The theme of International Women’s Day 2023 is #EmbraceEquity. And for IWD on 08 March, we’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to our co-founder, Vanessa Gibbons.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m originally from Sydney’s northern beaches and for the last 7 years, my family and I have called Singapore home. I am a working mum with two busy boys and a dog named Daisy. My family loves adventure travel, healthy living and design. I’ve also had a daily meditation practice for the last 8 years and occasionally host meditation classes.
You wear quite a few work hats?
{Laughs} oh yes I do.
I have 19 years’ sales and marketing leadership experience in diverse markets across the Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. In that time, I have been fortunate enough to incubate, launch, and scale more than 120 consumer and business products for high-growth companies including Climate Impact X, Carta, Microsoft, Hilton, Sony and WPP. In 2022, I joined Jeremy as a co-founder of SimplyGood. I am also an impact investor and I am an advisor to a few sustainability start-ups and community groups.
How did you go from big corporate to sustainability?
Growing up on Sydney beaches in Australia, I’ve always had a passion for nature. But it was only in 2019 when I joined 15 corporate women to hike 100 kilometres of the remote Matthew Ranges in Northern Kenya that my passion for nature turned into a passion for sustainability action. During the hike, I saw first-hand the impact of single-use plastic waste. Every day there were hundreds of discarded plastic bottles littering the pristine protected rangelands. And despite the conservation efforts of the local tribes and tourist communities, it was obvious that the plastic waste had a lasting and negative impact on wildlife.
So on my return from Kenya, I decided to take action starting at home to reduce the amount of single-use plastic my family and I consume. But it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. From drinks to cleaning products, hand soap to hair shampoo bottles most of the products in the supermarket came packaged in single-use plastic bottles. Natural refill options were even harder to find and when I could find them they were much more expensive than traditional chemical single-use plastic bottle options.
After some research, I found SimplyGood and immediately fell in love with their 100% natural and plant-based dissolvable tablets which are designed to eliminate single-use plastics in the home. I was such a brand fan that I joined Jeremy as a co-founder in 2022, with a promise to take SimplyGood global and make it easy for every consumer to take sustainable actions at home which have a positive impact on the planet.
What would you say to other women thinking about moving from corporate to co-founder?
Go for it! There has never been a better time (or a more urgent need) for women to help create more sustainable retail and technology solutions to help people consume more responsibly. Women are most often the decision maker in the aisle making choices on grocery and lifestyle products. Accenture research reveals that since the pandemic, female consumers are 60% more likely to choose more sustainable options than before the pandemic. Gartner forecasts that eco-conscious and sustainable retail spending will grow to $382 billion in 2023. So there is plenty of opportunity to have a positive impact on the planet and to do so profitably.
If there are any women out there who would like to learn more about what it is like to be a female co-founder or you’d just like some advice on how to get started. Reach out to me via our Contact Us.