From festival fits to authentic partnerships, Sienna explains how PacSun centers real youth voices.
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Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters episode, Adam Torres interviews Sienna Lewis, Pacsun Youth Council Member (PacSun) at the PacSun Purpose Partner Summit in Los Angeles. Sienna discusses how the Youth Council informs brand decisions, her approach to authentic collaborations, spotting scams, and why inclusive representation matters in fashion and campus life.
About Sienna Lewis
Sienna Lewis is an emerging creative professional with experience across digital media, fashion, social media, marketing, and event planning fields.
With a strong eye for visual storytelling and inclusivity, ,she is pursuing opportunities in the music and fashion industry across marketing, brand strategy, and creative direction.
Watch Full Interview:
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. Alright, so today I’m in Los Angeles, California, and I’m at the PAC on Purpose Partners Summit, and my next guest is Sienna.
Sienna, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Alright, so what brings you out to the summit today? Yeah, so I’m actually a Paxon youth council member. I’m an influencer. I do a little modeling. I was a model for PAX Sun last year for the Coachella line, which is really cool.
Which is kind of. How I got introduced to the brand. But yeah, I’m really just here to be part of the council, speak a little bit, network, do a little bit of everything. Yeah. That’s awesome. How, like, as an influencer and as a model, a lot of different things you can do, a lot of brands you can work with.
Like what drew you to Paxon? I really think just the people everyone I met at Paxon who works at, who works at. High above the Pax are been just lovely kind and I’ve also been able to do like events with ’em even at my university and they have been more than happy to cooperate with me on that and work with me on that.
So just definitely just the people and then the environment and just paxton’s like mission to connect with like multiple people of like no matter who they are, age, background, anything. There’s a mission to make sure everyone is seen and heard. ’cause I feel like a lot of fashion brands nowadays. Do not do a good job of like, kind of mm-hmm.
Having closed everyone and having, yeah. Having something for everyone and like also. Promoting clothes and Yeah. Different bodies, different races, different cultures. And I think Paxton does an amazing job at that. Mm-hmm. So I would really, I was happy to work with a brand who is so passionate about that.
Yeah. What are the I mean, get into the clothes a little bit. You said Coachella line, you were out there like, like what drew you to like the design? I had, I had Richard on earlier who, he’s part of that whole team, Richard Cox, and I was like, so what’d you do? Like to the design and collabs? Yeah. I feel like Paxton is just a, a exact example of my personal style.
Oh, wow. It’s actually funny, funny enough is even before I even got the email and the call to model their clothes, they were already in my cart for the festival. ’cause I was already planning on going, stop, come on. And like, yeah, we’re gonna send you stuff for free. And I was like, oh. So like my, my car is getting cleared out for free.
Yes, yes. I would love to. But just really, I feel like their clothes is very. Like Gen Z, ’cause I’m a Gen Z individual and I feel like sometimes it can be very hard to find clothes for like festivals like that. Yeah. From like certain grants. And I feel like Pax Sun’s all of their clothes is like perfectly aligned with my style, with like my generation style.
Yeah. And like what? Like the festival’s vibes. So I feel like the thing about festivals, like each festival has a very distinctive vibe about it. Like festivals versus Coachella or festival like Flog Long for example. For sure. Yeah. Very different. Yeah. And I think they always do a very great job of.
Aligning their clothes with the vibes of the festival, like with the artists that are gonna be performing there. And yeah, I was more than happy to represent Paxton at Coachella’s past year. Talk a little bit about the youth council. I think that what they’re doing there and putting that together, I think it’s innovative.
It’s new. I’m like, that’s like a brand. Some brands talk about it, they’re being about it with that one. Exactly. Like talk. Talk a little bit about why that was important to you. I think the biggest reason it was important to me is that I am a public relations advertising and marketing major at Chaney University.
Ah. So I definitely, so being in the youth council and like all that, that’s just your jam. That’s exactly, that’s literally what I do, like every day, every class. So I really just feel like when they told me that and like why they’re doing that, I was like, I feel like I literally just did a project on that.
