Podcast: Womenled

123: Honnold Foundation – Expand Solar Energy Access to Marginalized Communities

The risk assessments that governments and corporations make to encourage marginalized communities and uplift them, have themselves become a hurdle to the assistance that they wish to provide. Honnold foundations wishes to fill that gap by partnering closely with nonprofits in a space where their needs are too small for governments and not profitable enough for businesses. The Honnold Foundation was founded by professional rock climber Alex Honnold in 2012. After a rock climbing expedition around the world, he decided to focus his giving on solar energy – as it was so tangible.

They engage and collaborate with these communities to expand equitable solar access. The Honnold Foundation is a proud partner with community-based organizations all over the world who are using solar energy to improve lives and reduce environmental impact. They partner with communities in Africa, Americas, Asia and in the Native American communities in North America. Native Renewables empowers Native American families to achieve energy independence by growing renewable energy capacity and affordable access to off-grid power. To learn more about this truly mindful and giving philanthropy listen to Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of Honnold foundation, in our latest episode.

https://www.honnoldfoundation.org/
www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com

#solarenergy #marginalizedcommunities #mindfulbusinesses #honnoldfoundation

Read More
Energy
Energy
123: Honnold Foundation - Expand Solar Energy Access to Marginalized Communities
/

122: Reactive Surfaces – Bringing Surfaces To Life

Most US elementary school students learn about photosynthesis in their science class. The process is very simple – chlorophyll in the leaves and green stems absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. It is nature’s elegant way of capturing carbon dioxide. Carbon cycle is where humans and human activities put out carbon dioxide and processes such as photosynthesis absorb it. But when the NET carbon dioxide into the atmosphere exceeds what is absorbed – that to the extent of 30 – 50 gigatons of carbon dioxide, then we have a problem on our hands. Observing and learning from nature our guests Beth McDaniel, President and Dr. Steve McDaniel, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of Reactive Surfaces try to replicate the carbon capture process in nature in their solution. They have created coatings that can be applied to surfaces to capture carbon – just like nature does it with leaves and stems. Using polymeric materials thinly spread on a surface, adhere to the surface and then cured. These surfaces when exposed to sunlight, will photosynthesise, capturing and fixing carbon, using the photosynthetic process to carbohydrate. To learn more about this truly fascinating solution listen to our latest episode of Mindful Businesses.

Mentions:
Embassy Row Project – Envirotech Pre – accelerator
Xprize
Musk Foundation

#climatechange #carboncapture #carbonsequestration #mindfulbusinesses #reactivesurfaces #photosythesis #learnfromnature #sustainablematerials
https://reactivesurfaces.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Read More
Sustainable Materials
Sustainable Materials
122: Reactive Surfaces - Bringing Surfaces To Life
/

116: Rebellyous Foods – No Harm, No Fowl

The question we ask – why was meat production industrialized instead plant-based meat production. Plant based meat is far more eco-friendly that meat production. We speak with Christie Lagally, CEO of Rebellyous Foods, who states that most plant-based meat until now were primarily using processes and methods that were an extension of how we would make them in a kitchen. She got to rethink the chicken nugget from the ground up – and build a better one. This means tackling the insanely hard work of rethinking the way our food is made. Christie, an aerospace engineer and her team of talented engineers are developed the Mock Two – the most advanced plant-based meat manufacturing system on the planet, to make the best tasting nugget. Listen to her passion making a great tasting product along with her compassion for the planet and people.

https://www.rebellyous.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/
#fortheplanet, #innovativematerials, #mindfulbusinesses, #planbasedfoods, #rebellyousfoods, #sustianablefoodproduction, #vegan, #vegetarian,

