Purpose Before Profit: Stephanie Griffith Of BleuBully Bedding On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
Purpose becomes powerful when you can see exactly where it lands.
In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. As a part of our series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders and we had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie Griffith, President and Founder of BleuBully Bedding.
Stephanie Griffith is the President and Founder of BleuBully Bedding, a luxury, high-quality and purpose-driven bedding brand inspired by her passion behind premium bedding and her beloved dog, Gigi. A CPA and business owner, she began her career at a Big Four accounting firm and later spent several years working with hedge funds in New York City, experiences that provided a strong financial and strategic foundation for her entrepreneurial journey. Stephanie currently resides in La Quinta, California with her dog Gigi, the heart behind the brand, and her husband, Dan Griffith and she spends her free time volunteering at animal shelters in the surrounding desert communities.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, where my love for animals and nature began at a very young age. One moment in particular has stayed with me.
A coyote had been spotted roaming the forest behind our house. In Georgia, that meant my father would sit outside at sunset with a gun, waiting. Coyotes can be dangerous, but even as a child, all I felt was empathy. We continue to encroach on wild habitats, and to me, the coyote wasn’t a threat as it was simply trying to survive.
One night, I quietly snuck out of the house and walked more than two miles into the forest, leaving small pieces of bacon along the way, hoping the coyote would follow the trail and move farther away from our home. I remember standing alone in the dark, listening to owls call out and other animals rustle through the thick foliage, feeling an overwhelming sense of awe and appreciation for nature.
Eventually, I realized my dog had followed me and had eaten every single piece of bacon. I turned back toward home with him, and in that moment, something clicked. Dogs are animals, but they’re also family. They exist at the intersection of nature and humanity. Through their loyalty, affection, and quiet presence, they guide us to see the natural world not as something to control, but as something to care for.
Dogs teach humans how to love without condition. They slow us down, pull us outside, and invite us to notice the world around us such as the air, earth, and life unfolding beyond our own walls. That night, walking home beside my dog, I understood that loving an animal often becomes the gateway to appreciating nature itself.
I’ve come to believe that anyone who has loved a dog deeply has the capacity to extend that care outward to the environment, to other living beings, and to the choices they make. That belief has stayed with me and continues to guide how I live and how I build a purpose-driven business today.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
One of the most interesting experiences since starting BleuBully has been reading through reviews and realizing just how deeply customers connect not only to the product, but to the values behind the brand.
Two customer reviews in particular stopped me in my tracks. One came from a self-described “bedding fanatic” who had tried everything at every price point. She wrote about opening her package, touching the duvet cover, and feeling an immediate visceral response. She then went on to describe how, as someone with sensory sensitivities who overheats easily, finally found bedding that made her feel both comfortable and calm. She shared that it was one of the best decisions she’d made for her sleep in years.
Another customer compared our sheets to a former discontinued bedding brand she had relied on for a long time but could no longer find. What struck me most was that she waited months for her preferred color to come back in stock because she believed in supporting a small, woman-owned business and because the quality had earned her trust. She called it a “win-win,” and that phrase has stayed with me.
Reading those stories was a defining moment. It reinforced that when you lead with empathy, quality, and intention, customers feel it and they respond with loyalty that can’t be manufactured. BleuBully gives back to pet shelters because animals and compassion are at the heart of why I started this company, and seeing customers embrace that mission alongside the product is incredibly humbling.
At the end of the day, my mission is simple: I want customers to have peace of mind when their head hits the pillow knowing they’re sleeping on exceptionally soft, high-quality bedding, and that their purchase is also making a meaningful impact beyond their home.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
Like most founders, I make small mistakes constantly from catching a spelling error on the website to realizing, at the last minute, that an entire production run of jersey knit labels mistakenly listed sateen information. Thankfully, I caught that one in time, but it was a reminder of how quickly small oversights can turn into big, costly problems.
The most valuable mistake, however, was not taking my website security seriously enough early on. I became the target of a spam-bot attack on my Shopify site, and while researching how to fix it, I discovered just how widespread the issue is. There are thousands of founders dealing with fraudulent sign-ups and fake orders and shockingly some unfortunately don’t catch them in time, fulfilling hundreds of fraudulent purchases and losing both product and much needed money.
I spent an entire week educating myself, learning terms I’d never heard before like “honeypots” and “cloudflare,” and ultimately decided to bring in a security specialist to properly protect the site. That experience shifted my mindset. I realized that being purpose-driven doesn’t mean being naïve, it means being responsible. Protecting your business is part of protecting your mission.
This lesson saved me from far more serious future loss, but most importantly, it taught me that preparation and education are all forms of leadership. You don’t need to know everything on day one, but you do need to be willing to learn quickly and take action when it matters. And these days, you can literally learn anything in minutes with the click of a few buttons on your keyboard.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
There are a few core principles I refuse to compromise on, both in my work and in my life, because they’re the foundation of who I am.
The first is empathy. Empathy shapes how I design products, how I communicate with customers, and how I make decisions. I constantly ask myself how something will feel to the person on the other side, whether that’s a customer opening a package, a supplier working with us, or a team member contributing their time and energy. Empathy keeps me grounded and prevents decisions driven purely by ego or greed.
The second is quality without shortcuts. I won’t compromise on product integrity, even when it would be easier or more profitable to do so. Trust is built slowly and lost quickly, and once someone invites your product into their home, particularly something as intimate as what they sleep on, you owe them excellence. That principle applies far beyond bedding; it’s about honoring the trust people place in you.
Another non-negotiable is integrity in growth. I’m not interested in scaling at any cost. Growth should be thoughtful, sustainable, and aligned with your values. If expanding means sacrificing customer experience, ethical sourcing, or the mission itself, then it’s not the right growth. I believe success should feel good on the inside, not just look good on paper.
Finally, giving back is essential to me. BleuBully’s commitment to supporting pet shelters isn’t an add-on, it’s woven into the brand’s DNA. Animals, compassion, and responsibility to something larger than ourselves have always mattered deeply to me, and I believe businesses have an obligation to create a positive impact where they can.
These principles matter because they create alignment. When your values guide your decisions, leadership becomes clearer, relationships become stronger, and success becomes more meaningful. For me, that alignment is the definition of purpose-driven work.
What inspired you to start a purpose-driven business rather than a traditional for-profit enterprise? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?
I started my career at a Big Four accounting firm and later spent years working at a hedge fund in New York City. Every day I had a front-row seat to how money can influence people and it was not always for the better. I watched greed show up in subtle and overt ways, often reshaping priorities and eroding values. That mindset was never in my DNA.
What is in my DNA is empathy. It can be an uncomfortable trait at times, but I’ve come to believe it’s one of my greatest strengths as a business leader. Empathy allows me to step into the customer’s shoes and truly understand what they want, what they need, and what will earn their trust over time.
In a traditional for-profit model, every decision begins and ends with the bottom line and is prioritized on how it impacts gross margins or net income. My approach is different. The first and last question I ask is, “Will this make my customer happy enough to become a lifelong supporter of the brand?” Profit matters for financial sustainability, but it’s a result and not the starting point.
Some people assume that prioritizing purpose makes you bad at business. I strongly disagree. I’m a CPA, and I have an intimate understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a financially healthy company. Choosing purpose doesn’t mean ignoring the numbers, it means refusing to let greed drive them. I’m comfortable operating with lower margins if it means delivering truly premium quality and earning long-term trust.
To me, a purpose-driven business is one where success is shared with customers, with the team, with giveback recipients and with the founder. Building something sustainable, ethical, and genuinely loved is not only possible within capitalism, it’s the version of business I believe in most.
Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven business rather than a standard “plain vanilla” business?
Ah, the days of plain-vanilla business. I’ve been there, done that, and learned exactly how not to lead.
Leading a purpose-driven business means building something that stands for more than profit alone. When a company is rooted in purpose, decisions aren’t dictated by short-term trends or margins, they’re guided by values. That creates clarity, consistency, and long-term trust. Customers aren’t just buying a product; they’re choosing to align with a mission they believe in, and that connection is far deeper and more enduring than any transactional relationship.
Purpose also acts as a filter. It naturally attracts customers, partners, and opportunities who align with the purpose while naturally repelling what doesn’t belong. When your values are clear, this community becomes a source of power and resilience that you cannot find in a plain vanilla business.
For me, purpose creates accountability, meaning, and momentum. It transforms a business from something that simply exists into something that genuinely matters. In a purpose-driven model, success isn’t measured only by growth, but by trust, longevity, and the positive difference you leave behind. That’s the kind of business I believe is worth building.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
BleuBully’s mission has been a direct driver of our success because it gives customers a clear reason to believe in and support the brand beyond the product itself. Over the summer, we reached an important milestone by making our first major charitable donation of $10,000 to a local Coachella Valley animal shelter, Loving All Animals. That moment was especially meaningful because it was made possible entirely by our customers. With every purchase, three percent of the sale goes directly into our Sheets for Shelters fund, and that fund continues to grow alongside our community.
To evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy, we look at both tangible and intangible metrics. On the tangible side, we track the growth of the donation fund, repeat customer rates, and sales performance tied to mission-focused campaigns. On the intangible side, we pay close attention to customer engagement, feedback, and long-term loyalty. We consistently hear from customers that knowing their purchase supports animal welfare influences not only their decision to buy, but their decision to return and recommend us to others.
