Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Shannon Morgan Stearns Of Stasher Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Think twice about your purchases: Before each purchase, ask yourself: is this environmentally friendly? How long will it last? Where does it go at the end of its lifecycle? By thinking about your impact in everyday purchases, you can lessen your waste and broaden your impact.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon Morgan Stearns.
Shannon is the CEO at Stasher, Inc.: the leading brand that provides an endlessly reusable alternative to single-use plastic bags and containers. Prior to her role as CEO, she served as VP of Marketing and Product for the brand, developing a clear mission-minded brand platform and product innovation pipeline. Guided by passion for mission-based and women-led brands, she’s also led marketing and communications for consumer brands and retailers such as CamelBak, Illuminations, and Smith & Hawken; and served as the Chief Marketing Officer at the national nonprofit, The Trust for Public Land.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up lucky. I’m a third-generation Californian from a big extended family of strong voices and varied opinions. I learned early on that different ideas and approaches make for much more interesting conversations and life experiences — especially when you can all sit down to dinner together at the end of the day.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Stasher has always been about providing an endlessly reusable alternative to single-use plastic bags and containers. Every Stasher product is a radically functional way to change the way people cook, store and save, and choosing a reusable solution directly changes the amount of single-use plastic that enters our waste stream. It’s the first platinum-grade silicone bag with a patented Pinch-Loc® seal that can safely go from the freezer to the microwave, oven or boiling water and cleans easily in the dishwasher. To date, the Stasher community has already prevented more than four billion single-use plastic bags from ending up in our waste stream.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
Plastic pollution is such a pervasive problem today– for example, the plastic bags U.S. consumers use in one year are equivalent to the weight of 400 blue whales. Roughly 90% of all plastic is never recycled — that’s like dumping a garbage truck full of plastic waste every minute. That adds up to 8 million metric tons of pollution potentially entering the world’s oceans each year!
Before joining Stasher, I was the Chief Marketing Officer for The Trust for Public Land where I learned the social value in protecting land for recreation and providing much-needed access to public parks and outdoor spaces, even in the heart of our cities. Prior to that role, I served as the Vice President of Marketing for CamelBak where we focused on changing the way people hydrate in an effort to replace single-use plastic bottles.
While today’s plastic problem is massive, I believe that it’s also fixable. Our Stasher products are radically functional storage solutions that allow consumers to replace single-use plastic both in their homes and on the go. I’m excited that so many people have already joined us on that journey to reduce plastic waste in their lives, and we’ll welcome many more.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
I’m not sure it was one trigger or ‘aha’, but many along the way. An avid reader and former journalism major, I’m a sucker for a good story. I’m especially drawn towards mission-minded brands with a story to tell, and have held various positions throughout my career that allowed me to build and amplify the stories around beloved brands.
I’ve been lucky to learn from great leaders, including our two prior CEOs at Stasher. Together we built a team of passionate and inspired individuals who are joined together by a common goal. At Stasher, our team is dedicated to providing a beautiful, functional and easy-to-use alternative to single-use plastic. So when the opportunity presented itself for me to step into the leadership role at Stasher, I couldn’t wait to take on the challenge.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
While I wasn’t present at the company’s founding, I came on as Vice President of Marketing & Product during a critical time of growth within the company. Stasher was growing, but was on the precipice of exploding and I saw so much potential for the company to experience exponential growth and make a larger impact on the single-use plastic problem. During my tenure, Stasher was named the Fastest Growing Private Company by the San Francisco Business Times and generated significant revenue growth in two years with a goal to reduce single-use plastic waste and product innovation pipeline that allows us to do just that.
