Meet the
Guest Speakers
Sahar Mansoor
Sahar Mansoor is the founder and CEO of zero waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, an organisation aimed at confronting India’s mounting issue of waste. An entrepreneur, author and eco-educator she is paving the way for a greener India from the ground-up.
Lisa D’Mello
Lisa D’Mello is the founder and CEO of clean and ethical beauty brand Kal Hans Naturals based in Mumbai, India. After a harrowing accident in New York that left its physical and emotional scars Lisa was motivated to create a brand that cares for people, planet and animals.
Suki Dusanj
Suki started India’s chapter of Fashion Revolution to raise awareness about the conditions under which Indian wage labourers, artisans and makers manufacture clothing for fast fashion brands by endangering their lives.
Shikhar Agarwal
Whilst on an exchange programme in the Netherlands Shikhar first encountered the Extinction Rebellion movement in full force. An activist, speaker and writer he was motivated to start the India chapter to shed light how India is the first and worst affected by the ongoing climate crisis.
Sustainability advocate, writer
Former features editor at Vogue, speaker, writer and sustainability advocate Bandana Tewari’s work has focused on the provenance of what we wear. Her work illustrates the socio-political role of fashion and advocates for industry-wide change.
Varun Deshpande
Managing Director, Good Food Institute India
As the MD at the Good Food Institute India Varun works to support the alt-protein sector in India by fostering innovation. Their goal is to feed a growing population sustainably, ethically whilst fighting malnutrition
Kathy and Jessamijn
Kathy and Jessamijn founded Ecofemme in Auroville a decade ago to create environmental and social change through revitalising menstrual practices that are healthy, sustainable and culturally responsive. Their reusable products aim to tackle waste and educational programmes fight to end taboo and period poverty.
Isaias Hernandez
Eco-educator and digital creator Isaias Hernandez talks about how sustainability as women’s work has come to be cognitively linked and what we can do to bridge the eco-gender gap. Caring for the planet is not “unmanly” and needs to be scrutinised.
Sana Powell
LPC/Therapist and digital creator at Curly Therapist
Sana is a Licensed Professional Counsellor and digital creator working to decolonise therapy. In this episode we discuss how looking after our mental health and tackling issues of anxiety and depression are central to not just our wellbeing but also our activism.
Payal Khandwala
A student of fine art and now a fashion designer and entrepreneur Payal Khandwala’s clothes emphasise function, form, colour, tradition and Indian heritage.
Andrew Ive
Andrew Ive, CEO and Managing Director of venture capital fund and accelerator Big Idea Ventures talks about investing in food tech, alt-protein and food innovation in Singapore.
Matias Echanove & Rahul Srivastava
Cofounders, Urbz
Urban planner Echanove and anthropologist Srivastava are the cofounders of Urbz, an experimental action and research collective specialised in participatory design and planning. In this episode they talk about how user-generated cities are the key to building green cities.
Climate storyteller
Sonali Prasad is a journalist and climate storyteller using different platforms such as video, data, text, audio, art and installations to communicate the climate crisis.
Labour rights activist and ethical fashion blogger
Aditi Mayer is a labour rights activist, fashion blogger, writer and speaker on all things fashion and justice. Her work focuses on highlighting how fashion closely intersects with race, gender and class.
Rahul Nainani
Founder at RaddiConnect
Rahul Nainani is the founder of a resource recovery startup called RaddiConnect that works with multiple stakeholders such as the government, brands, informal sector and consumers to divert waste away from landfills.
Mihir Sharma
Economist, Observer Research Foundation
Indian economist, columnist at Bloomberg Opinion and Business Standard India and Senior Research Fellow at Observer Research Foundation Mihir Sharma talks about a green growth trajectory for the Indian economy.
David Belo
Founder Naviluna Chocolates
Chocolate maker David Belo has an extensive background in pastry, mixology and bread from his time spent in the culinary landscape of London. As the founder of Naviluna based in Mysore he has tapped into India’s cocoa industry to change the opaque industry of chocolate.
Sasha and Kaabia Grewal
Co-founders, Outhouse Jewellery
The Grewal sisters founded Outhouse Jewellery to tap into a market between wedding opulence and everyday wear. Their ethos focuses on handcrafted, sustainable and artisan made jewellery in India.
Co-founder, Adivasi Lives Matter
Isha is a content creator, writer and web developer working with social impact brands to build their online presence.
She also trains grassroots communities and youth on digital storytelling and online advocacy.
