Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks President & CEO of ECOS Celebrating Earth Day 2021

We're just going to bring it right on how are you doing Kelly? Hi Katie.
She, it is so wonderful to be here with you, especially during earth month. And as we approach earth day, I love the podcast and everything you do on she's all over the place. So great to be here with you today
Thank you. Thank you. That really means a lot coming from you. You were born, you were like we, we breathe fresh air and you literally, because of your father who created ECOS, we're born into an environmental world. So not only do we all breathe when we wake up and sleep, you have a Conscious mindset of the environment and the toxins, and not only a psychological, physical, the toxins in the airs and then the chemicals in the product. So please, I mean, if you just want to dive right in and tell us maybe about your dad and like maybe why he started ECOS and how the rains went to you and what ECOS is for the people who don't know.
Well, thank you. So my father started our company back in 1967. He first came to this country from Greece, something you and I share in common, some Greek heritage. And he came from the island of Crete and he came here when he was 18 years old, $22 in his pocket. Didn't speak the English language lived in homeless shelters, really amazing story, and ended up going to Roosevelt university to study chemistry because of the Greek root words, went on to become a chemist. And there's actually a really great Hollywood feature film with Billy Zane and Malcolm McDowell called a Green story that your audience might enjoy watching.
I was played by Shannon Elizabeth. I looked really good on screen that really kind of documents his story of coming to America and of starting our company 54 years ago. And at that time, he was really, really concerned about all of the toxic ingredients that people were putting in Cleaning products here in the United States. And so in 67 in his garage, he started our company with a vision to create safer cleaning products and really inspired by growing up in Greece and his mother using lemon and vinegar and natural ingredients. And he was wondering why we were using so many toxins because honestly, Katie Hickey cleaning should not mean spreading toxins.
And yet it's what we do all the time here. And so, you know, his vision has certainly grown over the years. As consumers have become more aware of the dangers of traditional Cleaning products. I now have four geographically diverse manufacturing facilities here in the United States, creating our ECOS brand. I'm talking to you today from our, our California headquarters, but we've got facilities in Illinois and New Jersey and Washington. All of our facilities are carbon neutral. They're what our neutrals are, Platinum zero waste. So sustainable manufacturing as well. And we're really just Committed to creating the cleanest and greenest products in the market place because we believe everyone has the right to a healthy home and we all have the right to a healthy shared planet.
Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. So thank you for that. And I just wanted to tell you the whole entire time, I'm just like so moved emotionally and I'm just, I'm just loving your dad and a homage to your father and what, who he is and his purpose on the planet. Because this chemist, this man who had this Integris energy from your yada, and he came over here and studied and he took actionable steps. So we in the 21st century can be a part of an ecosystem that's healthy for the environment, not only for, you know, our body, but overall for our overall lifestyle. And this is because people like your father, UBS, people who made an impact and took a stance in the sixties to now.
I mean, this is, this is so prolific.
Absolutely. Katie can, you could imagine in the sixties, people were not even yet speaking about organic foods and they weren't thinking about personal care products. So he really was such a visionary man. And, you know, he went through so many hardships growing up, obviously during world war II, Nazi occupied Greece lost his father in the concentration camps. I mean the civil war and hiding on a ship to come to another land. And, you know, it's beautiful. He lived a life full of purpose. And although we lost him many years ago, I'm certainly proud to lead a company that is so environmentally responsible and socially responsible. And we've just got a great team here at ECOS and, you know, kid 80 this year, I would say that Cleaning has been on everyone's mind.
So as we've navigated our way through the pandemic, I think that, you know, the national conversation around cleaning has really been elevated with people realizing the great importance in terms of protecting your health. But it's important as we have these conversations about planning that the pendulum doesn't swing too far and that we're not using things just with kill claims, we too are living organisms. And we want to make sure that the actions we take to protect ourselves, either from COVID-19 or from other bacteria or viruses, it doesn't do long-term harm to all our health. And I think it's something that a lot of people don't realize they go into the grocery store, they buy a cleaning product, and they think somehow it's been checked for human health and safety.
And unfortunately, here in the United States, that is simply not the truth. There is no body checking, Cleaning products for human health and safety yet there's residue on your clothes. There's residue on your plates. You know, you have a glass of water, right? You pour in there and you're drinking every single day out of this class. If you're drinking from a glass, that's got a residue where the product has skulls and crossbones and says, do not ingest every day. You're drinking it. And the cumulative effect is linked to cancer and asthma nerve and organ damage. So many things, you know, really educating people about selecting green cleaning products is, is really of the utmost importance. And certainly what I'm dedicating a lot of my time and energy to these days.
I mean, thank you. And that's exactly why you're on the show for the listeners and the viewer to see, oh, anyone who wants to check out the video, go to the sophisticated psychosis. So you can see the beautiful boss lady. This is on the video or where, you know, or on the listener, whichever you prefer. But it's so awesome that you're talking about these things and making an impact because it's the thing is, it's like, it's invisible. You don't see the toxins, you feel the effects, and then you work. You're like, I don't know why I'm so groggy or I'm coughing, or these diseases happen within the body. And it's like, because you're not seeing it. You're just people are going and buying. But when your father started what he did there, wasn't 50 toothpaste brands you could buy.
