iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Try as I might, I don't think this place is it for me. But I'm very active on Threads if you're there.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

I fear I am winding down on social media not winding up.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

So was your book stolen by META to train AI as well? Because I'm pretty pissed off about it.

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Reposted by Aja Barber

It's Going Down @igd.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Jewish students at Columbia university today organized a demonstration in solidarity with anti-war student organizer Mahmoud Khalil and to denounce Trump's attacks on public education and protest. Photo via @/Columbia_psc

Students hold signs at protest reading "Fuck Fascism" and "Jews Hate ICE"

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Reposted by Aja Barber

CET @cetonline.org · 28/02/2025

Here are some Black environmentalists we're shouting out this week. @ajabarber.bsky.social, Urban Creators, Maiya May, and Samuel Ramsey. #BlackHistoryMonth #ClimateJustice

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OkayishAF @okayishaf.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Actionable item: instead of supporting that guy and guys like him, follow @ajabarber.bsky.social and join her Patreon instead: www.patreon.com/AjaBarber?ut...

patreon.com

Get more from Aja Barber on Patreon

Creating Writing About Sustainable Fashion and Helping You Buy B

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⚡️holalove🖤 @holalove.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

“Sustainability isn’t fair…” For who? Just you, the consumer? What about the people producing those cheap goods? @ajabarber.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com

Ep. 8: Interrupting Consumerism with Aja Barber

Podcast Episode · Interrupting Everything · 02/23/2025 · 1h 16m

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

I’m realizing I can’t really deal with chronically online people anymore. Some folks really got touch grass.

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Labour Behind the Label @labourlabel.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

There is no way around this: funding for our work is rapidly drying up. We are fundraising to plug the gap and remain committed to expand our network of regular supporters. Garment workers will not be silenced, and we won't stop fighting alongside them ✊ www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/labour-beh...

crowdfunder.co.uk

Labour Behind the Label: Our work is at risk

This fundraiser aims to bridge a funding gap for a vital human rights group, campaigning for garment worker rights worldwide.

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Read the book Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @jphillll.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

I know Elon is frothing at the mouth over this one

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Me and the cats are in our winter depression era where we wake up for a few hours but mostly we all want to sleep this month away.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Tracking your clothes is a sure fire way to buy less. I’m doing inventory and I recommend everyone do that once a year. I’m finding things I haven’t worn in ages which means they need a new home.

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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson @ayanaeliza.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

There is *a lot* going on right now. My hot take, as I try to keep up wrt our planet: “These executive orders will make our air dirtier, make people sicker, make energy more expensive, and make our communities less prepared for extreme weather.” apnews.com/article/trum...

apnews.com

What to know about Trump's first executive actions on climate and environment

President Donald Trump’s first week in office included a flurry of executive orders with implications for Earth’s climate and environment.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

These conversations about consumerism are starting to break my heart. Because it's killing the planet. It's killing your child's future. We're doing things we don't even have to do because we feel like our only power is buying a mug from Target by someone who looks like us. It's really sad.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Maybe it's time for EVERYONE to boycott Target. You know? If you power that with an Amazon boycott you might find ... you can be okay without either of these brands. This might surprise you.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

White allies ... you gonna join Black folks in this Target boycott? Because you are absolutely not excluded from the action here. Imagine how impactful we'd all be together.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

am convinced that any person that divests from big box overconsumption for one year (Amazon, Target, fast fashion etc) and limits social media consumption will absolutely recognize the overconsumption element of it all and never go back.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I think what a lot of people are going to find is actually, it's not super hard to not spend money on things you absolutely don't need and stores like Target are a fine example of a store that's laid out to help you do that.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I think now is probably the best time to really streamline what you consume on the internet and block out a whole buncha noise.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

A bit excited to for people doing no buy to get to the end of the year and realize they could do it, we didn't need to be buying all this shit and maybe our entire society is pretty full of shit about what we believe we "need". I just hope we'll be able to have an honest conversation about that.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I think we have to admit there are some people who do not want to learn about these consumerist systems because ignorance is REALLY blissful on a burning planet. It's easier to stick one's head in the sand and lean into not knowing, than it is to realize it's a system to step away from.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I hadn’t signed in here in a few days and wow, the numbers really grew! I’m actually not doing anywhere near as much public social media as I used to instead opting for nurturing my Patreon community and putting the bulk of my energy into my daily newsletter. Join us ♥️ www.patreon.com/AjaBarber

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/01/2025

if there is one funny thing about yesterday’s blitzkrieg of executive orders is that it makes the “democratic opposition went too far last time” crowd look like total dipshits

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Reposted by Aja Barber

weeder @weeder.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Wow, what are the odds?!

