AnnaYang

I’ve always understood the world through clothes, a habit that started with my mom and became Stars4ever, the sustainable, women-empowering label I began in Orange County. What started as a wish to instill confidence with style became something bigger when a closet cleanout left me staring at a pile of outgrown clothes that looked like a landfill. I turned that pile into upcycling, then into a nonprofit, and eventually into a brand that designs convertible pieces from other brands’ leftover fabric and now sits in retail stores.

At Barnard, where I’m studying Economics and Art History, I began to see that the environmental cost of fashion and the exploitation of the women who make it are the same story. Storytelling became my way of growing a business around that idea, bridging the builders who make things with the communities who care about them. I believe female representation and environmental ethics belong at the center of business, not the margins.

This summer, at the fashion rental startup Hauteline, I worked on marketing and operations and saw how technology can make reuse feel effortless. That’s what I’m chasing now with Blueprint, a social styling app where friends borrow from each other’s closets. I’m eager to both teach and learn from fellow founders.