There was an 80 different Cleaning products. I mean, it's so the consumerism is so overwhelming. It's just too much. So when he started it, he was just like, you know, going for the Gusto here. But I mean, especially during the lockdown, I mean, the parents who are having their children lit clean. And I mean, I know some families they're having their kids, they clean, I'm not kidding. Seven days a week with Chemicals. And these little 12 year old who are having the responsibility for
It is so unfortunate that, you know, the CDC last Friday came up and they said, actually, we should no longer be disinfecting in our homes like that. Right. And that the virus is spread through human to human contact and respiratory droplets. And actually not from surfaces, like they originally thought, but you know, even from the beginning, if people had read the CDC recommendations, step one was always to clean. It was never to just disinfect continuously. Right? It was step one is to clean because Cleaning is the act of removing viruses, germs, dirt bacteria, right. And you can do that safely with green cleaners, there is no reason to be using petroleum drive surfactants and all these harsh, harsh chemicals to clean when we can do it with simple hypoallergenic soaps and plant powered cleaners.
And so I really, from the very beginning was trying to urge people to go to the CDC website and really read. It said, step one is to clean step two was to disinfect heavily traffic surfaces and areas, right? It's so unfortunate that people kind of let the pendulum swing too far, especially because something like COVID-19, it attacks our respiratory system. And so the last thing you want to do is do things that are going to compromise the very organ. That is a line of defense for you. You want to support your body support your immune system, create the healthiest home so that you can be the strongest version of yourself. And I think in wellness routines, people will think about food and they'll think about exercise, but I would really challenge your listeners to think about the environments they live in.
Think about the air that they're breathing, think about the quality of their space. And we've spent so much time in our homes this past year. So I think, you know, your audience probably is thinking more about their homes than ever before. And we want to make sure that they're safe. You know, I remember a few years ago listening to an author, talk about a nature deficit disorder. And he was saying that, you know, so many children had such little time outside and in nature because parents were trying to protect them and in their effort to protect them from the dangers outside, they were keeping them inside and having them watch TV or be on electronic devices. And they weren't outside exploring the environment.
And actually the EPA estimates it's indoor air is five to 70 times more polluted than outdoor air. So they weren't even outside to enjoy the fresh air. And so, you know, that is really a dangerous trend and something we have to be very mindful of with our young generation.
Yeah. And I mean, if you're on the islands or if you're in California or in Sedona, you can go outside in nature, it's spread out or in Michigan, wherever. But I mean, some places, New York city people can't just go outside and get the fresh air out there. So they're like you said, they're stuck in their home and they're with these chemical cleaning products and some people, you know, just the thing is what I want to like a couple of things that I want to like hack into is like, you don't quality over the quantity. Cause a lot of people, it's the mindset and the mind growth and I'm an artist. So I'm very open-minded and curious, ever since I was a kid and you know, with who you are and the company you keep, I'm sure they, you know, have a certain sophistication and a consciousness about them too. Obviously you're born into this.
That's natural for you. But some people like they don't know the like go to Rite aid and they'll just buy whatever, but they don't know. And I don't know how it is with ECOS, but when you go to whole foods, ECOS is at whole foods. But when you go into whole foods, which I love whole foods and they're everywhere, a lot of times when you go to that health and wellness area with the vitamins and the lotions and the hair products and the cleaning supply area, a lot of times like everything's on sale. Whole foods has sales all the time where you can get things that are sustainable and it's like, you can get them on sale. So a lot of people that think, oh, like it's so much more money to get like something that's green, but like the quality over the quantity and spending a couple more dollars because for a longterm I'm a cross country runner.
I ran short, I had short term, medium term, long term goals. So as a runner, like you, what you do as an individual affects the whole. So as a human being, what you do to yourself is going to affect your family and your loved ones, especially if you're a mom in the house or a parent or a responsible person in the house, you're affecting these people who you love and care about, but you're giving them these toxins. And then people don't like they don't comprehend these things.
Right. Right. You know, I would say that something really unique about ECOS is the fact that from the time we started, we always were committed to making green affordable, that you didn't have to be a fluid that you didn't have to pay up for green. And the way we've done that is by manufacturing everything ourselves. And by working directly with our retail partner. So you can buy our ECOS brand in Walmart, you can buy it at Costco, you can buy it at Sam's club, you can buy it wherever you shop, Ralph's Kroger, you name it. And so we certainly sell our products at whole foods. Absolutely. A very important natural grocer we work closely with, but we also work with all the conventional grocers as well. And if you walked into Costco, you would see our ECOS.
Our large bottle is 1299. The conventional brand is 2199. So you're actually not, we're not charging as much as they are. And we're able to do that because a lot of the, you know, Green companies in the past charged a premium for grain and even some of the green science inputs were more expensive. But now that we're buying these things in larger volumes, there's no reason for them to more expensive than conventional counterparts. And that's been a huge part of actually our whole earth day. This year has been partnering with an organization called grief Raul, which is why I actually met you in the beginning. Kyriaki from the amazing Michelle Romero.
That's a Michelle, it's that green for Allie. Love you.
Yeah. Yes. And you know, green fall was started by van Jones. And the idea was, you know, to build a green economy, strong enough to lift people out of poverty and to create green jobs. And certainly that's what we're committed to doing here at ECOS, creating green jobs, paying a minimum wage of $17 an hour, which we started doing back in 2014 because we've always wanted to pay a fair wage to our team members. And, but we're partnering with them. And especially this entire month of April, where if people go and they buy a bottle of our eco Swanndri detergent, we give a dollar of it and it will give a hundred thousand dollars of it to green for all to support the work that they're doing. And also to make sure that we educate people that we believe in, Hey, just clean or a justice clean.
