak with Manik Thapar, one of the pioneers of waste management in India and is known for his unique business model at Eco-Wise.
Manik Thapar is a Canadian Citizen with Indian origin. Having done his MBA from The De Vos School of Management in Michigan, he moved to India in 2005. Inspired by the idea of setting up a waste management company in India, which came from a school project; Manik at the age of 23 decided to enter the challenging industry despite initial difficulties and opposition from friends and family.
His efforts quickly become acknowledged across the country (and beyond!) and soon became a true youth icon. Currently, EcoWise is collecting, segregating, aggregating, treating and disposing of around 120 tonnes of waste on a daily basis through composting and recycling methods. Last year, his company managed to divert 35,000 tonnes of waste from ending up in landfills.
In this episode, Manik dives into the history and current status of political corruption and mafia in waste management in India, the responsibilities of consumers, the detailed difference between upcycling and downcycling, and how caste and infrastructure gets in the way of sustainable waste management.
Connect with Manik on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram. For more information on Ecowise, visit ecowise.net.inand Instagram.
In episode 12 of the Impact India podcast, I speak with Mahima Gujral, founder of Sui, a conscious brand bridging the gap between nature and fashion.
Mahima Gujral is the founder of Sui, a slow fashion brand from Delhi, India. Born into a world of elegant dressing, Mahima grew up recognizing the beauty of custom-made clothing, the value of quality fabrics, the craft of embroidery, and the essence of building close-knit relationships at every part of your value chain. Bitten by the travel bug at a young age, she always believed that the best journeys are those closest to nature, those that inspire, energize and fascinate. After learning about the impact of fashion in 2016, she began a journey of her own into mindful purchasing and conscious living.
Sui is a conscious fashion brand that bridges the gap between nature and fashion. Their designs are super "I'm on holiday" but also very flattering and flowy, and appropriate for multiple occasions. I just recently styled two pieces from their latest collection Flow as Sui gave me the opportunity to share my story in sustainable living through their platform.
In this episode, we dive into the accessibility of conscious fashion, the abundance of buzzwords and greenwashing in the industry, and how Mahima is connecting with consumers in India and Singapore where she currently resides.
Connect with Mahima and Sui at wearesui.com and on Instagram.
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Buy Good Feel Good Expo - From fashion and beauty to lifestyle and travel, Buy Good. Feel Good. Expo celebrates the power of the conscious consumer. An uplifting weekend full of energizing entrepreneurs and brands with purpose, the Expo inspires the change maker within us all.
Have Fun Do Good - Group travel experiences that incorporate volunteering. Our mission is to provide a unique opportunity for people to travel and give back. Our experiences are more than volunteering, they’re about people connecting and coming together through a common goal.
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Welcome back to season two of the Impact India podcast!
I wanted to kick us off by setting intentions and the tone for this season. Here we are in a new decade. It’s time to get vulnerable and share the challenges social entrepreneurs are facing not just in India but around the world. As director of Hara World, experiential education and impact travel organization that empowers and connects young people through environmental justice programs, I’m ready to get us started.
New to the podcast? My name is Jazzmine and I’m your host! I am deeply passionate about empowering youth, zero waste living, conscious fashion, and responsible travel. I am currently the Director of Hara World, one of 4 co-founders of the Sustainable Travel Network, and the host of this epic podcast Impact India.
My purpose is to use my professional skills and background in youth program development, nonprofit management, and social impact to lead young people to become confident and knowledgeable leaders for sustainable development.
You can connect with me at sunshineandraine.com, haraworld.com, or on Instagram @jazzmineraine.
“We are so challenged by an ever evolving world, and a need to make an impact individually as well as through our profession, that we often can get lost in the vision and feel helpless in the execution.”
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Buy Good Feel Good Expo - From fashion and beauty to lifestyle and travel, Buy Good. Feel Good. Expo celebrates the power of the conscious consumer. An uplifting weekend full of energizing entrepreneurs and brands with purpose, the Expo inspires the change maker within us all.
Have Fun Do Good - Group travel experiences that incorporate volunteering. Our mission is to provide a unique opportunity for people to travel and give back. Our experiences are more than volunteering, they’re about people connecting and coming together through a common goal.
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In episode #10, I connect with Ramona Saboo, founder of Forty Red Bangles, a socially conscious fashion brand that celebrates the marriage of sustainability and design.
The brand offers beautifully designed lifestyle products that find their roots in traditional organic sources. All designs are created in-house, each with a unique story to tell, handmade with eco-friendly materials. They also collaborate and outsource elements of production to artisan groups to produce one-of-a-kind designs. The initiative enables undiscovered talent to reach new markets while supporting sustainable community development.
