MBA Fellow drives circularity and waste reduction strategy at Tory Burch

During the summer of 2026, Rachel Gindi (MBA '27) interned as an NYU Stern MBA Sustainability Fellow at Tory Burch. Read on to learn more about her time there:

Name: Rachel Gindi

Grad Year: 2027

This summer, I had the privilege of joining the Sustainability team at Tory Burch as an intern, working directly under Jennifer Gootman, Global Head of Sustainability and a Stern alumna. The role was an opportunity to bridge two areas I am interested in pursuing: fashion and social impact/sustainability.

My work focused on advancing circularity and reducing waste across the business through three primary initiatives. First, I worked to streamline the operational returns process to minimize product destruction. By removing ambiguous defect categories and establishing clearer routing protocols, we improved data quality and opened up new pathways to keep products in circulation longer. Second, I proposed a corporate waste diversion system to manage excess materials in the office, creating clear sorting workflows, dedicated collection areas, and direct partnerships with nonprofit recycling organizations. Finally, I evaluated the resale market landscape to outline strategic options for Tory Burch, analyzing models ranging from brand owned trade in platforms to strategic intelligence partnerships and managed third-party resale channels.

At the end of my internship, I presented these projects to senior leaders on the materials, operations, and e-commerce teams, as well as the Chief Legal Officer and President of Corporate Development. The experience taught me that successful sustainability initiatives require more than a strong environmental argument; they must directly solve real operational problems and align with the core priorities of the teams executing them.

My NYU Stern coursework, particularly Sustainability for Competitive Advantage with Alison Taylor, gave me the strategic foundation needed to tackle these complex challenges. Seeing how Jennifer navigated cross-functional priorities in a major global brand will directly shape my remaining time at business school. I am excited to continue working with Tory Burch part-time this fall, driving these projects forward and putting these insights into practice.