Growing up in a single-parent household, I was raised with an unspoken rule: nothing goes to waste. We reused containers long after the labels faded, passed down clothes from cousin to cousin, and stretched ingredients across three meals. It wasn’t called “sustainability” – it was just survival. But now, as I prepare to study abroad in London through the LSE General Course, I see those childhood habits as the foundation of my environmental values today.
London is the perfect place to continue living them out. It’s a city with a culture of conscious reuse: vintage markets instead of malls, refill stations instead of single-use plastic, secondhand book stalls instead of bulk Amazon orders. It’s also a hub for innovation in operations, food, fashion, and beauty, fields I’m passionate about. As a student concentrating in Retail Supply Chain Management at Babson College, I study how things move: how products are made, packaged, and passed into the hands of consumers. London gives me the chance to experience that system firsthand, and more importantly, to observe how sustainability fits into the flow.
I plan to carry intentional habits with me across the ocean. I’ve already mapped out thrift shops near my dorm like Rokit, Beyond Retro, and Traid, where I can find pieces that speak to both my style and my values. I’ve been learning how British beauty brands like Lush or BYBI are embracing clean formulations and sustainable packaging, and I’m eager to explore how those operational choices are made at scale. I’ve also committed to shopping locally, reducing waste by cooking in bulk, and using apps like OLIO and Too Good To Go to rescue food that would otherwise be thrown away. These platforms not only reduce waste but also show how accessible sustainability can be.
What excites me most is bringing those practices back. At Babson, I work as a mentor for student entrepreneurs. My goal is to share what I learn in London, whether it’s how small brands manage ethical sourcing or how to reduce food waste, and use those lessons to challenge how my students and peers, the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders, think about consumption. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal #12 on Responsible Consumption and Production, are not abstract ideas to me. They are lived values, rooted in how I was raised, how I study, and how I show up in the world.
I believe that access to global education should not come at the expense of the planet, or at the exclusion of low-income, first-generation students like myself. I know I will come to London with my own culture of conservation, shaped by a family that ensured nothing was thrown away before its time. My study abroad experience won’t be about excess. It’ll be about efficiency, resourcefulness, and circularity, values that define who I am and the future of the industries I aim to lead.
Because sometimes, a sustainable mindset isn’t something you discover abroad, it’s something you’ve carried with you all along.