And that really, you know, we must have environmental justice and that is something we're wholeheartedly committed to.
Yes. Yes. And we'll have a green for all in the show notes, so you can log on and explore more of green for all. That's really, really awesome. Very, very cool. This is, this is great. Okay. And so big news, a little bird told me that you are celebrating 51 year anniversary of earth day during earth week and, and how earth day is really big at eco. So I know you've elaborated some, but let's, let's share more about it. And, and what it means to you,
You can imagine earth day is our biggest holiday of the year. It's what we're most excited about. You know, so earth day, just for your audience, it started in 1970. And as you said, 51 years ago, it's amazing how much it's grown right back then it was 20 million people, Republicans, Democrats, all coming together to say that we have to have changed. And now as we look at it, you know, 200 countries now celebrate earth day over a 1 billion people celebrated. And so it's a really important time to come together. And in 2021, it's all about Restore our earth. And I love that the theme this year is about Restoration.
And so at ECOS this year, we're doing a few different things. Number one is that we on April 1st announced that we are a climate positive manufacturer. So that means that we give back more to the girth than we take. And we believe it's important to move past sustainability and to move into regeneration and replenishment. And so that has been our commitment on April 2nd, we filed our application for all of our facilities to be lead net zero certified because we want to make sure consumers know how Sustainable our manufacturing facilities are.
We relaunched a brand new website at ECOS dot com to share our climate positive story, because a big part of what we want to do is inspire other businesses to undertake this important work businesses must champion change businesses must act. If we're going to really protect our beautiful shared planet business has to be a key player. We can't just wait for the government or someone else to do it. And so that's been very important to us. You know, when earth day started, they created the environmental protection agency, which is a wonderful agency we partner with on our safer choice certifications.
But at the time it started in 1970, they grandfathered in 83,000 chemicals that were never checked for human health and safety. I mean, can you imagine, 83,000 and in 2016, when they were working on the toxic substances control act, the government said that they would check pen Chemicals a year for human health and safety. 10 is nothing right? That list started with his best dose, which we all know as best as is not good for human health. So we really need to study that. So it's, it's something that, you know, for us, you know, this earth day on our new website, we released a list of what we call the NASTIES 500 chemicals. We would never use in our products.
And if you go to our website, you can read about what chemicals are in traditional Cleaning products, how to read labels, what to avoid. And honestly, as I sit with you here in 2021, it's the first time I could even talk about the consumer actually reading labels because on January 1st, California became the first state in the nation to require labels on Cleaning products. And it's shocking to think this because other countries, Europe, Asia had this for so long, then the United States, it's still not required at a federal level, those ingredients in Cleaning products. Yeah. So at least in California, now you can look at the back of a cleaning product. And if we're not going to regulate what goes into them, let's at least give the consumers a chance to know what they're buying.
And, you know,
I was going to ask that, and then you just organically said it. So that's amazing, but we'll have that in the show notes. So people can have that direct link, but just off the get, like, I know there's so many like 500 NASTIES and more, but just off the get what are like maybe top, I want to say three to five. There it is. Absolutely stay away.
Oh man, there's so many carcinogenic substances. So, you know, one of the things that comes to mind first and foremost is one, four dioxane. So I sat in 2016 and the task of reform, they identified the 10 biggest Chemicals to go after. And that was one of the ten one, four dioxane one, four dioxide is in most Cleaning products. But the thing is, it's a little tricky because it's a by-product of the manufacturing process. You actually have to read the ingredients for a Fox related surfactants because they're the ones that produce one, four dioxane. And so one for the accent is found, founded laundry. It's found in dish, it's found in so many things, and that is one, we should be on the lookout for things like formaldehyde, right?
These carcinogenic preservatives, you use formaldehyde to bomb a dead body. It should not be utilized as a preservative in our Cleaning products. Right.
I don't know you don't do hair products, but I was Googling and reading about formaldehyde and inherent products. Is it good for hair products or no?
Oh, it's now toxic for human health. It's so dumb, but it is used in so many hair products and you know, when people are
Losing their hair and people are like, are you losing
Your hair? Yes. Yes. And then imagine things are being absorbed through our scalp. I mean, the skin is the largest organ on our body. Absorb things quicker through our skin than what we put into our mouth. So when we're putting formaldehyde and other things on our skin and it's being absorbed into our bodies, we're seeing all of these diseases on rise and people are looking for ways to protect their families. One of the quick actions they can take is to read the ingredients and only bring safe Cleaning products into your home. Only bring safe, personal care products in your home, protect your skin and your environment. When I said, we partnered with the EPA, they have a wonderful program called S Safer Choice. And so if you look at the front of our products, I'll show you one of our products here.
Okay, well,
That's a big one, right? That's a big one.
See the safer choice logo. This is actually our Sam's club size. It's larger. You see the safer choice logo. And it's a wonderful logo that tells the consumer three things. It says that we've been third-party certified, which is important so that you don't have greenwashing. They have checked that we've done three things. Number one, we're using the greenest ingredients available in any class. Number two, we're innovating in green science. And number three also important is that the products work they're efficacious because if a product doesn't really work, it's not really Green. And so
Just to go a little bit deeper, cause like, you know, like, oh, if it's really green and maybe you've already said it, you probably already said it. But just to like, you know, psychologically, what do you mean by really green? H how do you know it's really green bees? The label's important, but what do you mean? Like really Green.
Yeah. And so that's why that's the third party certifications are important to me getting a key because there is no federal body that's regulating Cleaning products. It's important that companies really partner with third parties that are verified, that they're going to come in, that they're going to check that you're doing what you're saying. You're doing that. We're using plant powered surfactants that come from nature for us. Ours come from coconut. Coconut is such a wonderful, renewable replenishable ingredient. There's no reason to use a petroleum products for fact. And when you have coconuts and you think about it, you have this hard outer shell that protects that beautiful inside white Cobra.
That makes a wonderful, wonderful surfactant. But that third-party certification. I like safer choice. It's a government sponsored certification. It is not a pay to play. That's another thing that I think is becoming a little ubiquitous where you can pay and get something. You've got to make sure that you're really working with a credible entity.
And that's the thing. And there's all that on the website too, because it's so difficult. Absolutely. With all the stuff going on, it's like, how do you, oh, you think this is really you click and it's not real. It's a pay to play or it's a scam and people aren't educated. They don't know. And, and something I wanted to say when you were speaking earlier is, I mean, it's like on the Google that, you know, human beings now have the attention span of a goldfish of like seven or nine seconds. So for you to say like, you know, yeah. And then, so to read this, read this a lot of people with the comprehension level, with mental health, with ADHD, a lot of it's difficult for a lot of,
I'd say to make it easy as possible. If you up a cleaning product and you look at the back and there's no label, and there's no listing of ingredients, do not buy cleaning products that don't list ingredients. Step one, because you should not support any brands that aren't comfortable disclosing to you. What's in the bottle. So step one would be just that. And then step two would be, as you read the ingredients, are they clearly communicated to you? So for instance, if you read all our ingredients, right, we're constantly telling you it's a plant derived surfactant. You know, it is natural. We're constantly explaining it. Do you understand the ingredient deck?
Are they taking the time to explain it to you? And if it's a company that really is transparent and is sharing the information that is the simplest step that you could take and only support those brands. When you go to the next step, look for things that come from nature that are plant power, that are pronounceable, that are recognizable, right? Things that, you know, you really recognize because they come from nature and they're not synthetic. That would be Step two. We know why,
But the person listening or the people who don't know why. And they're like, why
Y right? It's because you want to protect yourself and your loved ones from so many of these illnesses that are taking us too soon from cancer, from asthma, from nerve and organ damage. So often we wonder why someone has become ill. And we have to start talking about prevention in our society. What can we do to prevent ourselves from becoming sick? We have to eat clean. We have to exercise and we have to live and breathe in healthy environments. Cleaning products are critical to your long-term health. They're critical to planetary health, but they're critical to your health and your family's health.
And you have complete control. There's so many things that our world we don't have control over, right? Your kid goes to that school. Oh my gosh, what are they breathing all day? They go here that shoot. When they come into your home, you are the boss. You are the decision maker. You are the one who gets to decide what enters your home. You have all the power. And I would just encourage people to vote with their dollars. Vote for brands that are creating safe products, vote for brands that are doing the right thing. Make sure that things don't enter your door that are not healthy for you, for your family. Pets, pets, pet ECOS products are part of the family, too.
We do a whole line of baby products. We partner with the Walt Disney company and we do whole lot of Disney baby ECOS products because infants are born with 200 dangerous chemicals, coursing through their bodies. And it's unnecessary. Like there are so many of these chemicals that are coming from Cleaning products, and we need to really stop that to, to cut
And to go into two different areas, same, same thing. But, so for example, what we were talking about is let's say, you know, a household they're washing their clothes and they're washing their clothes and they're in the washer and the dryer. But then if they're, if they're eat, if they're, eco-friendly cool, but if they're not, there's the chemicals they're being you to think, oh, I'm washing my clothes. They're being washed. They're going through their tumbler. They may have a smell or not know, sense, smell whatever, but then you're actually putting them on your body and there's chemicals. And I'll let you're the expert. So you'll explain when I'm putting these on my body,
Listen, you take it out of your dryer and you smell it. And so many people love the smell of garden, fresh or tropical Breezer oh my goodness, whatever synthetic fragrance and what other things. But you put these things on your body, the residues on it, right? And that residue is quickly absorbed through your skin. And so that's, what's the damaging thing here. Those residues, you want to make sure to byproducts that are not leaving a residue and are certainly not leaving a toxic residue because the thing is smell is the closest thing tied to memory. And so these consumer products, brands are creating products that smell like something you love. And so you put it on, I mean, you imagine your mask, it covers your face.
It's horrible. If you're watching this, you're actually inhaling that residue, right? It's super important that we think about what residues are left and are they leaching into our skin, into our bodies and compromising our health. And it's, it's just the evidence is, is unbelievable. I can remember back in 2004, imagine this is 17 years ago. They came out with studies to show that the auto dishwashing detergent that people are washing their baby bottles with were linked to giving children asthma. But it's unbelievable. You would see a mom who is taking all these precautions, but she's missing that one step of the Cleaning products.
And I want to just raise the flag and wave at the strongest. I can that if we take the time to pump breast milk, but we put it into a baby bottle. That's been washed in a machine. I mean, so many of the auto dish detergents, if you look at the back of them, they have skulls and crossbones and they say, do not ingest. Get every day we ingest them because the rescue is on these things. We have to really, really think about that extra step that we take.
