ALEXANDRIA VASQUEZ, PhD
she/her · San Rafael, California · alexandria.vasquez@gmail.com · +1 (804) 869-6506
alexandriavasquez.com · herderin.com · linkedin.com/in/alexandriavasquez
Sociologist, experience designer, and brand builder working at the intersection of research, design, and digital experience strategy. PhD in Sociology (Brandeis, 2019) specializing in identity, material culture, and consumption. Founded and led Lilipod, a seed-funded social job search application, assembling and directing a team of Harvard and MIT scientists and designers as experience designer and product manager. Co-founded da.to.da Atelier with a Harvard GSD-trained architect; brand consultant to Grace Family Vineyards (acquired 2019). Founder of Herderin, a regenerative fashion brand with six figures in validated sales. Three papers under review at leading peer-reviewed journals. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
EDUCATION
PhD, Sociology — Brandeis University — 2019
Qualifying Areas: Medical Sociology, Work & Occupations, Organizations
MS, Sociology — Virginia Commonwealth University — 2012
Areas: Medical Sociology, Economic Sociology, Public Sociology
BA, Liberal Arts — The New School — 2009
Concentration: Democracy & Cultural Pluralism · Internships: MSNBC, Change.org, Democracy In Action
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Founder & Creative Director — Herderin LLC — San Francisco, CA — 2019–present
Regenerative apparel brand designed exclusively for tall women (5’9”+), grounded in seven years of qualitative research on embodiment, fit, and identity. Materials certified Climate Beneficial™ by Fibershed; sewn in San Francisco.
• Six figures in validated sales (2019–2025) built entirely through word-of-mouth, zero marketing spend
• Active wholesale accounts: Voyager Shop (since 2019), Housework, Conifer, Pennyroyal; pending full-line order from General Store Malibu
• 21-style AW26 collection using US organic cotton, US merino wool, and silk; plant-based dyes by Botanical Colors and OurCarbon
• Pre-order campaign open through March 15, 2026; website launch September 1, 2026
• Invited to submit samples to Designers & Agents (Feb 2026) — one of the most selective trade shows in North American wholesale fashion
• Applicant, Fibershed Fibers Fund ($175K, decision pending 2026)
• Fibershed Producer & Co-Op Member (2020–present); Governance Working Group Advisor (2024)
Co-Founder — da.to.da Atelier / Purveyours — 2013–2017
Multidisciplinary design studio and retail concept co-founded with a Harvard GSD-trained architect. Designed interiors, developed a lighting line and home goods collection, and built a retail concept in San Francisco. Featured in Michigan Avenue Magazine and Practice Studies.
Founder — Kodama Light — 2016
Seed-funded home goods brand, continuing the product design thread from da.to.da. Featured in Michigan Avenue Magazine.
Founder, Experience Designer & Product Manager — Lilipod — 2013
Seed-funded social job search application. Assembled and led a multidisciplinary team of Harvard and MIT scientists and designers. Served as lead experience designer and product manager across concept, user research, UX design, and build.
CONSULTING
Brand Consultant — Grace Family Vineyards — St. Helena, Napa Valley, CA — 2016–2019
Received seed funding from the owners of Grace Family Vineyards — one of Napa Valley’s most storied estates — and served as brand consultant until the vineyard’s acquisition prior to the pandemic. Advised on brand positioning, visual identity, and communications strategy.
Brand & Strategy Consultant — Sustainable Beauty & Fashion — San Francisco Bay Area — 2021–2025
Provided brand strategy, product development, and fundraising counsel to early-stage founders in sustainable beauty and fashion. Clients included:
• Godseye Oils — brand strategy and fundraising support; client raised $300K
• Earth Tu Face — product and brand consulting; company acquired 2024
• Liis Fragrances, Harper The Label, Stella Harry Lee — brand and product collaboration
• Fibershed network brands: KOSA Arts, Seek Collective, Summer Solace Tallow, Alix Clo Skincare
RESEARCH
Primary Investigator — Clothing The Self III — San Francisco Bay Area — 2026
Embodied Dressing and Visual Self-Monitoring: A Study of Everyday Life Without Mirrors.
