Marissa, is a stay at home mommy to Hudson and loving wife to an Air Force man! She has a passion for the environment and the art of living simply, naturally and consciously. She is the owner of Growing Green Bums, a natural parenting store. she loves organic/whole food eats, nature, gardening and living "green"!
I am so excited to share such a wonderful interview with my readers! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I love finding out the story behind the products I buy! I believe it is very important to know where your products come from, how they are made and the face behind them. I had the honor to interview Ms. Nicki Maynard founder of Planetwise Inc. She is the wet bag guru in my books. Her wetbag is such a great wetbag you would not even know you have dirty diapers in your house!
Interview with Nicki:
Please tell me the birth story of your company, PlanetWise, Inc.
A: (Nicki) I started out as a retailer first that sold baby items including other lines of wet bags. I knew good prints sold well however would often get the complaint of the wet bags wicking. After several years of trial and error and searching high and low for a USA manufacturing facility Planet Wise was born with our patent pending sealed seams for NO wicking. I also knew the importance of good prints and searched everywhere even conducting a worldwide survey to find out what prints consumers wanted. I basically took what wasn’t working for our store on a great product that had potential and fixed the problems. We quickly found that other retailers were looking for the same things.
Q: (Marissa) What is a typical day at work for you?
A: (Nicki) My husband and I mainly work from home while raising our 3 young kids. We have a nanny come into our home several days a week to help but I am always available for my kids if needed including many breastfeeding breaks! We have a warehouse a couple miles from our home with great employees who take care of all the shipping and receiving. On a typical day I get my kids ready and go to my office to answer emails, make phone calls, work with suppliers, touch base with our factory, accounting, marketing, you name it I’ve done it!
Q: (Marissa) What are the most important eco-friendly choices your company makes?
A: (Nicki) To manufacturer our products locally in the USA! We are very proud to provide jobs in our community and to help reduce our environmental impact. We also pride ourselves in creating reusable products to replace commonly used disposable items.
Q: (Marissa) What are the top three things you won’t compromise on/recommend other parents to do/buy?
A: (Nicki)
Won’t Compromise:
1. Quality 2. Affordability 3. USA Made
Parent to Do
1. Follow your heart – you know what is best for your baby!
2. Enjoy the time you have with your kids
3. If you make a mistake, learn from it and move on
Parents to Buy
1. Planet Wise Wet Bag!
Q: (Marissa) What is your best washing tip for cloth diapering families?
A: (Nicki) Overall – keep it simple! Make sure you do a good COLD rinse first with NO detergent to wash all the waste away before washing. So many start by washing with detergent first but who wants to wash their cloth diapers with pee and poo?!!
Q: (Marissa) Your wetbags are the best on the market when it comes to cloth diapers, can you give me 10 other uses for your popular wetbags?
A: (Nicki)
1. soiled clothing
2. gym bag3. swimsuits
4. shoes when traveling
5. cosmetic bag
6. potty training
7. reusable mama pads 8. hairspray, shampoo, conditioner, etc when traveling
9. to separate items when traveling
10. diaper bag (wet/dry bag is perfect for this!)
A short biography on Nicki!
I live in New Glarus, WI with my husband and three beautiful children. In my free time I love to run, bike, swim (and most recently completed my first sprint triatholon),
read, crochet little toys for my kids, and love movies if I can stay awake long enough to watch
one! In a nutshell I love my family and have done everything with them in mind to better their lives.
Follow@GrowinGreenBumson Twitter and tweet this Giveaway. Please tweet, Want your diaper stink to go away? Visit @GrowinGreenBums blog & win a Planetwise wet bag package!http://tinyurl.com/34far38#clothdiapers Leave a comment with your status.
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Giveaway ends on September 10, 2010 12pm EST. (Open to US only).
Congrats to the winner Sarah G! You have been notified via email, please respond within 48 hours! Thank you too all who liked us on Facebook, tweeted daily, joined our blog and blogged about the giveaway! Stay tuned for our next awesome giveaway!
Congrats to the winner Nelle! You have been notified via email, please respond within 48 hours! Thank you too all who donated and became members of the Real Diaper Association! Thank you for your support!
