When i shared with my parents the decision to join Tupperware in the middle of a pandemic and after 12 amazing years at Herbalife Nutrition, they were as usual very supportive but kept wondering why i was leaving the company. They also couldn’t hide the excitement as they shared this picture of me (top right) from 34 years ago.
The Shape-O® Toy next to me has been manufactured by Tupperware since 1969! So when they shared this picture I had a revelation moment. I purchased this same toy for our 2 year old , the one bottom right in the picture (without knowing this) while navigating the website during my interview process . I am sure that if we take good care of it, Emiliana (our daughter) will be able to pass it forward to new generations and this is what gets me excited about this new chapter in my professional life , to be part of company which products are made for a lifetime , which helps to eliminate disposable waste.
My environmental education evolution has come from the love I have for the ocean. I am a big fan of water sports and the reality hit me during a trip to Bali, Indonesia where I was sharing waves on one of the best surf breaks out there, Uluwatu. The thing was, I was not only sharing this majestic place with other surfers but with plastic bags floating next to a turtle! Here i was, in what to me is one of the most beautiful places in the planet, already well aware of the disposable plastics situation but doing almost nothing about it . After seeing this with my own eyes and while traveling with Desire (my wife) and Emiliana, I came out of that surf session worried and down, i had to do something about it.
Since then, i have taken a couple of baby steps forward, I started supporting Surfrider foundation and have joined multiple beach cleanups in LA which have taught me a lot about the reality of disposable plastic, they have been very helpful in my learning process, their 2019 beach clean up report provides great insight if you are interested to learn more. Can you guess what was the #1 item picked up ? Plastic fragments.
My brother has also been fundamental in my learning process, he founded Circular last year, a forward thinking business in Mexico that made me aware of the possibilities of leveraging high quality plastic to tackle environmental problems. In less than a year of operation they eliminated the use of 800,000 plastic cups! and they were well on their way to 1 million cups before COVID put a complete stop on the entertainment industry. I had been attending multiple music festivals for years and dumping cups of plastic without really asking myself, Where does this trash goes to? What if I reuse one plastic cup instead of multiple cups? What if i bring my own cup?
My family has been involved in the plastics industry for many years, my brother and I went to plastic expos around the world and all we could think of at the time was how boring it was but how cool it was to travel, neither of us would have guess that our paths would point again in a similar direction but in a way to find solutions that reduce harm to the planet and with a true purpose of putting our heads and hearts to work towards leaving a better world for our kids. We firmly believe high quality plastic can save us from plastic and as I learn more in this new role from experts, consultants, peers, trends and how to preserve our environment I will do my best to drive positive change.
Here I am, starting a role in an iconic company, that has been around since the 40’s (seriously, who doesn’t use the word “Tupper” when referring to the containers most commonly seen in refrigerators?) with forward thinking leaders I admire and keep learning so much from and convinced that we can make a positive impact by reducing disposable waste while creating additional income opportunities.