Materials Designer, Nike, Inc.

Brooklyn, NY

Mika Osoro is passionate about reducing the carbon footprint in the fashion and footwear industry through materials, design solutions, and best practices. She has been in the fashion industry since 2010, when, while studying in the Drexel Graduate Fashion Program, she was awarded an Arts of Fashion Grand Prize fellowship to apprentice at the Ecole Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Here she worked under the tailors and dressmakers of the Balenciaga, Thierry Mugler, and Yves Saint Laurent houses.

Mika then worked as a Designer at Perry Ellis- Rafaella, Harper & Liv, and Private Label; and as a Freelance Senior Designer for JCPenney- Liz Claiborne, 5 Star, Hudson Denim Girls, AG Denim Girls, BCBG Girls, and Joe’s Girls, successfully bringing her work ethic, point of view, and exploration of sustainability solutions to mainstream Fashion brands. While apprenticing at Nike, she was chosen for the Serena Williams Design Crew (SWDC). She is currently a Material Designer II for Footwear at Nike Inc., Women’s Lifestyle.

The mission of SWDC is to emphasize why diversity matters – not only for the future of design but for the future. “By creating opportunities for people of color in the fashion industry and fostering a path that opens doors, we guide them to a seat at the table where the decisions are being made.” In addition to the Serena Williams initiative, she is involved in some significant projects around HBCU schools at Nike and sustainability projects with Space Hippie at the Lebron Center.