Podcast: Womenled

108: Cerebelly – Science Backed Baby Food

Today we talk on our show with Dr. Teresa Purzner and Nick Langan, co-founders of Cerebelly who as parents of infants wanted to make sure that their kids get the best possible nutrition not only for their physical but also for brain development. They were surprised to learn when they flipped over a packet or bottle of baby food the mismatch between the actual stated ingredients and the nutrients in the baby food. Teresa knew that the baby brain, as complex as it is, develops in stages and each stage requires different nutrients for its optimal development. The brother and sister duo started experiment with baby foods with your own children and wanted to bring the art and science of baby food to other babies. Teresa and Nick teamed up with world-class pediatricians, nutritionists, and food scientists. Together, they created Cerebelly—delicious, farm-fresh, organic baby food that provides real nutrition for a growing brain and body. Cerebelly unites neuroscience, nutrition, and organic, farm-fresh food to give them the very best from the very start. Learn more about their attention to details and passion in this episode of Mindful Businesses.
https://cerebelly.com/about-cerebelly
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Food
108: Cerebelly - Science Backed Baby Food
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107: FabScrap – Recycling and Reusing Textile Waste

Majority of the conversation around fashion waste revolves around finished products that end up in the landfill. But around 12 % that is around 6.3 million tonnes per year is sent by brands to the landfill in the design and development stage. These would be sample booklets with swatches and unused fabric rolls and prior to Fabscrap they ended up in the landfill. We talk with Jessica Schreiber CEO and founder of FabScrap, a non-profit whose 80% of earned income comes from service fees and fabric sales. They receive service fees from brands to Fabscrap to pick up their textile waste, similar to when they pay for recycling or trash pickup. They do this with an army of volunteers, almost 100 unique ones per month and their staff in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Their staff take extra precautions to assure brands that their copyrighted materials are shredded and don’t reenter the market. Fabscrap also sells the fabrics to quilters, sewing enthusiasts, fashion students and assuring nothing that is picked up by Fabscrap goes to the landfill. With the long-term goal to influence habit and policy they create impact reports that they share back with their brands – how much and what fabric they picked and how was it sorted and if reused or not. Jessica believes that this makes the brands internalize the cost of their waste and may help them reevaluate and optimize their design and planning process. Learn more about this first of its kind initiative and organization on this episode of Mindful businesses.

#textilewaste
#mindfulbusinesses
#sustainablefashion
#fabricwaste
#fabscrap
#sustainablefashion

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Fashion and Beauty
107: FabScrap - Recycling and Reusing Textile Waste
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106: The Buy Nothing Project – Buy Nothing, Build Community

Humans are inherently materialistic and seek happiness through objects, but what we get is enjoyment not happiness. Happiness tends to be more fulfilling and long term. Happiness often comes by connecting with your community, by sharing stories and creating trust. That is what The Buy Nothing Project does. We talk to the amazing Rebecca Rockerfeller, co-founder of The Buy Nothing Project, who started the movement with her friend Liesl Clark, as a way for community members to gift things that they don’t need any longer. But how are they different from donating, is the stories that they share with each other, that create bonds and communities. Spring is around the corner and if you are anything like me, I am overwhelmed with the clutter around me and making frequent trips to the donation sites. But maybe this Spring gift it through your neighborhood’s The Buy Nothing Project. Learn more from this amazing and truly authentic co-founder Rebecca Rockefeller on this episode of Mindful Businesses.

#Mindful Businesses
#TheBuyNothingProject
#sustainability
#eco-friendly
#communitybuilding
http://buynothingproject.org/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Impact
106: The Buy Nothing Project - Buy Nothing, Build Community
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103: Kazi – All Across Africa – Woven Together

Alicia Wallace is the COO of Kazi, a Mindful Business she founded after years of working in emerging economies and seeing the need for job creation at an everyday living wage. Today, Kazi is the largest artisan employer in Africa with nearly 6,000 artisans who support 24,700 dependents. Nearly all the artists are women. Through the process, the artists become self-sufficient businesspeople, improve their economic situation and gain the dignity and sense of accomplishment that comes with it.

The items they create aren’t pieces you’ll find at just any gift shop or farmers’ market! These intricately handwoven items – including bold wall statements, multi-purpose baskets, lighting and more – are designed with fashion, home and color trends in mind, then made from all natural materials and dyes found in Africa and sold here in the US. What were the challenges in entering markets and countries who are so different than one is used to? Alicia talk about it and other challenges on this episode of Mindful Businesses.

https://kazigoods.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Africa
103: Kazi - All Across Africa - Woven Together
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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/

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

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Design and Innovation
83: Rebel Nell - One of No Other Kind
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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.

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Sustainable Materials
75: Kudos - Natural Disposable Diapers
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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.

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Food
72: Tahmina - To Be Brave (Donate for Afghanistan)
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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.

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Agriculture & Farming
70: Let’s Goat Buffalo - Changing the Landscape, One Bite At a Time
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68: Beejom Farm – Animal Sanctuary and Sustainable Regenerative Agriculture

Beejom is an animal sanctuary and sustainable agricultural farm located in Western Uttar Pradesh. They use natural farming techniques to grow food. The agricultural practices at Beejom are farm animal-centric. We talk to the passionate and energetic Aparna Rajagopal, a lawyer turned conservationist, animal rescuer, and educator. While trying to rescue a horse, she leased farmland to board the horse, and while trying to improve its soil she bought some cows and bulls for their manure – about 150 of them. But they do not use them for dairy. These cattle generate 1000 kgs of dung at the farm on average. Beejom utilizes this dung is to make lovely dung pots and partners with local nurseries in the hope that they stop using plastic covers and start using these beautiful pots for their seedlings. When the seedling outgrows this pot, one can transplant the seedling into the ground along with the pot which is nothing but cow dung manure. A beautiful sustainability project that is great for the environment and an additional income source for the farmer. They have a cow dung log machine and make dung logs that can replicate wood. The logs can be used in crematoriums, bonfires or Havans (religious fires). Come join us on Aparna’s journey on Beejom Farm.

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Agriculture & Farming
68: Beejom Farm - Animal Sanctuary and Sustainable Regenerative Agriculture
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