Carmen Maiwald studied clothing technology at the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) in Hamburg, where she realised that she was interested not only in clothing but also in the stories behind it. She then graduated from the German School of Journalism (DJS) in Munich. Carmen currently works as a freelance journalist in Berlin on the topics of fashion, sustainability and greenwashing. Carmen was awarded the Otto Brenner Prize and the German Journalism Prize for her research "Das System Zalando". As part of the American Council On Germany's Kellen Fellowship, Carmen researched the clothing industry in New York and Los Angeles. Her articles have been published in the media including Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Flip, and Achtung Mode. Some of her research has been funded by scholarships such as the Environmental/Ecology Scholarship from Netzwerk Recherche and Olin and the Neustart Kultur Scholarship Programme from VG Wort. Carmen has been teaching courses on ‘Constructive Journalism’ at the Technical University of Dresden since April 2024.