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In October 2020, Industry Dive hired me to apply my 12 years of experience as a PR practitioner to build their cross-publication press release distribution service.
Along with the incredible internal product, design and engineering teams I served as the Senior Director to build DiveWire by Industry Dive. The product supports PR Managers as they hustle to distribute news. The product is a self-publishing tool that allows PR leads to post and promote their news release directly to readers across Industry Dive’s business news sites.The product is easy to use, affordable and provides automated reports to help improve result reporting during client meetings. In addition to building the product and bringing the product brand to market, I built a customer service program, consulted with hundreds of brand communications teams around B2B PR strategy and helped lead our sales team to 33% revenue growth year over year. I have absolutely LOVED this project and have met remarkable communications professionals, colleagues and friends.
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New Hampshire Magazine
Rock & Ice Magazine  This year, at 1908 Brands, we partnered with the Rocky Mountain Conservancy to support conservation work in our backyard at Rocky Mountain National Park. Over eleven weeks, RMC-Conservation Corps crews will work side by side with park and forest service teams in Rocky Mountain National Park and National Forests constructing and maintaining trails and restoring historic buildings.
To further show our support for the protection and maintenance of our public lands, I was able to go to Washington D.C. with the Outdoor Industry Association to meet with both Colorado Senators and six Congressmen. We advocated for The Restore Our Parks Act 2019 (H.R. 1225 & S. 500) which would fund the repairs of unmaintained trails to crumbling roads to visitor centers built 50 years ago across 417 National Parks and help our non-profit partners in their work. This year, at 1908 Brands, we started the tradition of handing out a National Parks Annual Pass to each employee on Earth Day. Our nation’s national parks are some of the most iconic and majestic places in America and we're committed to using our 1% for the Planet fund to protect and advocate for the protection of our public lands. Businesses have a strong voice in D.C and speaking with representatives about what matters to you and your business is a powerful way to encourage policies that support responsible business practices.  "Thank you to the Center for Jackson Hole & SHIFT for welcoming me onto the Board of Directors. I look forward to a busy 2-year term working with this remarkable organization. If you're interested in learning more, please reach out. "The 2018 SHIFT Festival will explore the health benefits of time outside: how outdoor recreation on our public lands creates a healthier citizenry, attracts new customers to the outdoor industry, promotes stewardship and advances quality of life in communities across America." - Jess Saba, founder Good Point Projects.
 If you'll be at Outdoor Retailer in Denver next week, stop by the " Environmental Giving in the Outdoor Industry," panel on Tuesday, July 24th from 3:30 - 4:30. We'll be presenting as part of the OIA Outdoor University Education series. We'll talk about businesses and organizations that partner to protect and preserve what we have left in terms of land, water, and wildlife. We'll address the big paradox that our outdoor businesses depend on the resources in the earth to create products we use to enjoy nature. Will you be at OR? I would love to see you!
Each year, we pick a project that focuses on bringing groups of people together to work on a social or environmental issue. In May, Good Point Projects produced an Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Training for 1908 Brands as part of their 1% for the Planet Business Membership.
Each year, 1908 Brands sets aside 1% of sales in a reserve fund to donate to environmentally focused non-profits. In addition to providing unrestricted funds to support the protection and conservation of public lands, 1908 Brands often partners with environmentally focused non-profits that can advise the team on ways to improve the waste, water and energy required to run the business operations. One partnership that has been incredibly valuable is with the 1% for the Planet certified non-profit organization, Green Blue. Green Blue is dedicated to the sustainable use of materials in society. Green Blue brings together a diversity of stakeholders to encourage innovation and best practices to promote the creation of a more sustainable materials economy. Since 1908 Brands packages food and cleaning products, they work with Green Blue to make sure 1908 is holding the operations to their highest standards. 1908 Brands is part of Green Blue’s CleanGredients program, which provides a resource for suppliers to verify and market that their “ingredient” products meet Safer Choice criteria. 1908 Brands also participate in the How2Recycle Label® program which is a standardized on-package labeling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions to the public. Finally 1908 Brands is a part of The Sustainable Packaging Coalition program, which provides the leading voice on packaging sustainability with a membership that encompasses the entire packaging life cycle. After recognizing the impacts of single use packaging on our natural places, oceans, and landfills (60% of packaging ends up in the landfill*) 1908 Brands made the decision to take part in creating solutions. In March of 2018, we helped 1908 Brands make a commitment through the Climate Collaborative to improve our packaging and convert one product package to compostable or recyclable packaging by 2025. To work towards this commitment, we suggested that 1908 Brands make a $15,000 donation to The Sustainable Packaging Coalition to host the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Training and then opened the event up to the whole “Naturally Boulder” community. Along with packaging leads from 60 local companies, we learned about the fundamental principals of sustainable packaging. The training covered Bioplastics, Compostable Packaging, Fiber Sourcing and the lifecycle of packaging materials. In addition to working with the Naturally Boulder community and Justin’s, there were representatives from local materials manufactures in the room to answer questions about where we all go from here. ePack, Elk Designs, and Futamura helped breakdown how each layer of flexible plastic packaging might be improved for end-of-life recovery. We discussed how we, as businesses, could maintain our economic opportunity while increasing the environmental sustainability of our business operations. Working towards sustainable packaging solutions is one element of the 1908 Brands sustainability strategy with the goal to improve business operations. Through our 1% for the Planet giving program we’re also working with non-profit partners to conserve land and wilderness, provide children with access to outdoor opportunities and reduce our water and energy use in our office, kitchen, and warehouse. To learn more visit: https://onepercentfortheplanet.org or connect with us to discuss environmental giving programs. *EPA, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management Report, 2016 Happy Earth Week! Through the 1908 Brands @onepercentfortheplanet Planet program, we made a donation to Eco-Cycle be part of their Green Star Business program. The Green Star Business Program is a network-based program that offers professional sustainability consulting and training services with a focus on Zero Waste. We've asked Eco-Cycle to help us set up systems to reduce our waste, water and energy use in the office, kitchen and warehouse. Here’s a video to show how 1908 set up the Zero-Waste system in the office. Zero Waste is the ethical use of resources so as to emulate Nature, which wastes nothing. By recycling, reusing and engaging in other Zero waste practices we can conserve natural resources and habitats, reduce carbon pollution causing climate change, and cut down on air and water pollution. Recycling is a good place to start. With sorting bins, a little training and helpful signage, businesses can recycle as much as 80 percent of “things you normally throw away." That’s a lot! By sorting waste, such as paper, plastic and other materials, can be repurposed into post-consumer products. Recycling keeps materials in the production loop instead of having to deplete more of our natural resources to make new products. But each time you throw something in the trash bin, even if it is fully recyclable, it goes to the landfill. Not only is that a waste of precious resources, it’s also a public health hazard because landfills leak. The EPA has acknowledged that all landfill liners will eventually tear, which means that toxic garbage juice can seep into and contaminate soil and groundwater supplies. Roughly 20 percent of the nation’s most hazardous sites, also called Superfund sites, are solid waste landfills.” Read more from Eco-Cycle here. Here's a quick video we made to show how you can divert waste created by your business operations from landfills.
