1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where we explore the journeys that lead to success. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:14,000 I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:21,520 insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and experts who will share not just their expertise 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,440 but the milestone moments that have reshaped their journeys and led to significant achievements. 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,120 So if you're looking for motivation, you're in the right place. Subscribe now and discover the 6 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:43,920 milestones that mark the path to success. Thank you for joining us on another episode of 7 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:50,960 Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, your host. And today, my special 8 00:00:50,960 --> 00:01:01,680 guest is Dion Anzhalov. He is founder and CEO of Organic Tea Start. Dion has a clear mission 9 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:09,360 to integrate sustainability in a textile printing and corporate branding. Welcome to the show, Dion. 10 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:17,440 Thank you, Sheila. Thank you for the invitation and to be a part of your show and to talk about 11 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:24,880 the sustainability. So can you tell us a little bit more about what led you to become an entrepreneur 12 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:36,240 and start Organic Tea Start? Wow, it's a great story. I started, let's say, 20 years ago, and 13 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:46,880 I'm struggling with a lot of problems during that time. But finally, I always find a decision for 14 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:55,120 all the problems. But this is a very interesting experience that I have to be an entrepreneur. 15 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:04,080 And every day, I'm learning something new and this keeps me alive and wakes me up every morning 16 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:11,440 because every day is very interesting and I'm meeting a lot of new people, a lot of new 17 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:19,840 adventures, and allows me to explore the world and also to educate people about the sustainability. 18 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:27,680 And this is one of my driven mission now with this project Organic Tea Start. 19 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,600 So were your parents business owners, entrepreneurs? Are you a first generation 20 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,880 entrepreneur or is this something that runs in your family? 21 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:45,440 Oh, no, I'm the first generation entrepreneur. My parents were in cultural side of business. 22 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:57,360 They were just employees and I learned by myself with little help of friends. And I can say that 23 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:04,880 my father-in-law also helped me to start the business. And he pushed me. He said, 24 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:13,280 I believe you that you can succeed in that. And then I say, okay, then if somebody support me, 25 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:20,320 I can do that. I agree. It's great when you have someone that believes in you or 26 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,240 they can help answer questions when you have those questions, those doubts. 27 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:29,360 But I loved how you mentioned entrepreneurship. It's like a roller coaster. There's a lot going 28 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,640 on every single day, brings something new. And I think that's the biggest thing that I 29 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:44,400 love. Absolutely. This is an amazing part that it's like a roller coaster one day up, one day down 30 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,640 and like this. Yes, it's very good metaphor. 31 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:59,520 So you have a really interesting tiger story. Your brand, your organic brand talks about 32 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:06,720 tiger cotton. Can you explain what this is all about? Oh yeah. The story about the tiger cotton 33 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:16,800 brand is very unique because this is a story about diversity, about the cotton in conversion, 34 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:27,120 about the farmers, about the tigers. The story behind that is because farmers didn't put anything 35 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:35,680 on the field for three to four years. And this is how they clean the soil. These fields are behind 36 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:42,800 two habitats of the tigers and allow the tigers moving between the habitats. And because the soil 37 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:53,040 is clean, there is no any more chemicals and insecticides. This allows the biodiversity return 38 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:59,200 of the tiger and the population of the tiger. Because of that, we call the tiger collection 39 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:08,720 of the products and allows also the farmers working on the clean field planting organic cotton, 40 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:16,960 which is also environmental friendly. You know, one of other things is also that the cotton 41 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:26,480 is sprayed with the water and sugar. And this makes ants go to the flower cotton and eat the 42 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:34,720 insecticides that is going to the cotton. This is also the good for environment. It's a lot of 43 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:41,520 interesting stories about the tigers and about the environment, about the soil because we don't use 44 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:49,440 any chemicals, nothing that can harm the cotton and the biodiversity and tigers in general. 45 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,960 Okay. So when we purchased one of the products from Organic Tea Store, 46 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:57,840 we're helping the tiger population. 47 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:07,760 Correct. And the farmers and the farmers also, the farmers who live and work side by side with the 48 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:19,040 great Bengal tiger in India. What role does consumer advocacy play in shaping a sustainable brand? 49 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:30,720 Oh, it's a huge, if I can say it, because we want to educate them that the sustainability 50 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:39,840 is a way of thinking. You have to think about not only for the moment, but for the future, 51 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:49,040 how your act today, we're going to reflect to your future. We have to prevent and to keep our 52 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:57,920 planet. This is our driven mission to educate the people because for example, manufacturing one 53 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:09,360 regular t-shirt are using 2,700 liters of water. For just one organic, we're using 90% less water. 