What inspired you to start your venture?
I’d always been frustrated by packaging waste at big box stores, but the tipping point came when buying makeup at a local store. The oversized decorative box went straight into the trash before I got to my car. That box had been milled, shipped, warehoused, and trucked—only to be discarded seconds after purchase. Multiply that by billions of products and it’s a colossal drain on resources.
I couldn’t shake the absurdity, and my experience advising United Nations leaders on global sustainability campaigns made it impossible to ignore. I’d seen firsthand how coordinated action can shift entire industries and realized the same playbook can work here: Gen Z wants planet-positive solutions, excess packaging drains CPG profits and erodes retailer economics, and no brand can risk losing shelf space by going alone. That’s why I founded ReThink Packaging—leveraging my background to channel rising consumer demand and retailer cost pressures into better, planet-positive solutions.
What impact are you hoping to achieve?
When this works, you’ll walk into a store—or shop online—and every product you pick up will be packaged only as much as it needs to be. This shift alone could eliminate millions of tons of packaging waste annually while saving the sector billions—unlocking one of the most scalable, low-hanging levers for climate action.
No oversized boxes, no layers of plastic wrap “for show.” Ingredient lists shrunk to unreadable 4-point font on boxes that get tossed will be replaced by scannable QR codes on the products themselves. Reduced packaging means fewer trucks on the road, lower shipping emissions, less landfill waste, and billions saved in supply-chain costs that can improve retailer and CPG economics. When done right, it’s a behind-the-scenes shift that resonates with consumers and brands—and measurably improves the sector’s climate footprint.
What’s the hardest part about building the venture?
The hardest part is also the most vital: aligning an entire ecosystem that isn’t designed to move in sync. Brands want to tout “sustainable” but won’t risk shelf appeal. Retailers want less waste but are tied to stocking systems built on entrenched pricing and processing models. Policymakers hesitate without years-long studies and won’t cross powerful lobbies. Even consumers who value sustainability are often duped—seeing larger boxes filled with 50% air as more valuable than smaller, more honest ones.
My role is to bridge silos, bringing people with entirely different value systems and priorities to the same table—people who rarely engage as peers. It can be exhausting, but turning competing interests into collective momentum—and seeing that momentum tip into mainstream adoption—is exactly what makes this moment so exciting.
Have you always been involved in climate and sustainability work?
Yes. I’ve worked at the intersection of environment, policy, and markets from the start. Early on, I coordinated 350 NGOs at a U.N. Global Forum on Environment, interned at the U.S. Council for International Business advocating for Fortune 100 members, and gained corporate experience with P&G, Xerox, and American Express. At Harvard, I deepened that cross-sector lens while earning an MPA focused on multi-sector collaboration, with coursework across Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School.
Since then, I’ve bridged private strategy, government negotiations, and nonprofit advocacy—consulting at Bain, serving on UNDP Policy & Advocacy Committees, chairing the U.N. Capital Markets Leadership Roundtable, and advising family offices on aligning capital for returns and sustainability. I’ve contributed at global forums from Tokyo to The Hague to Oxford. ReThink Packaging builds directly on this decades-long arc: aligning stronger financial returns with greater impact by leveraging both public and private levers to address systemic challenges.
What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned?
That one of the biggest barriers to eliminating packaging isn’t marketing pressure—it’s outdated ingredient-labeling laws. In the U.S., many products must print ingredients on the outer box, and companies comply using 4-point fonts no one can read. Consumers remain in the dark, and because boxes are usually tossed immediately, even legible lists disappear—undermining safety while making wasteful packaging effectively mandatory.
A simple regulatory update allowing QR-code ingredient lists directly on containers would solve this, even for long lists on small products. It’s a clear example of how far reality lags behind readily available technology—and how a small policy shift could simultaneously improve consumer safety and systemic sustainability.
What’s been one of the coolest moments so far?
Being invited to debut our upcoming #TrashTheBox Earth Day campaigns—our flagship consumer action campaign and a parallel online influencer campaign—during Climate Week NYC, while also teasing the Davos launch of the CPG–Retailer Consortium. Climate Week is the perfect convergence of media attention, policymaker engagement, and brand visibility, making it an ideal launchpad ahead of Earth Day and Davos.
What lesson have you learned as a founder?
Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment to launch. If you have a viable vision and a network that believes in it, start building momentum before all the pieces are in place. The right partners often show up because you’ve gone public.
