Today we’d like to introduce you to Stanley Shimamoto.
Hi Stanley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I love the interconnectedness of our world and always try to look for the beauty in our environment. This search for beauty first led me to a career as a designer fashion buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Susan of Burlingame, a high-end boutique in Northern California. While working in luxury industry for 15 years, I saw firsthand the enormous amount of waste and overconsumption that the industry produced. I decided to take my love for beauty, passion for sustainability, and deep knowledge of merchandising and redirect it to a business that would contribute to the long-term health of our planet. On August 24, 2021, I launched Sustainley.com initially as a blog that created awareness around how our everyday behavior influences the environment. Then in April 2022, I opened Sustainley.com as an e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar store in Hollywood in a multi-use space owned by jewelry and ceramics artist Sonia Boyajian. Sustainley.com is your corner store that sells eco-friendly products, such as mineral toothpaste, all-natural snacks & drinks, herbal supplements, and non-toxic household cleaning products. I do the work to vet the products and look for less plastic, compostability, natural ingredients from regenerative farms, and plant-based, and animal-cruelty free. My dream is that Sustainley will one day be the CVS or Walgreens of sustainability. I think that understanding sustainability is a journey and the journey should be joyful, so I make shopping at Sustainley fun and appreciate customers’ every little effort to make choices that help our environment thrive. Let’s live life Sustainley together!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The hardest part was having the courage to open. I’m deeply experienced in retail, so I felt that I needed to have a perfect plan before launching my business. I realized that expecting myself to be perfect was holding me back, so I decided to just go for it. I started by attending natural products conventions and found innovative products that fit the Sustainley vision. I placed orders and put together a rudimentary ecommerce website while waiting for the products shipments to arrive. In April 2022, I made the products available for sale online and held a launch party in-store. Fortunately, I starting selling immediately in both my channels. In order to get visibility, I started making dance videos of me in a globe costume and posted them on TikTok and Instagram. I immediately started getting comments that said I made thinking about climate change fun and approachable instead of making it ominous. Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been arduous, but now I’ve started to see the fruits of my efforts and I’m getting orders online from all over the United States, especially in remote parts of the country where eco-friendly products are hard to find in local stores. The most rewarding part of my business journey has been learning how to build the foundation, processing information and iterating, and finally reaching the customers who want my products. I love my community of Sustainley customers and can’t wait to connect with more eco-friendly mavens.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In 2015, I graduated with an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Before applying for admission to UC Berkeley, I was on the fence about business school because I had the impression that it was all about networking to make more money. While in school, I was pleasantly surprised to connect with other creative students who wanted to use business to help improve the quality of people’s lives and better the condition of our world. Furthermore, I fell in love with a creative discipline applied to business called Design Thinking. I’ve used the brainstorming tools I learned in my Design Thinking courses to unleash my ideas to build Sustainley. Education has helped me strengthen my confidence in being me and use my life to help improve the lives of those around me.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My friend and colleague Sonia Boyajian’s passion for climate change inspired me to redirect my career gaze from fashion to sustainability. Setting up shop in her multi-use space in Hollywood has given me the platform to connect with myriad people who want to take climate action in their everyday lives by buying eco-friendly products.
I am highly motivated by my Buddhist faith. I believe that all life in the universe is interconnected and that I cannot be truly happy when others are suffering. Climate change is causing incredible suffering to vulnerable populations throughout our world. I chant and meditate every day to bring forth wisdom to take effective action for the betterment of our world.
Pricing:
- Mineral Toothpaste $9.90
- All-Natural Sour Gummy Bears $9.95
- Natural Multi-Purpose Cleaner $13.90
- Ultra-Concentrated Laundry Detergent Strips $12
- Mushroom Coffee Mix $26.99
Contact Info:
- Website: SUSTAINLEY.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sustainley/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sustainley
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sustainley
