Summer Rayne Oakes
Encyclopedia
Summer Rayne Oakes is an American-born model, activist, and television host known for her social entrepreneur work in ecofashion and related sustainability
ventures. Because of her close ties to the environment, she is often referred to as "The Eco-model."
farmlands outside Scranton, Oakes was a self-taught naturist
.
She graduated from Cornell University
with a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources
and Entomology
.
Oakes is a Udall Scholar and National Wildlife Federation
Fellow. Upon winning the Udall Environmental Scholarship, Summer Rayne said she was looking to become an ecosystem manager and work to improve conservation programs "by successfully integrating human dimension aspects, scientific research and the intrinsic value of nature into comprehensive management plans."
At Cornell, Oakes was Vice President of the Educate for the Earth Club and a frequent artistic contributor to Ursus, the student environmental publication. Her work experience includes serving as a research assistant in the Cornell Waste Management Institute where she co-authored publications including "Investigation of Alleged Sludge Health Incidents Associated with Land Application of Sewage Sludges", "Sewage Biosolids Land Application: Reported Health Incidents," and "Organic Chemicals in Sewage Sludge". She also worked in the Aquatics Laboratory of the Department of Entomology on stream water quality studies, and studied rainforest regeneration in the Central Highlands of the Dominican Republic. Oakes also was an environmental lobbyist for the Long Island Neighborhood Network against pesticide application.
Oakes is known as "The World's First Eco-model" for exclusively aligning her career with environmentally- and socially-conscious companies, designers, and projects as both a model and sustainability strategist.
Oakes began modeling while attending Cornell University. She was approached by a Philadelphia-based modeling agency, but signed with Boss Models upon graduation. Her first project brought attention to sustainable fashion and rainforest
conservation with photographer John F. Cooper and stylist Peter Brown's Organic Portraits series from 2001–2004. She is currently represented by NEXT Model Management and Chic Celebrity in Australia
Her fusion of values-based modeling, business, and activism has garnered much international interest. Her first full-paged interview, orchestrated by fellow environmental activist Remy Chevalier, came in 2004 for Lucire
:
Since then, Oakes' work has been featured on CNN
, NPR
, HGTV
, NY1
, MTV News, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Grist Magazine
and Discovery Channel
News.
Oakes has modeled for Levi Strauss & Co.
, Nicole Miller
, Replay Jeans, and others. In April 2009, she launched a collection of eco-friendly bedding and bath products with Portico Home and an environmentally-preferable shoe line with Payless ShoeSource
called "zoe&zac," for which she is the model, spokesperson and sustainability strategist.,,. In 2011 she signed with Aveeno
as a spokesperson for the Be an Active Natural Campaign.
Books & Magazines
On September 5, 2005, Oakes launched "Behind the Label", a monthly sustainable style editorial produced for Lucire, which became the first international editorial completely devoted to ethical and eco-conscious fashion designers. On October 23, 2006, Oakes took over as acting editor for the magazine. In September 2006, she also launched the S4 Newsletter, reporting on sustainability trends in fashion, which is relaunching as a B-2-B marketplace for sustainable designers in 2010.
In February 2009, Oakes released her first book, "Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty," which became an Amazon.com Bestseller.,. She says the book is "aimed at women who love style but may not have "environment" or "green" in their lexicon" and an "irreverent, witty guide for green virgins."
In November 2009, Oakes accepted the Editor-at-Large position at Above Magazine which was once occupied by Charlotte Casiraghi
. She writes articles and produces for the magazine. She was featured in the Winter 2009 issue in an editorial by photographer Gilles Bensimon
.
She previously wrote the "Ask Summer Rayne" column for PlanetGreen.com; fashion and beauty tips for Recyclebank.com, and Huffington Post.
Television
In early 2008, Oakes was named spokesperson, resident expert, host, and board adviser for Discovery Channel's
Planet Green Channel, a 24–7 hour network devoted to the environment launching in the United States in June 2008. She also previously co-hosted Eco 4 the World
with Andrew Patterson created by Big Durian Productions in Singapore
.
as "A Global Citizen", Outside Magazine as a "Green All-Star", Cosmopolitan
"Fun, Fearless Female", AMICA's "Top 20 Trendsetters under 40", Shape magazine's "Women Who Inspire Us", CNN
"Young People Who Rock", Glamours "70 Women of Green", and Earth First's "Hottest Girl in Green".
; Green-collar jobs; sustainable development in Africa; and reforestation/ecosystem conservation efforts.
In September 2005, Oakes designed and launched an educational curriculum
entitled ECOFASHION 101, which links pop culture, fashion, and mainstream media into traditional subject topics.
In December 2005, Oakes attended the Fair Trade Expo at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong to represent the international fair trade movement.
In October 2007, Oakes was part of a donor-funder trip to Great Bear National Rainforest, the last contiguous coastal temperate rainforest in the world and home of the Kermode bear
. In November 2007, she helped organize and lobby for the first time on Capitol Hill with the youth-run group, Energy Action on the case of global warming. She was one of 6,000 young people who participated in the largest lobby day and summit on climate change.