Read More
Food
Food
116: Rebellyous Foods - No Harm, No Fowl
/

115: Moonlight Technologies – Power of Nature for a Sustainable World

Nature is the best teacher. Imagine we use the power power of nature to create a more sustainable, safer, and healthier world. Imagine there existed a fabric that repels bugs, dirt, viruses, eliminates bad odors, self-cleans, and repels stains naturally. That is what Moonlight Technologies strives to create. 100% natural, sustainable, and carbon negative technologies for fabrics, surfaces, and hardgoods that protect and enhance people’s lives worldwide. In this episode we talk with Allie Sutton, CEO and Dr. Phyllis Levine, Global Medical Director of Moonlight Technologies who share their vision and passion of using plant extracts to improve lives by empowering humans to live more freely using nature’s innate abilities, Moonlight Technologies consists of an experienced team of doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs focused on providing sustainable innovation to the world. Together they have created:
1) EcoArmor – kills 99% of all bacteria, viruses, mold and fungus
2) Inspectproof – 100% plant based insect and pest repellent technology that repel mosquitos, fleas, ants, ticks, and mites
3) Ordorsafe – plant based odor eliminating and antimicrobial technology that permanently destroys all types of bad odors on fabrics
4) Mindfully Clean – self-cleaning technology that keeps the treated articles fresh and regardless of use
5) Natural and organic dyes – naturally derived, sustainable color-fast natural dyes.
Learn more about this fascinating invention and how it may change our lives forever.
https://www.moonlighttech.co/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Read More
Sustainable Materials
Sustainable Materials
115: Moonlight Technologies - Power of Nature for a Sustainable World
/

114: Wespire – Build A Better Working World

As a corporate leader what if you were told you could increase employee retention by over 30% by using behavioral and attitudinal nudges to bring improvement in both their commitment to ESG and their own company ecosystem, while keeping their most valuable asset – their people – engaged. With more than a decade of experience, WeSpire employee engagement consultants partner with organizations to create purpose-centric engagement strategies that help turn ambitious impact goals into reality. Each solution is customized to the organizations needs by first having a conversation to helps understand what they would like to achieve as well as your strategy and goals.They uncover and analyze not just the existing initiatives, but also the prevailing attitudes and behaviors that exist in the workplace that may accelerate or hinder success. These transformative behavioral and attitudinal insights help companies by shedding light on the standards and frameworks, and provide strategies for engaging employees around ESG. Learn more in our conversation with Susan Hunt Stevens  founder and CEO of Wespire.

https://www.wespire.com/

https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Read More
IT for sustainability
IT for sustainability
114: Wespire - Build A Better Working World
/

92: Zero Grocery – Plastic-Free Grocery Delivery

Zuleyka Strasner, founder of Zero Grocery moved from East London to San Francisco to work for Facebook. She saw the need to for a plastic – free grocery. To learn about customers needs and habits she started by delivering first in plastic containers and then in plastic-free containers. She soon learned that most of the customers were willing to try new products curated by her delivered in a sustainable packaging. She raised half a million dollars from venture capitalists within 4 months of starting the business. Pandemic with its mixed blessing brought exponential growth to Zero. They initially had a monthly subscription of $25 for unlimited delivery but as of Jan 1st they have done away with the subscription and have a guaranteed 2 hour delivery. Zuleyka talks about her experience in raising funds and how women should approach from a position of power and not weakness. Listen to this fascinating journey in this episode.
#sustainablegrocery, zerowaste, #plasticfree, #USA, #mindfulbusinesses, #zerogrocery,
https://zerogrocery.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Read More
Food
Food
92: Zero Grocery - Plastic-Free Grocery Delivery
/

83: Rebel Nell – One of No Other Kind

This episode has two parts – in part one, we talk with Amy Peterson, the co-founder of Rebel Nell about her inspiration and motivation to start Rebel Nell. While living next to a homeless shelter in Detroit, MI, she got to learn up-close the women who lived there and their challenges. One day out on a jog she finds a piece of graffiti that she envisioned could be repurposed into meaningful wearable art. A fusion of these two ideas gave birth to Rebel Nell. Amy with her co-founder Diana Roginson started Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to provide employment, equitable opportunity, and wraparound support for women with barriers to employment. They seek to embolden women, to embrace their infinite strength, and to define their own future.

They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Their goal is to help the women move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance, overcoming barriers to employment through the fruits of their own labor. Rebel Nell’s product line starts with repurposing graffiti, after it has fallen off the walls.

These are women who when hired have no background in jewelry become creative designers who make incredibly intricate and unique piece each one more beautiful than the next. In the part two we chat with one such woman – Ethel Rucker, Production Lead at Rebel Nell.

