Yes, exactly. The collective isn’t active anymore, but at the time, as black female artists, and also as students, we didn’t feel particularly acknowledged or seen as significant. So we thought, if we see each other, everyone else will be forced to see us, too. I felt so proud to be a part of something like that, and seeing the results that came from it.

I'm most proud of maintaining my sense of identity, you know, because I had a lot of success, and the whole whirlwind sort of happened during very formative years for me,

Being respected, because I have to deal with this each and every day of my life. Each and every day of my life, when I go to a public place, someone might recognize me, or might not, that doesn’t make or break my day. The thing that I walk in expecting is that, whether they recognize me or not, I’m going to be treated with respect.

I’m most proud of the fact that we produced broad-based prosperity, where the incomes of the bottom 20% rose more percentage-wise than the incomes of the top 20%, about the same as the incomes of the top 5%. That was across all racial groups, all regional groups, and all income groups, and that we did it while eliminating 600 billion dollars in national debt. And I put America on a path to be debt free so that we’d be able to embrace the challenges of the 21st century, and I think that at a time of yawning inequality, having inclusive prosperity is very important to building support for inclusive societies.

Everything man does creates more harm than good. We have to accept that fact and not delude ourselves into thinking something is sustainable.

If I’m in California, and the waves are good, I’m surfing by 7 a.m. If the surfing is good, I might stay out all day. I like being able to see the horizon. When I am sitting in the water facing Antarctica, waiting for a wave, it opens up my mind.

We can’t delude ourselves into thinking that anything we or any other business does is “sustainable”. The best we can do is minimize the harm we do to the planet. We’ll do what we can to clean up our own house and convince other businesses and suppliers to use cleaner energy and more responsible materials, but it’s a never-ending summit. The work is never done.

I never wanted to be a businessman. I started as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my friends and myself, then got into apparel. As we began to witness the extent of global warming and ecological destruction, and our own contribution to it, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done. If we could do the right thing while making enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses, and maybe change the system along the way.

I absolutely don’t believe in doing … focus groups and all that shit. Proctor and Gamble-style, no risk. Just do it

One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money. But we couldn't be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed. Another path was to take the company public. What a disaster that would have been. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility. Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.