For us, success isn’t defined by revenue alone. It’s reflected in the real-world impact we’re able to make for animals in need, the trust we build with our customers, and the strength of a community that believes in what we’re building together. That alignment between purpose and performance is what makes our growth meaningful and sustainable.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
A pivotal moment for me was writing our first $10,000 donation check to a local animal shelter, Loving All Animals. The impact of that contribution became real when I volunteered with the shelter during a free dog and cat food distribution in a deeply underserved area just outside my town.
That’s when I saw firsthand how critical these funds truly are. Loving All Animals uses this support to help fund a full-time veterinarian at the shelter which is something that is absolutely essential in animal rescue work. Many animals arrive with serious medical needs: broken bones, untreated illnesses, infections, or signs of neglect. Having a full-time vet on staff means those animals can receive immediate care, rather than waiting or being turned away due to limited resources.
Beyond emergency care, that veterinarian also plays a vital role in spaying and neutering pets throughout the surrounding community. These services don’t just help individual animals, they prevent future suffering by reducing overpopulation and keeping pets healthy, while building trust with families who may not otherwise have access to veterinary care.
Being there in person and witnessing how that donation directly supported both animals in crisis and the people who love them transformed the experience for me. It took the idea of “giving back” out of the abstract and made it tangible.
That moment affirmed why leading a purpose-driven company matters so deeply to me. When a business can help fund real solutions like medical care, prevention, and dignity for both animals and their families it proves that purpose isn’t just meaningful, it’s necessary.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
There have absolutely been moments where staying true to our purpose created real financial tension, especially in the early stages of building the business.
As any startup founder knows, cash flow is everything. There is always another place that money could go like inventory, marketing, operations, or simply keeping the business flexible during uncertain moments. Setting aside a portion of revenue for giving back is not the easy choice when you’re still building momentum and every dollar feels critical.
There were moments where it would have been financially simpler to delay or reduce our giveback commitment in order to preserve cash flow. But doing that would have meant compromising BleuBully’s values. Supporting pet shelters isn’t something we added later, it was embedded into the business from the beginning, and walking away from that commitment would have eroded the trust we were trying to build.
Reconciling that tension meant making sacrifices elsewhere. As the founder, I’ve worn many hats to keep costs down. For example, I am handling customer service, overseeing quality control, I taught myself some simple coding so I could build the website and played around with graphic design to bring my ideas to light. These were all areas where I was able to save money while protecting both product quality and our mission.
Those choices weren’t always comfortable, but they were intentional. I believe purpose-driven decisions don’t always optimize for short-term profitability, but they do build something far more durable. By honoring our mission even when resources were tight, we strengthened our foundation, our customer relationships, and our ability to grow in a way that feels honest and sustainable.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business?
My biggest piece of advice is to start with a purpose you’re genuinely willing to protect especially when it becomes inconvenient. Purpose isn’t meaningful when it’s easy; it matters when it costs you something.
I also believe real-world experience is essential. Having spent time in traditional, profit-first environments gave me clarity about what I wanted to do differently. Experiencing how businesses operate under pressure and how decisions are made, where values are tested, and what breaks when incentives are misaligned is what allows a purpose-driven vision to come to life in a practical, sustainable way. Purpose alone isn’t enough; you need a strong understanding of operations, cash flow, and accountability to make it real.
Equally important is mindset. You have to have an almost radical “I can do this” attitude. Building a purpose-driven business means things may move slower than you want to and challenges are amplified to a higher degree since so much is on the line. Confidence, persistence, and a willingness to figure things out as you go are non-negotiable.
Finally, stay close to your customers and the impact you’re trying to create. I still take the time to write back to my customer email inquiries because of how invested I am in their happiness and the success of BleuBully. Be willing to wear many hats, listen deeply, and protect quality and integrity at every stage. If you combine experience, resilience, and purpose, you can build something that’s not only meaningful but strong enough to last.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business.” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- A commitment to purpose beyond profit: A purpose-driven business must be grounded in something deeper than financial gain alone. When leaders genuinely care about a mission, whether it is social impact, community support, or ethical responsibility, that purpose becomes the guiding force behind decision-making. It builds trust, authenticity, and long-term loyalty with customers and partners.
- A genuine desire to continuously learn: Successful leaders remain curious and open to learning, even in areas that may seem unrelated at first. For example, as of now I am a daily Reddit user trying to learn how to combat bots on Shopify. New ideas, industry shake ups, and perspectives often lead to unexpected challenges and innovations. A willingness to learn keeps a business adaptable in an ever-changing landscape.
- The ability to receive feedback without defensiveness: Growth requires the capacity to listen to feedback objectively and without taking it personally. Constructive criticism provides valuable insight into blind spots and opportunities for improvement. Right now we are working on a website refresh. Since I have put hours into building the website, when my team makes suggestions sometimes my first instinct is to take them personally. However, I know that leaders who embrace feedback create stronger teams and more resilient organizations.
