As a profession model, Arizona Muse's career is rooted in fashion. As she began looking deeper into the environmental impact of the industry, it became clear that she wanted to make changes. We talked with Arizona about her path toward environmental activism and how she hopes to inspire change in the world.
Horseshoe Jean in Sonnet
Can you think of the moment that inspired you to start your career?
I can think of the moment that inspired me to start my career as an activist, way after I started my career as a model, and that was when I realized that I didn’t know enough about the clothes that I was helping to sell, meaning I didn’t know who made them and I didn’t know really what it meant to grow cotton from the ground. And I started educating myself and now eight years later I call myself a full-blown activist.
What is one thing you wish you would have known before becoming a model, environmentalist, and the founder of Dirt?
One thing I wish I had known before starting my whole career as a model, as an activist, as a mother even, is about confidence and self-esteem. I wish I had known how I know now in my 30s that I’m pretty good at stuff. It’s just a nice feeling to be confident and know that I can do things, and I’m capable and I really lacked that when I was young. I had just thought, oh, I can never do anything and everyone’s better than me. I had all those young people feelings that a lot of us struggle with when we’re younger and wouldn’t it have been great if I had just realized that, yeah, I’m fine.
Horseshoe Jean in Sonnet
What label in your life are you most proud of? Why?
I love the label of activist. I know that it sounds really violent sometimes and like I’m going to run in the street and scream things, but I use the word actually more to replace the word advocate. I want change to happen and I want to inspire change in everybody. Because we can live differently and it feels so much better to live a more sustainable, more rich life when it comes to being environmentally friendly and being socially responsible.
When do you feel the most alive?
I feel the most alive when I’m working on a team, which I now do at Dirt, a tiny team, but still strong and so good, when I really am sharing things. I think teamwork and sharing, so being in my family brainstorming things, working together. These are all things that are making me feel so alive right now and I love it.
What is something you want to do, but haven’t done yet?
Something that I want to do, but I haven’t done yet, is to really properly speak a second language. I kind of speak a second and kind of speak a third language, but it really isn’t the same as actually being able to converse at a dinner table in a second language without getting totally exhausted in 10 minutes.
Besette Cable Vest in Bergamont
Horseshoe Jean in Sonnet
What label in your life are you most proud of? Why?
I love the label of activist. I know that it sounds really violent sometimes and like I’m going to run in the street and scream things, but I use the word actually more to replace the word advocate. I want change to happen and I want to inspire change in everybody. Because we can live differently and it feels so much better to live a more sustainable, more rich life when it comes to being environmentally friendly and being socially responsible.
When do you feel the most alive?
I feel the most alive when I’m working on a team, which I now do at Dirt, a tiny team, but still strong and so good, when I really am sharing things. I think teamwork and sharing, so being in my family brainstorming things, working together. These are all things that are making me feel so alive right now and I love it.
What is something you want to do, but haven’t done yet?
Something that I want to do, but I haven’t done yet, is to really properly speak a second language. I kind of speak a second and kind of speak a third language, but it really isn’t the same as actually being able to converse at a dinner table in a second language without getting totally exhausted in 10 minutes.
Besette Cable Vest in Begamont
Horseshoe Jean in Sonnet
Gaucho in Sodapop
"I want change to happen and I want to inspire change in everybody. "
Gaucho in Sodapop
Something in the world you hope to see change in your lifetime?
So, many things that I hope to see change in my lifetime. So, the big thing that makes me want to cry a lot of time when I think about it, our earth that we live on is really suffering right now because of our impact. We humans have devised so many creative chemicals, so many, and so many ways of doing industry that are just causing tremendous harm to our planet, to our home. And I really hope that in my lifetime I can see things change dramatically. I hope that I watch as the ecosystem restoration happens, as we purify all the rivers and all the water bodies and our oceans, as we clean up all the soil that we’ve polluted with chemicals as well, as we watch when our social system completely rectifies itself. It would be amazing to know that absolutely zero humans on earth are being exploited. How cool would that be? I really hope to see a future like that.