Powerful and Empowered Women Entrepreneurs

On International Women’s Day, it is time to reflect on and appreciate all the powerful contemporary women leaders. We are honored to share  incredible stories of empowered women who inspire us!

By Lifestyle Food Team

These incredible women come from all walks of life and from every corner of the world! Despite all their differences, these women do have one thing in common – they are the enabling leaders who are shaping the future into a sustainable one for their companies as well as the community. They are passionate, determined and committed to turning their belief into reality. We hope their green and clean stories inspire you and leave you feeling fired up to achieve a happy, healthy and sustainable life!

H.R.H. Princess Maja von Hohenzollern:  

The realization of the relationships between factory farming, pollution and famine in the world has been a turning point in H.R.H. Princess Maja’s life. If you understand these relationships, then you can only come to the conclusion that a vegan lifestyle is the only responsible way in dealing with humans, nature and animals.

As designers, she tries to implement a vegan lifestyle into her products. This means, for example, that the carpet collection or even the new Royal Bath collection is produced without the use of animal ingredients. This not only applies to the main materials used, but also to adhesives, paints, varnishes and yarns! It has to be free of animal ingredients. Full stop. “With my collections, I would like to show, above all, that vegan and sustainable products can look absolutely modern, trendy and elegant and do not look stale or “eco-chic”” Says H.R.H Princess Maja.

The brand “Princess Maja von Hohenzollern” stands for a modern, royal and vegan design. She works with innovative product ideas and the most modern materials. She would like to work with more licensees for these products like furniture, home decoration, fashion, kids products, pets products, cosmetic and vegan food internationally.

“If you are interested in a cooperation with “Princess Maja von Hohenzollern”, you can contact us. :), www.prinzessinvonhohenzollern.com”, says H.R.H Princess Maja!

Yasmin Rasyid

A biologist by profession and an environmentalist by passion, Yasmin Rasyid is the President and Founder of Ecoknights, an environmental organization that supports all national and international environmental programs, and Director and co-founder of Poptani that uses aquaculture with Aquaponics where everyone can now grow their own vegetables at the comfort of their homes. EcoKnights, and even Poptani Asia and many of the accomplishments that she is recognized for today are her organic and natural endeavors. “I think founding these organizations came from an urgent need. And we caught the right wave, the right time, where the public needed an organization like EcoKnights or Poptani Asia www.poptani.asia/ to be the bridge to connect them to understanding and embracing a sustainable future”, says Yasmin.

They offer a common sense approach to govern and manage your company according to the Sustainable Development Goals. They also offer solutions, both products and services, which can complement or contribute to your company’s sustainability agenda or goals. The proud owner of the recent Brand Laureate award as a Community Leader has shown the world that they have “arrived”. When asked about the future of her establishments Yasmin says “I would think I have done enough by then, hopefully to raise a new generation of individuals or of a team that can drive sustainability better than I can imagine.”

Dr. LeeAnn Teal Rutkovsky

Dr. Teal is the Principal of TEAL GROUP. LLC is a bespoke sustainable fashion consultancy, whose focus is on creating a path to sustainable fashion business models effecting a healthier planet, healthier people inhabiting it through sustainable profitability and standards of living above minimum standards for all.

Growing up in a sustainable household and as a baby boomer Dr. LeeAnn’s family immigrated to New England and worked in the Schmatta business that centered in NYC and New England. Her clothing was made from the waste that came from the fabric factories. So, it is really in her DNA to look for sustainable practices. However, the turning point in her came in two stages, where she now devotes her entire life to sustainability. Stage one when she researched and discovered that bamboo fabric could actually benefit, rather than harm the environment and stage two, her dissertation was a study of the challenges of the global apparel sustainable supply chains and she has never looked back after that!  

As an accomplished designer and hat maker, she uses her design studio as a laboratory, creating prototypes of beautiful pieces such as ‘compostable hats’. “My products and services are organic, healthy, circular, sustainable and impact driven. And they are beautiful”, says Dr. LeeAnn Sustained, continually and relentlessly driving the fashion industry towards incorporating new impact driven business models as a change agent is her ultimate goal for her company. “I am announcing my introduction of “impactable fashion” as an outgrowth of “sustainable fashion” in my keynote presentation at Global Sustainable Fashion Week in Budapest, April 2019” says Dr. LeeAnn.  

KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz

KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media and Sustainable Brands www.sustainablebrands.com/sustainablelifemedia says, “We believe that the intractable environmental and social challenges we face in the 21st century offers a great backdrop for meaningful business and brand innovation.” The goal at SB is to help bring technical experts together with business strategy, innovation and creative communications professionals to understand the needs of our planet and its people, challenge each other to creatively innovate solutions and to bring these solutions to market in an inspiring way so as to engage customers to begin making better choices with their purchasing power. Their commitment is to increasingly enable them through shared frameworks and tools to align on collective ambitions and solutions for redesigning commerce in such a way to serves humanity vs. the other way around.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have found a way to bring all the things I suppose I have been given in the way of both perhaps unique talents, as well as experience, that together have enabled me to have some impact through the work we’re doing at  Sustainable Brands”, says KoAnn.

Margaux Khoury

A “literal” life-threatening incident caused because of overload of everything toxic in food, products and other environmental factors was an eye opener for Margaux Khoury. From being the Founder of successful deodorant manufacturers, Margaux and her husband decided to start organic, natural, cruelty-free deodorants.

