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Meet our #StyleForJustice Guest Storyteller!

Just a little over a month ago, we launched #StyleForJustice, a partnership with International Justice Mission that fuses fashion and justice. We’ll be traveling with a group of influential storytellers and will introduce them to our amazing Rwandan artisans—women whose lives have been changed by sustainable work and reliable wages—so they can bring these stories back and inspire others to use their voices for good.

When putting this trip together, we found ourselves dreaming of bringing someone else with us. Someone who may not have a vast social media reach but whose voice is rising to defend the vulnerable. We dreamed of bringing someone who is truly an advocate in their community and may not ever have the opportunity of getting to advocate in this particular way, but deserves to.

After two rounds of social voting and a panel vote by our story team, we were thrilled to extend an invitation to Meredith Toering!

Many of you were touched by Meredith’s entry; a picture of her holding her little sister Brooke, who was adopted from a special needs orphanage in China, and her story about how this little girl, born with half a heart, changed her life.
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While Brooke’s story changed Meredith indefinitely, her passion for advocacy started much earlier in life. Meredith has one biological sister, two brothers adopted from Russia and two sisters adopted from China (including Brooke). “My parents were strong orphan advocates my entire life, taking my sister and I along to Russia for months during my brothers’ adoptions. I truly don’t ever remember when I actually learned that there were orphans and underserved people in the world. It was always made such a huge part of my life,” said Meredith.

When Meredith applied for an internship at New Day Foster Home, a special needs orphanage in China, she was concerned she wouldn’t know what to do with “sick” children; children that were weak and were so sick they could die. “I didn’t know if I could love them the same, knowing how fragile they were. What Brooke did—what her story did—was to teach me that EVERY life matters; that every life is worth fighting for. She gave the scary words ‘terminal’ and ‘congenital heart disease’ a face, and proved that no matter what the cost, her life was one worth fighting for. Every life is one worth fighting for,” said Meredith. This change in mentality was what truly created a desire for advocacy in Meredith’s life. “Everyone has a story to share, and some, just like Brooke’s, are just waiting for their chance to be told. Brooke taught me the power of these stories.”

Through Meredith’s experiences abroad, she has seen time and time again the power that narrative has that raw facts and statistics just can’t capture. “I believe that stories create change, and have the power to influence and shape us, as well as those around us. Sharing stories creates connections, and brings others in to live the story with us…it makes things real; gives a face and a purpose to the project. And after sharing in that story, others are personally invested. They care. They know.”

Meredith desires to continue to be a voice for the vulnerable, and says she is especially excited to “cheer and share and stand alongside women around the world who are strong; women who are finding their voice, fighting their way out of poverty and violence and standing up to greet any obstacles in their path head-on with an ‘I can. I will. I am.'”

Through #StyleForJustice she hopes to gain wisdom from the other storytellers as generations of women link arms in the fight against injustice. She hopes that she can learn what it looks like to continue being involved in the fight and to grow and change with these passions, learning to persevere as an advocate when life gets tough.

We are excited to get to know Meredith and be encouraged by her heart for others through this trip, and know that you will love following her #StyleForJustice journey too.