- Measurable Impact, Not Just Good Intention: Purpose must translate into action. One of the most meaningful moments for me was writing our first $10,000 donation check to Loving All Animals and then volunteering at a free pet food distribution in an underserved area. Seeing how those funds helped support a full-time veterinarian, treating injured animals and providing spay and neuter services, made the impact tangible. Purpose becomes powerful when you can see exactly where it lands.
- Patience and a long-term decision-making perspective: Purpose-driven businesses often require choices that may be challenging in the short term but beneficial over time. The ability to prioritize long-term impact over immediate results requires patience, discipline, and confidence in the mission. These decisions ultimately lead to sustainable growth and meaningful success.
I’m interested in how you instill a strong sense of connection with your team. How do you nurture a culture where everyone feels connected to your mission? Could you share an example or story that showcases how your purpose has positively influenced or motivated people on your team to contribute?
Whenever I’m talking to a prospective team member, one of the first things I ask them is whether they have any pets. Their reaction and answer usually tell me right away if our values are aligned.
For me, animals are a reflection of empathy, responsibility, and care which are qualities that are essential to how I lead and how BleuBully operates. When someone lights up talking about a pet, it often signals a natural capacity for compassion and connection. That mindset translates directly into how they approach quality, customer experience, and the mission behind the brand.
At this stage of BleuBully’s growth, creating connections starts with transparency and shared purpose. I make it a priority to communicate why we do things, not just what needs to be done. Whether it’s maintaining strict quality standards or honoring our commitment to giving back to pet shelters, I want everyone involved to understand how their work contributes to something larger.
I also believe connection is built through leading by example. I’m hands-on in every part of the business and that shows that purpose isn’t something we talk about abstractly. It’s something we live daily.
When people feel aligned with the mission and see that values guide decisions it creates a culture of trust and pride. That sense of shared purpose is what motivates people to contribute thoughtfully and stay connected to the work we’re doing together.
Imagine we’re sitting down together two years from now, looking back at your company’s last 24 months. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Two years from now, I would feel truly proud of our progress if BleuBully has meaningfully expanded its impact beyond California by identifying, vetting, and supporting reputable animal shelters and foundations in other regions that can genuinely benefit from our donations. Extending our reach responsibly is important to me, because it ensures our mission is helping animals where the need is greatest while maintaining the same standards of trust and transparency.
I would also want to see continued, sustainable business growth. Over the past six months, we’ve more than tripled our sales and sold out of inventory multiple times, which has been incredibly encouraging. To me, the most meaningful indicator of success isn’t just growth but it’s who is driving it. I already have an impressive repeat customer rate and I would like to see this continue because customers know they can trust the quality, consistency, and care behind our products. My goal is to build customers for life.
Equally important, I’d love to have built a larger, values-aligned team and created an environment where everyone feels genuinely connected to the mission and shares in the company’s success. Building something meaningful shouldn’t be a solo endeavor. If the people helping grow BleuBully feel proud of the work, supported in their roles, and rewarded for their contributions, that would be incredibly fulfilling.
Looking ahead, I do have ambitious goals. I would love to see the business grow tenfold and not through shortcuts, but through loyalty, word of mouth, and an unwavering commitment to premium quality and purpose. If two years from now we’ve scaled our impact for animals, earned deep trust from our customers, and built a team that grows alongside the company, I’d feel confident we’re building something truly special and sustainable.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could inspire a movement, it would center on giving people a more direct role in creating protections for animals especially at a time when shelters are overwhelmed and under-resourced.
So much of the suffering we see in animal shelters today isn’t due to a lack of compassion from the public, but a lack of effective laws, protections, and consistent enforcement. I often think about how different things could look if everyday people had more direct input into decisions that affect animal welfare, rather than relying solely on a small number of political figures to drive change.
We already have the technology to imagine a more participatory approach to laws where organizations could put forward clear, values-driven proposals and taxpayers could vote on them directly, because their input matters immensely. Imagine having a real say in decisions like whether puppy mills should be illegal, or how spay and neuter programs are funded, instead of those choices being stalled or diluted elsewhere.
I also imagine enforcement being rooted in compassion with trained, paid teams whose job is to protect animals, respond to neglect, and support shelters before situations become crises. When responsibility is placed in the hands of those who genuinely care, real change becomes possible and sustainable.
It may sound idealistic, but I believe meaningful progress starts by trusting people to protect what matters. If we allowed compassion, accountability, and public participation to guide how animals are protected, I think we’d see lasting change.
And yes, it’s the kind of future I like to imagine while drifting off on a set of very soft BleuBully sheets.
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Purpose Before Profit: Stephanie Griffith Of BleuBully Bedding On The Benefits Of Running A… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.