Small Talk Series: Julia

We are so excited to introduce you to another customer, Julia and to share her story and journey with sustainability with you.

Meet Julia,

"At a very young age I always wanted to command the room with entertainment, whether it would be singing or acting or recreating commercials or doing magic tricks or making videos from scripts I would write, I wanted to be “on stage”. Figuring out who I was becoming in the arts during my teenage years, my family moved from New Jersey (born and raised for 15 years) to a golf/tennis club suburb in Georgia, which was a huge change for me because my family and I were moving so far away from my hometown. At the time, I found clothing was the number one way I would express myself (a comfort) and my go-to was having classic pieces with an added bold touch.

After graduating high school, I attended Flagler college in St. Augustine, Florida to get my BA in Media Production and Journalism. In the downtown area, only local shops and small businesses were allowed to be there. So during my college years, I was surrounded by supporting local and small businesses, which I loved!

Fast forward three years later at 25 years old, I am an award-winning documentary filmmaker and producer, a documentary and narrative screenwriter, film director, film producer, online course creator, and film consultant/coach. Being in the film industry, I love to keep up classic style with a bold piece, which is why I love Paneros clothing. I love also that they are a small business and installed sustainability practices.

After trying the Paneros body suit, I absolutely loved the quality of the top and how it is a classic piece. Super soft and fits like a glove! In the photos I pair the bodysuit with bold pants I bought at a local boutique store a few years ago. As someone who works in the film industry, I can wear it on film sets with classic jeans, at business conferences, movie premieres and film festivals with a skirt or dress pants, or on a day off running errands with shorts.

So far for the productions I have been a part of, we always use thrift stores for outfits or actors using clothes they already have. The film industry is going through a lot of changes with sustainability, they are finding new ways to reuse clothing, props, and film sets.

For clothing, the most sustainable practices I have done in the past and present are:

Checking out my local thrift stores I think is the #1 thing I would do.

During high school for my theatre productions, I would go to the local thrift store to find costumes for my character. I would even reuse old clothes I was going to get rid of and add new life to them for theatre. When I started directing shows at my high school, I would always tell my actors, see what they have at home first before rushing to get anything new or try the local thrift store for outfits.

When I continued filmmaking in college, my actors would mainly use clothing they already had. During my college years and even now at 25 years old, I would only shop if most necessary.

My goal for future me is to stop buying from fast fashion companies completely (at the moment, I do now and again) and instead I continue to shop local, at thrift stores, and through small business. We are all human, so even just one step of not buying clothes (especially fast fashion) for a month or two can make a difference.

Some of my hobbies include, photography, going to museums, trying out restaurants in my area, working out, nature walks and going to the beach.