I'm a sociologist and a designer. For fifteen years those two things have been the same practice — studying how people use objects, spaces, and brands to construct who they are, and building things that work with that process.
My academic foundation is in material culture and identity — how designed objects and experiences mediate the self. That research lens has never been separate from the making. I founded Lilipod, a seed-funded social job search application, leading a multidisciplinary team of Harvard and MIT scientists and designers from concept through build. I co-founded a design studio with a Harvard GSD-trained architect, designing interiors, a lighting line, and home goods. I grew up in Napa, attended the Oxbow School, and received seed funding from the owners of Grace Family Vineyards, consulting for their brand through acquisition.
For the past seven years I've been building Herderin — a regenerative clothing brand grounded in original research on embodiment and material identity. Six figures in validated sales, entirely through word-of-mouth.
Alongside that I've consulted for sustainable beauty and fashion founders on brand strategy and creative direction. One client raised $300K. Another was acquired.
The research is ongoing. The making is ongoing. For me they've always been the same inquiry.
I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a Researcher
My scholarly work sits at the intersection of identity, embodiment, and material culture. I am particularly interested in how people use material resources — especially clothing — as infrastructure for identity work, ontological security, and the daily performance of self.
My dissertation, Misfit: The Impact of Mismatched Jobs on Creative Workers and The Organizations That Employ Them (Brandeis, 2019), was an ethnographic study conducted at Luminaire, one of the country's most celebrated luxury design showrooms, where I simultaneously worked as a sales associate and marketing strategist. That dual position — researcher and practitioner inside the same institution — shaped how I think about the relationship between theory and practice. It is not a gap I bridge. It is a position I inhabit.
My current research program, Clothing The Self, is a multi-study qualitative investigation into how everyday dressing functions as reflexive identity work. Study I examined material resources and social dimensions of daily dressing. Study II investigates identity reconstruction when those resources are compromised. Study III extends this into embodied dressing and visual self-monitoring practices. Herderin grew directly from this research. The brand is, in one sense, an applied answer to the questions Clothing The Self asks.
Three manuscripts from this program are currently under review:
"Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and Sartorial Labor" — Symbolic Interaction (with Alexandra Nugent)
"The Decline of Performative Capital" — Theory and Society
"How Organizations Fail by Hiring for Culture Fit: The Costs of Mismatched Labor" — Administrative Science Quarterly
I have presented at the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, the Eastern Sociological Society, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the US-UK Medical Sociology Conference, among others.
As a Designer
I have been building products, brands, and digital experiences for over fifteen years — across technology, home goods, interiors, and fashion.
In 2013, I founded Lilipod, a seed-funded social job search application, serving as lead experience designer and product manager. I assembled and directed a multidisciplinary team of Harvard and MIT scientists and designers across the full arc from concept through UX design and build. That same year I co-founded da.to.da Atelier with a Harvard GSD-trained architect — designing interiors, developing a lighting line and home goods collection, and building a retail concept in San Francisco. Kodama Light, a seed-funded home goods brand that grew from that studio, was featured in Michigan Avenue Magazine and Practice Studies.
For the past seven years I have been building Herderin, a regenerative clothing brand for tall women grounded in original research on embodiment, fit, and material identity. Materials are certified Climate Beneficial™ by Fibershed — US organic cotton, US merino wool, and silk with plant-based dyeing. Every piece is sewn in San Francisco. Herderin has generated six figures in validated sales entirely through word-of-mouth, with active wholesale accounts at Voyager Shop, Housework, Conifer, and Pennyroyal. I am a Fibershed Producer and Co-Op Member and served on Fibershed's Governance Working Group in 2024.
Building Herderin while raising my son as a single parent taught me how to execute under extreme resource constraints — a lived experience that both deepens my research on identity work under precarity and shapes how I build: with intention, resilience, and an unflinching commitment to doing it right even when doing it slowly.
As a Consultant
From 2016 to 2019, I received seed funding from the owners of Grace Family Vineyards — one of Napa Valley's most storied estates — and served as their brand consultant through the vineyard's acquisition. Growing up in Napa and attending the Oxbow School gave me a foundational understanding of how luxury is built and maintained at the level of land, object, and story.
From 2021 to 2025, I consulted for early-stage founders in sustainable beauty and fashion on brand strategy, product development, and creative direction. One client raised $300K. Another was acquired in 2024. Collaborators have included Liis Fragrances, Harper The Label, Stella Harry Lee, and brands across the Fibershed network including KOSA Arts, Seek Collective, Summer Solace Tallow, and Alix Clo Skincare.
I am available for engagements in brand strategy, experience design, creative direction, and qualitative consumer research.
As a Speaker
I speak on identity, material culture, embodiment, sustainable fashion, and the sociological dimensions of everyday life.
Selected Engagements
American Sociological Association, New York (2026) "The Decline of Performative Capital: From Identity Politics to Ecological Futures" "Clothing The Self: Material Resources, Reflexive Identity Work, and the Social Dimensions of Everyday Dressing"
Symbolic Interaction and the Qualitatives, Brock University, Niagara Falls (2026) "Clothing The Self"
SF Big Brain, San Francisco (2025) — Sold out "Clothing The Self: The Meaning Behind What We Wear"
SF Climate Week, San Francisco (2025) "Rethink The Runway: How SB707 Impacts California's Small Businesses" "The Anthropocene Age"
SF Startup Art Fair, San Francisco (2025) "INTERWOVEN: Beauty Reimagined From Waste"
Fibershed, Point Reyes (2025) "Exploring Regenerative Food & Fiber Systems"
Center for Domestic Peace, Marin County (2023) — Keynote "How The Trauma-Reduction Model Helps Lessen the Stigma and Maximize Resources for Victims of Domestic Violence" Keynote alongside New York Times bestselling author Tanya Selvaratnam at the largest annual fundraising luncheon in Marin County.
Slate Art, Oakland (2023) "In the Body: Sensualizing the Experience of What We Wear"
SF Climate Week, San Francisco (2024) "A Climate Beneficial Wardrobe"
SF Design Week, San Francisco (2024) "Bay Area Made: Design Stories"
Current Focus
It is early 2026, and several things are happening at once.
Herderin is in its most significant moment to date. A pre-order campaign is open through March 15, 2026 for the AW26 collection — 24 styles in Climate Beneficial™ certified materials, sewn in San Francisco. The website opens for limited quantity orders on September 1, 2026. An invitation for Herderin to be apart of the Fibers Fund portfolio is ongoing dialogue, and an application is currently under review.
My research program is at a productive stage. Three manuscripts are under review at Administrative Science Quarterly, Theory and Society, and Symbolic Interaction. A second study in the Clothing The Self series is underway. I am presenting two papers at the American Sociological Association in New York this year.
I am available for speaking engagements, brand strategy and creative direction consulting, and qualitative research collaboration. If you are building something at the intersection of sustainable fashion, identity, or experience design — or if you need a researcher who also knows how to build — I'd like to hear from you.
Let's Connect
For research collaboration or Study II participation: avasquez14@usfca.edu
For brand consulting inquiries: alexandria.vasquez@gmail.com
For speaking engagements: Use the inquiry form
For Herderin wholesale inquiries: Visit herderin.com