I literally feel like I just did a presentation on that. Yeah. Because I’m definitely a strong believer. In order to promote a brand, regardless of the brand, is you need to know your audience very well. Sure. For sure. That’s like the huge, like this like probably rule number one of any marketing, pr advertising.
Mm-hmm. Like that is knowing your audience and knowing your public. Yeah. And I feel like having a council, a youth council that like passive in the public is very much like my generation or the youth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or people who wanna be influencers, people who wanna be like, it’s just a very, very distinctive audience.
Mm-hmm. And creating a board of individuals who. Embody that audience in like their own ways. Yeah. I think it’s just like the best idea possible, and I think it’s something that all brands should look into. Yeah. And like finding, like really focusing and like, like narrowing in on their audience and just trying to try to mm-hmm.
Learn from their audience and like kind of get. Some like outside opinions other than the main people who are part of the social media marketing team of paxon. Kind of little extra opinions for sure. Yeah. I want you to talk to, like, let’s just talk about that next group of influencers or maybe some that are out there that aren’t quite as far along as you.
They don’t maybe have a paxon, they’re not working with Paxon yet. Yeah. What kind of things would you tell them in terms of like how you evaluate brands you wanna work with and like what, how to make sure it’s, you know, you don’t have any false starts and it’s a good fit. Yeah, I am definitely a strong believer is that you never have to say yes.
Like you don’t have, there has been multiple That’s big. That’s big offers. Yeah. You do not have to say yes. There’s no, like if someone a has asked me like. If I don’t believe in their brand or what that brand believes in, or I just feel like if I were to promote their products, it wouldn’t be a good representation of who I am as a person.
Yeah. I will absolutely say no. And I think a lot of people, especially up and coming influencers kinda get carried away. They’re like, oh, offer for this brand. But like, like they feel like they gotta do it to, ’cause they got the email, they got the DM and they’re like, exactly. You never know. But then it might be like a false, like, did did that really match you?
Your style? Exactly. Or your vibe or like whatever you, yeah. Yeah. So I think that’s like the biggest thing for me is that like you have to work with brands that like. Good representation of you and you feel like that if it continued and like you could work with them long term, you would want to, and it’s not something that’s like, oh, I’m gonna work with them for a month and move on.
Like, it’s like, for example, like Ax and I would love to work with them for as long as I could for years if I could. Yeah. Yeah. Because I love the brand and I love what they stand for. But I think that’s just definitely the biggest thing is that upcoming influence is, is to Yeah. One, be make sure the brand you work with is mm-hmm.
Something you, you value, but then also just make sure you do your research and do your background on the brand. ’cause I know a lot of people who, I have a lot of friends who are trying to be upcoming influencers and are, are doing a great job of it. But they’ll sometimes get emails and they’ll be like, is this, is this real?
Like they ask me like, do you think this real? And there’s like, it’s very easy to get to. Scam too and like, yeah, I think just knowing that and like just stuff, there’s a theme with that too. Like again, scam. Like you gotta be careful. Like that gotta, you really do have to be careful. Sure. It’s the right deal.
Right, exactly. Yeah. So that’s like probably what I would say for just any upcoming influencer. Mm-hmm. So what’s in, so last question. What’s next for you? Like at the end of the year where we’re, we’re heading into, what month are we in September. We’re October now? Yeah. About to be in October before we blink.
Mm-hmm. What’s next for you? What’s on the agenda? Well, I would say I’m very busy. A lot of, like, my friends are always like, how do you even sleep? I’m currently a college student. I I’m on track to graduate early, so my schedule is definitely packed. I’m a president of a club of the Chapman Black Art Association Club.
Wow. So I do a lot of events and I manage a lot of events related to that. So I have a lot of events coming up in the next semester. Which has been crazy. And then also, of course, being part of the Paxton Youth Council. Yeah. I’m also a Grammy u LA Ambassador, so a lot of events. A lot of events coming up with that.
How do you sleep? Yeah, I know. Exactly. Don’t, and I’m also, I got you also a, my photographer for Panther Newspaper, which is my campus newspaper, so Wow. Definitely working a lot. There’s a lot of big projects upcoming. That and like working on that. I think one of the biggest things when it’s like more of a passion project thing Yeah.
