In this episode, MBA in Sustainability candidate Toni Skidmore interviews fashion experts Ngozi Okaro and Donald Pollard Jr. about creating a more ethical and sustainable fashion industry. They discuss how education must include business fundamentals alongside design skills, emphasizing human-centered approaches that balance profit with ethical labor practices. Both guests share how they preserve traditional craftsmanship while embracing innovation and the power of authentic storytelling in fashion. They conclude that creating a more sustainable future requires genuine commitment from industry leaders to prioritize people alongside profit.
Bard’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability cultivate leaders who break through existing systems, innovating solutions to critical social, environmental and economic challenges. 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the first graduating class from M.S. in Environmental Policy degree at Bard CEP and the 10th graduating class from the Bard MBA in Sustainability program. The 2024 graduating MS EP, MS CSP, MEd and MBA classes brought the Bard GPS alumni community to over 500!
Ngozi Okaro:
Ngozi Okaro advocates for a fashion industry that honors planet and people. She founded Custom Collaborative to support marginalized women launching sustainable fashion businesses and careers. Custom Collaborative serves fashion-industry businesses, workers, and consumers. Ngozi is part-time faculty at Parsons School of Design, a Commissioner of the NYC Equal Employment Practices Commission, and a Director of the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Among other distinctions, she is a New York Women’s Foundation 2024 Changemaker; 2023 Marie Claire magazine Fashion Changemaker and Institute Of Digital Fashion 100 Innovators; and has been recognized and awarded by many others including Vogue Business, Vogue Poland, Goldman Sachs, Crain’s New York, Conscious Company Media and Kate Spade, NYC Fair Trade Coalition. Ngozi is a founding board member of the NY Fashion Workforce Development Coalition. She is certified by New York University’s Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and was an Environmental Leadership Program Fellow. Ngozi graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and Morgan State University.
Donald Pollard Jr.:
Donald Pollard Jr. is a multidisciplinary and hybrid creative, business executive and adaptive thinker passionate about innovation and tech. He is most comfortable in creative environments, contemporary organizational structures and complex multi-national companies as well as emerging startups poised for growth. He thrives in settings that champion collaboration, engaged leadership, operating excellence, and measurable outcomes.
A 2017 TEDx speaker, visionary, educator, and multi-industry entrepreneur with 20+ years experience. He is laser-focused on strategy and innovation working across sectors with founders and seasoned executives collaborating and building mutually beneficial partnerships geared toward challenging the status quo to create change and shape the future. He is a hands-on, strategic, collaborative leader with experience guiding and motivating cross-functional teams.
Highlights include start-up consulting for entrepreneurs in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. across industries in fashion, technology, and consumer goods driving business solutions that improve the bottom line and help solve complex problems.
Toni Skidmore:
Toni Skidmore is a Bard MBA in Sustainability candidate with a focus on circular value chains, fashion, and the social impact at the intersection of the two. A trained professional vocalist and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Toni brings a creative lens to problem-solving.
While in the Bard MBA program, Toni began volunteering with Custom Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports marginalized women pursuing a career in sustainable fashion. She has worked closely with the organization’s entrepreneurship coach, and her contributions led to her being nominated as New Yorker of the Week and featured in a Spectrum News NY1 segment.
Renay Loper:
Renay is a Clinical Faculty in Organizational Leadership for the Bard MBA in Sustainability, where she focuses on justice-centered transformation in the workplace. Previously, she was the Vice President of Program Innovation at PYXERA Global where she served on the Executive Leadership Team, led five country offices, drove the development of new business and programs, co-led the organization's work on inclusive circular cities, and advised corporate clients on their social impact strategies. Renay also led the organization’s ARC (Antiracist Collective) initiatives, which included internal and external efforts toward dismantling unjust systems. To this end, Renay created Rhetoric to Action, a series of conversations to bridge sectors toward collective action around social and racial justice.
Prior to PYXERA Global, Renay led the grassroots exchange and education grant portfolio at the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and has served in a variety of leadership roles in higher education, nonprofit, and business prior to that. Renay is an avid speaker and facilitator, has authored and edited numerous publications, including a resource journal, Student Affairs Professionals Cultivating Campus Climates Inclusive of International Students (Jossey Bass). Renay serves on the board of directors of nonprofits including Community Change, Harpswell Foundation, and Girl Rising.