Primary Investigator — Clothing The Self II — San Francisco Bay Area — 2026
Identity Reconstruction and Ontological Security When Primary Material Resources Are Compromised.
Primary Investigator — Clothing The Self — San Francisco Bay Area — 2025
Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.
Data Scientist — Qualitative Research & Analysis — 2019–present
Dissertation — Brandeis University — 2019
Misfit: The Impact of Mismatched Jobs on Creative Workers and The Organizations That Employ Them.
Primary Investigator — The Emotional Experience of the Job Search — MIT, Harvard University, Brandeis University — 2013–15
Research Associate — Institute for Career Transitions, MIT — 2013–15
Research Associate — Design for a Fragile Population — Harvard Graduate School of Design — 2014
A Palliative Care Alzheimer’s Residence.
Research Associate — Massachusetts Health & Relationships Project — University of Texas — 2013–14
Research Assistant — Colorectal Cancer Study II — NIH / VCU / Case Western — 2011–12
Master’s Thesis — Choosing Surgical Birth — Virginia Commonwealth University — 2010–12
Personal Choice and Medical Jurisdiction.
PUBLICATIONS
Vasquez, A. 2026. “How Organizations Fail by Hiring for Culture Fit: The Costs of Mismatched Labor.” In Review at Administrative Science Quarterly.
Vasquez, A. 2026. “The Decline of Performative Capital.” In Review at Theory and Society.
Vasquez, A. and Alexandra Nugent. 2026. “Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.” In Review at Symbolic Interaction.
Vasquez, A. 2019. Misfit: The Impact of Mismatched Jobs on Creative Workers and The Organizations That Employ Them. Brandeis University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 22616721.
Conrad, P., J. Bandini, and A. Vasquez. 2016. “Illness and the Internet: From Private to Public Experience.” Health (London). 20(1):22–32.
Sharone, O., and A. Vasquez. 2015. “Sociology as a Strategy of Support for Long-Term Unemployed Workers.” The American Sociologist. (47)1.
Sharone, O., R. Ghayad, and A. Vasquez, et al. 2015. “Supporting Experienced Long-Term Unemployed Professionals.” In Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century, ed. Carl Van Horn, Todd Green, and Tammy Edwards. Federal Reserve. Washington, D.C.
TEACHING
Adjunct Faculty — Department of Sociology, University of San Francisco — 2023–2025
Introduction to Sociology · Sex & Sexualities · Sociology of Innovation · Social Problems · Career Exploration · Sociology of Health
Adjunct Faculty — Historical & Social Studies, Mills College — 2019–2020
Medical Sociology · Public Health · Introduction to Sociology
Teaching Fellow — Department of Sociology, Brandeis University — 2012–2018
Social Class & Social Change · Culture & Consumption · Health, Community & Society
Adjunct Faculty, Experiential Learning — Brandeis University — 2013–2015
Media and Politics
Adjunct Faculty — Department of Sociology, Drexel University — 2015–2017
Sociology of Aging · Social Problems · Introductory Sociology · Wealth & Power
Adjunct Faculty — John Tyler Community College — 2011–2012
Introduction to Sociology
Adjunct Faculty — J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College — 2011–2012
Introduction to Sociology · Introduction to Anthropology
Graduate Teaching Assistant — Department of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University — 2010–2012
Advanced Graduate Research Methods · Medical Sociology · Sociology of Gender · Sociological Theory · Introductory Sociology
PRESENTATIONS & EXHIBITIONS
American Sociological Association, New York, NY, 2026: “The Decline of Performative Capital: From Identity Politics to Ecological Futures.”
American Sociological Association, New York, NY, 2026: “Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.”
Symbolic Interaction and the Qualitatives, Brock, Niagara Falls, Canada, 2026: “Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing.”
SF Big Brain, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “Clothing The Self: The Meaning Behind What We Wear.”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “Rethink The Runway: How SB707 Impacts California’s Small Businesses (panel).”