Today was a day like no other! I am still on cloud 9! I had the privilege to meet a leader in our cloth diaper industry!!! I know my readers know herand love her, Ms. Tereson Dupuy the founder and CEO of Mother of Eden and the inventor and patent holder for FuzziBunz®pocket-style cloth diapers! It was such an honor to meet her, she is one of the nicest people I have met! She is warm, friendly and a wonderful mom! Tereson, a native of NewOrleans, was in Destin vacationing with her family for a week and took the time out from her vacation to get a peek in at our store! We had such a lovely conversation about her company, the future, the Gulf Coast and I even got to meet her 2 boys and mom!
I sat down with her and asked her a few questions.
Q: (Marissa) Tell me a little about the birth of FuzziBunz®
A (Tereson) The story begins with my son Eden, hence “Mother of Eden, LLC” , he was suffering from horrible diaper rashes with disposables and I knew something else was out there. I went to the cloth diapers that were available at the time (1999/2000) and I didn’t like anything that was out there. They kept him wet and they were very hard to wash. I knew I could do something better. I knew Fleece had certain stay dry properties, I stuck a piece of fleece in one of the diapers and it worked. I knew I could make something better, it was the year 2000 and I sat and looked and thought “this is where cloth diapers have come in 30 years?”. One thing led to another….the birth of the pocket style diaper.
Q. (Marissa) What is a typical day like of work for you?
A (Tereson) When kids are in school, get up in the morning and getting them off to school. I am a single mom and I do pretty much everything by myself. Fist thing is to check emails on my iphone and seeing what I need to do for the day. Mostly it is sitting in front of the computer and check in periodically at the office. Then I get my kids off the bus, from 3:30 to 8:00 is kid time and after is work until about 2:00 am!!! That is a pretty routine day for me, but I like the flexibility of being self employed, I have an office, I have employees and most of them work remotely too. It is a good work structure.
Q: (Marissa) Where do you see your company in the next 5 to 10 years?
We talked a lot about what the future holds. Tereson described her efforts in making a more environmentally friendly diaper. She has tried different things in the past such as biodegradable polyesters that did not work as they would not last as long as her current style which is important to her – but she assures me she is on top of the curve and always on the quest for the next best thing and green is one of her top priorities. She did mention starting a “Recycle” program where people could donate their used diapers to send to the orphanages and organizations that she has worked with before to give the diapers even longer life! Stay tuned for that. She is really in tune with this industry and is always moving one step ahead! I think her goals and her mission of where to take Mother of Eden, LLC. is downright amazing!
A (Tereson) I think our FuzziBunz® product will be a lot more popular because people will catch up with the trend. The trend is leaning towards being environmentally and cost conscious and it appeals to so many people on so many different levels. It focuses on baby’s overall health by preventing rash, it addresses concern about finances and the environment all with one product.I look forward to “big” advertising. I would like to see FuzziBunz® be a household name, that is what my future holds, my psychic said so . And of course, I would like to see my company making even more environmentally friendly choices. As the technology for “green” and environmentally friendly textiles gets better, we will to, I am on top of that!
Q (Marissa) What green choices does your company make?
A (Tereson) Although I wish I could say yes, we use green energy for our manufacturing facilities. I can’t. It’s not widely available at this time – I can only hope. However in our manufacturing all of our raw materials are produced in one location, manufactured in one location then shipped in a full container once or twice a month reducing fuel and energy cost. In my opinion, having a product that lasts for such a long time reduces the manufacturing strain on the environment. People say “why don’t use organic cotton?” My answer to them is 6 one way and half a dozen the other. Organic cotton or cotton means that 7x that is has to be produced, 7x times the water, 7x the manufacturing, it falls apart. Polyester lasts 7 times longer than cotton. Reduce, Reuse!
Q. (Marissa) Your best washing tip for cloth diapering families?
A (Tereson) Stick to something simple, don’t use vinegar, don’t use baking soda, don’t use tea tree oil.Rockin’ Green is an excellent detergent, it is proven to work with FuzziBunz®and if it is proven to work with FuzziBunz®if it is another pocket diaper, it is likely to work. It is polyester, part of the problem with polyester it will get a residue if something waxy or oily gets on it, but using Rockin’ Green works. You don’t need anything else.
