Paige Tomfohrde

Paige Tomfohrde (she/her) is a multiracial diasporic settler of color living on and learning from the lands of the Gayogohó:nǫˀ people. She is a PhD candidate in Fiber Science and Apparel Design at Cornell University. She has an MA in Design from the University of Minnesota, a BA in Apparel Design and Technology from Purdue University, and an AAS in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her mixed methods community-engaged research investigates the interconnections between environmental justice, identity, fiber, and fashion. She works interdisciplinarily, borrowing from Environmental Studies, Global and Development Studies, Geography, Business, Public Policy, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Critical Race Studies, and beyond. Her recent work looks at cultural trauma, resilience, healing, and regeneration for Black Americans in relation to fiber agricultural work, as a pathway to reimagining healing through culturally centered fiber education extension programs for urban Black youth in New York State. She is a foster mother and historic renovation enthusiast who lives and works with her wife on a small sheep farm in what is now called upstate New York.