Ramona comes from a background of building social enterprises and working with refugee groups in Melbourne, which inspired her to start her own business with a focus on community development and sustainable practices.
Tune in to learn:
- How continually innovate your processes to build success as a social brand
- How to engage locals and build brand visibility
- The impact tourism has on social brands and community development
Connect with Ramona and her team at fortyredbangles.com or on Instagram.
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In episode #9 of the Impact India podcast, I connect with Richa Malik, founder of The Happy Turtle, a DIPP recognised, boot-strapped start-up working towards reducing plastic consumption. They have created the world’s FIRST Plastic Footprint Calculator For Businesses, equipped to assess any business premise on their annual plastic consumption of disposable and reusable plastics.
Richa is an Engineer and XLRI MBA, that later went into sales and marketing, then became a Diving Instructor and Eco-Entrepreneur. She’s the perfect example of a millennial eco-warrior - she’s the master of everything!
In this episode, Richa dives into how one turtle’s story inspired the launch of her start-up, the epidemic of greenwashing on consumers, and what’s needed from consumers and the government to move forward with proper and sustainable waste management.
Richa is an Engineer and XLRI MBA, that later went into sales and marketing, then became a Diving Instructor and Eco-Entrepreneur. She’s the perfect example of a millennial eco-warrior - she’s the master of everything!
Tune in to learn:
- How your organization can reduce its plastic consumption
- What the “burn test” means for identifying plastic vs. biodegradable products
- How waste management is collected and sorted in Delhi (and what our responsibility is as consumers!)
Begin your journey to reducing plastic consumption with FREE personalized tips with The Happy Turtle’s Plastic Footprint Calculator.
Connect with Richa and The Happy Turtle on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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In episode #8 of the Impact India podcast, I connect with Josie Mackenzie, founder of AMMA, a social enterprise that utilizes food waste and plants to produce natural dyes to make handwoven fabrics, fashion accessories, and homewares. Amma, meaning ‘mother’ in Tamil and Sinhala, works in partnership with local NGO Tea Leaf Trust, and UK based charity TRAID. Together they train and employ mothers & young women living around Sri Lanka's tea estates in Eliya.
Josie is passionate about finding practical solutions to the world's big problems. Focused on developing alternative methods of sustainable production within the fashion and textile industry, she has been working amongst rural communities in South Asia since graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with a degree in Textile Design.
In this episode, Josie dives into the history of the tea industry in Sri Lanka, the insane vision women are sold to move to the Middle East for work (leaving their children vulnerable at home in Sri Lanka), and how Amma is working with hospitality organizations in Colombo and across Sri Lanka to produce their zero waste & sustainable dyes.
Tune in to learn:
- How Amma trains and employs their team of young women and mothers
- The challenges and stigma around working mothers in Sri Lanka that is also evident across the world
- How Amma is bringing traditional weaving practices back to the fashion industry
- How plant based fashion works.
Connect with Josie and the Amma team at ammasrilanka.com, and on Facebook & Instagram. To learn more about Tea Leaf Trust visit tealeaftrust.com.
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In episode #7, I connect with Leila Veerasamy, Founder and Creative Director of PA.NI Swimwear, a sustainable brand that seeks to normalize swimwear in India by offering timeless clean designs, universally flattering to South Asian women's diverse body types. Their swimsuits are made with ECONYL®, a regenerated nylon yarn developed from discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste found in the ocean.
Leila is true global citizen, raised in Toulouse, France and Mauritius. She came to India in June 2015 after graduating from Brown University with a double major in Development Studies and Economics.
In this episode, Leila dives into the production process and her love of ECONYL®, finding the right words to respectfully talk about diverse body types in fashion, and our thoughts on the stigma around body image in South Asia, Mauritius, and the western world.
Tune in to learn:
- What is ECONYL® and how it is made
- Why you need to continually innovate your process as a brand and a consumer
- The challenges of diverse representation in fashion in India
Connect with Leila and PA.NI Swimwear at pa-ni.in and on Instagram.
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In episode 6 of the Impact India podcast, I connect with Sanvar Oberoi, Co-founder of BOHECO, Bombay Hemp Company, India’s FIRST hemp and cannabis company.
The social enterprise has helped central and state governments in creating policies, giving license's, and developing the R&D building blocks needed to build an industry. They also empower farmers by encouraging them to utilize wild hemp growing in their districts. Recently, in addition to their two hemp licenses, they now are the only company licensed to work with medical cannabis in India.
Sanvar heads finance and corporate strategy for BOHECO, as well as co-leads BOHECO Innovation Lab. He is a PhD research scholar in Business Economics and has been awarded the Forbes Asia 30 under 30, INK, RajeevCircle, and Ashoka fellowships on behalf of BOHECO (NO BIG DEAL, RIGHT?!).