SF Startup Art Fair, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “INTERWOVEN: Beauty Reimagined From Waste.”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2025: “The Anthropocene Age.”
Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA, 2025: “Exploring Regenerative Food & Fiber Systems.”
American Sociological Association, Montreal, QC, 2024: “Building Intersectional Knowledge in Artisanal Practice: How Collaborative Design Approaches Shape Sustainable Outcomes.”
SF Design Week, San Francisco, CA, 2024: “Bay Area Made: Design Stories.”
SF Climate Week, San Francisco, CA, 2024: “A Climate Beneficial Wardrobe.”
Borrowed From the Soil, Point Reyes, CA, 2024: “Clothing The Self.”
Center for Domestic Peace, Marin County, CA, 2023: “How The Trauma-Reduction Model Helps Lessen the Stigma and Maximize Resources for Victims of Domestic Violence.”
Slate Art, Oakland, CA, 2023: “In the Body: Sensualizing the Experience of What We Wear.”
Fibershed, Point Reyes, CA, 2023: “Design Challenge: Longevity in Approaches to Design-Thinking (lecture).”
American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, 2018: “Innovation as a Social Process: Competition, Strategic Resources, and Recombinatorial Identity Expression.”
Oxbow School Art Fundraiser, Napa, CA, 2017: “Sensualizing the Body, Sensualizing the Home.”
US-UK Medical Sociology Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2015: “Illness Communities on the Internet.”
Labor and Employment Relations Association, Boston, MA, 2015: “Experienced, Educated, and Long-Term Unemployed.”
Society for the Study of Social Problems, New York, NY, 2013: “TV Talk Show Medical Entertainers and the Framing of Healthful Women’s Sexuality.”
Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, MA, 2013: “Patient Autonomy and the Doctor’s Expertise in Women’s Childbearing Decisions.”
Eastern Sociological Society, New York, NY, 2012: “Choosing Surgical Birth: Personal Choice and Medical Jurisdiction.”
MEDIA
Garmentory, April 2025: “Clothing The Self with Herderin.”
Rethink The Runway, May 2025: “Reflecting the Journey from Field to Fashion: An Afternoon of Regenerative Discovery.”
Rethink The Runway, May 2025: “When Policy Meets Pattern: The Night Fashion, Climate, and Community Converged.”
Fibershed, November 2024: “Intertwining: A Story of the Living World Through Material Form.”
Fibershed, March 2024: “Meet 13 California Designers Reimagining Textile Creation.”
Mesh Moms, May 2023: “Meet Alix: A Multi-Hyphenate Mother.”
Fibershed, February 2023: “Herderin Begins With the Body and Soul.”
SF Design Week, June 2022: “Bay Area Made Workspaces.”
Marin Magazine, March 2021: “Healing By Design: How a Sociologist Created a Clothing Brand for Emotional Comfort.”
Michigan Avenue Magazine, Winter 2017: “Design Exclusive: Let There Be Light.”
Practice Studies, May 2017: “Inside the Studio and Philosophy of Da.to.da Atelier.”
NBC Business News, January 2014: “Running Out of Money: Long-Term Unemployed Face Grim New Year.”
FUNDING
Fibers Fund Grant Applicant — $175,000 — Herderin LLC — 2026 (decision pending)
Marin Micro-Business Grant — Herderin LLC — 2022
Seed Funding — Herderin LLC — 2019
Seed Funding — Kodama Light — 2016
Seed Funding — Lilipod — 2013
COMMUNITY & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Delegate — Democratic Socialist Association of Marin — 2025–present
Member — Marin-Sonoma Impact Ventures — 2024–present
Member — American Craft Council — 2024–present
Governance Working Group Member & Advisor — Fibershed — 2024
Member — West Coast Craft — 2022–present
Member — Bay Area Made — 2022–present
Producer & Co-Op Member — Fibershed — 2020–present
Member — The National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures — 2019–present
Updated February 2026