“How do we react when life feels unfair?  How can our choices and reaction to the difficult and challenging things that come our way make the difference between a life of pain and that of a life of joy?”

It’s Denuo’s 8^th year now and it’s 8 months, almost exactly, since my last entry for this Sustaining Intimacy column. What developed in this timeframe is a story; a new narrative that banged its way in, terrifying every fibre of my being and has now manifested itself in seemingly infinite soulful forms. Today, I share this chapter that reveals my life’s darkest moments that led to who I am today and how I show up for this brand, the people around me and the life I’ve begun anew.

In envisioning our year ahead, Monica and I had a shared desire to tell a story that is partly about us and partly about what sustainability has come to mean to us. Fundamental to Denuo is the commitment to explore our notions of self and belonging, and we have been very lucky to find that our values in this regard are almost, if not perfectly, aligned. We often laugh at how uncanny it is that our paths crossed – we had no mutual friends, moved in very different circles, shared no institutional ties. It was a mutual love for sustainable fashion that brought us together two years ago, and since then, it was clear that we found a special kinship in one another.

In essence, this story that we want to tell is one of friendship, and of womanhood.