An altered bluesky DM inbox screencap. There are three messages. The first two from predictably botlike scantily clad ladies, Alice and Sandra. Their messages read

Hello my baby

&

Hello my honey

The third is from Michigan J Frog, his cartoon pfp as you'd imagine, tophat in hand. His message reads

Hello my ragtime gal.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

This is another reason why I put more of my work behind paywall and more of myself there as well. This shit is weird and I hate it.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Hey I’m on the PBS News Hour right now. You can watch it live here: www.pbs.org/newshour/live

pbs.org

Live

Watch live events and reports from PBS NewsHour.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Listen in 2025 please wear what you want. The sooner you do that the less you’ll want to buy fast fashion. Today I dressed like a giant candy cane and I love that for me.

Aja is dressed like a giant candy cane. Red sweater with the word “art” in white. Red and white second hand trousers. Silver shoes for the old razzle dazzle. She is a Black person with natural hair in a high ponytail.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

One thing I teach my Patreons constantly is that playing with your wardrobe is going to be your best tool in stopping yourself from shopping needlessly. Every time I take the time to play around joyfully I find that I am so in love with my clothes the desire for newness evaporates immediately.

Aja in a black and white outfit with big black boots. The outfit skirts the line so nicely between the masculine and the feminine, so many layers and folds, so many favorite designers. Aja is a Black person with a full fro. She is putting her foot in her boot.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

The Swarovski Foundation reached out to me about becoming a mentor for their sustainability thing. The foundation has £3,838,816 expenditure. They don’t pay. The Swarovski family a lot of billionaires. I will never do anything for free for a billionaire foundation. EVER. EVER EVER EVER. PERIOD.

Unfortunately I can’t fit everything here but I tell them it’s exploitation what they’re doing.

They respond and “thank me” for teaching them.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Seeing people start Substack and get hundreds and thousands of paid subscribers immediately when I've been chugging away on Patreon for years has me side eyeing. I've been thinking about a way of explaining that folks should subscribe to the folks funding their work this way all along first.

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✨ A Goddess has NO KING ✨ @the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Like many of you, your goddess sometimes feels the time pressures of the holidays. On occasion I’ve been known to partake of modern conveniences, such as shopping from the comfort of my celestial abode, summoning Amazon drivers to leave parcels at my threshold. Not this year, my loves. ✨

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Don't be a scab and cross the Amazon picket line this holiday season. Go to a store if you really need it. Making that effort will make you decide if you really need it pretty quickly, won't it?

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

If you're looking to stop buying in 2025 and wind down, y'all gotta fix your social media. Brands: UNFOLLOW Influencers: UNFOLLOW Mailing lists: UNSUBSCRIBE If you do these things sticking to your goals is going to be A LOT easier.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

People are ridiculous. Someone sold me a practically new pair of uggs for like £30. We are a ridiculous society. There is no need to buy a damn thing new.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Someone on Threads tried to make an argument that overconsuming books in our society is a bad thing and lemme tell you, that interaction lowered my IQ.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Overconsumption is a scam. Stop falling for it.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

My other Roman Empire: if you are consuming public intellect about race, wealth, class from folks who have no means of funding themselves but books and subscriptions and you aren’t doing either but YOU are signing up to pay someone who’s life you envy, you need to get a life and stop being goofy.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

In 2025 my Roman Empire (which was once “poor people aren’t keeping fast fashion profitable” … wrote an entire book on that) switches to most influencing is conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Agree. And Family Circus does suck.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Every time I see something that is clearly an ad I’m going to share details about the company. Uniqlo. Uniqlo is not a sustainable or ethical company. Brands that exploit workers are neither sustainable or ethical. Influencers are lying to you about them. labourbehindthelabel.org/take-action-...

labourbehindthelabel.org

Take action: Uniqlo owe workers 5.5 million USD - Labour Behind the Label

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

From now on any time I get any sort of ad in my feed I’m going to tell you about the terrible ethics of the company,

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

The only reason more people don’t think influencers are cringe and on par with QVC is because they give you a little glimpse of their life so the bond you have is parasocial and therefore less critical no matter how many layers of dishonesty you ignore in order to be able to consume and absorb.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

If you are paying an influencer who sells fast fashion $5 a month to continue to have them sell you fast fashion, you are a fucking schmuck.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

I’m waiting for the day when folks realize all their favorite influencers have sold them the climate crisis through overconsumption and are now trying to convince you to pay them to do it on Substack.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

I believe that those of us who once supported fast fashion but no longer do because we understand the systems harm should take what we’ve spent on fast fashion in the past and put some of those funds towards those harmed. That’s always been a part of my work and I intend to do more.

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Aja Barber @ajabarber.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

So many systems in the US are domestic terrorism on the people but half the people refuse to see it that way.

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