In this episode, Sanvar dives into the start-up journey of BOHECO, the history of cannabis consumption in India, how BOHECO has been breaking the stigma around cannabis consumption, and innovating B2B and B2C products.
Tune in to learn:
- The many uses of the cannabis plant
- How people have perceived the growth of hemp production in India
- And why Sanvar actually loves the government of India (he has a very valid reason!)
PLUS, Sanvar reveals what’s next for BOHECO this September (and we’re the first to know about it!).
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In episode 5 of the Impact India podcast, I connect with Darshana Gajare of FairTrunk, a platform promoting conscious brands, driving community awareness & engagement, and consulting for emerging sustainable businesses within fashion and lifestyle. Darshana also leads Communications for Fashion Revolution India, a global movement that demands greater transparency in the fashion supply chain.
Darshana believes that sustainability is truly rooted in how our ancestors lived, it's just about looking back and replicating it. In this episode, Darshana dives into how a documentary inspired her to start her venture, how she went from living on Primark while studying in London to owning only a few key swapped clothing items, and her work with Lakme Fashion Week through Fashion Revolution.
Tune in to learn:
- Why Darshana thinks India has become “a slave to the west”
- Resources available through Fairtrunk as an emerging fashion brand wanting to incorporate sustainable practices
- How to start living a more conscious and minimalist lifestyle (and why you should!)
Connect with Darshana at fairtrunk.com, on Instagram or on their Youtube channel sharing sustainable fashion education and interviews with leaders for sustainable living.
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In episode 4 of the Impact India podcast, I sit with Mandeep Jhajj at Bootstart in Fort, Mumbai to talk about how her social enterprise, Tribes for GOOD, is changing the way we see voluntourism.
Tribes for GOOD is an impact travel organization that bridges the talent gap faced by social change organizations in India by connecting them to an international talent pool of students, millennials and early retirees. Mandeep dives into how her Social Impact Journeys are impacting founders and beneficiaries of social impact organizations across Maharashtra and beyond.
Tune in to learn:
- How you can make an impact using your unique skills without leaving your home
- The ethical approach to volunteering abroad
- How Mandeep is transforming Tribes for GOOD into a tech platform
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In Episode 3 of the Impact India podcast, I meet with Himanshu Shekhar, owner of Delhi by Cycle, at The Red Kettle Cafe in New Delhi.
Delhi by Cycle is India's first cycling tour company based in New Delhi. Himanshu dives into his passion for cycling and why Delhi is the most beautiful city in India, along with his journey in entrepreneurship coming from a finance background.
Tune in to hear:
- How Delhi By Cycle is smashing the stigma around cycling
- How modes of transportation are associated with the caste system
- Himanshu’s journey in advocating for cycling lanes in a city overcome by traffic and pollution
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In Episode 2 of the Impact India podcast, I sit down with Fahim Vora, co-founder of Be the Local tours, outside Mahim Junction railway station in Mumbai on a couple of parked scooties.
Be the Local Tours is a Mumbai-based tour company that trains and employs marginalized students from Dharavi, the infamous slum area of India. Fahim dives into his journey of becoming an entrepreneur as a marginalized man in Mumbai having been born and raised in Dharavi.
Tune in to hear:
- Fahim’s story growing up in Dharavi
- The importance of providing opportunity to marginalized youth
- How tourism can address poverty
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In Episode 1 of the Impact India podcast, I meet with Kriti Tula, founder of India’s first zero waste fashion brand Doodlage, at Cafe Inside Stories in New Delhi.
Doodlage creates pieces from textile waste and materials found, therefore hunting for material first, and entering the design process second. This is how Doodlage pieces come to life. The team inspires everyone to get creative too, including their tailors and labour workers to instill a love and responsibility for ethical design and production. Now in over 40 stores across India, it’s super exciting to see such an innovative brand spreading so quickly in a country where global production is priority, and western culture and influence has taken over.
Tune in to hear:
- How travel has inspired her vision for a circular industry in India
- How mass consumerism has impacted India’s fashion industry
- Kriti’s insight into how the fashion industry has become so unsustainable, linking back to cultural norms of traditional India
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Host Jazzmine Raine of Causeartist connects with the innovative founders and leaders of travel organizations and startups in India. As founder of Hara House, North India's first zero waste guesthouse and tourism organization, Jazzmine meets with incredible and innovative young people from around the world traveling and discovering modern India. Impact India takes a look at the world of sustainable travel, the startup scene, and what the future of India will look like with the rise of social entrepreneurship.
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