It’s Women’s History Month, but here at The Wellness Feed women are celebrated yearlong for their contributions to making this world better. We’ve interviewed activists who push for city environmental projects to include and not marginalize minorities. We’ve spoken to women who openly share their body struggles to inspire others to love themselves as they are. And, there are interviews with countless designers giving back, designing sustainably and standing for living wages.
All of these women are rocking the world with a ethos that is larger than themselves. They care about the world around them and take steps to make it better. They are history in the making and are the people the next generation will talk about. So, in honor of a month that celebrates women we’d like to highlight a few of these women that we think should be celebrated all year long.
Allison Lang: Body Positivity Influencer
Looking back, there was no one like me in the media. If they were on TV, their disabilities were the sole plot of that segment.”
Allison Lang
Allison is a body positivity influencer and one of these women activists who is sharing her story. Born without a leg, she has transitioned from a young woman who hid her prosthetic and felt shame about her body to a leader within the online space, inspiring others to love themselves just as they are. With an online following, speaking gigs at events like Bod Con and a new job as a model for brands like Ardene, she is using her platform to change the exclusive narrative around what is considered a beautiful body to be one that is more inclusive.
“Our bodies should be celebrated. They’re the only thing that we have with us our whole lives.”
Vivien Li: Waterfront Activist
Nature should be inclusive. Environmental is about quality of life. Everyone should have access to clean air and clean water.
Vivien Li
Long before Swedish teenagers took to social media and urged the United Nations to take drastic actions against climate change, Vivien Li was leading a collective of students called ‘Students for the Environment’. Around this time Earth Day became official. Soon her young activist days blossomed into a decades long career advocating for communities and for local leaders to rethink how they dispose of waste, discuss climate change and find solutions to make nature inclusive. In particular, she has been recognized for her work initiating the first Boston Harbor Sea Level Rise Forum, where she helped to implement environmental projects around one of America’s oldest used waterfronts.
Angeline Hayling: Ethical & Sustainable Fashion Designer
Island Tribe has become more sustainable over time and it’s our community who has encouraged us.
Angeline Hayling
Clothing should be empowering, not only for the women who wear them, but also for the women making them. When Angeline Hayling began her sustainable womenswear and resort line in Bali, she partnered with Fair Trade organizations to ensure that her clothing was made to empower women economically with fair wages, benefits and safe working conditions. Since then, her mission to craft an ethical brand has grown with made-to-order pieces to reduce waste and collaborations with Offset Earth to invest in wind farms and planting trees.
Jaz O’ Hara: Changing Refugee Stereotypes
It’s a matter of luck that we’re born into a country that we don’t need to flee from.
Jazz O’Hara
Semantics play a role in how we view the world and even how we relate to one another. When Jaz O’Hara noticed how the general public in the U.K attached negative stereotypes to the words refugee, immigrant, asylum seeker and migrant, she sought out a way to make a change. Even as a white female growing up in the U.K, she felt connected to the refugee community. Her littler brother was born in Eritrea. She had volunteered in refugee camps. To her, the term refugee held no negativity at all. After a Facebook post went viral, Jaz shifted her focus to build her nonprofit, Worldwide Tribe. As part of a tribe of young women activists in the U.K, her mission is simple- to share others’ stories to highlight global issues and to show that we’re all the same.
Lavanya Garg: Building A Sustainable Fashion Community
India employs close to 40 million people in the textiles and garment industry. Many of these are women.
Lavanya Garg
In 2018, Lavanya Garg started India’s 1st sustainable fashion community as a way to connect with like minds. Called SUSS (Sustainable Style Speak), it began as a Facebook group and quickly scaled to a include one of Delhi’s biggest swap festivals and has become a leading platform for designers, consumers and artisans to discuss some of fashion’s biggest problems. From labor rights to the devastating environmental impacts of the fashion industry, Lavanya has created a platform for conversations to be had and solutions made in a country that is one of the biggest producers in the fashion industry.
Nicole Delma: Plastic-Free Advocate
Amazon ships around 46% of the packages in our country. A company this size has the opportunity to make a big impact and inspire other companies.
Nicole Delma
Going up against one of the biggest companies on the planet, Nicole Delma is a plastic-free advocate petitioning the monolith of online shopping to offer customers plastic-free options at checkout. To date, her petition of 700,00+ signatures is well on its way to reaching its goal of 1 million. With webinars and updates about her meetings with local council members and representatives, Nicole is tackling plastic waste in a big way that allows all Amazon customers to be a part of the solution.
