Out There with Lorraine Sanders

We're kicking off this year's second season of the Spirit of 608 podcast with an inspiring woman helping to pioneer responsible fashion in Colombia — and as you'll hear in the episode — far beyond that, thanks to her role leading the responsibility efforts and media outreach for men's footwear brand Beckett Simonon . I was already well aware of the Colombia-based purveyor of made-to-order shoes, b...

In the final episode before our annual summer break (we'll be back with all-new interview episodes in August), I'm talking about the thing we're not talking about enough in the sustainability space. Especially when it comes to business. It's been on my mind for a while, and I am sharing it all in this episode. Plus, a bunch of things I want you to know about where the podcast is headed, what's cha...

Oh the joy and challenge of amazing photography. Visual imagery is queen today, especially considering every brand aiming to grow is basically tasked with becoming its own mini publishing house. Honestly, just think about it: it used to be that brands, well, they sold things. And the media, well, they published things about the things other people made and sold. Today, every brand reaching new aud...

Want inspiration for building a design-driven business with sustainable values and rethinking single use daily habits that seem so, well, normal until you realize they've only been common for the last 50 to 100 years? Then you're going to be all ears for this week's guest on the Spirit of 608 podcast, Danish designer and Last Object co-founder Isabel Aagaard. Even at the helm of a fast-growing com...

Power moves, y'all! Yes this episode is making me drop the yalls. Why? Because it's full of ideas and encouragement I want you to hear right now: so many of us struggle with money mindset, simplifying and taking full advantage of the resources and amazing things we have right in front of us. And that's not because we're unworthy or doomed to failure — absolutely not. It's because of how our minds...

Sometimes business is grueling and challenging and frustrating to no end. But then, sometimes things begin to fall into place and you come up for air to realize you are in exactly the right spot for right now. That's what happened to multi-hyphenate actor-musician-artist-activist-entrepreneur Nikki Reed (you will remember her from the Twilight series and many others) when she stepped beyond Hollyw...

This week's guest turned her pain personal point — her husband's stinky workout shirts — into product that's now fueling not one, but multiple businesses. On this week's episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast, you will hear how Texas entrepreneur Megan Eddings left a corporate career while at the top of her game to risk building an activewear brand aiming to solve for stinky shirts. But she didn't j...

What can product businesses in FEST (fashion, entrepreneurship, sustainability + tech) learn from content marketers in the current digital landscape? As a content creator, producer, consultant and entrepreneur who works primarily with product businesses, I'm here to tell you the answer is so much, especially right now — a time when every business is being asked to become a publisher in order to st...

On this week's show, we brush up to (sorry not sorry) the story, tips and advice from an entrepreneur building a luxury vegan nail lacquer company that's out to make an impact in the beauty world with high-quality, cruelty-free products and a tech play that stands to increase inclusivity in more ways than one. Plus, and this is no small feat, Auda. B founder Samara Walker is doing it all while hol...

In this episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast, we get seriously material about the future of fashion with guest Nicole Rawling, co-founder of the Material Innovation Initiative. Their mission? To make it easier for next generation textiles and product materials to make it into the marketplace in meaningful way. To that end, MII is betting collaboration and communication are key to their goal and, a...

In this solo episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast, I get personal about my own anxiety and offer up 5 tried-and-true ways to revive your mindset when you're suddenly hit with a wave of anxiousness, imbalance or overwhelm. I'm pulling the inspiration for this episode directly from my own super anxious day earlier this week, but the advice I'm offering up comes from figuring out what works for me th...

For Amira Rasool, The Folklore is far from just a business. Not only that, this female founder travelled far from her home in the U.S. to discover the origins of her current business while studying in South Africa. After dedicating her life to African-American studies, Amira has realized that being visible as a black female entrepreneur and being able to shine the spotlight on luxury African fashi...

In my neck of the woods, the switch suddenly flipped to spring mode and, with that, I've been thinking A LOT about growth, abundance and all the things that help cultivate those in life, as well as the things that, yup, get in the way. As you know if you've listened to the Spirit of 608 podcast for any length of time, you know that I am possibly the world's unlikeliest mindset junkie. And if you d...

If there's one luxury in life that money can't buy, it's a good night's sleep. Except, well, after you hear this week's guest on the Spirit of 608 podcast, you might think differently. That's because Catarina Dahlin, co-founder of Swiss sleepwear brand Dagsmejan, is here this week to let us in on her journey from a successful corporate job that included lots of international travel (translation: l...

It's the 250th episode of the Spirit of 608 podcast! For this milestone episode, I'm getting all analytical on you and checking in on the status of the first 25 brands to be on the show. I tallied up how many are still operating, who has shut down, who's pivoted or shifted and who's IPO'd — and it's more than one! That would have been pretty unbelievable to me back in 2015 when I started the show....

Pretty much everyone has been in Hayley Elliott's shoes. Hayley had always wanted to express herself in some way, and create something beautiful. For her, this desire manifested in a business that she was passionate about - creating sustainable yoga wear that's ethically made and sourced. In this episode, Hayley Elliott talks about how being authentic and true to herself boosted her branding and e...

Why wait until the middle or end of the year to evaluate what's working well in '21? Two months and a bit in, I want to share 5 things that are working really well for me this year, including: The personality test that has changed everything for me One thing I finally gave in and started doing, and it's making all the difference Two habits I paused on in the second half of last year and am never g...

This week, we hear from a leader in fashion tech from Paris, long the home of industry leading houses and couturiers who, despite their prominence, for years were notoriously slow to adopt technology as an inherent part of fashion's future. But tech's no longer an outsider idea in fashion. In fact, many major brands are leading the way forward by being early adopters of technology that makes it po...

I love startup stories that involve taking a manual, real-life process and creating a tech solution that mimics it and stories from founders who, in the quest to solve their own problems, end up bringing needed new ways of doing things into areas begging for innovation. This week's guest is doing BOTH. During her years as a fashion brand rep, Melodie found herself going the extra mile to serve the...

Everyone is talking about Clubhouse, the less-than-a-year old audio app that caught wildfire last fall. Its invite-only nature has added to the hype. But the real question is whether you should care. Should you spend time creating, building and maintaining a Clubhouse presence -- essentially adding yet another social media platform to your plate? For FEST founders, there are special considerations...

Starting a business in the middle of pandemic, when the future seems a little unpredictable, doesn't seem like the smartest of ideas, but for Laura Mallows, it was the best one. Laura talks about how being real gave her an identity that everyone resonated with, even though it was totally against how the traditional beauty market presents itself. From showing off scars, bad hair days, and even bad...

It's easy to get swept away by the glitz and glamour of the fashion industry, and for Lauren Tanaka, it certainly was a glamourous start. From rubbing elbows with celebrities like Charlize Theron and the cast of The Lord of the Rings , Lauren's first gigs in the industry were every stylist and designer's dream. But even as she was living the dream, some eye-opening moments drove Lauren to ask some...

Want to get visible? You need a story. Better yet, you need to know the version of your story you want to tell right now. One of the things I get asked most often when brands are starting out in their journey toward more visibility is what they should say when they start trying to reach that goal. When they're wavering and hesitating on visibility projects like pitching more media and launching re...

Do you believe in the power of a business to not only be a part of a community, but also be instrumental in building one? In today's episode, Linnea, a.k.a owner and CFSO (chief of figuring sh*t out) at ecommerce and IRL shop Darling talks about how she bought the store 6 years ago at the age of 25 and has been cultivating a dream from her heart all these years. It was a special treat to have a Ch...