My Story and Journey
I, Tatiana, grew up in Marin County, with the natural environment always at the center, bottle feeding calves and hanging out with chickens and baby goats. As a young child, I took for granted the magic of mother nature. As soon as I arrived home from school, my dad and I would go to “La balancoire secrete” or secret swing. He’d take me on a steep hike, through the redwoods up to a magical view of the valley, Mount Tamalpais and San Francisco. I felt on top of the world, swinging while enjoying the most peaceful views.
As I grew older and it became clear that the very core of my existence, mother nature, was at risk, something inside me changed. My sister, who is a bit older, was the first one to get upset about the danger our planet was in. Around the dinner table discussions became centered around climate change, methane, the billions of dollars of loss, and more importantly the constant danger for people in the poorest parts of the world.
At the time, I was all consumed by training as a pre-professional ballet dancer, however, I had always been inspired by how beautiful ballet costumes are reused year after year. So, in my freshman year, I decided to start a non-profit, 2nd Chance Fashion, a second-hand clothing organization that initially focused on teenagers. The original idea was to make it really easy for teenagers to get second-hand clothing and to build a community while doing it. It’s not for everyone to mine through lots of old clothes at Goodwill, so I wanted to make it easier and fun. Within the first week, I gained proof of concept on the collection part as I received over 250 pieces of cool clothing that I planned to redistribute through Tupperware-type parties. I would ask people in my community to get friends together at their house and I would show up with clothes. I was very excited to go to my first Tupperware party. I had picked up little snacks and spent hours sorting through the clothes to put together a hip collection for the event. Packing up the clothes was intense, the logistics weren’t easy but I was so motivated and driven by my mission that nothing could stop me.
And then the phone call came. The friend canceled. I was devastated, not only had she postponed the event multiple times, but now she even canceled. It was the start of my venture and I wasn't prepared for that. Through tears, frustration, and trial and error I learned that teenagers in Marin County are too busy to organize Tupperware parties. At the same time, I was still driving home after school with trunks filled with beautiful clothes that got donated. I wanted to keep the clothes locally to keep the carbon footprint low. I had to find a different way; it was very painful to be rejected by a friend. After lots of thinking and talking with adult entrepreneurs, I developed partnerships with organizations such as the YMCA to bring free clothing to their community. Going to talk to the YMCA was pretty scary to me and I can’t be grateful enough to that wonderful organization that made me feel so welcome.
My first YMCA event is where my environmental mission also turned into a social mission. It’s the day I found out that we often think of climate change mitigation as “having to give up doing things” and here I realized that sometimes making shifts makes it a win-win for all. I arrived with another ambassador of 2nd Chance Fashion and the minute we started setting up, people got curious looking at what we had to offer. A dad walked in and couldn't believe that all these beautiful dresses were free. Having young girls he took at least eight dresses. The smile on his face when he walked away with his treasure gave it a very different meaning to me. I was on a quest to save the planet and now I was bringing joy to people while doing it, I was making a hero out of a dad.
I forgot about my tears of disappointment earlier on and we called for backup to get more clothes delivered to the YMCA. At that time I also took a marketing and entrepreneurship class to see how I could improve what we were doing. So many community events later, I realized that although I was making an impact, I wasn’t creating a ripple effect. Initially, I started writing blog posts, and posting on social media but very soon I understood that I don’t have the personality of an influencer. I don’t like to be in the spotlight, I am more of a do-er and so I moved on to the next stage of 2nd Chance Fashion.
Fast forward, I can now confidently move to “we” have created a network of 2nd Chance Fashion ambassadors! We are a network of currently mainly teenage girls all over the world. We sit together during Zoom calls to discuss action items we will take in our communities and think of ideas to make clothing more sustainable. One girl does 2nd chance horse equipment, another one in Belgium is working strongly as an activist now and we even have a girl in Argentina who during one of our calls decided that in Argentina, she could have an impact focussing on recycling kitchens and doors. Although the latter may not fit with the original mission of clothes, it truly doesn’t matter as the main goal is to create a ripple effect that will help us focus on solutions to mitigate damage to our earth. I am also excited that I have a bunch of younger girls who decided to join the movement and our mission; the more we can be, the more we can learn from this global community, and the more impact we can have.
