6/9. Pursuing a research project with @okanaganlifestyle during my master's at UBC Okanagan was a true testament to community collaboration. I met the founder of Okanagan Lifestyle @jaclyn_emily on campus while I was a teaching assistant in my supervisor's marketing strategy course. We connected over a shared passion for sustainabilty and fashion. Fast forward a couple months and an approved @mitacs grant application later we began working together. I came onboard for a year long research project to help transition the brand's existing product line into more sustainable alternatives and to help innovate new sustainable offerings. The ability to not only apply my research theories in the design of the seasonal lines but also test them out in nature each of the four seasons was an opportunity that I will always be immensely grateful to have experienced. A massive thank you to Jaclyn for her support and enthusiasm as we worked together side by side through a global pandemic, the doubling of size of the physical business space and eventually reaching the end goal of having over 90% of the @okanaganlifestyle products Made in Canada. A more detailed description of our full research project is featured as a UBC Okanagan"O Story" here: https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2021/10/07/back-to-basics/