“Generally speaking, being exposed to violence isn’t helpful for children and can raise risks for these issues—antisocial behavior, more mental health problems like depression and anxiety, seeing violence as normative, being more violent, or future victimization,” Taylor said. “Not all children will suffer these repercussions, but there are greater risks to suffer from them.”

“This year, [Meaningful Teens] was the same opportunity to still try to be with kids in a classroom environment. … So, it was an opportunity to do that tutoring, mentorship role. And I think because we’re also working with low-income students from California, that was also a big, big draw for me.”

“It's got to have some functionality to it, like it's got to be more than an art form,” Wang said. “And I think that's where the fashion industry is a bit lacking is understanding the utility side of things.”