54 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:18,800 And this water is even clean. You can drink in the end because the cotton is clean. No chemicals, 55 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:28,480 no ink dyes that it's chemicals also. Yes. And we want to educate also the people that 56 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:41,040 not only the cotton and the products, they think about also for the wasting, the paper and water 57 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:48,560 and plastic bottles. All of these things is part of education. That's why I say we need to change 58 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:56,960 the way of thinking about the future nowadays. How do you leverage partnerships that make a 59 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:02,320 difference? So you work with distributors, you work with the end consumers. What are these 60 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:12,000 partnerships look like? Oh, these partnerships is interesting because we're showing the supply chain 61 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:21,040 to our distributors, explaining how and from where the cotton came, what we're doing and how we 62 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:30,160 save the planet. And then we educate again the distributors because they are speakers to the end 63 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:38,480 customers, to the people who are consumer of our products. We're teaching them what is important 64 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:45,440 that the organic products is environmental friendly. They're good for your skin, regulating the 65 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:53,280 temperature of the body because this is natural product. And all of these things we need to show 66 00:08:53,280 --> 00:09:02,400 them, to show them that all the chain is certified. And this is important for the distributors because 67 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:10,960 now they understand the importance of the organic products. And after that, they transfer this 68 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:18,880 information to end customer. And end customer realize that the fast fashion is something that 69 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:25,280 is killing all the efforts that we're doing for the planet because in the end of the day, 70 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:32,400 the regular t-shirt finishing on the landfill, but the organic t-shirt is long lasting, 71 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:40,160 deserve the price and you proud when you're wearing this organic product. And the organic 72 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:46,640 t-shirt is compostable. So you have a special certification that you mentioned on your website. 73 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:54,080 Can you just explain what that entails? Yeah, this is the gold award for the organic product. 74 00:09:54,080 --> 00:10:02,560 It's called global organic textile standard. We've been certified every year. We're going through 75 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:12,880 the special process of certifying all the chain supply from the farmers to the suppliers. 76 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:22,320 Everything is checked by this certified program. And if we do something wrong, 77 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:28,640 then this product is not anymore organic. And this is very important for us because 78 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:39,360 we showing our attitude to the people, to the printing, to the environment and saving the nature, 79 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:51,840 saving water, health and everything. It's very important because so many of the disease nowadays 80 00:10:51,840 --> 00:11:01,440 are causing the chemicals that we put with just regular clothes in our body, unfortunately. 81 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:07,520 Well, thank you. I've learned a lot about organic cotton today in this conversation alone. 82 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:18,800 So what is your next milestone? Oh, it's hard to say because it cannot be just one, but let's say 83 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:27,680 the biggest one is to show the people that the organic product can be very fashionable. Again, 84 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:34,800 I'm going to repeat, environmentally friendly. And they can wear it with pride. And then also 85 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:43,200 they can be a part of the solution that we can prevent polluting our planet. This is very 86 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:51,760 educational part and it's a mission for us just to educate people and to change their mind that 87 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:57,600 the future, depending of us, of our action that we're going to take. 88 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:04,960 Okay, but I do need you to set a milestone because it's milestone moment. So let's talk about 89 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:10,960 at least a number, let's throw out a number. How many people do you want to reach that message so 90 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:17,520 that I can check back in about six months and say, have you, have you reached your milestone? 91 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:26,320 Okay, then, okay. Then I gotta say around, let me say something realistic, 92 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,920 I have 500 people, let's say 500 people for the next six months. 93 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,400 Okay. Well, as soon as I get 500 episode downloads, I'll share it with you and say, 94 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:44,160 Dion, you met your milestone. You should think bigger. You should have done like 5,000. I think 95 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:50,960 we'll get five. Yeah, I'm quite sure because let's say tomorrow I'm going to have a meeting with 96 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:57,760 eight people, educate them about sustainability. And this is only the beginning. And that's why 97 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:04,000 I'm saying, let's say 500, but as you can say, maybe 5,000 and more. I don't know. We'll see. 98 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:10,320 Stop there. Let's go into the millions Dion. Come on. Let's think. Oh, great challenge. Thank you. 99 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:17,920 Sheila. It's great challenge. Well, before I let you go, I'd love for you to share one piece 100 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:26,640 of advice to our audience so that they take action today and make an impact. Take care of your plan 101 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:34,560 of the planet. It's engagement for every day, not just once per month or once per year. It's 102 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,240 to prevent and to save our planet is every day. We have to do it every day. 103 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:49,600 I mean, using a water, garbage, clothes, you know, it's a lot of things, but let's do it every day 104 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:59,120 and you're going to change. This will change your life. So where can my audience learn more 105 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:06,640 about organic tea star or where can we acquire a t-shirt? Where can we visit? You can do that on 106 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:16,400 organictstar.com. You can reach us there. You can see our collection, our products. We have 107 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:23,920 from babies, newborn to the adult, everything we're covering and everything following the 108 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:31,360 fashion trends, colors, shape and models we have for everyone, any kind of products. 109 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,000 Thank you so much for joining me. 110 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,480 Thank you, Sheila. Thanks for the invitation. It was a pleasure to speak with you. 111 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:43,760 And thank you all for joining us in another episode of My Old Friend. 112 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,720 Thanks for joining us in another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership.