Coffee manufacturers pay millions to dispose of waste that still holds most of its value. Helen Zhang built a company on that gap. She is CEO and Founder of Coffee Elf Inc., which pulls oil from commercial coffee grounds to make a premium emollient for hair care and skincare, and presses grounds with cork and peanut shell into vegan leather for promotional merchandise. Helen traces the path from a kitchen project at Columbia that nearly set off her neighbors' smoke complaints to early commercial partners, and to donating profit back to nonprofits serving women coffee farmers in Kenya, Ethiopia and Colombia.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to Green Shoots and Big Shifts

00:54 Meet Helen Zhang and what Coffee Elf does

01:43 The kitchen project that nearly burned down an apartment

03:16 Discovering coffee's hidden chemical value

03:47 Coffee waste as a commercial problem

04:54 Growing up in an entrepreneurial family

07:16 The bigger vision: a waste to value engine

09:37 Inside the product line: emollient and vegan leather

12:08 Replacing palm oil with coffee oil

13:16 Giving back to women coffee farmers

17:00 Material innovation beyond plastic

18:38 Safety, silicones and clean beauty

20:35 Milestones ahead: hair care and the ASI supply chain

22:00 How to partner with Coffee Elf

24:24 Sustainability and profitability together

28:22 Advice for founders building in this field

30:46 One word to leave listeners with

Learn more about Coffee Elf Inc.:

Website - https://thecoffeeelf.com

Follow the host, Reetu Gupta here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guptareetu/

Weber State University set a carbon neutral target of 2040 and has spent 15 years working toward it with efficiency, electrification, and renewable sourcing. Justin Owen, Director of Utilities and Sustainability at Weber State University, walks through the specifics: half the campus electrified, two and a half megawatts of solar, ground source wells under parking lots, and a revolving loan fund now generating around $3 million in cost reduction. He is a Weber State alum who started as an hourly student worker, and he explains why housing sustainability inside facilities changed what the team could get done.

Chapters:

00:03 Welcome to Green Shoots and Big Shifts

00:54 Weber State's carbon neutral goal for 2040

01:40 Campus size and location in Ogden, Utah

01:55 Justin's path from pre med to sustainability

03:20 Early adopters: the 2007 climate commitment

04:31 The president signs on, facilities figures it out

05:14 Measuring the baseline and finding low hanging fruit

05:57 The central heating problem and electrification

07:26 How ground source fields work at Weber State

08:58 Life cycle, learning environment, and per room thermostats

11:15 Win wins: comfort, cost, and getting occupants on board

11:56 The internal revolving loan fund

13:27 Producing two thirds of campus electricity and avoiding easy undos

14:55 Efficiency first, then electrification, then renewables

16:29 Getting stakeholders and finance on board

17:53 Sustainability housed inside facilities management

21:24 Students and interns in sustainability work

23:31 Rescuing leftover food and campus engagement

24:15 What's next: onsite battery storage and a campus microgrid

25:36 Focus and avoiding distraction in sustainability programs

26:19 One word: hope

27:05 A investment problem, not a technology problem

You can follow Justin Owen here:

LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/justinrowen

Learn more about Weber State University:

Website - https://weber.edu

Follow the Green Shoots & Big Shifts Podcast here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-shoots-big-shifts/

Nisha Anand, CEO of Dream.org, ran the playbook to help pass a legislation, which has seen 60,000 people return from prison. She grew up as the daughter of Indian immigrant parents in Atlanta, learned to be the bridge early, and now builds tables wide enough to make change that lasts.

Nisha explains:

• Growing up a self-described misfit in Atlanta and turning bridge building into a career
• Why durable policy comes from including the most excluded voices, not checking a box
• How the First Step Act brought 60,000 people home from prison
• Green for All's origin: Van Jones training Oakland youth to install solar panels
• Solving poverty and pollution at the same time instead of one at a time
• The Green Reentry cohort, training people coming home from prison for green jobs
• Working with unlikely allies, from libertarians to military bases facing rising water
• Common values under criminal justice reform: second chances, dignity, shrinking a bloated system
• Making nuance cool again and practicing self-curiosity while doom scrolling
• Connecting siloed solutions from conferences into full city-wide plans
• What gives her hope: her kids, the next generation, and science that is bigger than us

00:00 Welcome to Green Shoots and Big Shifts

00:44 Introducing Nisha Anand, CEO of dream.org

01:21 From Atlanta misfit to activist and bridge builder

02:52 Justice at scale: legislation and the First Step Act

03:51 Building a big table and why it makes policy durable

04:41 Beyond tokenism: inviting the blind spots you cannot see

06:16 Green for All's origins with Van Jones and Oakland solar

07:47 Green infrastructure, reentry, and green jobs today

10:03 Equity as the door that opens for everyone

11:57 Practices and challenges of building broad coalitions

15:56 Common values behind unlikely allies

17:36 Making nuance cool again and modeling curiosity

19:00 Self-curiosity: asking why you react the way you do

21:33 What the podcast reveals: hope in science and startups

23:00 Connecting the dots across silos and conferences

25:28 What keeps Nisha going: her kids and the next generation

28:00 One word to leave with: perseverance

Learn more about dream.org:

Website - https://dreamcorps.us