Animals are inefficient machines but plant-based materials are much more sustainable. We interview Stephanie Downs, co-founder of Material Innovation Initiative and founder of Good Dot India. She turned her lifelong passion for animal welfare into several companies including those that find vegan alternatives to meat and animal-based materials. She tells us about how the industry changed to make vegan foods readily available and how we still need innovation to make vegan-fabrics and materials a reality. We learn how everyone: consumers, entrepreneurs, materials scientists, policy-makers, and more can play a role in improving sustainability.
Stephanie’s Bio: Stephanie is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience founding, building and selling businesses. She also spent over a decade as a Corporate Social Responsibility Consultant advising companies on alternatives to animal materials. She founded her first company in 1999, an internet marketing company which she sold in 2014. She founded her most recent venture in 2016, Good Dot, which quickly grew to be the largest plant-based meat company in India. She sold her interest to embark on helping build more innovative material companies. She has been awarded the 40 Under 40 Award in two US states; received the Dewey DoGooder Award from SxSW; and has been a TEDx speaker.
Hosts: Manali Banerjee and Nasreen Khan
Editors: Manali Banerjee and Nasreen Khan
Music: Shang Young
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Talk Green to Me Podcast 