Looking Back to the Future
Green with living was born one day, while reflecting on my past and the future. The many journeys I have taken, paired with my values, served as inspiration as I questioned what I am most passionate about today and what lies ahead. I considered where my family has been and where we plan to go from here.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, my family decided to move from our beloved home in NYC to Toronto. After 20 years of living in the most energetic and vibrant city in the world, New York City, we began to prepare for our move to Canada.
With the uncertainty of life as we knew it, we recognized the importance of more space and the ability to spend more time outdoors doing the things we love. NYC was overwhelmed with Covid and with the condensed lifestyle there wasn’t much free space to roam about. My husband, being a native Torontonain, afforded us the opportunity to enter Canada.
To take you back a bit further. My passion for sustainability began in my early 20’s circa 1997. As a young woman I became interested in health and wellness and discovered there were healthier food options available. I quickly became intrigued with the idea of eating a more organic diet.
My husband and I both moved to NYC in 2000, only to meet shortly after in early 2001, on a train platform heading back into the city after a weekend at the beach. We got engaged 2.3 years later and married in April of 2004. We started our life together living in Battery Park City, a green friendly neighborhood in the southwest corner of the island. A year or so into our marriage we welcomed our first child, followed by our second, a few short years later.
I educated myself continuously about organic food and committed to nourishing my children accordingly. Our pantry and fridge became stocked with organic product. In my early days of motherhood I could be found pureeing all types of nutritious creations for my growing first born. In fact, my husband and I came very close to launching the first frozen organic baby food line in the US. As time went on I broadened that mindset and with the birth of my second child I became a more educated consumer on toxic free and sustainable products.
At this point my fashion line, Michelle Vale Handbags, had launched and as I considered the health of my family and the planet more, I started to seek out more sustainable practices. I partnered with fashion greats Yeohlee Teng, Anna Sui and Nanette Lepore to educate consumers on locally made. Through my film, “Make it in America: Empowering Global Fashion” I worked to increase awareness of the importance of locally made. It was during this time I had the great fortune to meet Arianna Huffington, who personally invited me to start contributing to HuffPost. I used my voice to write on lifestyle topics with a focus on sustainability.
Our children both attended the first green school in NYC.
I continued to think with a green mind as I questioned the waste of my business. I became more and more aware of the environmental impact my business had. It was at this point I decided to shift gears and launch a more eco friendly line, Soak Sandals. With great success, we quickly had the attention of the media and in our first season solid into 50 plus stores internationally.
We lived in the great city of Manhattan through the tumultuous times of 9/11, the 2003 NYC blackout, the financial crisis of 2008, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the terrorist attack on Halloween 2017, which happened around the corner from where we lived- our apartment overlooking the crime scene for days.
However, Covid 19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After months of personal reflection, and all the time in the world to do it, we decided we needed to reset and evaluate what we wanted for our families future.
I continued to write throughout the pandemic and deepen my commitment to a more eco-friendly lifestyle. So naturally, as we planned for our unexpected move and started to pack, I became ridden with anxiety by the sheer volume of packing supplies needed and the negative contribution to the planet this move was going to have. And so I committed to a green move. All of the steps leading up to this moment shaped the choices I made as we planned for life in Toronto. Remembering this pivotal moment sparked the idea for green with living!