From East Oakland, Dominique Drakeford is a home birth mama of two, environmental justice educator, writer, researcher, storyteller and cultural strategist who has spent over 15 years reimagining sustainability and social justice through a Black liberation lens. With a B.A. in Business Environmental Management from the University of California, Riverside and a Master’s in Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Fashion from NYU, she blends ancestral knowledge, hip-hop culture, and community storytelling to shift environmental narratives.

Her dynamic career spans international lectures and workshops on decolonizing agricultural and fashion systems, presented at institutions and organizations including MIT, Tuskegee University, Fibershed, CFDA, Apple, Google, Pinterest, and Textile Exchange. Her thought leadership has been featured in over 30 major publications, including Vogue, Essence, Elle, and Vanity Fair—but most importantly, her work continues to center collaboration with and impact in local community organizations.

Dominique is currently the Creative Director of The Black Farmers Project, a multimedia storytelling and impact campaign uplifting Black farmers across the U.S.—celebrating land stewardship, food sovereignty, and generational healing at the intersection of culture and climate. She is also the host and executive producer of the podcast Compost, Cotton & Cornrows, where she leads bold, intergenerational conversations with Black vanguards across industries—exploring sustainability, justice, and cultural memory as a collective liberation practice.

A foundational leader in the movement, Dominique co-founded Sustainable Brooklyn, and previously curated the acclaimed blog MelaninASS (Melanin And Sustainable Style) and co-produced THE ROOT: Decolonizing the Sustainable Fashion Agenda in collaboration with Conscious Chatter—centering Black and brown voices and dismantling inequitable frameworks in fashion and environmentalism.

Rooted in community development, regenerative systems, and cultural pride, Dominique’s work is a catalyst for re-indigenizing our relationship with the Earth—igniting radical imagination, collective healing, and an unapologetic vision for sustainable Black futures and planetary wellbeing.