cv.
current experience
Principal – oceanparkstudio
Founder – Material Encounters
Director – Southern California Fibershed
Founder – Los Angeles Textile Month
previous experience
Director and Curator – Rancho Camulos Museum
Co-founder and former Executive Director – Textile Arts | Los Angeles
Vice President, Marketing – Brown Jordan
Vice President, Sales and Marketing – Cisco Brothers and LA Design Center
Co-founder – Akogare Trading Co
Director, Advertising and Publications – Brown Jordan
Associate Director, Publications – The Anderson School at UCLA
various – Dartmouth College, UCLA Undergraduate Admissions, Trust Company of the West, construction management, entertainment publicity, magazine editorial
education
UCLA, School of the Arts
Bachelor of Arts, Art History (emphasis on Mesoamerica)
The Anderson School at UCLA (Graduate School of Management)
Executive Education Program in Management
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
Regenerative Design, MA in progress, expected June 2026
California State University, Chico
Regenerative Agriculture, certificate in progress, expected June 2025
residency
Nocefresca, May 2022
curatorial projects
Sympoeisis: Making With, at Studio 203, Feb - April 2023
Tricksters & Transformation: a textile exhibit, at Helms Design Center, Fall 2021 (producer)
speaking engagements
Speculative Futures with Fibershed, Textile Society of America, Shifts and Strands Symposia, November 2024
Textiles and Community, Textile Society of America, Shifts and Strands Symposia, moderator, November 2024
New Paradigms and Enchantment: Why Textiles Matter, LA Textile show, Sept 2024
CA Product Stewardship Council, Santa Barbara Textile Recycling Seminar, speaker, March 2024
Color: Soil, Flower, Food, speaker with Anne LaForti, Seeding the City, April 2023 (Earth Day)
Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis’s course: The Lifecycle of a T-Shirt: Sustainability and the Eco- System of Fashion, UCLA Copley Center for Costume Design, speaker, March 2022
Dr. Tracie Tung's seminar, Textile Waste, CSUN’s Sustainable Fashion Program, panelist, November 2023
San Diego Fiber Fest, keynote speaker, June 2024
Casa Dumetz, FIbershed in the Local Ecology, Los Olivos, speaker, June 2024
Writing with Purpose, UCLA Writing Programs, speaker, April 2022
Women in the Wardrobe, Regenerative Rising, panelist, November 2018
Future Insights: The Future of the Creative Economy, American Craft Council, panelist, December 2021
ModeDurable, cohort presentation about local fiber, supply chains, and sustainability, 2020
New Paradigms, Agency, Courage, and Enchantment, Santa Barbara Fiber Arts Guild, 2021
New Paradigms, Central Coast Weavers, 2021
Inside the Studio, CSU Long Beach’s Duncan Anderson Design Lecture Series, Nov 2018
“How Empathy Creates Extraordinary Experiences,” OMChats, organizer and moderator, Oct 2019
Dr. Nurit Katz’s course: Principles of Sustainability, UCLA Extension, speaker, Fall 2019
LA Design Festival WellnessxDesign Event, hosted by Modern Luxury and Interiors California, Summer 2019
The Craft of Marketing, Textile Arts LA Professional Development Series, March 2019
UCLA Anderson Evolve Conference, The Changing Consumer, “Doing Good is Good Business: The Motivation Behind Mission-Driven Brands,” moderator, 2020
Poster Exhibit Celebrating 100 Years of the Bauhaus with Gloria Kondrup, Art Center professor and director of Archetype Press, moderator, Fall 2019
Elise Preiss in Conversation with Lesley Roberts, Material Curiosity, Fall 2020
Ferne Jacobs in Conversation Lesley Roberts, The Source of Ideas, Spring 2020
conferences produced
Groundwork: a So Cal Fibershed Symposium, March 2023
Cole Bush, Shepherdess Land and Livestock, Ojai; A Culture of Care
Tony de Verya, Rodale Institute; Hemp Challenges and Opportunities
Nathanael Gonazales-Siemens, organic agriculture consultant
Christina Wheeler, production manager, Greg Lauren; Waking up to Local Abundance
Nicholas Brown, Textile Exchange; Communities of Practice
Material Dialogues, Fall 2020
Elissa Auther, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design; Fringe: Unstable Edges and Unraveled Ground
Teju Adisa-Farrar, Writer, Geographer, and Poet; Migrating Lineages: Reckoning with the Fibers of Society
Michael Olszewski, Artist; On Noting Responses
Jovencio de la Paz, Artist, Assistant Professor and Curricular Head of Fibers at the University of Oregon; Ancient Computers & Digital Looms: Weaving, Computation, and Radical Software
Materiality & Method, Fall 2019
Janice Arnold, Artist; Finding Your Method
Eno Jonah, Founder of Nzuri Textiles; Heritage and Meaning in Nigerian Textiles
Vanny Diserbeau, Founder of Red Tribe; Weaving Spirits into the Loom: Lao Animism and Iconography
Sarah Haskell, Artist; A Body of Materials
Alia Ali, Artist; Borderland
Emily Zaiden, Director of Craft in America, with Carol Shaw-Sutton, Artist; A History of Textiles in Los Angeles
Mindful Materials, Fall 2018
Carmen Artigas, sustainable designer, consultant, and speaker, specializing in integrating ethical practices within the fashion industry; Find Your Essence
Kristine Upesleja, Madisons Innovative; Innovative Textiles: Accessibility, Realities
Lynn Siodmak, Outerknown; Social Environmental Accountability
Kestrel Jenkins, Conscious Chatter, with Juan Diego Gerscovich of Industry of All Nations, Steve Zika of Natural Fiber Welding, and Isadora Alvarez of Back Beat Rags; Material Accessibility, a moderated panel
talks produced
Artists in Conversation: A Material Dialogue with Ferne Jacobs and Christy Matson
Kate Sekules, Mending as Activism
Lauren Baccus, A Pattern of Resistance: Subversive Dress and the Politics of Clothing in Caribbean Masquerade
Mary Savig with Neda Al-Hilali: Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
Katherine Pogson, Towards Something More…Liveable
Weshoyot Alvitre, Navigating Indigenous Existence within Fibershed Movements
Ahree Lee, Pattern and Code
Renae Barnard, with Aneesa Shami and Chuck Hohng: Mindful and Meaningful: The Synergies Between Textile Waste and Fine Art Practice
Kamea Chayne and Aditi Mayer, Exploring Sustainable Fashion Beyond Consumerism
Dr. Helen Trejo, Exploring Opportunities for Development & Growth
book launch events produced
Rebecca Burgess, Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy
Elizabeth L. Cline, The Conscious Closet: A Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good
Christopher Bardt, Material and Mind
Lucianne Tonti, preview, Good Witch Hunting
juries
Textile Society of America, 2024 Symposium Shifts and Strands
AATCC, C2C Student Merchandising Competition
Livestock Conservancy, 2023 and 2024, Conservation Priority List Breeds Microgrants
memberships
Art|Table
UCLA Fowler Textile Council
Surface Design Association
Fiber Art Now
Craft Contemporary
Textile Society of America
DeYoung Textile Associates
American Craft Council
Ethnic Arts Council