Yeah. And two things, one, like my mom was born with some kind of bronchitis. It's like a cute something. Like she's always coughing. And so like, that's why I really, when I was telling Pamela, she's amazing, love Pamela. I was telling him, I'm like, I know I was like, Pamela, I need to like, get this for my mom, because she's like the queen of cleaning. She like loves it. And it's like, she needed with her coughing. Like she can't be breathing in any chemicals. Like I need to be like making a stance as a young, socially responsible daughter. Who's invited in, into the environment, everything. And it's like, it's up to us, used to, you know, like your dad like stood up, what? And then you had big shoes to fill and what you've done on a planetary level.
I mean, your legacy will carry on and your father's and oh, there's this Egyptian proverb. They say you die twice when you physically die. And then when people stop talking about your legacy, so your legacy, your father's legacy and your legacy. And that's a part of being on she's all over the place to have these honoring moments where people are educated and aware of everything that we're talking about. So this is very exciting and yes. So I wanted to get it from my mom because she was born. And she's like, like, it's like the whole house is like a tornado. It's like ma it's like shakes is, cause it was like, she needs to be having. And I know she's using chemicals. It's, it's irritating it, it's making it worse. But if she has the newest products, it's so much better for her.
She loves the lavender. She loves lemon. Those are her things. So you have a bunch of different flavors that people can see and smell and try out and circling back around to the residue. You said. So when it comes out of the laundry and it goes to the residue, which means we have like, correct me. And you're the technical expert here, but we have like, like our organism. And then we have these little pores and so better
Open that
Go. Especially after a hot shower are poor. And that's why it's best to do a facial when your pores are open or if you're going about doing your pores are open. But then so then it's going there. The chemicals are going into the pores of our skin that you can't see because they're so little, but then it's going into our bloodstream. And it goes into our vital organs that, so to break it down for the people who are still like, who need to get deeper in cause people like, oh, like, oh no, you need to get like deeper. And like, it's going into your pores into your body, into the blood of your blood and into our Oregon. So, and we are our vessel. You get a car, you drive the car, how you treat the car, it's going to last, it's going to break down.
It's going to be gone. You just go through cars. We have one human body, you know, we have a chance to be here and it's a gift to be here. How are you honoring your body? How are we, we being sacred to honoring what go, what we digest, we're human. We do things. We're like, oh yeah, I'm going to have that. It's not very good for me, but like, I'm, I'm still gonna do it. But it's like being mindful, you know, being
Mindful and doing things in moderation. But if there
Are certain things like, you know, the ECOS brand where we can incorporate and eliminate those toxins, we don't need to go back and forth between Chemicals and being Green in that department.
You do not, you, you never do. So someone like your mother, especially whose bronchial tubes are suffering, whose lungs are compromised or who's causing, and actually having a response to things that she's either breathing in or eating, or maybe, you know, it's so interesting. I have a histamine intolerance and I had started coughing and I was wondering why I was coughing and I couldn't figure it out. And then the end of the day, it came down to makeup. There, an ingredient in makeup called sodium benzoate that would produce a histamine response in me. And I would start coughing. And it was so challenging to figure out how to get there. But, you know, I was able to, there's a company called beauty counter that the soldered ingredients, and I could go onto the website.
I could read all of their ingredients and I cut out all of the products that had sodium benzoate the coughing stopped. Right? But so often it's hard to get down to what is it that is causing our body to have this inflammatory response. And coughing is a sign that you are in distress, that something is going wrong. We have to figure out the root of it. What is happening. So Cleaning products are, should be one of the first places we go. People think about food. Again, food allergies are critical and they should definitely address those, but Cleaning products with their volatile organic compounds, with everything that we're inhaling or one of the first irritants for our respiratory airways. And so, you know, I know a lot of people, you know, their parents utilize a certain brand and they buy the brand that, you know, there's a lot of brand loyalty, but with younger people, you're not seeing the same brand loyalty because for the first time we have so much access to information.
We can go online, we can Google it. We go on our phone, you know, consumers, they're forensic consumers, they're searching for things. And so, because we have access to so much more information, we realized we don't have to be ramble. Well, we can make the decisions that are truly best for our bodies that are truly best for the longevity of our health. And it's so important to live, not just a long life, but to live a healthy life. You know, we, we do so many things here at ECOS to talk to our team members about how to be their healthiest. We just did this program on brain health. Right? And the idea that before we talk about mental health, let's talk about brain health. Does your brain function properly? Because if your brain's not functioning properly, a forest, you're going to have mental health issues, you know, and really looking at all the Cleaning products that compromise brain health, right?
So there's all these different, as you said, organs being affected by the distribution of these toxins in their bodies, including your brains, including your lungs, including your liver. And we need to, we need to just make sure that Cleaning is part of their wellness, routine
Articles, key articles, maybe that we could put in the show notes. So people can read about that brain health to, oh my goodness.
We'll go to ECOS dot com. You know, one of the things that's so critically important to us as a company is to be a resource. We want to make sure that we offer education. We want to make sure. So if your listeners go to ECOS dot com, we have such a treasure fold of all sorts of things that they can read about all of these different issues. It'll take them to articles, it'll take them to blogs. It'll take them to resources. It'll talk about all of these things. So please go to ECOS dot com and you'll find so much information because first and foremost, when we launched our new website for earth day, this month, our first goal was to be a resource.
Congratulations. That's so cool. Thank you. Yeah. And the other thing I wanted to kind of pivot to that we're talking about also is with the Cleaning products, when people are actually washing the dishes by hand or putting them in the dishwasher, you're washing the dishes. But if you're not using a ECOS or, you know, a green certified company, you're washing them with Chemicals and then these chemicals are on the plate. So they're the thing. That's hard for people. They can't comprehend because it's like, oh, mental health, it's invisible or chemicals that are invisible, but you're cleaning. And like you said, then they're on the plate, but then you're taking, you're eating it and it's going, right.
I can imagine people take their dishes out of the dishwasher and they go smells like lemon. Oh no, that for me, that smells so dangerous. It's caustic, it's bleach. It's got all of these things in it. And so, you know, you've got this correlation between lemon fresh and clean, and that's just simply not the case. And you're right. I mean, if you, our audience was just going to do two things, their laundry and their dish, they should look at those two things because we're washing a lot of clothes and we're washing a lot of dishes. And especially as we're home this year and not dining in restaurants and not dining, you're washing a lot of dishes at home. And it's critically important that your dish washing detergent, whether it's hand, dish washing or auto dish washing is safe for you and your family.
We launched our ECOS. I'll show you. This is, oh, we're ECOS here. You can see it. And this is our ECOS is dishwashing washing. And when
Can I say something really quick? Yes. Okay. Just say you now. I got my mom, the, the Meyer and she's like, this does not cut grace. She used the ECOS. She goes, this cuts grace. Like she was, I was like, mom, I'm like, you are a walking, talking commercial. I'm like, I need to be recording you. I mean, these testimonials are what brands want. I'm like, mom, I'm like you. And then she was, cause she went on. She said it like three other times. And then she was like Cleaning. And she was, she was really interested to see if it was going to cut the grease because I, you know, she had the Meyer's brand. Cause I wa you know, with her, you know, the health and the Cleaning, but it does not cut grays. And I was like,
Oh, well, tell her, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, the primary claim that we have here is cuts, Greece, love CMEs. And so I'm so glad that she found it. So to perform really well when we launched this product, we actually ended up the EPA, gave us their Safer twice Partner of the year. And it was because we were the first company ever to use a preservative in our dish product called FLX, a glycerin or E H G that previously had only been used in personal care. And the beautiful thing about this preservative is doesn't just preserve the product. It actually is used to treat eczema. And so oftentimes when people are washing their dishes, you know, they might get rashes, they might get cracked hands.
They might have issues from really aggressive and caustic hand, dishwashing, soaps, ours, not only washes the dishes, but it also restores the moisture and ensures that hands don't rake down as so many traditional hand dishwashing products do.
Okay. Two things. One, I know a couple people who have eczema and they went to New York and it wasn't there. I don't know if they were using different Cleaning products, went back to LA and all of a sudden eczema here, eczema, eczema. And it's probably the air pollution. It's probably the Cleaning products to
Cleaning products. For sure. You know, there's so many pediatricians and nurse practitioners and others that have written into us to thank us. When patients, you know, have chills and suffering, severe eczema or psoriasis or other skin conditions, and they're frantic and they're changing their foods and their diet. But in the end of the day, it was the laundry detergent. They switched their laundry detergent to ECOS and the eczema goes away. And so we've got parents who've written in and medical professionals. And you know, I'm just sorry that more people don't suggest that at the, at the ready, right, your kids got eczema on their arms. What is the laundry detergent that you're using? Because that oftentimes is the primary reason that the child will have an issue.
And so it's important. And so you're right. As people are transitioning between environments, they have to look at it holistically. What is the air that they're breathing? What are the products that you're using? Because that will certainly promote a flare up. And that inflammatory response that is happening it's happening is your body is fighting these toxins.
Yeah. Yeah. I have some, I have some ideas. I'll talk to you about it later. And I have some, I have some ideas, but the other thing I was going to mention is just a little tidbit. I don't know if you know this or not. Probably not. I don't know unless Pamela told you, but for the last, over a decade, I've been parts modeling, hands, feet, legs. I've been the hands for Jennifer Anniston.
I love it.
Her feet, her legs, you see the Emirates commercials are coming out of the shower. There it's her face my hands, my feet. And so as a parts model, it's so cool because like, it's a direct booking. I don't go for an audition. And they just booked me direct to hold products. Like I'm holding like different beauty products or cleaning products, all, all products you can think about, but Ariana Grande de Rita Ora on their hands. So I would never be, I'm the girl who hasn't done any dishes. Cause I'm like, oh, you gotta keep these beauties nice and blah, blah, blah. But I love how you say, you know, cuts, greets and night. It's nice to hands because it made me think like, you know, as, especially as a woman, you know, like, like around the eyes, the neck and then the hands they're like, oh, like, you know, you look at a, woman's like neck her around her eyes in her hands.
So too. So you saying about preserving the hands? Cause you're doing the dishes with the hands and it's important for reusing our hands all the time.
Yeah. And then I'll see people who'll wash dishes, wearing gloves. Right. And I'm like, you know, if they're using these harsh cleaning products, their right to wear gloves because they're dangerous and should not be touching their hands, but it shouldn't be a need for that. You should be able to wash the dishes with your hands because you're using something like our ECOS dish, which certainly won't harm, you know, your hands.