They made the decision, almost overnight to take it off all store shelves. Now It’s 100% plastic free, biodegradable, supports animal advocacy and incredible for the human body- The Best Deodorant in the world www.thebestdeodorant.org  “I imagine our company at the greatest, highest point would be when we’re contributing to hundreds of rescue centers and sanctuaries, giving millions to provide safe water for people globally, and when we have influenced enough companies to transition to more sustainable, eco ways, so that it’s making a real dent in the seemingly doomed state of the environment”, says Margaux.

Sonal Baid

A worried and disturbed Sonal Baid, after learning the extent of pollution textile manufacturing caused took her down the path of sustainability. After a couple of years she understood that India made pure, handmade, natural and organic textiles for the world! It blew her mind and turned her world upside down. “When we have such a wonderful history with India leading the way, why did the modern world take a self-destructive way, destroying the environment and lives associated. I just knew I had to do something”, says Sonal.

Sustainable Earth Foundation www.sef-india.org/ is a resource center for sustainable textiles and fashion, connecting people and planet for sustainable manufacturing through awareness, skill development and creating market linkages. They offer services and products across the value chain from consultation to sourcing to products, with local materials and skills as highlights.  Organic cotton, hand spun handloom – natural dyed textiles remaining at the center stage.

“Most of us don’t know that our clothes attack us, they have fast moved from being our protectors to becoming our attackers” worries Sonal. With “sustainability” becoming more of a buzzword, many are taking advantage of the uneducated consumers. They endeavor to be the bench mark of the industry, becoming leaders and making a path for healthy fashion- Bringing health back  into fashion!

Catherine Cervasio

Catherine Cervasio is most well known for having developed Aromababy  https://www.aromababy.com – the world’s first skincare brand for mother and baby to combine the use of natural and organic ingredients with research, creating a new category in retail in 1994. She holds a Diploma in Aromatherapy and is a trained Infant Massage Instructor.  

Catherine is a business woman with experience in the areas of presenting natural and organic product development, international trade, marketing and branding, spanning over two decades. She is a published freelance writer across a range of categories from baby to beauty, travel and style including for the Chemist Warehouse magazine, The CEO Magazine and Provincial Living.  

She has presented segments from organic skincare to baby massage, fashion (Spring Racing Carnival) cooking with kids (Foxtel) and spa care for a range of television programs. She is co-host of a Melbourne radio show.

Catherine was a 2018 recipient of the CIBE Cosmetic Outstanding Awards, 2017 winner of the National HKABA Export Award and won both CIBE China (Most Popular Natural Brand) and TBPA China (Best Brand Experience in 2017. Catherine recently participated in the first Australian all women’s trade delegation to China as part of the Victorian Government’s Women in International Business initiative.

Brighde Reed

Brighde Reed, Cofounder of World Vegan Travel (https://www.worldvegantravel.com), a tour company taking vegans around the world on unique unforgettable travel adventures proudly says, “Becoming vegan was, I think, a key pivotal moment for me. Going vegan was much more than a diet change; rather it helped me to connect with all living beings and then, of course, the planet and everyone in it.” There is no looking back for her since that time which was before a decade and she has learned more and more and is always trying to do better.

World Vegan Travel offers luxury vegan group tours to unforgettable destinations. They stay in Eco hotels whenever available. They work really hard with hotels and restaurants to educate them on veganism and vegan food for the arrival of their travel groups. They are really proud that hotels often keep the meals that they co-create on the menu! They also try very hard to minimize the single-use plastic too.

Janeen Swing

Janeen Swing is an Interior Designer, a Mother, and a Grandmother. She has had many wonderful projects and mentors throughout her career.  She had a wonderful husband and has sons that promoted and enhanced her love of design, beauty, and career. As she developed Luxury Designs, she recognized the need to go eco-friendly – not harmful to the environment. Thus, she started Ecofirstart.com.  The goal at Ecofirstart is to support the Green Movement and the efficient use of our resources.

Inspired by the work of Jane Goodall and others in the ecology movement, they

hope to contribute to society’s changing mentality towards the disposability of objects while still promoting aesthetic appeal.

Everything they sell is custom made by artisans in North America. They use sustainable wood, organic materials and wherever possible, recycled materials. “We believe our dynamic talent, collaborative spirit and history of achievement will create tomorrow’s heirlooms” Says Janeen.

Camilla Carrara

After having accomplished a Bachelor in Fashion Design at Politecnico di Milano in July 2014, and the MA Sustainability in Fashion at Esmod Berlin, a mentorship award from Manufactum and Messe Frankfurt offered was offered to Camilla to exhibit her MA project- Zerobarracento at the GreenShowroom during the Berlin Fashion Week January 2016 and have two outfits in the runway.

The concept of connection to a fashion garment, and the idea of creating pieces to last are fundamental to Zerobarracento- Contemporary, clean and refined aesthetic.

0 means: zero waste, reduced pollution, and reduced emissions.

Cento (100) means: 100% high quality, Made in Italy, traceability, sustainability and transparency of the production.

“Approximately 15 percent of textiles intended for clothing ends up on the cutting room floor. When textiles are wasted so are the resources, both natural and human labor resources” Says Camilla.