Mica Caine
Mica Caine is an interdisciplinary resilience designer and first-year Master of City Planning student at MIT, focused on liberatory memory work, community land ownership, and climate resiliency infrastructure. Mica was born and raised in Central Ohio, the land of the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandotte and other indigenous tribes. Mica carries a deep-rooted commitment to honoring the stories and strengths of the Black and indigenous stories of the land, contested space for sovereignty and freedom the last four centuries.
In 2022, Mica co-founded Mive Labs alongside her twin sister, Maya, as an experimental consultancy and research body to explore circular economies and advance textile sustainability in Central Ohio. They co-authored the Central Ohio Fashion & Textile Waste Report (2023) and it has sparked regional dialogue, connecting city stakeholders, manufacturers, recyclers, universities, and economic development agencies around the urgent need for policy, transparency, and circular strategies to reduce consumption, production, and divert textile waste locally. Mica and Maya are supporting the establishment of a regional working group which aims to reduce the landfilling of textiles and eliminate the unethical bailing and dumping in the global south. Currently, Mive Labs is incubating its next project: Helix, a circular not-for-profit marketplace that embodies community and reciprocity. Helix allows individuals, secondhand stores, and brands to locally buy, sell, or rent garments while earning ongoing income through an infinite commission model. Recently selected for MIT DesignX’s 2025 cohort and winners of Yale Climate Innovation Prize, Helix aims to challenge the fashion industry’s wasteful, linear business model and empower local fashion economies.
Mica is currently combining her passion for environmental justice with archival research and preservation through her work in Boston. As part of Emerald Cities Collaborative, she supports the implementation of workforce development initiatives for minority- and women-owned construction businesses, with a focus on clean energy career pathways and economic inclusion. Simultaneously, at the First Church in Roxbury, Mica is conducting archival research to uncover the stories of 58 enslaved individuals connected to the church, while collaborating with restoration teams to link the building’s physical features to the experiences of Black and Indigenous people. Her work includes creating interpretive materials, building a digital archive, and leading youth workshops through her Archival Imagination initiative, which blends archival research, genealogy, and creative artmaking to bridge the past and present, fostering community engagement and historical preservation.
Mica received her undergraduate degree at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, where she studied Information Systems and French and spent time abroad in Rouen, France and Rabat, Morocco. Before starting at MIT, Mica was a product manager in trust and safety at Pinterest for the last 4 years. Mica enjoys adventuring with her dog Moses Jones, spending time outdoors, collaging, restoring antique furniture, playing dress-up, and papermaking.