Making an Impact | Environmentally, socially, personally

The people who work for Seventh Generation are really remarkable. In one week, I had email exchanges with Chrystie in Consumer Relations, Lee in executive administration, and Jeff and Jay, Executive and Senior Vice Presidents, respectively, of Operations. And it's not that I was getting the run-around, I was getting positive feedback on my project and attempts to get me in touch with the right people to answer my questions. I received a phone call yesterday from Jay LeDuc - SVP of Operations, remember - who spoke with me for half an hour about the company's manufacturing processes, their vendor partners and quality assurance teams, and personnel policies. He spoke with me about strict guidelines when finding factories to make their products, influencing the manufacturing standards of other companies, reducing the carbon footprint by moving operations closer to their consumers, and the pleasure of watching an industry that they helped establish twenty years ago become one of global interest.

Jay went into great detail with his responses and took the call to "just some guy in Brooklyn", as my friends put it, quite seriously. He pointed me to their annual environmental responsibility reporting, and invited me up to their headquarters in Vermont where he'd introduce me to the quality assurance team as well. Though I have yet to shake his hand and talk face-to-face, Jay certainly gave me individual attention and personal connection. The fact that he works for one of the most socially and environmentally responsible and forward-thinking businesses out there, well that feels pretty good too.