Black Women for Wellness’ Environmental Justice Fellowship
Black Women for Wellness hosted its second Environmental Justice fellowship from 2025-2026, hosting 2 fellows for 9 months to support the development of future environmental justice leaders in a way that is community-based and centers reproductive health.
One of our fellows focused on Environmental Justice, with an emphasis on the lifecycle of plastic and water equity; and our other fellow focused on Beauty Justice, with an emphasis on safe beauty products and reducing toxic exposure for hairstylists.
You can read about the inaugural iteration of our fellowship here!
Our 2025-2026 Fellows
Rovanni Castillo (she/her) was the 2025-2026 Beauty Justice Fellow at Black Women for Wellness.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from California State University, Los Angeles, and her Master of Public Health in Community Health Sciences from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.
She is passionate about the intersection of beauty, health, and clean products, and is dedicated to serving and uplifting marginalized communities through advocacy, education, and empowerment.
Lukkee Thorpe (he/they) was the 2025-2026 Environmental Justice Fellow at Black Women for Wellness.
He received his BS from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a MS from the University of California Riverside, both in Environmental Science with a focus in Soil Biogeochemistry.
Throughout his academic career, Lukkee has done environmental justice work that is at the intersection of oppressed racial and queer identities, systemically socioeconomically disadvantaged people, and the working class, that honors afro-indigenous feminist theorists along with the Black radical tradition of liberation work.
Lukkee strongly believes that to achieve true liberation, we must connect the intersections of environmental justice with every aspect of our lives and work as a community.
Mentorship
Through the fellowship, each fellow was matched with a mentor with deep environmental and beauty justice backgrounds who supported the fellows’ professional development and passions.
Rovanni’s mentor was Dr.Elissia Franklin, a talented researcher in the Beauty Justice arena whose work has helped inform much of the movement. They were able to meet at the Beauty Justice Conference, where Rovanni had the opportunity to learn more from her expertise. Dr. Franklin is known for making research accessible and engaging, and she also shares her work online as @elissiaphd. Smart, fun, and knowledgeable, she was a wonderful mentor throughout the fellowship!
Lukkee’s mentor, Pandora Thomas, supported him tremendously throughout their fellowship. She provided Lukkee with guidance on how to navigate environmental justice work through the understanding that the land is an extension of us, and not a separate entity, as well as working at the intersections of art and environmental justice work.
Because Lukkee is a hands-on and visual learner, they were able to complete a residency at Pandora’s farm, Earthseed. During the residency, he had the chance to care for the land, learn the foundations of herbalism, explore more about permaculture and its benefits, and connect with artists that use natural materials and afro-indigenous practices in their work.
Rovanni’s fellowship projects
Beauty Map
The Beauty Map is Rovanni’s major fellowship project, created as a resource for our community and beyond to locate Black home-based hairstylists and natural hair specialists. The goal is to make hair care easier to find and navigate while connecting community members with trusted stylists who prioritize healthy Black hair. By creating a centralized hub of beauty professionals, the Beauty Map supports both consumers seeking services and the stylists serving our community.
The Beauty Map can be accessed online at this link.
Rebundle and what’s happening in the beauty justice world
Rovanni contributed to several Beauty Justice communications efforts throughout her fellowship. She authored a blog post titled: The beauty in products like rebundle; a safer braiding hair alternative made from banana fibers and created by Cierra Imani May. She also authored ‘What’s Happening in the Beauty Justice World?’, a monthly update for the Beauty Justice Collective, and contributed content to BWW’s Beauty Justice newsletter.
Conversations with a Chemist
Throughout her fellowship, Rovanni hosted the monthly Conversations with a Chemist series, a space for community members to learn directly from Black scientists about beauty products and ingredients and how they directly impact us. She also served on the planning and execution committee for the annual Beauty Justice Conference, helping coordinate one of Black Women for Wellness’ largest Beauty Justice events.
Lukkee’s fellowship projects
Plastic education for doulas and parents
Throughout his fellowship, Lukkee supported an expansion of EJ team’s ongoing health education work around the lifecycle of plastic, by leading outreach efforts to specifically support birth workers and new or soon-to-be parents.