That same month, Oakes left to Africa for a shoe drop with TOMS Shoes
in South Africa and an annual sustainable development trip to Mozambique.
In June 2008, she wrote an op-ed for her local Pennsylvania paper on green-collar jobs to urge the community and the government to take political action.
In February 2009 during New York Fashion Week
, Oakes helped stage an event called "Don't Bag Indonesia's Rainforests" with Rainforest Action Network
(RAN) and Tiffany & Co.
They identified over 100 fashion companies unknowingly using endangered Indonesian forests in luxury shopping bags. The campaign was considered successful since most fashion companies pulled out and one of the major packaging suppliers (Pak 2000) announced its separation from Asia Pulp & Paper
.
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
ventures. Because of her close ties to the environment, she is often referred to as "The Eco-model."
Early life
Growing up among PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
farmlands outside Scranton, Oakes was a self-taught naturist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
.
Education
Oakes attended Lakeland Jr./Sr. High School. In her community, Oakes was the youngest board member of the Environmental Advisory Council.She graduated from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
with a Bachelors of Science in Natural Resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
and Entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
.
Oakes is a Udall Scholar and National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over four million members and supporters, and 48 state and territorial affiliated organizations...
Fellow. Upon winning the Udall Environmental Scholarship, Summer Rayne said she was looking to become an ecosystem manager and work to improve conservation programs "by successfully integrating human dimension aspects, scientific research and the intrinsic value of nature into comprehensive management plans."
At Cornell, Oakes was Vice President of the Educate for the Earth Club and a frequent artistic contributor to Ursus, the student environmental publication. Her work experience includes serving as a research assistant in the Cornell Waste Management Institute where she co-authored publications including "Investigation of Alleged Sludge Health Incidents Associated with Land Application of Sewage Sludges", "Sewage Biosolids Land Application: Reported Health Incidents," and "Organic Chemicals in Sewage Sludge". She also worked in the Aquatics Laboratory of the Department of Entomology on stream water quality studies, and studied rainforest regeneration in the Central Highlands of the Dominican Republic. Oakes also was an environmental lobbyist for the Long Island Neighborhood Network against pesticide application.
Career
ModelingOakes is known as "The World's First Eco-model" for exclusively aligning her career with environmentally- and socially-conscious companies, designers, and projects as both a model and sustainability strategist.
Oakes began modeling while attending Cornell University. She was approached by a Philadelphia-based modeling agency, but signed with Boss Models upon graduation. Her first project brought attention to sustainable fashion and rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
conservation with photographer John F. Cooper and stylist Peter Brown's Organic Portraits series from 2001–2004. She is currently represented by NEXT Model Management and Chic Celebrity in Australia
Her fusion of values-based modeling, business, and activism has garnered much international interest. Her first full-paged interview, orchestrated by fellow environmental activist Remy Chevalier, came in 2004 for Lucire
Lucire
Lucire is a fashion magazine that originally began on the web in 1997, branching into a monthly print edition in its home country of New Zealand in 2004...
:
"Summer Rayne Oakes may be the archetype of the twenty-first century supermodel. While the "s" word has not been applied by the media yet, she has all the ingredients that make one in the modern context: an active involvement in environmental causes, an intelligence quotient that hovers in the 180 mark, and a sexy, smouldering look. However, what makes Oakes tick? This is a Cornell graduate with degrees in entomology and natural resources, the winner of numerous academic awards – certainly not the twentieth century's idea of the model. If she has a fault, it may be that she is ahead of her time, and the world is catching up."
Since then, Oakes' work has been featured on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, HGTV
HGTV
HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...
, NY1
NY1
NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...
, MTV News, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Grist Magazine
Grist Magazine
Grist is a free American liberal non-profit online magazine that has been publishing environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999. Grists taglines are "Gloom and doom with a sense of humor" and "A beacon in the smog"...
and Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
News.
Oakes has modeled for Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
, Nicole Miller
Nicole Miller
Nicole Miller is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, mother and wife who was born in Texas and raised in Lenox, Massachusetts.Miller attended the Rhode Island School of Design where she earned a BFA in Apparel Design...
, Replay Jeans, and others. In April 2009, she launched a collection of eco-friendly bedding and bath products with Portico Home and an environmentally-preferable shoe line with Payless ShoeSource
Payless ShoeSource
Payless ShoeSource is a discount footwear retailer founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1956 that is owned by Collective Brands, Inc. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with the May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the...
called "zoe&zac," for which she is the model, spokesperson and sustainability strategist.,,. In 2011 she signed with Aveeno
Aveeno
Aveeno is a manufacturer of skin care and hair care products in the United States and is a subsidiary of American consumer goods and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. Aveeno was founded in 1945, and its first product was their Soothing Bath Treatment...
as a spokesperson for the Be an Active Natural Campaign.
