The bench

Senior-led advisory, delivered by specialist consultants

The practice

Every Symolem engagement is overseen by our founder and delivered by independent consultants with distinct expertise across materials, carbon, markets and policy, working within the START framework.

Consultants are engaged through Symolem, scoped and contracted centrally, with every deliverable reviewed before it reaches a client.

The bench in numbers

Leadership01
Principal consultants02
Senior consultants02
Lead consultants and team02

How to engage our consultants

Every consultant is engaged through Symolem, with two ways of working

01

Individual projects

Book a consultant directly through Symolem for a defined piece of work within their specialist territory, from a focused assessment to a standalone advisory engagement. Symolem scopes, contracts and quality assures every project, and work contracted through Symolem is covered by our professional indemnity insurance.

02

Project teams

For larger engagements, Symolem assembles a project team with senior oversight of every deliverable. Each consultant joins as a named contributor with a defined part of the deliverable, and depending on scope a team may draw on the full bench, from policy and sourcing through to carbon, disclosure and materials.

All projects are scoped, contracted and paid in advance, with consultant contributions delivered under Symolem quality assurance.

Filter the bench

Narrow the bench to the consultants whose specialist territory matches the work you need. Several consultants work across more than one territory.

Showing 7 of 7 consultants

Leadership

Senior oversight of every engagement

Every deliverable is reviewed by the founder before it reaches a client.

Lavinia Fernandes

Founder and Chief Executive

Lavinia Fernandes

  • DPP readiness
  • Responsible sourcing
  • Carbon accounting
  • Traceability
  • Regulations tracking
  • Product compliance

Lavinia founded Symolem after nearly two decades spanning global luxury retail and sustainability. Her retail career included senior roles at Stylebop.com and Al-Ostoura, followed by a decade in carbon markets, ESG methodology and supply chain compliance, including leading innovation at Viridios Capital. She sits on the UN/CEFACT UNTP Supply Chain Working Group, the body defining the technical standards underpinning Digital Product Passport implementation worldwide, and serves as Vice-Chair of Landfills2Landmarks, a UN-accredited NGO working in the Ghana textile waste corridor. She has made formal policy submissions to Defra, the Department for Business and Trade, DSIT, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, and the House of Lords under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025.

Areas of expertise

  • Digital Product Passport strategy
  • ESPR and Extended Producer Responsibility policy
  • Chain of custody and traceability standards
  • MRV system design
  • Carbon markets
  • Retail supply chains

Experience

UN/CEFACT · UNTP · Zayed Sustainability Prize · Viridios Capital · European Carbon Control · ClimatePartner · Stylebop.com · Al-Ostoura · Missoni · Pucci · Alberta Ferretti · Rifat Ozbek

Executive MBA, Supply Chain Management, London College of Fashion (UAL) (2020); MA Fashion Journalism (2004)

Principal consultants

Ten or more years of specialist practice

Principal consultants bring ten or more years of specialist experience and direct client engagements.

Nastassia Ramazankhani

Principal Consultant, Responsible Sourcing and Raw Materials

Nastassia Ramazankhani

  • Responsible sourcing
  • Traceability
  • Regulations tracking

Nastassia is a senior ESG and sustainability professional with more than ten years of experience across fashion and textiles, beauty and cosmetics, raw materials and food and agriculture. At The Body Shop she managed due diligence across more than one thousand natural and synthetic raw materials and minerals, implemented EUDR compliance tooling, and led regenerative agriculture programmes across supply chains in Peru, Ghana, Switzerland and Kenya. She previously spent four years at The Sustainable Angle, where she helped lead the Future Fabrics Expo and delivered sustainable materials research for luxury fashion clients, and has since worked as a senior ESG consultant in the United Arab Emirates advising clients across the GCC. She holds an MA in Sustainability from Chelsea College of Arts (UAL) and a BA in Textile Design, and has taught as a supporting lecturer at the University of the Arts London.

Areas of expertise

  • Supply chain due diligence and responsible sourcing
  • EUDR, CSRD and CSDDD compliance
  • Regenerative agriculture and critical raw materials
  • ESG reporting frameworks (GRI, ISSB, TCFD)
  • Human rights and modern slavery in supply chains

Experience

The Body Shop · The Sustainable Angle · New River ESG Consulting · University of the Arts London

MA Sustainability, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (2017); BA Textile Design, Buckinghamshire New University (2012)

Hannah Gronwald

Principal Consultant, DPP Readiness and Supply Chain Due Diligence

Hannah Gronwald

  • DPP readiness
  • Responsible sourcing
  • Traceability
  • Regulations tracking
  • Product compliance

Hannah is a freelance sustainability consultant specialising in Digital Product Passport readiness and risk-based supply chain due diligence, working primarily across the German and Italian markets. Before going independent she built the sustainability function at Marc Cain, a German premium fashion brand with international reach, giving her an in-house perspective on implementation as well as advisory experience.

Areas of expertise

  • Digital Product Passport readiness assessments for fashion brands
  • Multi-identifier interoperability (GS1, EPCIS, IDTA AAS submodel templates, UNTP), as an Ambassador for the Global Textile Scheme (GTS)
  • Supply chain due diligence under LkSG and CSDDD, with a focus on inclusive supplier collaboration over audit-as-compliance
  • Tracking Chinese Digital Product Passport developments and their implications for supply chain data access

Experience

Marc Cain · Otto Group

Senior consultants

Projects run end to end

Senior consultants run projects independently from scoping through to delivery.