A short bio on Tereson:
Mompreneur extraordinaire. A New Orleans native, mom of 3 and if there was ever such a real super hero, well she is the real deal, a true Super Hero!
To celebrate her visit, one of our lucky readers will win a 3-Pack of One-Size FuzziBunz® Reusable Cloth Diapers (your color of choice, of course!)
How to enter (please leave a comment for every method of entry)
Mandatory Entry:
Visit Growing Green Bums store and tell me your favorite color FuzziBunz®.
Become a fan of FuzziBunzon Facebook. Leave a comment.
Follow@GrowinGreenBums on Twitter and tweet this Giveaway. Please tweet, Want to win some fluff? Visit @GrowinGreenBums blog & win a package of 3 FuzziBunz http://tinyurl.com/2c7o6pu #clothdiapers Leave a comment with your status.
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Giveaway ends on Saturday August 14th. (Open to US only).
I am always excited to support the Real Diaper Association (RDA) and their mission to help put more babies in fluff!!! I need your help with raising money for their campaign. I am giving away a
Your choice of colors and closures!! In order to be entered into this giveaway, you must do one option below (remember every option is tax-deductible):
Giveaway ends August 11th at 11:59 EST! At the end of the Contest I will randomly pick winner with the help from random.org. I will contact the winner and ask for receipt or confirmation of donation before prize is handed out! Thank You.
Are you a memeber of the Real Diaper Associtation (RDA)? Do you know what/who RDA is all about? The RDA is a non-profit organization on a quest to change “diapers”, literally one baby at a time! Right now RDA is trying to raise $3500 by August 11! Please help us by making a donation or even better, become a member! The money will help RDA advocate to get more babies in cloth!
FROM RDA:
We come here to you with a request. RDA continues to play a leading role in the cloth diaper movement, training and supporting grassroots advocates to lead local Real Diaper Circles, compiling and distributing research on the subject, working with the media and other businesses and organizations to increase awareness about cloth diapers, and providing direct reliable, unbiased support for consumers. We do all of this with the support of our member donors. If you haven’t contributed to our efforts before, please join us as a member today-annual individual membership is still only $25. Your donation is tax-deductible, and membership ensures that you’ll be kept up-to-date with our work via our quarterly print newsletter. www.realdiaperassociation.org/directory/signup.php
Because we’ve had the good luck to employ an Executive Director over the past year, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot recently . Explore the archives of our blog atwww.realdiaperevents.org for stories about some of most recent accomplishments, such as:
the launch of a cloth-diaper-friendly daycare directory and publication of a tip sheet on using cloth diapers in daycare ,
a blog carnival focused on Real Diaper Facts that highlighted some of the most useful research out there on the benefits of cloth diapers, and
the ongoing 100% reusable cloth diapers campaign to support people and choosing and using real diapers in any situation.
Additionally, there are 15 active Real Diaper Circles and nearly 100 volunteers in training to become Leaders across the U.S. and Canada.
We are convinced that we made the right decision in hiring our Executive Director, and have plans for how to accomplish more in the coming year. In order to do so, we need to continue to fund the Executive Director position and ensure that we have someone in place to push all our efforts forward.
This is the time for cloth diapers for a number of great reasons. You have been supportive in individual advocacy, spreading the message time and again to your friends and acquaintances. Join together with us now and take a larger role in the overall cloth diaper movement. Become a member of the Real Diaper Association today atwww.realdiaperassociation.org/directory/signup.php .
If you can’t become a member, would you please consider giving just a little to help our efforts? We need to raise $3500 in 35 days before our 6th Anniversary on August 11, 2010! We’re confident we can do it. Please help, then spread the word to the other cloth diaperers you know. These contributions, like membership donations, are tax-deductible.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of cloth diapers.
I thought we should have another fun giveaway! So here it is, this giveaway is for a Thirsties Duo Diaper, color and size of your Thirsties, Inc is one of my favorite companies and I absolutely love their quality made products. I love their “green” business ethics and what they are doing for our environment!