Ashish Birulee
Co-founder, Adivasi Lives Matter
Ashish is an activist and photojournalist from Jharkhand.
He is the co-founder of Adivasi Lives Matter and Fridays for Future Jharkhand.
He writes about the culture and struggles of his Ho Adivasi community.
Olivia Owen
Olivia Owen is the founding member and the business development and partnerships manager of IFundWomen of Color a go-to marketplace for women-owned businesses and the people who want to fund them.
Ynzo van Zanten
Tony’s is a company that sells commercially successful 100% slave-free chocolate across the world. What started off as an investigative enquiry by Dutch journalist Tony van de Keuken into modern day slavery in chocolate supply chains has now turned into a company at the forefront of this battle.
Lauren Ornelas
Founder of Food Empowerment Project
Lauren Ornelas is the founder and director of FEP a food justice nonprofit working at the intersection of veganism, farm and produce worker rights and accessibility, nutrition and health.
Ayushi Trivedi
Gender + Social Equity Research Analyst, World Resources Institute
Trivedi’s research at the WRI, Washington DC has focused on women’s role in natural resource management and gender and social equity as a solution to improved sustainability and promoting inclusive and equitable climate action.
Sarah Edwards
Nutrition Coach and founder of Copper & Cloves
Edwards is certified Health and Nutrition Coach and the founder of Copper and Cloves, a resource hub for sustainable eating and now a fully-fledged cafe in Bangalore, India. This episode examines how wellness is inextricably linked to sustainable living.
Dr. Vandana Shiva
Founder- Navdanya, environmental activist
Dr. Shiva is a veteran environmental activist, physicist, ecologist and author whose contribution to the field of environmentalism from agro-ecology to eco-feminism has been seminal.
Harish Hande
CEO SELCO Foundation
Hande is the founder and CEO of SELCO, an enterprise in Bangalore that designs decentralised, replicable models for clean access to energy keeping grassroots communities in mind.
Vidya Viswanathan
Director of Environmental Justice Program at the Centre for Policy Research-Namati.
This program has created a network of grassroots legal professionals who research questions regarding environmental law implementation and citizens’ empowerment by participating in the process of resolving environmental non-compliance.
Jojo Mehta
Co-founder and Executive Director, Stop Ecocide International
Stop Ecocide International started as a global campaign to establish a law of ecocide making large-scale systematic destruction of nature an international crime. What started off as a campaign is now a non-profit entity and foundation working to use the law as a means of climate action.
Disha Ravii
Climate justice activist and Co-founder, Fridays for Future India
Based in Bangalore, India, Disha is an activist and one of the founding members of Fridays for Future, the India chapter. A prolific writer and campaigner, she has been instrumental in advocating for reform of harmful environmental policies such as the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment of March 2020.
Dr. Theanne Schiros
Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Werewool. Assistant Professor, Fashion Institute of Technology
Werewool is a biotech company creating degradable textile fibres with DNA-programmed colour and function. As an Assistant Professor, she guides students to rethink textiles through technology, biology and sustainable design.
Nishanth Chopra
Founder, Oshadi Collective
Oshadi Collective is a seed-to-stitch supply chain initiative, based in a regenerative cotton farm in a village in Tamil Nadu. Established as a contemporary label in 2015, over the years the project has evolved into an artisan collective and textile supplier where everything from farming fibres to dyeing takes place in a ten-kilometre radius.
Chloe Asaam
Designer and Programs Manager, The Or Foundation
Working at the intersection of environmental justice, education and fashion development, the Foundation's mission is to identify and manifest alternatives to the dominant model of fashion – alternatives that bring forth ecological prosperity, as opposed to destruction, and that inspire citizens to form a relationship with fashion that extends beyond their role as consumer.
Adib Dada
Regenerative Architect and Founder, the Other Dada
theOtherDada (tOD) is a regenerative consultancy and architecture practice, with a mission to activate projects across architecture, living systems and art. Based on biomimicry principles, tOD's work promotes a symbiotic relationship between nature and the built environment. Lebanon's first certified B Corp, they are working with nature to develop resilient cities.
Tori Tsui
Climate justice activist and Author
Tori is a climate justice activist and writer from Hong Kong based in Bristol, UK. Her work centres around climate justice, ensuring that policy, action and organising is intersectional and inclusive. She is also the author of It's Not Just You: Navigating Eco-Anxiety and is a fierce proponent of recognising eco-anxiety and climate grief as a structural issue.
Amplify has had some stellar guests on the show over the last 4 seasons. Read more about them and their work.
Listen to all the episodes here.