Kinona was started while Tami and fellow co-founder, Dianne Celuch were getting more and more into Golfing. Having a background in fashion, it was tough to look past the lack of innovation in apparel options for women that the industry had to offer. When it comes to style and inclusion the Golf Industry has been a little slow to adapt to the changing times and those are two major keystones that Kinona is built on. After years of getting more and more into the sport, they decided to roll up their sleeves and help bring the Golf industry into the 21st century by providing more than just a “pink it and shrink it” option for women. Having years of experience bringing brands to life and products to market they managed to develop apparel that doesn’t just look incredible but, breathes life into the sport.
In this episode of Built On Passion Tami Fujii shares her journey leading up to starting Kinona, some of the skills and tools that were key to Kinona’s swift success, how the golf industry’s need to evolve to open up the space, and the “How” and “Why” behind Kinona
Matt sits down with Take Two founder Jerek Lovey. Take Two makes plant-based barely milk with a huge emphasis on sustainability using upcycled spent grain as a key component in their tasty game-changing dairy-free milk.
Take Two is changing the game for plant-based milk on seemingly all fronts. To start, their dedication to sustainability is unparalleled to the point of them helping to repurpose thousands upon thousands of spent grain that otherwise would go to waste. On the nutrition front, their barely milk is so much more nutrient-dense than your typical plant-based milk but, most importantly the taste and texture of Take Two is amazing. It really all comes down to barely as the x-factor to fixing the classic problems of plant-based milk while helping offer a better more sustainable solution. So, how just how does one start a plant-based milk company let alone pioneer a new and progressive upcycling technique.
In this episode of Built On Passion, Jerek Lovey shares the story of how he started a plant-based milk brand from the ground up, how barely is a game-changing grain of the future, what it took to build out their upcycling process, and the ‘How’ and ‘Why’ behind Take Two.
Matt sits down with Ranger Ready co-founder Chris Fuentes. Ranger Ready makes a highly effective Picaridin insect repellent. Mosquitoes and ticks bites aren’t something to be taken lightly. Obviously, they can be a pretty big annoyance but there are some really life-changing diseases that you’re exposed to when you get bitten. Though there are plenty of bug spray options out there to help keep you protected, a good amount of them can still be fairly toxic to people so you have to ask yourself, ‘how can you actually protect yourself from exposure?’ That’s exactly what Chris Fuentes and Ted Kensten hoped to answer when they started Ranger Ready.
When Chris and Ted started Ranger Ready, they weren’t just looking for the next project to work on, they wanted to tackle a major issue that desperately needed a better option. They found that Picaridin was the key to making bug spray WAY safer for both people and pets than your average DEET bug spray. In fact, they even have the scientific findings behind it to back up their claim and the results are fairly staggering. Ranger Ready has been meticulously tested for effectiveness and has a scientific guarantee of offering 12-hours of protection. It’s easy to talk the talk but, Ranger Ready actually walks the walk and has the science to prove it. They also just so happen to be the bug spray of choice for some major organizations including SpaceX and the military. So what actually goes into creating and building a bug spray brand.
In this episode of Built On Passion Chris Fuentes shares what led him to dedicate himself to creating a better bug spray option, how they manage to stay committed to their mission, developed a devoted team leading to unparalleled customer service and satisfaction, and the “How” and “Why” behind Ranger Ready.
Matt sits down with Rebo Bottle founder Pierandrea Quarta. Rebo Bottle makes a smart water bottle that doesn’t just help you stay on your hydration game but, also is designed to help actively remove plastic waste from natural areas.
Water bottles are fairly simple in and of themselves but, the intricacies behind Rebo Bottle are absolutely incredible. It all started with Pier wanting to do more to help remove plastic from the environment. His past experience working as a Brand Manager for one of the world’s most widely known name brands gave him an opportunity to not only sharpen his knives to build a brand but, also expose him to a newfound passion, sustainability, and coming up with progressive practices to support it. Ultimately Pier wanted to create a product to help push the world towards a much more sustainable future and focusing on something everyone interacted with was the starting point.
Rebo Bottle’s smart bottle isn’t just a container for H20, it’s designed to help encourage people to stay hydrated, track their water intake, and find and track nearby refill stations all through their app.
On top of making a smart bottle with extremely detailed features, Rebo has developed some interesting strategic partnerships to help actively remove plastic from the environment. What’s most remarkable of all is that in creating Rebo Bottle, Pier is building an extremely unique and progressive brand around a global issue in a way that hasn’t really existed.
In this episode of Built On Passion Pierandrea shares what inspired him to dig deeper into sustainability, some of the challenges that came with building Rebo Bottle, and the “how” and “why” behind Rebo Bottle.