Their new Duo Diaper is a fabulous “sleeve” diaper. It does have the “pocket” diaper quality, but it has 2 “pockets” so it is more like a sleeve. The sleeve allows for the insert to come out during the wash! It really does work, I was very skeptical at first but it works! It is nice not to have to pull out a dirty insert, your hands really do stay clean! The Duo Diapers comes in two perfect sizes! Size one fits babies from 6 lbs to 18 lbs. Size Two fits babies from 18 lbs to 40 lbs. You can get 6 different sizes from the two sized diapers, it really does grow with your baby! Another feature that I absolutely love about this diaper is the gusset action! The gussets prevent leaks and major blowouts, they are pretty amazing! There are two inserts included with the diaper, a microbfiber insert and a hemp insert which snap together at the ends! I am so surprised at the absorbency, I have been able to get away with just using the two inserts for overnight and no leaks! Usually with a pocket, I have to use a special insert just for overnight! So, safe to safe their inserts impressed me ! I am so happy to offer this giveaway to our readers! Good Luck!!!!
How to enter (please leave a comment for every method of entry)
Mandatory Entry:
Visit Growing Green Bums store and share your favorite color/print of Thirsites Duo Diaper! Leave a comment.
For Extra entries:
Visit Thirsties, Inc.and tell me something you learned! Leave a comment.
Follow @GrowinGreenBums on twitter and tweet this giveaway. Please tweet, Win a Thirsties Duo Diaper from @GrowinGreenBums http://bit.ly/9i0q5L #clothdiapers Leave a comment with your status.
You can tweet once a day, leave a comment with your status for each tweet.
Follow me through Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment
Subscribe to my blog via email through feedburner. Leave a comment.
Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment.
Blog about this giveaway. Post a link in the comment.
Congrats to the winner, Kate L. You have been notified via email, please respond within 48 hours! Thank You and Congrats! Thank you for all who played! This was a fun contest, I can’t wait to do another giveaway!
At the beginning of the month I took a trip to San Antonio, TX. On my list of things to do was to visit with the creator of Rockin’ Green Cloth Diaper Detergent, Kim Webb. I was fortunate enough to meet and interview her! I even got to tour the Rockin’ Green headquarters. I was so excited to meet Kim after months and months of chatting wither her via Twitter and Facebook, I was able to meet her in real life. We had a great time chatting about detergent and fluff. We first toured the office and I got to meet one of her son’s and an employee! After the tour, we sat down and I asked her a few questions. I would love to share with all my readers the pictures of her office and her answers to my questions! I hope you enjoy!
Q (Marissa): Why did you create Rockin’ Green?
A (Kim): I cloth diapered my oldest, who is 4 now, and was stripping every 2 weeks. In Texas, we have hard water and I even blew up one washing machine. I also converted all my friends to cloth, I was involved in a large playgroup. My friends came to me asking “I can’t get this to work?” and I felt really bad because I couldn’t help them and I couldn’t even get the stink out of my diapers. That was a big draw back to cloth diapering because I couldn’t help them wash. I was so tired of not being able to wash stuff right, my kids would get rashes from everything and I could not find anything that would work at the grocery stores. I then started researching about all the chemicals in laundry detergents and I started tinkering around and basically made my son’s own soap for months and months. I first started selling my detergent along with GAD diapers to see how it would do. And well, it took off and now all I sell is Rockin’ Green.
Q (Marissa): What is a typical day like to work for Rockin’ Green?
side note: extremely kid friendly, you can bring your kids to work! How cool is that?
A (Kim): It is pretty laid back, show up around 9, kids running around, my oldest, Jackson, is always playing…. my youngest, Zachary, thinks he is the foreman and will boss people around. The soap is now made in a larger facility, we could not keep up with demand, so it is made and packaged in a local facility. Then it comes back to us and we ship it out. We go through about 7,000 lbs of detergent a week, the facility is in San Antonio and we just got a bagging machine!
Warehouse
~Long Pause~ Potty Crew!
Q (Marissa): Can you tell me how your company makes environmentally friendly choices?