Ayesha Naeem

Senior Consultant, Sustainability Data Systems, GHG Accounting and Carbon Footprint

Ayesha Naeem

  • Carbon accounting
  • Product compliance

Ayesha is a GHG accounting and ESG data systems specialist who builds the technical infrastructure behind carbon disclosure, not just the calculations. She designs product carbon footprint engines under ISO 14067 and PAS 2050, and organisational GHG accounting systems aligned to ISO 14064 and the GHG Protocol (Scopes 1–3). Her work spans logistics emissions modelling (GLEC, ISO 14083), CSRD/ESRS-aligned reporting architecture with financial and impact materiality scoring, and cross-client emissions benchmarking systems used across fashion, logistics, and financial services. She has shipped carbon calculators and ESG rating systems and founded the data architecture behind a CSRD/ESRS-aligned reporting SaaS platform.

Areas of expertise

  • Product carbon footprint quantification (ISO 14067, PAS 2050)
  • Organisational GHG accounting (ISO 14064, GHG Protocol)
  • Logistics and supply chain emissions modelling (GLEC, ISO 14083)
  • Emissions data systems and cross-client analytics
  • CSRD/ESRS materiality scoring and automated reporting pipelines
  • Carbon calculator design (fashion, logistics, blockchain/Web3, transactional attribution)

Experience

Viridios Capital · EUTECH · Carbon Aegis · Sumus · Blu Label

MSc Mechatronics Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology (2020) · BSc Mechatronics Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology (2016)

Mette Kirk

Senior Consultant, Circular Textiles and Recycling Systems

Mette Kirk

  • Circular textiles
  • DPP readiness
  • Traceability
  • Regulations tracking
  • Product compliance

Mette brings a distinctive combination of hands-on textile recycling expertise and deep regulatory knowledge to the circular economy space. Her experience covers the full textile-to-textile recycling value chain, from collection and sorting infrastructure to fibre opening, recycling, yarn spinning, fabric production and downstream manufacturing, giving her insight into material performance, quality requirements and process compatibility at every stage. She has led data models, traceability systems and compliance frameworks addressing ESPR, EPR and Green Claims, and is certified in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with a focus on textile recycling systems. Her Master’s thesis was a core research contribution to the SorTex project, and its findings are now shaping Nordic collection and sorting development.

Areas of expertise

  • Circular textile value chain development and material traceability
  • Mechanical and chemical recycling systems and feedstock evaluation
  • EU regulatory compliance (ESPR, DPP, EPR, Green Claims)
  • Digital Product and Material Passports, data architecture and interoperability
  • Certified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), impact calculations, ESG reporting and comparative decision-making
  • Multi-stakeholder collaboration and EU-funded project leadership

Experience

NewRetex · Think Design Interventions · Sustaina Company · Zara

Bachelor’s in Fashion Design and Business with major in Sustainability; Master’s in Design Management with major in Circular Design Processes; Continuing Education in Applied LCA: Calculation, Impact Assessment and ESG Application

Lead consultants

Specialist workstreams within engagements

Lead consultants are experts in defined niche areas, leading specialist workstreams within engagements.

Aashee Shukla

Lead Consultant, ESG Reporting, Disclosure and Life Cycle Assessment

Aashee Shukla

  • Carbon accounting
  • Product compliance

Aashee combines engineering rigour with regulatory and business expertise, turning scientific, operational and ESG data into governance frameworks and measurable outcomes. She has delivered CSRD-aligned reporting and double materiality assessment for a multinational satellite operator, and LCA-informed ecodesign and emissions analysis in packaging manufacturing. Her work spans carbon inventories, climate risk and transition assessment, supplier risk, and post-merger ESG integration, across multinationals, consultancies, startups and NGOs. She works in English, French and Hindi.

Areas of expertise

  • Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040/14044) and cradle-to-grave modelling
  • EU Product Environmental Footprint and ecodesign
  • Carbon accounting across Scopes 1, 2 and 3
  • CSRD and ESRS reporting
  • Double materiality assessment
  • Supplier sustainability and ESG due diligence
  • ESG data management and governance

Experience

SES Satellites · Himwraps · SLB (Schlumberger)

MSc Sustainability Transformations, NEOMA Business School (2025); M.Tech Geological Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2020); B.Tech Geosciences Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (2018)

Team

Research, data and client delivery

Our associate consultants and analysts support research, data and client delivery across all engagements.

Laura Croonenberghs

Associate Consultant

Laura Croonenberghs

  • DPP readiness
  • Responsible sourcing
  • Circular textiles
  • Traceability
  • Regulations tracking

Laura brings a political science lens to circular fashion, focused on the policy and traceability infrastructure shaping the industry's transition. Her work centres on supply chain mapping, fibre traceability and the Digital Product Passport framework — particularly how regulation and market incentives intersect to drive circularity at scale. She pairs this with hands-on experience in business development and client-facing roles, and works in French, Spanish and English.

Areas of expertise

  • Supply chain mapping
  • Fibre traceability
  • Digital Product Passport policy
  • Regulation and market incentives for circularity
  • Client engagement in English, French and Spanish

Experience

Transperfect · Wizenco · Entrena (USAID and IREX)

Master in Political Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles (2025); BSc Business Management, ESCP Business School (2021); Responsible Fashion Management, University of Antwerp and IFM Paris (2026)

Consultant project check-in

Book a one-hour project check-in

A structured review of workstream progress, open questions and risks with your Symolem consultant, followed by a short written summary of decisions and actions. For active Symolem engagements only.

60 minutes · Video call

Book a check-in →

Join our network

Symolem works with a growing network of specialist consultants across circularity, carbon and policy. If your expertise aligns with our work, we would like to hear from you.

Get in touch