Is a, a friend of mine and I are working on bringing the alpha cap alphas to my school. Wow. So we’ve been doing a lot of like, conversations with the school boards and like with Alf Cap Alpha themselves. And try to push, really push to get them here. ’cause we’re very passionate about that. Yeah. So definitely in the upcoming months I will be working on that a lot.
AKAs in, come on to the new expansion. Exactly. Bring that expansion. Expansion. Yes. See you guys. Shout out to all the fas out there. I already know. Yeah. So I know. Yes, of course. So that’s definitely probably like my main goal. That’s wonder. Yeah. Yeah. And I’ll tell you one thing like, ’cause I, I was like, I think second or third line at, at my college, I love that for FTA Alpha and then at that Michigan state.
And I look back now and I see the legacy and I see all the other people Yeah. That have pledged now. And it’s not an ego thing, it’s more like an opportunity thing. Exactly. It’s like head, the founders that were one line ahead of my. If we didn’t like work to build this and all these other things then, I mean, there’s been hundreds now as we left through.
Right. And there’s been some huge lines where you’re like, wow. And it’s completely changed mm-hmm. And allowed other people to have access in a different, you know, like access to culture, access to connectedness for their college experience. So people that maybe haven’t. Been through those type of processes, don’t necessarily know, but for people that do have an affinity towards it and wanna go, like, it’s awesome.
So I, I want you to, I’m putting the pressure on you. Get that done? Yes. Get it done. I’m hoping, I’m really hoping to get it, like it’s so much pressure’s been put onto it. Yeah, you can do it. Thank you. I feel it. I feel it. Thank you. I’m gonna have to bring you back in the show after you, after you after you accomplish that.
Okay? Yes. I would love to come back for that. I would love to talk about that. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. All right, I’m pulling for you. Well, last thing I want you to do, I know they’re gonna be calling you the stage and you gotta speak and do all this other stuff, but last thing I want you to do for the interview is look into the camera.
How do people follow you? How do they connect? How do they follow you on social? Yeah, so my Instagram is Sienna Lewis. Feel free to DM me at any time. You can also shoot me an email at sienna [email protected]. Either of those, and I’ll reach out. Probably pretty fast. Yeah. Awesome. And for everybody watching, just so you know, we’ll definitely put some links in the show notes, so you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day are bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Sienna, thank you so much for coming on the show. Of course. A pleasure course. Thank you for having me. Okay.
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. Alright, so today I’m in Los Angeles, California, and I’m at the PAC on Purpose Partners Summit, and my next guest is Sienna.
Sienna, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Alright, so what brings you out to the summit today? Yeah, so I’m actually a Paxon youth council member. I’m an influencer. I do a little modeling. I was a model for PAX Sun last year for the Coachella line, which is really cool.
Which is kind of. How I got introduced to the brand. But yeah, I’m really just here to be part of the council, speak a little bit, network, do a little bit of everything. Yeah. That’s awesome. How, like, as an influencer and as a model, a lot of different things you can do, a lot of brands you can work with.
Like what drew you to Paxon? I really think just the people everyone I met at Paxon who works at, who works at. High above the Pax are been just lovely kind and I’ve also been able to do like events with ’em even at my university and they have been more than happy to cooperate with me on that and work with me on that.
So just definitely just the people and then the environment and just paxton’s like mission to connect with like multiple people of like no matter who they are, age, background, anything. There’s a mission to make sure everyone is seen and heard. ’cause I feel like a lot of fashion brands nowadays. Do not do a good job of like, kind of mm-hmm.
Having closed everyone and having, yeah. Having something for everyone and like also. Promoting clothes and Yeah. Different bodies, different races, different cultures. And I think Paxton does an amazing job at that. Mm-hmm. So I would really, I was happy to work with a brand who is so passionate about that.
Yeah. What are the I mean, get into the clothes a little bit. You said Coachella line, you were out there like, like what drew you to like the design? I had, I had Richard on earlier who, he’s part of that whole team, Richard Cox, and I was like, so what’d you do? Like to the design and collabs? Yeah. I feel like Paxton is just a, a exact example of my personal style.