Yeah. Like a lot of housekeepers, I see them wearing gloves all the time. Right.
Because they understand, right. The housekeeper is continuously exposed to these dangerous chemicals and they understand what it does to their bodies and their health over the years. And it's just, it's so unnecessary getting lucky. Yeah.
So speaking of everything we're talking about, and then just like deep diving, even further about like women, women empowerment and ECOS and the opportunities you're providing as a woman for women in the space. I really, I thought that was really cool when I did your profile for women's history month to celebrate you for, you know? Yeah. That was so cool. So everyone can look on the show notes and you can see the article I did on Kelly for thrive global to honor her as a boss woman for women empowerment month, March 8th, it was a women empowerment day, a women's day. So, but the whole month we celebrate it.
So you provide opportunities for females. Can you share some of that with us?
Well, absolutely. You know, my goal has always been to run a company that reflects the consumers we serve. And 51% of our population is comprised of women. It's important that more than 50% of our executive team is comprised of women. And so we have a very diverse C-suite and management team and a lot of women running a lot of the company over 60% of our technical team, our green scientists, our R and D teams are also women. So really promoting women in stem as well. And it's really, you know, it's a source of great pride for me to lead a really diverse team, but it's really just about delivering a product that our consumer wants.
And if you do not have diverse team members and leadership rents, you can never truly understand your consumer. You want different people from different backgrounds and different walks of life, all coming together to strategize, to plan and to implement a successful strategy for the company. And it was exciting in March when you wrote that piece. Thank you so very much, as you know, you know, my father came from Greece, my mother was African-American and so I am, I'm quite diverse myself. And I celebrate both of my ethnicities being Greek and African-American, and, and certainly being one of the few black women to run a national Cleaning products company.
It's something I'm really proud of. And I look forward to seeing, you know, us to continue to build a business world that looks like the rest of society.
I mean, I just have chills running up and down. I have chills. So this is, this is so hold on. I feel so honored to like, you know, be a part of your journey and share your story. It's really beautiful. Yeah, definitely, definitely. So that's so cool creating opportunity spearheading, and then there's always room for people who want to get involved, volunteer to be a part of the team. So
Absolutely. You know, we've got wonderful organization, we've got an amazing chief youth officer, a new leads. All of our youth initiatives, we offer internships. I mean, there's always a space and a place for people to be able to contribute. And so I'd encourage your audience to, you know, follow us at ECOS claims or follow me at Kelly from ECOS and, you know, reach out if they're interested in kind of joining the movement that we're really wholeheartedly committed to furthering.
I need to have a follow-up conversation with her. Anishka
Yeah, she's the best. I mean, she is, you know, she first entered with us when she was 16 years old. She was the youngest intern we had ever had. She is now at Harvard university going into her third year and just brilliant. She actually organized the Harvard environmental action leadership summit and she brought all of the youth together at Harvard to actively advocate for change and for doing their part. And it was so beautiful to see that kind of, you know, approach taken by someone so young and so dynamic and so talented. And you know, she's a true example that our youth, they're not our future leaders. They are our leaders now. And oftentimes they are the ones taking a stand because this is the planet they will inherit.
This is where they will live. And we are not making sound decisions for the best outcome for their future. And so you've seen all sorts of young people really rise up and protest and demand that the older generations do better, be better, had followed their example.
Yeah. Cause it's going to be through communication. The, the, the energy that you can't see, like the chemicals that you can't see and the articles that people just skim through. So, I mean, I just definitely want to take a stance. And as a producer and I have like ideas and we can follow up and talk, but I want to like connect with her. And I want, I have friends who are very much, I can create actionable steps of like one minute videos with a diversity of people, African Asian, like Greek, like everyone and have everyone do one minute videos, what it means to them about ECOS and chemicals and toxins in the environment. And then I have an editing team and they can edit it and we can have like a beautiful video and we can have the youth come together, put this video together for you and for the ECOS team and for your dad and you know, for the planet.
And I think we should curate this and we could do, like, I don't know, like quarterly videos or something like that. Cause I can, I have all the people to bring it together. Like, and you have your people too, but I can also take like young, cool hip artists and who are like have voices and want to be heard and you know, from different backgrounds and everything like that. And we can partner up with the ECOS brand and put them on the social platforms and get the message out to the people. So they share with other people and our elders to take part because when they see the youth speaking about, or they see someone talking about it, then they're going to watch it. They're going to see it. And then they can make a new choice. And what we want, we just shift to make a new choice.
Yes,
Yes, yes. And so much, it's just about awareness, right? Oftentimes people just don't realize it. And so if we can bring it to their attention and we can do it in a powerful and compelling way, so very important. That's why I love the work that you do get achy. It's just important to have someone like you, who loves their influential voice, their time and their talent to bringing awareness to these issues that are really the greatest crisis we face. And there are solutions, but one must, we must add
We're we're going to act and we're acting now, we're talking about it. This is how it all happens. And, and, and, and people love, I'm a sales girl. So people love incentive. So we'll, there'll be in a sense of we'll, we'll figure out the logistics of it, but there'll be an incentive. It's like, try it out. Not only to try it up, but maybe there's like some kind of incentive, right. A curator or something, you know, people love those kinds of things. Yeah. Cool. Cool. I really appreciate you being on she's all over the place. Thank you for having me. Yes. And I would definitely love to have you back in the near future because there's definitely, we're evolving and there's going to be so many more things to celebrate and talk about and keep the conversation going.