In addition to on-the-job training and guidance on how to make jewelry, Rebel Nell also provides them with life management, financial training and business education to make sure they have the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to leave homelessness/dependence behind permanently and move forward as strong independent women. Listen to this powerful story in this episode.

https://www.rebelnell.com/
To hire Ethel Rucker for your next photoshoot contact her via her website https://harteclectic.com/

https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Read More
Design and Innovation
Design and Innovation
83: Rebel Nell - One of No Other Kind
/

75: Kudos – Natural Disposable Diapers

In this episode, we talk with Amrita Saigal, founder of Kudos, natural disposable diapers – the only disposable diaper that has 100% cotton touching baby’s bum all day. Kudos is the only disposable diaper to have earned the cotton natural™ seal for being lined with 100% cotton instead of plastic. Kudos have also been certified to the strictest safety standard, OEKO-TEX® Standard 100. Designed by a team of MIT-trained engineers (and moms!), the patent-pending DoubleDry™ tech handles moisture and provides overnight-level reliability with two layers of protection instead of one. Amrita talks about her journey, setting up Sathi – a plant-based material maxi pads, to Google X, some sibling bonding time working at Thunkable, her brother’s startup, and finally landing to launch Kudos. It has been a journey where with hard work and perseverance Kudos had received 2.4 million in seed funding from investors like Foundation Capital, XFund, PJC, Precursor Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, SV Angel, Underscore VC, Alpha Bridge Ventures, April Underwood among others. Learn now in this episode.

Read More
Sustainable Materials
Sustainable Materials
75: Kudos - Natural Disposable Diapers
/

72: Tahmina – To Be Brave (Donate for Afghanistan)

Want to join us in making a difference? We are raising money to benefit Education Foundation for Afghanistan Inc, and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

A little bit about Education Foundation for Afghanistan (EFFA), – founded by Prof. Zarjon Baha, Purdue University, an octogenarian who emigrated to the United States in 1982 as a refugee after the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan. He founded EFFA with the mission to promote education in Afghanistan. As a long-time educator, he believes that only education can help empower women. 100% of your donations will go to educate girls. The past two weeks’ turmoil has made his mission even more difficult. Like Michelle Obama said “When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous,”  The need is immediate and urgent.  Please don’t look away. Donate by clicking on the link
https://gofund.me/ea4e1401
We talk with Sarah Jackson (whose name has been changed due to security reasons), founder and CEO of Tahmina. Tahmina is an international brand with a vision to export transformational products from different conflict regions of the world. Their maiden project is saffron and saffron-infused teas from Afghanistan. Learn more about their work through this podcast.

Read More
Food
Food
72: Tahmina - To Be Brave (Donate for Afghanistan)
/

70: Let’s Goat Buffalo – Changing the Landscape, One Bite At a Time

Let’s Goat Buffalo employs rescued goats to eat unwanted vegetation growth! Whether it’s a residential yard that needs clearing, a commercial property that has become overgrown and high-risk, or a park or highway that has become less accessible to the public, their herds are prepared to help! We chat with the bubbly Jennifer Zeitler – Founder and CEO of Let’s Goat Buffalo, on how she transitioned from Human Resources to goatscaping. The term “goatscaping” means grazing goats to manage vegetation growth in an environmentally sound manner. Goatscaping greatly reduces the use of toxic herbicides, and because the goat digestive process effectively sterilizes seeds and reproductive plant matter, they are an ideal treatment for invasive plants. Let’s Goat Buffalo offers grazing services within suburban, urban and rural environments. By choosing natural treatment, Let’s Goat customers are choosing healthier soil, increased biodiversity, and a greener future. Jennifer Zeitler collaborated with a goat dairy farm Alpine Maid and rescued the goats to bring a sustainable solution to remove overgrown brush and weeds. She was also made a How I Built This, fellow, in 2021 by NPR. Come listen now to her journey.

Read More
Agriculture & Farming
Agriculture & Farming
70: Let’s Goat Buffalo - Changing the Landscape, One Bite At a Time
/