He hosted 1:1 interviews with 14 doulas, who are trusted messengers working with parents. Lukkee used their feedback to guide the development of actionable resources to help parents disrupt plastics in their lives.
A resource was developed specifically for doulas and parents, and included in BWW’s Black Joy Guide relaunch.
Lukkee also hosted a webinar for doulas in June 2026 with health education, recommendations for doulas to share with their clients, and detailed background on why the lifecycle of plastics is particularly harmful to infants, children, and pregnant people.
Water workshops
Lukkee also had the opportunity to lead a few water education workshops at local schools in South LA, as part of our EJ team’s ongoing water equity education.
Lukkee was able to hone their own individual teaching style by speaking to students about the history of water equity in LA, the origins of our water here in LA, and the connection between water and our health.
Global connections: Venezuela op-ed and BFFP
Throughout his fellowship, Lukkee also had the chance to draw connections and build solidarity between communities here in South LA and communities of color globally by exploring environmental justice issues on an international level.
In early 2026, he wrote an op-ed regarding the U.S. invasion into Venezuela for their oil, drawing out its connections to racial capitalism and environmental and reproductive justice.
In addition, from November 2025 to March 2026 he participated in a Break Free From Plastic working group, made up of 15 advocates from across the world.
This was an opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other’s environmental justice campaigns, and build skills.
Art exhibit
Throughout the fellowship Lukkee also worked on a project that involved utilising art as a way to communicate about environmental and reproductive justice in relation to the Black diaspora.
Their goal was to bring back art as a form of resistance to build creativity and community around topics that the Black diaspora are the most exposed to on a daily basis. The title of the art exhibit was Artistry at the Intersections: Environmental and Reproductive Justice.
Lukkee commissioned three artists (two painters and one photographer) to create art works that addressed reproductive justice, environmental justice, and how these topics sit at the intersections of Black identity and Black women.
They created pieces that were displayed at The Community Owned Center in Leimert Park for a month.
An opening reception was held in May 2026 to introduce the exhibit to the public, and to allow the artists to showcase their work to the South LA community.
The reception was opened by a spoken word poet, Aleysha Wise, and Lukkee hosted a talk back during which they asked curated questions to each artist, and also solicited audience questions and participation.
The project gave Lukkee hands-on experience working with art as a valid and powerful way of communication about environmental and reproductive justice.
Joint fellowship project
Fashion show
On International Women’s Day – March 8, 2026 – Rovanni and Lukkee hosted a Sustainable Fashion Show for BWW titled True Indigo: Planting Black Resistance in Fashion.
The BWW fellowship celebrated the diverse ways in which knowledge can be shared with community members, and this fashion show was designed to explore the intersections of environmental and beauty justice.
Our Environmental Justice team does ongoing work on the lifecycle of plastic, and a major goal of this event was to educate community members about the dangers of plastics in the fashion industry. Many of our clothes are made of synthetical materials like polyester and nylon – these are plastic-based materials, which contain toxic chemicals that can disrupt health, especially reproductive health.
The event’s title refers to indigo, a plant that has long been used by African people to naturally dye clothing. Throughout history, indigo has been both exploited and celebrated. The knowledge of cultivating and using indigo traveled across continents and generations, yet the people who developed and preserved this knowledge have often gone unrecognized. We chose to celebrate this, as a form of resistance. The fashion show brought together local designers, environmental and beauty justice advocates, and community members at the Museum of African American Art.
In addition to a fabulous runway show, Lukkee and Rovanni facilitated conversations about the current fashion market, overconsumption and fast fashion. The growing concern around microplastics were at the centerfold of the conversation. Attendees learned how synthetic fabrics can shed microplastics that enter our waterways, environment, and most regrettably, our bodies.
The show featured an all Black Woman ensemble of creatives committed to sustainability including Jakia March of SUAY Sew Shop, Gyasi Imhotep, whose work can be found in Leimert Park, Bo of Kutula, and Tracey Ambrose of Tracey Ambrose WRAP. Each designer demonstrated how fashion can be both beautiful and intentional.
In Conclusion
Rovanni and Lukkee’s passion for environmental justice and beauty justice have shone through the work and community conversations they each facilitated through their fellowships.
Our team at BWW will continue to uphold and build on their efforts in the months and years ahead – you can read more about our ongoing EJ campaigns here!
