Meet Our Team
Carole Frances Lung is an artist, soft power activist, and Associate Professor of Fashion Fiber and Materials at California State University Los Angeles. Through her alter ego Frau Fiber, Carole activates a vocabulary of fashion and textile production and consumption, crafting of one-of-a-kind garments, installations, performances, and social sculpture, paying homage to labor, textile and apparel manufacturing histories and contemporary production systems. Carole maintains The Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms (ILGWU) South located at 322 Elm Ave, Long Beach CA, which is the working archive and resource library of Frau Fiber. At the ILGWU, Frau Fiber facilitates an environment which reflects on the history of textile and apparel labor rights, and supports the efforts of the contemporary garment workers, who continue to labor at piecework wages. The ILGWU North is embedded into the Fashion Fiber and Materials area of the Art Department at Cal State LA. In this space the ILGWU challenges the fast fashion supply chain through the production of pedagogy.
Astrid Canahui is an undergraduate, who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Art with the option in Fashion, Fibers, and materials.
Her practice focuses on the field of textiles, fashion, printmaking, and traditional artisanal techniques. Her latest collection embodies storytelling, femininity, culture, and glamour. Astrid uses these aspects to give tribute to her culture and community. Throughout her work, she has used icons and language that shares insights into her heritage. The techniques that are applied to her garments array from embroidery, block printmaking, fabric manipulation, and applique. Her hope is to leave the client with not just any cloth but a garment that is constructed with concepts with a rare uniqueness and ultimately let the wear can create their own personal narrative through her designs.
Luisa Rosales is an undergraduate student at California State Los Angeles, majoring in art with an emphasis on Fashion, fibers, and Materials. She is pursuing a career in the fashion industry and happy to learn all there is in the field. She is interested in high fashion, clothing construction, embellishments, textured fabric, prints, and patterns. Her work focuses on handcrafted details, functionality, wearability, and comfort. Her creative designs are fantastic pieces of wearable art. Luisa is inspired by her own experiences to evoke good feelings and inspire others to see the positivity and strengths of one's natural beauty and use that to experience fashion in a whole new way.
Hello, my name is Juan Maciel Velazquez. I am the designer and creator of the label MV. All of MV’s garments are made to challenge social norms and promote fashion fluidity and inclusivity within the queer community while respecting the environment. Through men’s clothing MV aims to redefine and re-envision the male silhouette. Historically, for the past couple of hundred years, western society has promoted the same conservative unadorned straight silhouette for men’s clothing. Ideologically men’s clothing has been used to paint a picture of strength with no weakness or emotionality. MV’s designs aim to allow men to express themselves and break old stereotypes. Doing all of the above while providing a new perspective and offering an inclusive fashion future for men’s clothing.
Manny Valdez is a senior at California State University, Los Angeles majoring in Art with a focus on Fashion, Fibers, and Materials.
With a revisionist approach, Manny refers to iconic figures from history that have been forgotten from mainstream culture. Manny works with silk screen printing on t-shirts as well as creating original garment designs that pay homage to the unsung heroes of the past. His recent project, C.U.N.T. Isl. is an example of his artistic approach to taking queer and popular culture characters and paying them homage through silkscreen and digital designs that are displayed on t-shirts, swimwear, and tote bags.
Alan Horsager is the director for Cal State LA BioSpace. He is a life scientist and entrepreneur who has built companies in the oncology, ophthalmology and reproductive health industries in California. As director for LA BioSpace, he leads the university’s efforts to foster a culture of inclusive entrepreneurship and provide emerging entrepreneurs with facilities, resources, training, and knowledge to launch startup ventures and spur regional economic development. Horsager came to Cal State LA after creating startups in therapeutics and diagnostics. His first startup, Eos Neuroscience, developed a gene therapy-based optogenetic approach to treating blindness. At Eos, he led a university consortium with USC, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Florida focusing on scientific development, financing, communications, and regulatory strategy. More recently, he was the co-founder and CEO of Episona, which developed an epigenetic-based diagnostic test that sold internationally.
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He currently serves on the board of directors for iSTAT Therapeutics, an immunotherapy spinout from City of Hope. Horsager holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Washington and a doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California.