Mireya E. Fouche, MBA, ESG Certified is a speaker, researcher, and social enterprise leader whose work lives at the crossroads of sustainability, circular fashion, and community-centered impact. As Co-Founder of Monarch Thrift Shop, Mireya has helped build a women-led social enterprise that has served Chicago for more than a decade, achieving double-digit Year-over-Year growth while expanding affordable access, workforce development opportunities, and community impact.
Her perspective is shaped not by theory alone, but by lived experience, grassroots research, motherhood, and deep community engagement. Mireya brings warmth and rigor to every conversation, making complex systems feel human, urgent, and solvable.
What began as programming serving eight youth at a single site grew into citywide programming supporting unhoused youth and incarcerated women through arts-based healing, mentorship, and community engagement. After experiencing homelessness as a college student in Los Angeles, Mireya founded One Heart One Soul, an arts-based nonprofit supporting unhoused youth and incarcerated women. Through strategic partnerships and community-centered programming, the organization expanded access to creative expression, healing, and personal development for vulnerable populations.
As a fellow of the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, Mireya researched the relationship between youth homelessness, instability, and pathways into adult incarceration. This work deepened her understanding of systemic barriers and continues to inform her approach to leadership, program design, and equitable community impact.
Mireya specializes in turning ideas into sustainable systems. From growing One Heart One Soul from serving eight youth to citywide programming, to co-founding Monarch Thrift Shop and helping drive double-digit Year-over-Year growth while expanding workforce development and community impact, her work demonstrates how mission-driven organizations can scale without losing sight of the people they serve.
As Co-Founder of Monarch Thrift Shop, Mireya operates at the forefront of a critical conversation: can sustainability be truly sustainable if it is not accessible? The thrift model offers a powerful answer — one that reduces waste, extends the life of goods, and keeps quality affordable for the communities that need it most.
Monarch Thrift Shop is not simply a retail operation. It is a living proof-of-concept for people-first circular business design — where environmental values and community dignity are not competing priorities, but inseparable ones.
Extending product life cycles through community commerce
Keeping sustainability within reach for every income level
Mireya's contributions to sustainability and equitable community impact have been recognized by institutions that share her commitment to justice-centered leadership. Her work bridges lived experience, academic rigor, and grassroots advocacy in ways that few voices in the sustainability space can offer.
Awarded in recognition of her commitment to environmental stewardship, social justice, and people-centered sustainability leadership.
Selected fellowship for research exploring youth homelessness, instability, and pathways into adult incarceration through a community engagement lens.
Mireya speaks on sustainability, circular fashion, equity, leadership, and community-centered impact — drawing on both peer-reviewed research and the depth of personal lived experience. Her presentations are designed not just to inform, but to challenge, inspire, and move audiences toward action.
Whether engaging a university classroom, a business conference, a community workshop, or a sustainability panel, Mireya brings thoughtful, grounded perspectives that cut through jargon and center the human stakes of environmental and social justice conversations.
Sustainability, social enterprise, and circular economy forums
Research-grounded conversations with faculty, students, and practitioners
Interactive, participatory sessions centered in lived experience
Mireya E. Fouche Speaker • Researcher • Social Enterprise Leader