A (Kim): Packaging is very important, before we were using double bags a plastic bag to protect the soap and then a cloth bag to make it pretty. But it was a lot of waste, people would end up with 20 bags and it was adding up too much. We decided to go with the new bags, they are one piece and recyclable, they take up less to transport compared to a box of detergent. The bags allow for easy shipping. We wanted something to fit in a flat rate envelope which are already made by the post office so therefore reducing waste. Our soap is also biodegradable and you only need to use about 2 tbs. which creates less waste and run off!
Q (Marissa): With the launch of all the new scents and formula, can you tell me how the they differ from the original Rockin’ Green?
A (Kim): In my quest to make Hard Rock, it was about a year project, I did a lot of researching and discovered ways to make Soft Rock and Classic Rock even better. When we did our product testing, it was all people who were previously using Classic or Soft Rock, we found some really cool things along the way to make it superior.
Q (Marissa): What is your best washing tip to other cloth diapering families?
A (Kim): Don’t skimp on the water!!!!! If you have a front loader, replace the word “Rinse” with “Wash”. For example, if you have a top loader, you normally do a rinse, a wash, and a rinse. For a front loader, I would suggest a wash, a wash, and a wash. You are still not going to be using the same amount of water as the top loader folks, but you really need to have the water because that is where the ammonia buildup comes up for the most part. For example, if you are washing 15 pocket diapers in a front loader, each insert will hold about 8 oz sometimes 15 oz, and if you think about it that is a lot of urine in each insert. Let’s say each of the 15 inserts holds about a cup of pee, you put the diapers in and your inserts in the front loader a lot of times the front loader does not put that much water in, so you are washing with a 50/50 mix of water and urine. That will not be rinsed out all the way, so if you do the 3 washes you will be more likely to get the urine flushed out. So, Wash Cold (no detergent), Wash hot (w/ detergent) and Wash Cold (no detergent). The first wash will get most of the urine, so your next wash you will be washing in clean water. This is what I suggest when someone is having stink issues with a front loader, I believe to attack it at the front and not the end.
Wash Routine!
A short bio of Kim:
She and her husband of 9 years have 2 boys, Jackson 4 and Zachary 18 months. They currently reside in San Antonio, TX. Her hubby was a Marine and aircraft mechanic, but now works full time at Rockin’ Green!
Ms. Kim Webb and Son, Zachary
To celebrate the new formula and scents one of our lucky Readers will win a bag of Rockin’ Green Hard Rock!
How to enter (please leave a comment for every method of entry)
Mandatory Entry:
Visit Growing Green Bums store and tell me your favorite item, besides Rockin’ Green!
Become of a fan of Rockin’ Green on Facebook. Leave a comment.
Follow @GrowinGreenBums on twitter and tweet this giveaway. Please tweet, Win Rockin’ Green Hard Rock from @GrowinGreenBums http://bit.ly/aBrxIA #clothdiapers Leave a comment with your status.
You can tweet once a day, leave a comment with your status for each tweet.
Follow me through Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment
Subscribe to my blog via email through feedburner. Leave a comment.
Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment.
Blog about this giveaway. Post a link in the comment.
Thank you for all who submitted some super cute photos on Facebook! I love all the “green” fluff! So sweet!!! My son and I picked the winner, well more like my son. I showed him all the pictures and he looked at this one and said: “Mama, so pretty” “Mama, so pretty” and he kept saying this over and over and pointing to this picture! I think he picked a great picture!
Congratulations to Ms. J and her little cutie pie! Thank You for playing!
I am so excited to share such a wonderful interview with my readers! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I love finding out the story behind the products I buy! I believe it is very important to know where your products come from, how they are made and the face behind them. I had the honor to interview Ms. Nicki Maynard founder of Planetwise Inc. She is the wet bag guru in my books. Her wetbag is such a great wetbag you would not even know you have dirty diapers in your house!
. And of course, I would like to see my company making even more environmentally friendly choices. As the technology for “green” and environmentally friendly textiles gets better, we will to, I am on top of that!
How to enter (please leave a comment for every method of entry)
