Mary and Rita, that’s who. We live in St. Petersburg, Florida and are great friends. One Sunday, Mary stopped by to help me make my famous (at least in my crowd) dry laundry detergent that I liked to put in glass jars and give to friends. Well, the project got rather ambitious — as things tend to get with Mary — and before my beloved partner Rick even had time to complain, we had taken over the kitchen. The counter was loaded with powder, and it was clear that in order to continue, we would have to produce elsewhere. As I was pondering the complexities of producing the washing powder for my buddies, Mary was thinking even bigger: Why not sell the laundry detergent at our favorite natural food store and local Saturday Farmer’s Market? Admittedly, at first I was dubious, but Mary’s persistence – and especially her professional background — convinced me that we had something pretty special going/were going to be successful.
Meet Rita (that’s me)…
As a beekeeper’s daughter, I’ve always been an “early adapter” of products and lifestyle choices that enable me to live an environmentally sustainable life – from riding my bicycle to work and grocery shopping to cooking in solar ovens to rooftop photovoltaic panels. After 25 years in engineering, I’m particularly interested in how things work, and ways to improve and make our existing systems more efficient. The structural aspects of engineering naturally made me passionate about my own body’s structural alignment, which led me to practice yoga; and that is how Mary and I met — we both love yoga! So before our Savvy Green workday begins, you will find us on the yoga mat.
Something about Mary…
As the eldest daughter in a family of grocers, this business is in her blood. When she was only 10 years-old — barely tall enough to stock a shelf — she was doing just that at her parents’ store. Mary also helped in the grocery store as she got older, worked the register and took delivery orders. Since then, her knowledge and know-how after years in Retail have grown extensively as her projects have become increasingly complex. Mary knows all the ins and outs of product development, testing, packaging and distribution. She understands how to get a brand and product to market – sell it – and expand it. She has decades of valuable experience in merchandising, marketing, and sales working as a Buyer and Merchandise Manager for a department store, wholesale consulting and brand development. Mary just gets it – in every sense of the expression.