Books & Magazines
On September 5, 2005, Oakes launched "Behind the Label", a monthly sustainable style editorial produced for Lucire, which became the first international editorial completely devoted to ethical and eco-conscious fashion designers. On October 23, 2006, Oakes took over as acting editor for the magazine. In September 2006, she also launched the S4 Newsletter, reporting on sustainability trends in fashion, which is relaunching as a B-2-B marketplace for sustainable designers in 2010.
In February 2009, Oakes released her first book, "Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty," which became an Amazon.com Bestseller.,. She says the book is "aimed at women who love style but may not have "environment" or "green" in their lexicon" and an "irreverent, witty guide for green virgins."
In November 2009, Oakes accepted the Editor-at-Large position at Above Magazine which was once occupied by Charlotte Casiraghi
Charlotte Casiraghi
Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi is the second child of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Monaco, and the late Stefano Casiraghi, an Italian industrialist. She is fourth in line to the throne of Monaco...
. She writes articles and produces for the magazine. She was featured in the Winter 2009 issue in an editorial by photographer Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Bensimon is a fashion photographer and the former International Creative Director of Elle magazine. He has also been the photographer on the reality television series America's Next Top Model....
.
She previously wrote the "Ask Summer Rayne" column for PlanetGreen.com; fashion and beauty tips for Recyclebank.com, and Huffington Post.
Television
In early 2008, Oakes was named spokesperson, resident expert, host, and board adviser for Discovery Channel's
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
Planet Green Channel, a 24–7 hour network devoted to the environment launching in the United States in June 2008. She also previously co-hosted Eco 4 the World
Eco 4 the World
Eco 4 the World is a 13-episode Singaporean documentary television series featuring positive environmental stories from around the world. Stories include projects and initiatives businesses, ordinary people, celebrities and others involved in to make a difference in the environment around the world...
with Andrew Patterson created by Big Durian Productions in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Companies
Oakes founded her first company SRO, LLC in July 2005. In October 2010 she launched Source4Style, a B2B online marketplace connecting designers to sustainable suppliers around the globe and was named a 2011 Gamechanger by NY Enterprise Report.Awards
She has been honored by Vanity FairVanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
as "A Global Citizen", Outside Magazine as a "Green All-Star", Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
"Fun, Fearless Female", AMICA's "Top 20 Trendsetters under 40", Shape magazine's "Women Who Inspire Us", CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
"Young People Who Rock", Glamours "70 Women of Green", and Earth First's "Hottest Girl in Green".
Environmental work
Oakes is actively involved in environmental causes. She is most known for her work in sustainable fashion and beauty but is actively involved in the youth climate change movement through Energy Action CoalitionEnergy Action Coalition
The Energy Action Coalition is a North American non-profit organization made up of 50 partner organizations in the U.S. and Canada that runs campaigns to build the youth and student clean energy movement and advocate for tangible changes on local, state, national and international levels in North...
; Green-collar jobs; sustainable development in Africa; and reforestation/ecosystem conservation efforts.
In September 2005, Oakes designed and launched an educational curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
entitled ECOFASHION 101, which links pop culture, fashion, and mainstream media into traditional subject topics.
In December 2005, Oakes attended the Fair Trade Expo at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong to represent the international fair trade movement.
In October 2007, Oakes was part of a donor-funder trip to Great Bear National Rainforest, the last contiguous coastal temperate rainforest in the world and home of the Kermode bear
Kermode bear
The Kermode bear , also known as a "spirit bear" , is a subspecies of the American Black Bear living in the central and north coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is noted for about 1/10 of their population having white or cream-coloured coats...
. In November 2007, she helped organize and lobby for the first time on Capitol Hill with the youth-run group, Energy Action on the case of global warming. She was one of 6,000 young people who participated in the largest lobby day and summit on climate change.
That same month, Oakes left to Africa for a shoe drop with TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes is a for-profit company based in Santa Monica, California, that also operates a non-profit subsidiary, Friends of TOMS. The company was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, an entrepreneur from Arlington, Texas. The company designs and sells lightweight shoes based on the Argentine...
in South Africa and an annual sustainable development trip to Mozambique.
In June 2008, she wrote an op-ed for her local Pennsylvania paper on green-collar jobs to urge the community and the government to take political action.
In February 2009 during New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week
The semi-annual New York Fashion Week, branded Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek in 2009, is held in February and September of each year in New York City. It is one of four major fashion weeks held around the world .-History:The first New York Fashion Week, then called Press Week, was the world's first...
, Oakes helped stage an event called "Don't Bag Indonesia's Rainforests" with Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, USA. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, with the financial help of Fund for Wild Nature....
(RAN) and Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
They identified over 100 fashion companies unknowingly using endangered Indonesian forests in luxury shopping bags. The campaign was considered successful since most fashion companies pulled out and one of the major packaging suppliers (Pak 2000) announced its separation from Asia Pulp & Paper
Asia Pulp & Paper
Asia Pulp & Paper, also known in the paper industry as APP is based in Singapore, is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It was founded by Eka Cipta Widjaja, who had significant ties to the Suharto ruling family in Indonesia. APP claims to obtain 80-90% of the fiber for...
.