Happy to talk about the process with you if you're setting up a recycling program at your office. Jess Saba CSR & Environmental Giving Manager @ 1908 Brands About 1908 Brands: A certified B-Corporation and 1% for the Planet partner, 1908 Brands promotes creativity and sustainability in the development of safe, healthy, and high quality natural products. These include Boulder Clean, Thrive Tribe, Fruitivity, Schultz’s Gourmet, Pasta Jay’s Pasta Sauce, and Three Bears Oats. These brands all operate under and stand by the company values of trust, knowledge, adaptively, efficiency, passion, and collaboration. In their own words, 1908 Brands is committed to making products that “adapt with the ever-changing needs of our planet and people.” The story behind 1908 comes from CEO, Steve Savage’s, great great uncle, William Kent, who donated 300 acres of land to the US government in 1908 that is known today as Muir Woods National Park. The 1908 team has a zesty optimistic passion for sustainability that will be brought to its full potential as a Green Star Business (GSB). As a member of the program, the company will work with Eco-Cycle’s GSB team to improve and formalize sustainability efforts and action, making the company an inspirational leader for the natural product industry and its consumer base. These sustainability ambitions include educating staff about excellent waste sorting, sustainable purchasing and packaging; package recovery and recycling; tracking, reporting, and reducing resource use; and mandating that suppliers and consumers improve supply chain and distribution sustainability.GSB will also work with the company to make sustainable switches in the functionality of the office space, selection of suppliers, as well as marketing, promotions, and Zero Waste events.  April 12, 2018 Boulder, CO
10:15am Panel: Creative Giving for Greatest Impact Moderated by Jess Saba, CSR Manager 1908 Brands and Author of Tools for Environmental Giving. Panelists Include:
In US, only 3% of charitable giving goes to Environmental issues. And, only a fraction of that comes from business giving programs. This panel spoke an audience of the leaders in the Corporate Environmental Giving space. We shared ideas for creating more effective direct giving programs. Direct giving programs are unique because, unlike a foundation, a business can give resources directly to a non-profits and build partnerships to receive benefits back. For example, when @1908brands wanted to work towards the Boulder County Zero-Waste goals, we made a $3000 donation to Eco-Cycle and became a Green Star Business. They sent experts to walk our facilities, report on opportunities and coach us as we improved recycling bin placement, and signage. They trained our employees in recycling. They showed us where our packaging waste is recycled, or what happens when it ends up in the landfill. After a year working with EcoCycle, we couldn’t ignore the impact of our packaging waste any longer. So, we made a commitment to ensure at least one of our products had recyclable or compostable package by 2020. We reached out to our non-profit partner, The Sustainable Packaging Coalition, made a $15,000 donation to hire their facilitators and will be hosting an Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Training on May 16th for 100 other brands in the Natural Foods industry. As we started to learn about our partners, it became obvious that these incredible people were working everyday to improve the home we share. We set aside $10,000 to partner with eTown to create the 1908 Sessions podcast where our CEO will interview people working to save what we have left. At the end of each episode, we’ll give credit to our non-profit partners to share their work more widely. Each of the non-profits on the panel work with businesses to offer creative partnership programs. Here are some of the highlights from the panel. Friends of Cedar Mesa spoke about working with a business on one cause over a long period of time to understand the issues, the struggles and opportunities. Friends of Cedar Mesa works in the Bear's Ears region and was able to quickly fundraise when national attention was brought to their area. Amanda recommended giving managers reserve funds for unexpected donations to be able support a project like a visitor's center during a time of national media attention. The Access Fund: Annalise discussed volunteer programs and advocacy efforts. She described the depth of relationships that develop when employees volunteer and engage in advocacy. Employees they are connect to a cause, make friends and learn about an issue they are able to support advocacy efforts when the need arises. Protect Our Winters: Uses co-branded products to share approachable messages of climate action advocacy. Torrey spoke about how a marketing team can work with a partner to share the visibility of climate messages through products in consumers’ hands. Bonneville Environmental Fund: Discuss business environmental footprints in carbon, water and energy and how offsets, Water Restoration Crecits and Renewable Energy Credits can be a tool to mitigate your footprint. Examples include how a Travel insurance company might consider offsetting carbon for flights. How a beverage company (beer, coffee) like Grounds for Change, Hopworks might consider balancing a water footprint. How a marketing or film company like One Hundred Seconds show how even a small footprint is worth balancing. Heather recommends addressing the practices and business operations that are most material to a business with the most environmental impact and purchasing offsets, WRCs and RECs. A partnership with BEF can support sustainability reporting, certifications and marketing efforts. The National Forest Foundation works with businesses to develop programs to reach a commitment. The National Forest Foundation works with brands like Caudalie and Boxed Water to create partnerships with multi-year commitments. Ray recommends businesses consider establishing a contractual multi-year commitment that is designed to survive workforce changes, budget shifts to work towards a share goal – like 5 million trees planted project. Please connect if you'd like to hear more. |