Oh, wow. It’s actually funny, funny enough is even before I even got the email and the call to model their clothes, they were already in my cart for the festival. ’cause I was already planning on going, stop, come on. And like, yeah, we’re gonna send you stuff for free. And I was like, oh. So like my, my car is getting cleared out for free.
Yes, yes. I would love to. But just really, I feel like their clothes is very. Like Gen Z, ’cause I’m a Gen Z individual and I feel like sometimes it can be very hard to find clothes for like festivals like that. Yeah. From like certain grants. And I feel like Pax Sun’s all of their clothes is like perfectly aligned with my style, with like my generation style.
Yeah. And like what? Like the festival’s vibes. So I feel like the thing about festivals, like each festival has a very distinctive vibe about it. Like festivals versus Coachella or festival like Flog Long for example. For sure. Yeah. Very different. Yeah. And I think they always do a very great job of.
Aligning their clothes with the vibes of the festival, like with the artists that are gonna be performing there. And yeah, I was more than happy to represent Paxton at Coachella’s past year. Talk a little bit about the youth council. I think that what they’re doing there and putting that together, I think it’s innovative.
It’s new. I’m like, that’s like a brand. Some brands talk about it, they’re being about it with that one. Exactly. Like talk. Talk a little bit about why that was important to you. I think the biggest reason it was important to me is that I am a public relations advertising and marketing major at Chaney University.
Ah. So I definitely, so being in the youth council and like all that, that’s just your jam. That’s exactly, that’s literally what I do, like every day, every class. So I really just feel like when they told me that and like why they’re doing that, I was like, I feel like I literally just did a project on that.
I literally feel like I just did a presentation on that. Yeah. Because I’m definitely a strong believer. In order to promote a brand, regardless of the brand, is you need to know your audience very well. Sure. For sure. That’s like the huge, like this like probably rule number one of any marketing, pr advertising.
Mm-hmm. Like that is knowing your audience and knowing your public. Yeah. And I feel like having a council, a youth council that like passive in the public is very much like my generation or the youth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or people who wanna be influencers, people who wanna be like, it’s just a very, very distinctive audience.
Mm-hmm. And creating a board of individuals who. Embody that audience in like their own ways. Yeah. I think it’s just like the best idea possible, and I think it’s something that all brands should look into. Yeah. And like finding, like really focusing and like, like narrowing in on their audience and just trying to try to mm-hmm.
Learn from their audience and like kind of get. Some like outside opinions other than the main people who are part of the social media marketing team of paxon. Kind of little extra opinions for sure. Yeah. I want you to talk to, like, let’s just talk about that next group of influencers or maybe some that are out there that aren’t quite as far along as you.
They don’t maybe have a paxon, they’re not working with Paxon yet. Yeah. What kind of things would you tell them in terms of like how you evaluate brands you wanna work with and like what, how to make sure it’s, you know, you don’t have any false starts and it’s a good fit. Yeah, I am definitely a strong believer is that you never have to say yes.
Like you don’t have, there has been multiple That’s big. That’s big offers. Yeah. You do not have to say yes. There’s no, like if someone a has asked me like. If I don’t believe in their brand or what that brand believes in, or I just feel like if I were to promote their products, it wouldn’t be a good representation of who I am as a person.
Yeah. I will absolutely say no. And I think a lot of people, especially up and coming influencers kinda get carried away. They’re like, oh, offer for this brand. But like, like they feel like they gotta do it to, ’cause they got the email, they got the DM and they’re like, exactly. You never know. But then it might be like a false, like, did did that really match you?
Your style? Exactly. Or your vibe or like whatever you, yeah. Yeah. So I think that’s like the biggest thing for me is that like you have to work with brands that like. Good representation of you and you feel like that if it continued and like you could work with them long term, you would want to, and it’s not something that’s like, oh, I’m gonna work with them for a month and move on.
Like, it’s like, for example, like Ax and I would love to work with them for as long as I could for years if I could. Yeah. Yeah. Because I love the brand and I love what they stand for. But I think that’s just definitely the biggest thing is that upcoming influence is, is to Yeah. One, be make sure the brand you work with is mm-hmm.