It’s been so much fun to be a part of the company’s early trajectory and I’m excited that there’s still so much opportunity to broaden our impact and grow the business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I’m still newly minted in this role, so I’ve been soaking up all there is to learn, while looking for ways to grow and strengthen our business. To be honest, every day is interesting as we write our next chapter.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
Ha — a story I’m sure most of us share. During various phases of the pandemic, we’d been working from home so long that of course by the time I went to the office in Jan 2022, I forgot the door code in the morning AND the alarm code at the end of the day. Nothing like making a loud entrance and exit! I suppose it’s a good reminder that we’ve all gotten pretty darn good at changing our habits (even long-entrenched ones like the daily door code), which bodes well for changing single use-habits too.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
I particularly appreciate and learned from my leadership team at CamelBak. It wasn’t the first time I’d reported to a woman CEO, but Sally McCoy was unique in her ability to simultaneously motivate a collective team and bring out the individual best in each person. That dynamic made for an incredibly tight-knit group of people who were both constantly challenging and cheering each other — a collaboration that continues years later, even though we’re all in new leadership roles.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Taking action on plastic waste is something that we can all feel empowered to do at any level. That change can stem from anywhere including our neighborhood communities, businesses, and governments. Three things that stand out to me the most include:
- Educate: The more we broaden the awareness of the impact of our single-use plastic problem, the smarter decisions we can make in our own day-to-day lives. Collectively, we can all be a part of the solution and reduce our reliance on single-use plastic by helping others in our own ecosystems to take this problem seriously and make small but meaningful changes in their own lives.
- Look for reusable alternatives: Reusable bags and containers have a number of planet-friendly benefits, from reducing food waste to reducing the amount of single-use plastic that ends up in landfills and in our oceans. There are so many reusable swaps currently available, from Stasher to reusable paper towels and straws to cutlery and wraps, so making more sustainable choices in life can be more mainstream than ever before.
- Think twice about your purchases: Before each purchase, ask yourself: is this environmentally friendly? How long will it last? Where does it go at the end of its lifecycle? By thinking about your impact in everyday purchases, you can lessen your waste and broaden your impact.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
There is an increasing trend of consumers who demand more transparency and planet-friendly solutions from the brands they choose to support. In fact, a recent study found that the influence of Gen Z has reached their Gen X parents (like me), who are using their purchasing power and spending more for sustainable options. In a nutshell, we’re seeing more people seek out brands that also support their personal values and causes. For Stasher, Earth Month is a big opportunity to showcase our products and impact because it’s a time when many consumers are already asking themselves what single-use habits they can change. Our products that offer solutions to those problems consumers are facing, allowing them to reduce single-use plastic waste without compromising on the convenience they have grown accustomed to.
What are your “3 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
-Ask for what you want: I grew up believing that you work hard, and rewards will come. Then years ago, I was ready for a promotion, and assumed that my CEO knew from our earlier conversations that I was ready and excited for the new role. But I heard nothing. I finally got up the courage to pick up the phone and lay out my case and asked for the job. The answer I got back surprised me. “Yes, absolutely: I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”
-Don’t let anyone waste your time: When I was a mom of young kids, I quickly found that I needed to get smarter about cramming to-do’s into the limited hours of the day. By taking a very intentional approach to the hours in my day (and often nights after the kids’ bedtimes), I found I could protect my time, get a lot more done, and enjoy the people around me.
-Show your work: Early on there’s a tendency to want to “sound smart” and speak the lingo of the company or rattle off TLA’s (three-letter-acronyms). But the smartest people I know stick to simple stories with clear supporting information that’s easy to follow. Really it all comes back to two things: The building blocks of good journalism: (who/what/when/why/where/how), and the old adage of every math teacher ever (show your work). Who are we trying to reach? What problem are we trying to solve? Where will we find the resources? The more simply and compelling your story, the more quickly you can get to buy-in.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
It doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming: making a positive impact on our environment or society starts with you. Conscious choices about how we live and what we buy are small steps with far-reaching impact.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Printed across the back wall of our office is the quote “Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean” by Ryunosuke Satoro. From growing up in a big extended family, to developing a rich network of friends and mentors over the course of my career, to raising my own family as a single mom with a big support network — I’ve learned that just about everything is easier faced together.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Who wouldn’t want to share a meal with Mandy Patinkin and Catherine Grody? My team also has some great ideas for Jack Johnson, so I’m happy to buy him lunch anytime, too!
How can our readers follow you online?
Say hi on LinkedIn or Twitter! You can also go to stasherbag.com to learn more about our brand and our mission, or follow us on Instagram for eco-friendly tips and tricks using Stasher bags.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes Helping Our Planet: Why & How Shannon Morgan Stearns Of Stasher Is Helping To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.