People We Adore: Tippy Tippens

A: My background is in design - product & furniture, I designed & built furniture for many years & then went to grad school at Pratt for Industrial Design. From there I worked for Kohler designing faucets & then freelanced for a while. I love to cycle, garden, travel, & hang with my pug ChaCha. When the BP Oil Spill disaster happened in 2010 I was freelancing in NYC & I developed my launch product BirdProject Soap which raises funds for oil spill clean up & recovery as my way to help.

I got my start on Kickstarter, back when that was a brand new thing, to raise funds for the first batches of soaps.I decided to move to New Orleans & became inspired to start my company, Goods that Matter. Every GTM product is made of eco friendly materials & donates to a partner social/environmental cause. We're proud to have donated nearly 80K to date & to be a certified B-Corp

A: I love to collaborate & build new partnerships, I also love to help where it's needed & create change - I think those are my superpowers. There are so many difficult issues & I like to provide a hopeful way to address/highlight & take action towards. Also to help people make their voices heard. I use my superpowers through our products, donations, local production partners, & community events.

A: I meditate every morning, do barre classes online most mornings, walk with my pug ChaCha in the woods on the daily - I love to journal/sketch, eat clean most of the time, & at night take time to wind down. I've found that the better care I take of myself the better I'm able to deal with the regular stress of owning/running a small business. If I feel like crap, it's just so much harder to tackle issues or problem solve so it's become more & more important to me to take good care of myself. That & turning 50 - ha! But, it's like they say on the airplane safety instructions, you can't help others if you don't put your oxygen mask on first. I also love visiting museums & art galleries, or wandering around town to keep my inspiration cup full.

A: I'm torn - but to pick one, the Third Eye Chakra, I love dreaming up new possibilities & new realities. I also feel pretty connected to my intuition/gut feelings & indigo is my absolute favorite color.

We can't wait to share Laura's live interview with Tippy: Check it our here