Something you, you value, but then also just make sure you do your research and do your background on the brand. ’cause I know a lot of people who, I have a lot of friends who are trying to be upcoming influencers and are, are doing a great job of it. But they’ll sometimes get emails and they’ll be like, is this, is this real?
Like they ask me like, do you think this real? And there’s like, it’s very easy to get to. Scam too and like, yeah, I think just knowing that and like just stuff, there’s a theme with that too. Like again, scam. Like you gotta be careful. Like that gotta, you really do have to be careful. Sure. It’s the right deal.
Right, exactly. Yeah. So that’s like probably what I would say for just any upcoming influencer. Mm-hmm. So what’s in, so last question. What’s next for you? Like at the end of the year where we’re, we’re heading into, what month are we in September. We’re October now? Yeah. About to be in October before we blink.
Mm-hmm. What’s next for you? What’s on the agenda? Well, I would say I’m very busy. A lot of, like, my friends are always like, how do you even sleep? I’m currently a college student. I I’m on track to graduate early, so my schedule is definitely packed. I’m a president of a club of the Chapman Black Art Association Club.
Wow. So I do a lot of events and I manage a lot of events related to that. So I have a lot of events coming up in the next semester. Which has been crazy. And then also, of course, being part of the Paxton Youth Council. Yeah. I’m also a Grammy u LA Ambassador, so a lot of events. A lot of events coming up with that.
How do you sleep? Yeah, I know. Exactly. Don’t, and I’m also, I got you also a, my photographer for Panther Newspaper, which is my campus newspaper, so Wow. Definitely working a lot. There’s a lot of big projects upcoming. That and like working on that. I think one of the biggest things when it’s like more of a passion project thing Yeah.
Is a, a friend of mine and I are working on bringing the alpha cap alphas to my school. Wow. So we’ve been doing a lot of like, conversations with the school boards and like with Alf Cap Alpha themselves. And try to push, really push to get them here. ’cause we’re very passionate about that. Yeah. So definitely in the upcoming months I will be working on that a lot.
AKAs in, come on to the new expansion. Exactly. Bring that expansion. Expansion. Yes. See you guys. Shout out to all the fas out there. I already know. Yeah. So I know. Yes, of course. So that’s definitely probably like my main goal. That’s wonder. Yeah. Yeah. And I’ll tell you one thing like, ’cause I, I was like, I think second or third line at, at my college, I love that for FTA Alpha and then at that Michigan state.
And I look back now and I see the legacy and I see all the other people Yeah. That have pledged now. And it’s not an ego thing, it’s more like an opportunity thing. Exactly. It’s like head, the founders that were one line ahead of my. If we didn’t like work to build this and all these other things then, I mean, there’s been hundreds now as we left through.
Right. And there’s been some huge lines where you’re like, wow. And it’s completely changed mm-hmm. And allowed other people to have access in a different, you know, like access to culture, access to connectedness for their college experience. So people that maybe haven’t. Been through those type of processes, don’t necessarily know, but for people that do have an affinity towards it and wanna go, like, it’s awesome.
So I, I want you to, I’m putting the pressure on you. Get that done? Yes. Get it done. I’m hoping, I’m really hoping to get it, like it’s so much pressure’s been put onto it. Yeah, you can do it. Thank you. I feel it. I feel it. Thank you. I’m gonna have to bring you back in the show after you, after you after you accomplish that.
Okay? Yes. I would love to come back for that. I would love to talk about that. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. All right, I’m pulling for you. Well, last thing I want you to do, I know they’re gonna be calling you the stage and you gotta speak and do all this other stuff, but last thing I want you to do for the interview is look into the camera.
How do people follow you? How do they connect? How do they follow you on social? Yeah, so my Instagram is Sienna Lewis. Feel free to DM me at any time. You can also shoot me an email at sienna [email protected]. Either of those, and I’ll reach out. Probably pretty fast. Yeah. Awesome. And for everybody watching, just so you know, we’ll definitely put some links in the show notes, so you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day are bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Sienna, thank you so much for coming on the show. Of course. A pleasure course. Thank you for having me. Okay.
