Suzy Amis

Growing up in Oklahoma the way I did, and being raised the way I was raised by my parents, gave me such a strong foundation to go out into the world and fly, so to speak, the way I was able to do.

My personal style has developed from growing up in Oklahoma, middle America, where I was wearing jeans and cowboy boots and where people were not running around in miniskirts.

What I really wanted to do, actually, was stay home and be a mom and have some more kids.

When we home schooled my oldest, Jasper, in eighth grade, I saw how empowering it is for a child to learn in their own way. That rebooted my thinking about education.

I want our students to be so accustomed to children of other cultures that the words 'diversity' and 'tolerance' won't be in their vocabulary. They won't need them - they'll live it.

People have their cultural reasons for eating meat, their traditional reasons, their likes and dislikes.

I have a soft spot for cashmere - even though that is not a particularly sustainable fabric, I do invest in quality, so it is sustainable in the sense that it is not just throwaway fashion and I keep it for a long, long time.

I know quite a few eco designers who build dresses out of old couture gowns. They disassemble, 'upcycle,' and reuse them in extraordinary ways. To me, that's a sustainable way of doing things.

When 'Avatar' came out, we were out non-stop for a year and a half doing red carpet events. I had a stylist who helped me, but it was really hard, and we couldn't find many sustainable dresses.