I love that. And I'd love to come back. Am I know that a new step, my chief youth officer or Jenna Arcon, my VP of innovation, they would love to be able to show to their amazing women doing fabulous things to
Chills. We need to have them all on love. That definitely make that happen. Now, just kind of, you know, taking a deep breath, a couple of closing moments here lately. I don't know if we touched upon this, but you have children of your own. So as a mother of mother earth of being a mother, like one or two tips that you would share with the listener out there, the viewer have some actionable steps for inspiration words, or actionable steps of what motherly advice that you would say regardless of
No. So my daughter is now 16 going on 17, and I have a beautiful step-daughter, who's 36 that works with me in the family business and does a beautiful job of leading our trade and shopper marketing team. And I would say from the time my daughter was born, I wanted to instill in her a love and appreciation for nature. And we spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Sometimes that was traveling. Sometimes that was going to the beach or going for a hike. I'm watching a sunset. And I would encourage people to get outside with their children, go outdoors and explore and have courage, encourage imaginary play and a deep and appreciation and a love for the preservation of our planet then develops in that child, right.
And lead by example, you know, make the right choices. I, from my daughter's early years, whether it was composting, I got her involved, right. I did just do it for her. I had her do it with the me. So how do we compost? How do we recycle? How do we make better decisions so that we don't just participate in things mindlessly and children are amazing punches. They absorb things so quickly. It is hard as adults to learn new habits. But with children, we have the chance from the beginning to instill these things in them from the start. And I would just encourage the parents that are listening to really just try and make sure that raise your children with a love and an appreciation for our beautiful shared planets.
And that will serve them so well throughout their entire lives
Of that two things one. So it's like holding their hand, doing it with them, holding their hand. And you said, as we get older, it's more difficult because we're doing things on our, on our own. And that's why I love I I'm Iran, cross country as an individual. What you do as individual affects the whole same thing in the planet. So it's like when I'm doing something by myself, it could be more difficult, but if I'm holding hands with other people in the community, and I'm finding someone to hold hands with who have similar interests, then we configure and do it together and not be stuck and get frustrated because we're holding hands and doing it together. And it's more fun.
It is. It's so much fun. And, you know, I watched my daughters through the years, grow up and you know, she's been in girl Scouts for the last 12 years and she's led all sorts of environmental initiatives. And, you know, she founded the national women's history museum club at our school. And, you know, these things that she grew up around, she absorbed and she internalized and, you know, she's now leading from within. And I just hope that we really take the time to really just show our children what a beautiful world we have. And that anything that is beautiful should be appreciated, should be cherished, should be protected. Yeah.
Yeah. For the, for the people like who, you know, are gonna, you know, be having kids pretty soon or who had kids now. And what about the ones who maybe are maybe around my age or something who like, they didn't have that from their mom and dad, maybe an actionable step that they can start being the leader in doing it for themselves first and then do it with another. Cause a lot of people are like, oh, I didn't have that. I didn't have that growing up though. Right.
And it's all about education, right? It's about really just taking the time to read, to listen, to understand the follow podcasts. Like you're as getting lucky that are promoting these things, you know, to connect with people that you respect and really, you know, allow yourself in life. You know, learning and leadership are indispensable to one another. That's one of my favorite quotes that JFK ever said, right? Again, learning and leadership, they go hand in hand, you have to be continual learner. My pencil is never down in life every single day. I'm trying to learn more so I can do better so I could be better. So I could be a better mom, a better friend, a better wife, a better partner, a better leader.
And so I think that as we get older in life, no matter what stage we're at, let's always be open to learning new and better ways and making better decisions so that, so that we can have a healthy and happy long life.
Ah, love those wise words. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you so much. Seriously.
Yeah, you, it was wonderful to be here with you today. Thank you for all the work that you do. And I can't wait this weekend to go home and to read lover's fairy tale that I just got on Amazon. So super excited to read your book.
Cool, cool. Love poems. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited here. Take your time, you know, take your time. And then I would definitely love to hear the feedback of like what you thought and how
Well I will. I love poetry and I can't wait to read it.
Okay, cool. All right. Great. On that note, thank you everyone for tuning in and being here and I have just been inspired and, and I deepened within my soul and within my body and in my being to be more conscious and more aware. I like to think that I am, but every day is an opportunity to learn more and to grow. And with Kelly's wise words, I hope you feel the same. Definitely hit five star. It really helps a lot for the show. Leave a review, share this with someone you love, share this with friends in your family, share this on your platforms, educate people in your community. You know, it's just one click away for you to be able to share. I'm getting some chills right now and to support and inspire one another.
That's the point of view being here. That's the point of us being here together. The number one most valuable thing is our attention and you are here and I value that you're here and I, I'm so honored. Kelly's here and I'm here and we've all shown up for this conversation and for this moment, and this goes way beyond us. Kelly's father in the 1960s and what, and he's not here now, but he's with us in spirit and we're here now. This is a moment in time. So we are the ripple effects and we are making the impact. What are we choosing to do? Just sit on that, reflect on that, right on that take actionable steps. Oh yeah. I just want to say a special shout out because our series lunch first day, we had 1100 downloads in one day.
So the show is really growing and I'm so, so great. So Check, call to action. Check out the show notes and get busy and get green earth greener, greener, greener. Okay. Next time. Thank you. Happier, happier day. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.