From Google, Amazon and Adobe to An Ethical Fashion Startup

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Subscribe & Listen: Apple Podcasts – Spotify – YouTube

Often, the differences between big corporations and small businesses can feel as stark as black and white. On today’s episode, we learn that there is, in fact, a grey area. Founder and CEO of Brightly, an online ethical marketplace, Laura Wittig shares how her experience at not just one, but several large corporations, helped lay the foundation for her social good startup and the community that surrounds it.

Another exciting entrepreneur from the ethical fashion space, Laura’s path to founding her own social good company is marked by jobs at well-known corporations like Adobe, Amazon and Google. Somewhere along the way, she realized that tech can be for good—even in the retail industry.

In this episode, Laura shares her story with us, taking us through her years as a Product Manager for major corporations, and then to her experience in building Brightly and its rich community of conscious consumers. Her story is packed with good advice and inspiring ideas, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

• Learn all about the Brightly mission, strategies and community.
• Dive into the concepts of ownership and mindfulness—two values Laura found during her time at major corporations.
• Get inspired by easily implementable business practices currently used at Brightly.
• Hear about Brightly’s community building strategies and upcoming projects.

We hope you’ll join us for another episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast, it’s going to be a good one!

Mentioned in the Show:

• Brightly.eco – An ethical online marketplace & community. [3:06]
• Dunbar’s number – A theory on the amount of relationships a person can sustain. [8:25]
• Brightly Book Club – A no-waste book club on ethical topics. [30:13]
• Brightly’s Instagram – Get social with Brightly. [34:45]

Show Topics:

• We meet Laura Alexander Wittig, CEO of Brightly. She introduces us to Brightly, an ethical online marketplace, an ethical alternative to amazon, & community built around sustainable products that you can feel good about. She sheds a little light on their mission, platform and values. [3:06]
• Rewinding to a time before Brightly, Laura talks about her professional history, and the roles that helped shape her path. Her story begins in the fashion vertical of Amazon, eventually evolving to a role at Google, where the light finally went off—tech can be used for good. [4:48]
• Ever heard of Dunbar’s number? Us neither. Until, that is, Laura introduced us to it. The law suggests that we have a cognitive limit to the number of relationships we can sustainably keep—brands included. This idea inspires Laura to build Brightly to be more than a brand, but a marketplace and community. [8:25]
• Laura reflects on the move from Texas to the Pacific Northwest, and how a generally underrated ferry ride helped her feel connected during an otherwise stressful time. [9:40]
• Amazon, Google, Adobe—Laura’s professional experience focused on large enterprises prior to founding Brightly. We talk about that transition, and what practices she took with her as she created her own company. [12:48]
• Ownership and mindfulness were two values that stuck with Laura as she transitioned to running her own business. Laura shares how she manages to keep those values present within her own team. [16:29]
• We break down the more applicable, day-to-day practices that characterize her focus on ownership and mindfulness in the workplace. From her unique take on one-to-one’s to how she creates real value for Brightly’s interns, Laura shares it all. [18:26]
• After reviewing some of those internal practices, it’s time to take a look at Brightly’s relationship with its customer base. Laura shares Brightly’s ‘aha!’ moment when it started really gaining traction, and how exactly they got to that point. [23:19]
• Community. It’s the backbone of Brightly’s mission, and the piece of their vision that transforms them from a marketplace to something much, much bigger. Laura talks about how that community got started. [25:18]
• Can consumerism and sustainability really exist in the same space? Laura explains how they create that balance, and the values and strategies that support it. [28:25]
• So, what’s ahead for Brightly? Laura gives us a few details on their new no waste, ethical book club, including how they came up with the idea and implemented it. Plus, we hear a little more about what kind of content we can expect to see from Brightly in the future. [30:01]
• That’s it folks! We sign off with Laura as she shares her final thoughts, and a few ways to keep up with Brightly in the future. [34:31]

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