International Women’s Day has arrived and this year LVRSustainable celebrates the strength, achievement and empowerment of women by shining the spotlight on a very important and successful editor of Vogue Italia, the sportswear brand, Girlfriend Collective, that continues to push the boundaries for women’s equality and beauty, and two of our much admired fashionistas.
Sara Maino, the brilliant deputy director of Vogue Italia & Head of Vogue Talents speaks to us about her career and views.
A brand we love that celebrates women’s beauty, Girlfriend Collective and two of our style muses, Savannah Lynch and Erica Choi speak to us about their experience and share what hardships they’ve encountered, how we can continue to empower women and what changes the industry can adapt for a more equitable future for women.
The Interviews
Deputy Director of Vogue Italia & Head of Vogue Talents
What hardships have you encountered in the workforce?
We have to recognize the value of women and in some “high” positions, this sometimes does not happen.
How can women empower one another?
By supporting each other and giving women space and the right spotlight when deserved.
What changes would you like to see in the fashion industry and beyond to advocate for a more equitable future for all women?
To work for a better future also in respect to our planet and always support talent in all its creative forms.
What hardships have you encountered in the workforce?
The ability to progress and the open doors available to me in my career consistently needed extra attention. As an Asian American woman who was more reserved, many times, my quiet ambition was either dismissed or viewed as stepping over my boundaries. Either way, I needed to work extra hard to validate my thoughts, work, and being. Building trust and respect as a woman is more of a long-term journey than something simply given. As my role evolved in the workforce, there were new challenges I had to face. It has ultimately taught me the art of resilience; however, I believe the ride could have been much smoother.
How can women empower one another?
Women can empower one another by encouraging and supporting each other wholeheartedly. There are enough pieces of the pie for everyone. I believe in Karma and that everything happens for a reason; lend a hand, and it will come back to you tenfold! By looking at the big picture, we can all succeed and thrive in synergy. We should speak up, tell our stories, and let our voices be heard. At the same time, we should be good listeners. Take a step back and let someone else take the spotlight. We should see each opportunity as a collaborative effort as there is power in collective action.
What changes would you like to see in the fashion industry and beyond to advocate for a more equitable future for all women?
This is not just for the fashion industry, but I wish people to have an open mind and open heart to show their honesty and vulnerability. I would love to see women build companies that truly align with their values. We should support women-led businesses. We need more women in leadership and decision-making roles, and if they are in those roles, let them lead by example to become real role models. It can genuinely empower and shape those around us to allow all of us to make our dreams a reality.
What hardships have you encountered in the workforce?
The biggest hardship I’ve encountered in my work, has been learning how to “do me” authentically, without comparing myself to others. I spent most of my childhood as a dancer, so I’ve always handled constructive criticism very well and I always thought a strength of mine was being able to compare myself to others in order to grow and make myself better. To be completely honest, I think what made me such a strong dancer, was that I had the ability to dissect what I liked from everyone else’s movement, and take it for myself and make it my own. Since moving into the world of social media, I’ve found that comparing not only makes me feel bad about myself, but it also makes me way more judgmental of others. I think since what I do now is more of a visual art than a physical one, it makes it a lot easier to start judging the artificial part of life. Whereas, when I was judging movement, it was more about the way things felt inside my body. It has definitely been a big hurdle for me to reverse this habit. I think I’m still working on it!
As soon as I made the choice to stop following pages that made me feel self conscious, or that used triggering language, I felt a huge weight lifted. There doesn’t need to be so much pressure to be perfect! It’s OK to have messy hair and zits, and it’s OK if your body doesn’t look like the Facetuned ones you keep obsessing over. Life isn’t perfect, so when you see all these feeds that look so perfect, it’s easy to get in your head about it. Instead, I’ve been learning to be authentically me and if people don’t like it, then they’re not for me either.
How can women empower one another?
Women can empower other women by supporting each other! It’s ok to have healthy competition, but that doesn’t mean you need to push each other down to get to where you’re going. There’s so much room at the top and it’s much better to support each other on the way there. Amplify each other’s voices!! When you hear another woman sharing her story, repost it! When we recognize greatness in others and not feel diminished by it, we learn to elevate each other. I’m a firm believer in the Shine Theory “I don’t shine if you don’t shine”
What changes would you like to see in the fashion industry and beyond to advocate for a more equitable future for all women?
I would like to see more diversity in the models that wear our clothes. I know we have already been starting to see a huge change in the past few years with plus size models and we’re starting to see everything in between. But I would l just love to see that grow even more. There are so many different body types and all are so beautiful! I think this will make a huge impact on the way our young kids grow up and help them to learn self love at an earlier age
How can women empower one another?
One of the most supportive things women can do for each other is utilize their platform — regardless of size — to help lift up other women. I think for a lot of women, a successful career can feel like a zero-sum game, with few women in C-suite positions and minimal VC funding going to female founders. But letting the “it’s you or me” mentality take over is something I just can’t buy into. I think women empowering each other is about making room for all of us to succeed and changing the narrative from the top down.
What changes would you like to see in the fashion industry and beyond to advocate for a more equitable future for all women?
As a mother to a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years thinking about how we can support and encourage mothers in the workforce, especially in an industry like fashion, that is propped up by women. 30% of women feel that their career stalls out after having kids versus 7% of men. This underscores the very harsh reality of a larger system that isn’t set up to support moms. I think it goes beyond just providing a basic maternity leave to your employees and is more about finding ways to establish a company culture where family and work aren’t diametrically opposed. For me, this means not being afraid to be transparent about how that all blends together — whether that’s bringing my baby to meetings with me or blocking off time on my work calendar so I can drop my toddler at school.
Learn more about International Women’s Day
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A Special thank you to Sara Maino, and Erica Choi, Savannah Lynch and Girlfriend Collective.
