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JOHN SHEGERIAN: Welcome back to Green Is Good. This is the Green Festival’s edition of Green is Good. We have Cono Sur Vineyards and Winery on. We’ve got Max Erlwein on with us. He is the USA Brand Ambassador of Cono Sur. We have a sample right here of Cono Sur Beers and Wines, a bottle of their great wine from Chile. Welcome to Green is Good, Max. MAX ERLWEIN: Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Absolutely. You know, Max, before we get talking about your great brand, Cono Sur, talk a little bit about your own journey. Before we started taping, you were fascinating me with your education history and the fact that you grew up in Santiago, Chile. MAX ERLWEIN: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Talk a little bit with our audience about being a Brand Ambassador and the great education that you have and why they chose you to send you here. MAX ERLWEIN: I think that they chose me because I’m a winemaker by profession, you know. JOHN SHEGERIAN: A winologist, really? MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. In Chile, if you want to be a winemaker, first you have to be in ergonomics. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Ergonomics? MAX ERLWEIN: That is my background. I spent six years studying ergonomics, agriculture and engineering. Then, you took a specialization of winemaking. They needed someone to communicate things, you know. My job here is I’m not a sales guy. I came here just to communicate the things that we do in Chile, the things that we do in Cono Sur, helping the sales people because sometimes the reps from all over the country they have so many runs that they don’t know about the specific things about Cono Sur. There is no one better to explain those things than a winemaker. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I mean you’re really an expert. So, they sent an expert. MAX ERLWEIN: You’re always learning. I’m not an expert. Of course, there are people way better then i, but in terms of the Chilean wines and the Chilean characteristics of the wines, I can do some. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You can talk the talk. You can talk the vernacular with the sommeliers and the restaurateurs across America. You can really deliver the information that they need. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. There is nothing better than being communicated, again, from a winemaker. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s brilliant. MAX ERLWEIN: Because it is very different. For example, in saying, “This is a wine from Chile. It’s good and it costs X. Besides these wines from Chile from the Valley of Coachella. It’s 100% Sauvignon Blanc. For making this wine we use this kind of technique, blah, blah, blah.” How do I know? Because I made it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You made it. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s perfect. For our audience out there that wants to see how to buy and where to fine Cono Sur Wines, you can go to their great website, www.vineyardbrands.com. MAX ERLWEIN: That’s my importer. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s very important. Before we get talking about the nuts and bolts of the wine, tell us a little bit about your blogger competition. MAX ERLWEIN: The blogger competition is a competition that we started in the U.K. The bloggers post some recipes, like vegetarian recipes, sometimes vegan recipes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That can match up with your wines? MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly and they receive some incentives. Sometimes they have special trips. Sometimes they have special events. It’s a kind of thing, at least in Europe, and this is going to be the first year that we’re going to release in the U.S. JOHN SHEGERIAN: In the U.S.? MAX ERLWEIN: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, for the bloggers out there in the U.S. that love eating sustainable foods but want to match them with sustainable wine, you’ve got to go to their website, www.conosur.com or www.vineyardbrands.com. MAX ERLWEIN: www.vineyardbrands.com goes directly to www.conosur.com. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Perfect. It’s coming to U.S.A this year? MAX ERLWEIN: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: For the bloggers in the U.S.A.? MAX ERLWEIN: This is the first year, yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wonderful. Talk a little bit about how sustainable your brand is through their DNA. Let’s talk a little bit about growing the grapes and then take us through growing, harvesting, and delivery of the wines. MAX ERLWEIN: We cover the whole process. First of all, 25 percent of the production of Cono Sur is 75 organic. We have BCS certification, which is a German certification. Only 75 percent. The rest, in theory, is the vineyard management, which is a sustainable certification. Cono Sur does not make regular management any more. That means that in the organic management we’re not allowed to put any kind of chemical controls such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, nothing. Nothing kind of cides. Plus, we’re not allowed to put any kind of synthetic nutrients such as [4:42 inaudible], all those kind of nutrients that are so common in the regular agriculture. We are not allowed to put it in the soil in the vineyards. That’s the viticulture part. Also, we have around 11 different certifications from different concepts. One thing is the organic thing and the other one is the process. In all of our processes, we measure all the carbon footprint from the picking, actually from the farming to the delivery. We measure all CO2 emissions. We identify the part of the process that produces more CO2 and we reduce it. The things that we can reduce we compensate it by carbon neutral delivery certification. We we’re the first vineyard in the world to get the carbon neutral delivery certification. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What does that mean? MAX ERLWEIN: That means that all the CO2 emissions that we produce from the shipping from the trucks and the vessel – JOHN SHEGERIAN: You offset it. MAX ERLWEIN: We compensate it by green monitors. As an example, Chile is the most southern country in the world. Just one shipment from Chile to China sometimes could take one month to one month and a half in vessels. All the CO2 emissions that the delivery produces that we cannot control, we compensate it. So, all these wines, particularly this one, it is 100 percent organically grown grape wine. It’s an eco-glass of a bottle. That means a lighter bottle. We recycle the labels and also it has no CO2 emissions. You’re not going to find something similar from Chile. At least from Chile, I’m pretty sure you’re not going to find similar. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I haven’t heard of this anywhere. MAX ERLWEIN: For me as a winemaker, it’s a technical area. It’s quite hard to make this wine even greener. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You can’t think of it. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Scientifically. So the bottle is even -? MAX ERLWEIN: We use eco-glass with bubbles. JOHN SHEGERIAN: This is recycled paper for the labels. MAX ERLWEIN: And from the cases also. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow. MAX ERLWEIN: We have the oldest certifications, CEMARS, carbon neutral delivery, BCS. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Talk a little bit about some of the awards you won. You won Green Company of the Year in 2011. Who gave you that award? MAX ERLWEIN: It was The Drinks Business magazine in U.K. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Really? MAX ERLWEIN: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow. In the USA, for our listeners… We have listeners and audience viewers around the world, though, where can people find your wonderful and delicious wines? MAX ERLWEIN: We are working with Vineyard Events, which is our partner and importer. Vineyard Events has a presence all over the country. There are a few states that they do not have a presence, but actually, it is all over the country. This one should be available from the West Coast to the East Coast, all over. JOHN SHEGERIAN: In wine stores or great restaurants? MAX ERLWEIN: In wine store, restaurants, and sometimes depending on the state, in some supermarkets and grocery stores. Here in New York we’re not allowed to sell it in the supermarkets, right? JOHN SHEGERIAN: Right, right, right. MAX ERLWEIN: But in other states, you can find it in Whole Foods. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Does the Cono Sur brand, Max, do what they did with you in the United States? Do they send other oenologists that help work on their brand to U.K. or other countries in the world? MAX ERLWEIN: Actually, no. I’m the only one. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You’re the only one. MAX ERLWEIN: I’m the only one. But, no, I have to say I’m not the only Chilean who lives outside of Chile. For the Asian market, for example, we have two Chilean people living in Shanghai. For the U.K. market, we have one guy living in U.K. and I’m living in the States. For the European market, we hired five French people. We’re a Chilean winery who hired French people to sell wine. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Equal opportunity. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, you’re big in France, U.K.? MAX ERLWEIN: No, no, no. We’re not big in France. We’re big in certain destinations. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Tell us where. MAX ERLWEIN: We’re big in U.K. JOHN SHEGERIAN: U.K. MAX ERLWEIN: Canada. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Canada. MAX ERLWEIN: Japan. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Really? MAX ERLWEIN: And here. The most important thing this year is to focus on the U.S. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How about China? You mentioned two reps in Shanghai. Is it growing in Shanghai? Is it growing in China? MAX ERLWEIN: The people who live in Shanghai have taken over the Asian market. In China, we’re doing some stuff where we are starting to grow. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Start small and you’re going to start the process now. MAX ERLWEIN: But, I have to say that in terms of the organic management and in terms of the sustainable thing, I’m quite impressed about how the U.S. has started giving a more important— JOHN SHEGERIAN: To sustainability. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Finally catching up here. MAX ERLWEIN: Yes, I have to say that. I am impressed. JOHN SHEGERIAN: This is a Cabernet Sauvignon that you brought. MAX ERLWEIN: Actually, it’s a red blend. It’s 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 40 percent Cabernet from [9:29 inaudible] in Chile. [9:30 inaudible] means we use different appellations. Actually, in this case, we use a big percentage of Colchagua, but also we use grapes from Limari, a little bit, Cachopoal, and Maule, different valleys in Chile. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So what would this be? Would this be dry or on the sweet side or what is this? MAX ERLWEIN: No, this is a dry, red blend. JOHN SHEGERIAN: A dry, red blend. MAX ERLWEIN: We don’t make sweet. It’s a dry, red blend. I really like this one because it’s kind of a young style wine. That means it’s quite easy to recognize the main characteristic of the variety; the fruity of [10:08 inaudible] Sauvignon, the black peppers Santilogo from Carminel. It’s a nice acidity, nice minerality, and nice touch of oak. It spends one year in a barrel. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Really? MAX ERLWEIN: Yes, second use, French oak [10:20 inaudible]. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What other organic wines do you have besides this wonderful wine? How wide is your selection? MAX ERLWEIN: We have four varieties. This is our red blend. This is the only blend that Cono Sur Winery makes because in Chile, if you want to call a wine like a Cabernet, you have to put at least 85 percent. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I gotcha. MAX ERLWEIN: So, this is less than 95 so we can’t call it that. It’s a red blend, which I like it that way. We like it that way. We also make a Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. JOHN SHEGERIAN: These four? MAX ELWEIN: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Part of your organic line. Are they all here in America now? MAX ERLWEIN: They’re all here in America. Also, there are the other ones like [11:04 inaudible] we draw bicycles. For us bicycle is our— JOHN SHEGERIAN: What does that mean? MAX ERLWEIN: Our center is located in Chimbarongo, which is a small town two hours south from Santiago. For example, the workers wake up in the morning. They take their bike to go to the center to work in the pruning and the harvest, in the picking or even in the cellars too. It’s a way to honor our workers because sometimes the winemaker is the rock star and the winemaker, but nobody cares about the workers. Actually, those guys have a really hard job and they do a really good job. So, it’s a way to give the workers recognition. We put the bicycles— JOHN SHEGERIAN: To honor them. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: To show that this is an effort of everybody from the ground up. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. The bicycle, where we see that, represents the commitment that Cono Sur has with them [inaudible 12:01] like Green Company of the Year, one of the Top 10 Most Admired Brands and representing a commitment that we have with them. The third reason, Cono Sur is a kind of young company ran by young-spirited people. For us a bicycle is something fun and something simple that everybody can do. You don’t have to be an expert. You don’t have to be rich. You don’t have to own your own chateau, whatever. JOHN SHEGERIAN: It’s very democratized. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. So, it’s something that everybody can do and it’s inclusive. It’s integrated. That’s why we put the bicycles on. So far, it has been a huge success. If you go to our seller in Chimbarongo in Chile, instead of us putting you in a Mercedes van or in a copter, we’re going to put you on a bike. JOHNS SHERERIAN: That’s nice. MAX ERLWEIN: I’ve seen this from the CEOs and Presidents of big brands and we put them on bikes and they are happy riding bikes into the vineyard and they love it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: It’s probably one of the best experiences of their life. MAX WELWEIN: For foreign people, you don’t have too many chances to ride bikes in a vineyard in Chile, so it’s a good experience. JOHN SHEGERIAN: We’re down to the last minute and a half, Max. Any last thoughts you want to share with our audience and our listeners and our viewers about your beautiful wine, Cono Sur? MAX ERLWEIN: First of all, thank you for the support that you guys have given to us. JOHN SHERGERIAN: Absolutely. MAX ERLWEIN: We’re really happy to be here. This wine has a lot of good attributes. It’s not just organic. It’s carbon neutral. This year, in the wine spectator season, this same wine but the harvest of 2011, was chosen number 44 in the world. They have 200— JOHN SHEGERIAN: This one right here in front of us? MAX ERLWEIN: Yes, in 2011. JOHN SHEGERIAN: 2011. Wow. MAX ERLWEIN: Besides the findings of organic and sustainable and no CO2 emissions, it’s one of the best wines in the world in at least the 2011 harvest. We’re talking about here something which is affordable, clean, and with a really good quality. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And it’s actually great quality and it’s good for you. MAX ERLWEIN: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You’ve had it today. This is the first time we’ve ever had the actual winemaker himself. Max, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been an honor to have you on and to have Cono Sur on. For the bloggers out there that want to join the new competition with their four organic wines, please go to www.vineyardbrands.com to learn more about Cono Sur or learn more about their blogger competition or join it. Please go now. I’ve got to tell you this, you are a rock star, a sustainability rock star, and truly living proof that green is good. Thank you so much Max. MAX ERLWEIN: Thank you so much. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Thank you.

JOHN SHEGERIAN: Welcome back to Green is Good. This is the Green Festival’s edition of Green is Good. We’re here in beautiful New York City, New York, my hometown, and we’re so excited to have with us today Lisa Wurtz. LISA WURTZ: Hello. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Lisa is the founder of CocoMe. Lisa, thank you for joining us today. Before we get talking about your great company and the wonderful products that you have, share a little bit about the Lisa Wurtz journey leading up to founding CocoMe – the how, why and how you even got here. LISA WURTZ: I’ll be happy to. Thank you for having me too, John. JOHN SHEGERIAN: It’s an honor, really. LISA WURTZ: It’s really exciting to come out here and to talk to people. Basically, I was a teacher years ago and then became a stay-at-home mom when my daughter Charlotte was born. When she was a baby, I was busy getting ready for a dinner party and she got into my cosmetic things and took a huge bite out of my deodorant. After a panicked call to poison control, I thankfully found the chunk on the floor out of her mouth. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I’m sure that’s a very common occurrence. LISA WURTZ: It is. That was my sort of come-to-Jesus moment, when I realized we really have to have natural products in our home. I started seriously thinking about converting to things that were healthier for all of us. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Prior to that, were you a tree-hugging family or into these things at all? Or is that really just like the real epitome and flashpoint? LISA WURTZ: That was the epitome. I was interesting in becoming more natural and natural products. Years ago, there weren’t that many things on the market. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Great point. LISA WURTZ: We tried things, and it just wasn’t right for me. But after this happened with Charlotte, yes, that was my tipping point, and I started looking seriously and found great products. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How did that journey go? Where did you start looking? How many years ago was that again, about four? LISA WURTZ: It was three years ago. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Three years ago. So, how did you start looking and how did that evolve into creating a business? LISA WURTZ: I did, I think, what a lot of people do. You do a little research online. You go to Mrs. Green’s or Whole Foods and look at things. I would go and look in the aisle, I’d find something that was great, and I would go home and try it. If it wasn’t right for me, I’d try something else. I looked at labels, read the ingredients and found that I really didn’t know what a lot of the ingredients in these products were even though they were saying they were all-natural and completely safe. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Good point. LISA WURTZ: I started using just oils and fell in love with coconut oil as a body moisturizer. Feel in love with it. It is absolute the best thing that you can use on your skin. Unfortunately, it’s solid at room temperature and comes in a jar. So, if you want to put it on your body, you’re digging your hand in there, and these oil flakes are melting everywhere. One night, I was really just dripping all over my carpet and getting frustrated and said, “Gosh, if this were in a stick, my life would be so much easier.” Then I thought, wait a minute. Let me see if that’s there and it really wasn’t. I made one for myself with an old deodorant tube and just used it at home. Then my mom heard about it and said, “Can you make one of those for me?” and then my sister-in-law and it just started to snowball. I started really seeing a hole in the market and just an amazing oil that people weren’t able to use in a practical way. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, CocoMe was founded how many years ago? LISA WURTZ: We officially launched about a year and a half ago, the very end of 2013. JOHN SHEGERIAN: For our listeners and our audience members that want to find your products and also find you, it’s www.cocome.bodystick.com? LISA WURTZ: Correct, www.cocome.bodystick.com. We always do free shipping over $30. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Free shipping over $30. Where are you based? LISA WURTZ: We’re based right outside of the city, right in Westchester County, New York. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, you’re a New Yorker? LISA WURTZ: We’re New York, yeah. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Gotcha. So, www.cocome.bodystick.com. Launching the company, we have so many young people like you who want to be ecopreneurs, entrepreneurs. Did you have to go raise money? Did you just do this with your husband? How did you even put together your LLC and decide we’re going to make a business enterprise out of this? LISA WURTZ: I can tell you I do feel I started with an advantage because my father, who’s actually watching our interview at the moment, he’s always developed brands. So, I kind of new a little bit where to start, but we are self-funded. It very much started out as a mom and pop, sort of making it in my kitchen, let see how this goes kind of thing. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, dad was a branding expert? LISA WURTZ: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Oh, you have a little bit of a head-start then. LISA WURTZ: He’s in beverages, but the industries aren’t that different. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s right. Brands are brands. Great brands are great. LISA WURTZ: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Did he help you come up with the name and everything? LISA WURTZ: No, that was me. Like I said, we started in our kitchen, blended and started doing test groups and selling to people and here we are. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Let’s talk about these great products you have here. This is the body stick and this is the – LISA WURTZ: Lip elixir. It’s our lip balm. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow. So, why this? I mean, I meet you on an elevator today and I see this in your hand as you’re going to a pitch meeting somewhere and I ask you for your elevator pitch. Why would I want to be using this and why is this better than anything else on the market? LISA WURTZ: You want to be using it because it’s nature’s most potent healing potion in the palm of your hand with no mess and no waste. It’s just organic virgin coconut oil with a little bit of beeswax, that’s it, 100 percent organic. It can go anywhere on your body. If you kid or pet bites into it, nothing bad happens. There is hardly a thing for your skin that this can’t do. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You know I have to tell you something, Lisa. Years ago, I had one of the original founders of the first coconut water to come to America on Green is Good. LISA WURTZ: Oh, great. JOHN SHEGERIAN: He just literally floored me when he was telling me a little bit of the history of coconut water and just the great principles behind that. Even at one point during World War II when they couldn’t get enough blood to the wounded warriors out in the field, that coconut water is so healthy for you that they would actually mainline it into people who needed it. LISA WURTZ: Oh, wow. JOHN SHEFERIAN: Now with your products, it seems as though from a 360-degree point of view, ingested coconut water, they now say coconut oil even via pill or tablespoon, and now you’re even saying for your skin and for your body. It’s amazing from whichever way you’re getting it. LISA WURTZ: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And you’re offering it in a very clean, no fuss, no muss way. LISA WURTZ: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, this is just like a deodorant stick really. Where do you roll this on to? LISA WURTZ: You can put it anywhere on your body where you have dry skin or any kind of irritation. If you have rough elbows, hands, calluses, after sun care, it’s ideal. Everyone’s shaving their legs for the summer, put it on after you do that. Your skin is your body’s largest gland. You absorb everything immediately. You have to be really careful. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Anywhere? LISA WURTZ: Yeah, anywhere. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Safe anywhere. Children? LISA WURTZ: Barring coconut oil or beeswax allergy of course. JOHN SHEGERIAN: But, for children or anyone? LISA WURTZ: Yes, for anyone. People with eczema. People with psoriasis find it very healing. You could use it in your hair. You can use it as a deodorant. It does have natural antimicrobial properties, so that is something you can do. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow. So, you launched this a year and a half ago – where did you launch it and how’s it been going? LISA WURTZ: We launched just right here, just outside the City in Westchester. It’s been going really great. It’s actually a thrill to come to events like this where you’re in front of the customer and there’s that moment where the light goes on. These are people who are educated and know about coconut oil or maybe they just kind of like the smell of coconut. As soon as you show them a jar of coconut oil and say, “You could be doing this instead and get all the benefits,” you see the light go on in their face and that’s really thrilling. We’re expanding. We’re starting to get into retail stores. We want to replace Vaseline in every home in America with something much healthier and safer. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow, and Vaseline is a petroleum. LISA WURTZ: Exactly. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And not that sustainable of a product, let’s be honest. LISA WURTZ: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You started selling online, I take it? LISA WURTZ: Um-huh. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How soon after you launched this did you launch then your second product? LISA WURTZ: That was about a year after. Mainly we did that because of requests from customers who were using the big stick on their lips because they liked it so much. They were like, “It’s really great. It works great, but you just make it a little smaller because it’s awkward.” JOHN SHEGERIAN: This looks a little funny out in public. LISA WURTZ: Yeah, exactly or you don’t want to put something on your lips that you might put on your feet or your baby’s diaper rash. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s a good point too. So, this is now truly for lips? LISA WURTZ: That’s really for your lips. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Are retailers responding? Are you finding some luck getting into some retail locations? LISA WURTZ: We’re starting to. We’re very new. Right after launching the company, I had another baby, so we had to take a little bit of time. We just had our media debut last month and we are just getting into retail stores. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And it was a boy or a girl, your second baby? LISA WURTZ: It’s a boy. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, now you have Charlotte, and what’s your son’s name? LISA WURTZ: Britain. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Britain. So, Charlotte and Britain. LISA WURTZ: Correct. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Got it. Online, how are you getting the word out online about your new products? LISA WURTZ: Basically, at first you start with just launching with the people you know on your Facebook page and asking them to spread the word. Then as you get into the retail stores, you are trying to support their business while they support yours. You kind of tap in to their social media resources, a lot of social media, the Google AdWords, and the best SEO that you can possible do. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Speak about that. It’s a democratized world. One person like you, one ecopreneur like you can change the world. How do you get the best SEO? What does SEO mean for our audience out there who doesn’t know that? LISA WURTZ: SEO is search engine optimization. It’s basically a process that you go through with a professional who knows what they’re doing, where you optimize the search engine’s ability to pull up your site earlier in the people’s search so you can get more customers. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How do you find, like, a great SEO person? LISA WURTZ: I actually usually recommend word-of-mouth. I recommend interviewing other entrepreneurs and hearing their battle stories. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Okay, gotcha. When you were launching your new brand, what did Dad tell you? You know, Dad is a branding specialist. What was Dad’s advice to stand above the crowd, to get above the den, the noise? LISA WURTZ: Well, I have to tell you guys, Dad was a huge inspiration. When you start a company and then you have a baby and that’s hard, there are a lot of reasons to give up and to just not work that much that day because you’re exhausted. Him and my husband, too, were really voices saying, “This is good. Keep doing it.” JOHN SHEGERIAN: Your husband has another job? LISA WURTZ: Yes. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, he works another job. LISA WURTZ: He does. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, this is then your full-time job now from home? LISA WURTZ: It is. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow. For our audience members that just joined us, we’re so happy to have with us Lisa Wurtz. She’s the Founder and CEO of CocoMe. You can find her great products right here at www.cocome.bodystick.com. What’s the price break for free shipping? LISA WURTZ: At $30.00. JOHN SHEGERIAN: If you buy $30. 00. How much does this approximately cost right now? LISA WURTZ: It retails for $15.00. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Fifteen dollars – and then this is how much? LISA WURTZ: Three dollars. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Three dollars. So, you buy two of each, and your set on the shipping right there. Talk a little bit about, you mentioned earlier, Lisa, beeswax. How does beeswax play into your products, and why beeswax in the coconut oil? LISA WURTZ: A lot of people ask me that because there are a lot of people who just moisturize with the coconut oil. Beeswax in itself is another ancient healing balm with its own healing properties. It’s also antimicrobial and it’s also non-comedogenic. When you combine it with the coconut oil, what it does is it seals it in and allows it to really absorb into your skin. If you’re somebody who already moisturizes with coconut oil, you kind of have to stand there and let it absorb and it still kind of gets on your clothes. This alleviates that problem and it allows the coconut oil to do its work, so you can just put it right on and you can use it neat or you could chose to rub it in. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Who’s reviewed your product? Have you gotten any product reviews that have helped make it go viral a little bit more? LISA WURTZ: We have actually. We’ve gotten some fantastic blog mentions, and recently, we’ve been featured in some TV spots. The word is getting out there slowly and the feedback is very positive. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What percentage do you think of your clients right now are men and women? LISA WURTZ: I would say the vast majority are women, although we have a lot of men users. I just find that for my kind of products if there are women in the household and there’s a man there that could be using it, the woman might be doing the purchasing. I would say it’s for the man. I would say the vast majority of our customers are women, but we have a lot of men users. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What are some of the more different ways that your client base say they’re using the product right now? LISA WURTZ: Oh gosh. There isn’t a month that goes by that I don’t get another… I mean, everything from, “I use it on my calluses,” “I use it on my cat,” “I use it on my nipples when I’m nursing,” “I use it as a personal lubricant.” I mean, it’s just so safe and you can put it anywhere and people really do. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, it’s very versatile. Let’s just say that, right? LISA WURTZ: Very versatile although not latex-friendly, so keep that in mind. JOHN SHEGERIAN: We’re down to the last five minutes or so. Can you share a little bit about the journey as an ecopreneur, a young entrepreneur? First of all, I have to tell our audience out there that don’t have the benefit of being here, Lisa looks like she’s about 18 years old. So, if this is from this, buy it now. I’ll tell you like that. She doesn’t look old enough to have two kids. I keep looking at her saying that isn’t possible. And by the way, Charlotte bit into this. LISA WURTZ: Nothing. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Nothing. LISA WURTZ: No. My daughter gets out of the tub and I hand it to her. She put it on herself. She calls it her body crayon. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s awesome. Talk a little bit about the journey. What were you expecting that didn’t happen? Just share stuff that wasn’t even in the playbook when you sat down and mapped this thing out at the kitchen table. LISA WURTZ: I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned so far is that there are no rules. Everyone talks about what’s your strategy? What’s your strategy? That’s all fine and good, but you get out there and the day happens and things come at you and nothing goes as planned ever. You have to be super quick on your feet and comfortable with change and really not give up. I think my biggest hurdle continues to be something that I’m looking for to improve my product is packaging. I didn’t imagine it would be difficult. I mean just now there are eco-friendly packaging and things like that that companies like me can use. We’re still not quite there yet for our design. We want to find a cardboard solution. If there’s anybody out there who has it, contact me. I want to make the switch. That’s something that frustrating, that I wish I could find for my particular product just a little different than others. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How hard was it to, once you decided to put it into this form, how hard was it to find the right manufacture to do it at the right cost, and to keep the quality what you wanted? LISA WURTZ: That was extremely tricky, too. When you’re starting out, you don’t have huge production runs and a lot of people don’t even want to talk to you. You just make 50 phone calls, 60 phone calls, and then finally, you find someone who wants to do business with you and you just kind of start from there. I was lucky enough to find a company that was willing to take me with small runs and start there. As you get bigger, the prices get better, but you have to make that investment. You have to take that leap of faith that what you’re doing is going to work. JOHN SHEGERIAN: You really feel that this is the type of product that could really take over for where Vaseline is being used today? In theory, though, that’s how big the marketplace is for you. I mean you have a big universe to chase. LISA WURTZ: Really, there is nothing you can do with Vaseline that you can’t do with this. This is 100 percent organic, natural and healthy for you and has lots of benefits. Petroleum is for your car. There are lots of places where this should go, and we want to take it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Do you have any competitors in this space? LISA WURTZ: It’s very, very narrow. There are like small, home crafters and things like that who make sticks with coconut oil and things like that. As far as mainstream that people know, oh gosh, I’ve got to put this on my skin instead, no, there is nothing out there. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Besides dad and your daughter, who took the first bite, where do you find inspiration in terms of business or entrepreneurs? LISA WURTZ: Oh, wow. There are a lot of really inspiring business people that I’ve met during this process and people that I’ve research and thought were great too. There are great brands up by me even in Westchester. There’s Babo Botanicals, who was actually a really inspiring brand for me. I don’t know them personally, but they started out as a couple in Westchester and they have an amazing line of products for children and they’re everywhere now. Their products are great and super safe. Also, people that I just meet here and that are so willing with their knowledge to give to other people and help you out as business-to-business. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s great. We’re down to the last two minutes. I’ll leave it to you now to share with our audience, both our online and off-line audience. What are some final thoughts that you have about the product and where you want it to go in the years to come? LISA WURTZ: Our product is, as we said, there is hardly a thing that you can’t do for your skin with this product. I think that there are a lot of companies out there that are great and want to market themselves as natural and all that stuff when really there could be things in there that are confusing or questionable. We’re very straightforward. Coconut oil is perfect the way that it is. We don’t want to change it. We just want to make it easier for people to put on. I see us going to every home in America where that jar of Vaseline is and taking over. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Lisa, how hard was it to source the right coconut oil and where does it come from for your products? LISA WURTZ: That was a little bit tricky, too. We’re very careful to make sure everything is responsibly sourced. The Philippines is where our coconut oil comes from. We’re very happy with the quality that we’re getting. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Perfect. Lisa, thank you for joining us today. For our audience members out there, to support Lisa’s great company and to change from Vaseline to coconut oil for the lips and for everywhere else, go to www.cocome.bodystick.com. This is the Green Festival’s edition of Green is Good. Lisa Wurtz, you’re obviously an inspiring ecopreneur, and we’re just so truly honored to have you today, and you are living proof that green is good. LISA WURTZ: Thank you.

JOHN SHEGERIAN: Welcome back to Green is Good. This is the Green Festival’s edition of Green is Good. We’re here in New York City, New York, and we’re so honored to have with us today – this is the boss with us. He’s come in from Germany. The boss himself, Roland Bleinroth. Thank you for coming back to Green is Good. This is your second time on, but the first time we’re actually taping it on video as well, so thank you and welcome. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Thank you John. It’s always a pleasure. JOHN SHEGERIAN: It’s great. Now you are the boss. You’re the CEO of Messe-Stuttgart, and Messe is a lot bigger than just Green Festival here in America. Can you explain what Messe-Stuttgart is? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Well, actually starting with the word “Messe” it is actually the German word for trade show, so it’s really the Stuttgart trade show company. That’s what the name expresses, although you actually have a bunch of those when you go around Germany. There’s a Messe-Frankfurt, Messe-Hamburg, Messe-Munich, Messe-Berlin. Of course, the most important one is Messe-Stuttgart. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Of course, it is. Now it makes sense. It means trade show. Give a little bit about the history of both you, because I know it’s fascinating, but for our audience members that didn’t get to hear the first show, talk a little bit about your journey and how it brought you to Messe-Stuttgart and how you’ve now grown it into such a big international brand. ROLAND BLEINROTH: The history is really a long story. To make that short would be very difficult. In general, Germany has a little bit of a head start in the trade show business. That’s because they started like hundreds of years ago. Messe-Frankfurt, as one example here, was founded in the year 1240, and that’s been operating non-stop every since, with a few breaks, there with wars going in, but, otherwise, it’s been in operation since 1240. Banks always enjoy that when you tell them that story of when the company was founded and you say 1240. So, yes, there is a really, really long history of trade shows. It started with Emperor Frederik II. This was way back before the turn of the century, the first turn of the century, year 940 when he started discovering that trade shows are a good thing for the economy. That’s really where trade shows started in Germany, more than a thousand years ago. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What was your background a little bit prior to Messe-Stuttgart and then how you joined and made it into an international brand? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Personally I worked for [2:34 inaudible] for a long time actually in North America. I spent 10 years in Atlanta running the Messe-Frankfurt operations here. We launched quite a few shows in the States and Canada and Mexico. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And you were a trade show expert by just what you were doing prior to Messe-Stuttgart. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Well, that’s just one of those things. There are no trade show experts. You learn by doing it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Okay, I gotcha. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Actually, these days you can study it. When I started, there was no such thing as studying to be a trade show manager. So you would study something like business or marketing or whatnot, and most people got into the trade show business by coincidence. That’s not something that is usually on your map when you’re in high school and you say oh I want to be a trade show manager, because you usually don’t have any exposure. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is or has been so far. Same for me. It was a coincidence. At some point, I got from somebody saying, “Hey, there is a job and I think this is good for you.” I took a look at it, and sure enough, it was. And that’s one of those other things in the trade show industry, either people like it and then they really stick with it and they never get out of it again or they’re gone very quickly. It is something that takes a special type of breed, I guess, to be successful in trade shows. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And how long ago did you then join on as CEO of Messe-Stuttgart? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Messe-Stuttgart I joined in 2006, so it’s almost 10 years, almost 10 years now. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Before we get talking about the New York event that we’re at and then national events that you’re going to be having for the rest of this year, let’s talk about home base. What do you actually do with Messe-Stuttgart back in Germany and how big that is over in Germany? ROLAND BLEINROTH: The German trade show model is a little bit different from the rest of the world because of the historic perspective. All of the German trade show organizers also have their own facility. So we actually own a convention center, which is 1.2 million square feet in Stuttgart, Germany. It is quite new. It’s the most modern one in Europe. It only went online at the end of 2007. So it’s a really, really nice facility with a lot of bells and whistles and gimmicks and whatnot. I could give you a whole spiel of just that. It’s very, very interesting and very comfortable for exhibitors that attend these. We run about 70 shows annually across the board, medical industry, automotive industry, IT industry, a lot in B2B, some B2C shows so it’s really across the board. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Year-round there’s shows happening – either being put up or being broken down, year around. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Pretty much year-round. There are certain slots on the calendar that don’t work. Holidays, of course, are exempt. Vacation time is very difficult to run shows. There are certain slots that just don’t work, but the rest we are booked. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And the Green Festival, Messe-Stuttgart Green Festival, explain when that is and how usually hugely successfully it is. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Actually, the U.S. version of Green Festival here is older than what we do in Germany. Usually, it’s the opposite. We just started getting into that particular show segment back in 2007, and we launched the first event, which is a Slow Food show run with the Slow Food Association of Germany as our partners. That was the nucleus. Then there was a garden show, then a home and renovation show and an energy show and a yoga show then an iMobility, intelligent mobility show. So, it just added up and we now have eight brands, but they’re all individual shows. They are all individual brands, which are marketed individually and we don’t even have the umbrella brand Green Festival as we have here. There are just eight individual shows that happen to be concurrent. The attendee comes in with one ticket and he gets all eight. That’s how it worked in Germany. JOHN SHEGERIAN: We we’re talking a little bit prior to filming off air about the success. Share with our audience a little bit how hugely successful it was this year. ROLAND BLEINROTH: That show has really taken off, and it’s grown from year to year. This year we had eight halls filled so there was about a million square feet of space covered. There was maybe a little bit left for growth for the next year, but it almost filled the entire facility. We had 88,000 attendees, which is up 10 percent from the previous year. It was really packed. At some points, the aisles were so packed it was hard to get through. The show runs three-and-a half days, so one extra day compared to New York. It was a really nice show. I really enjoyed it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: For our audience that just joined us I’ve got Roland Bleinroth with us today. He’s the CEO of Messe-Stuttgart. To learn more about Messe-Stuttgart and all the great trade shows they do year-round, please go to www.messe-stuttgart.de/en. Roland, now let’s talk about what you’ve done here in the USA. You came to the U.S. and you then took over what was already an historical green festival situation. Explain your vision on how Messe-Stuttgart came into the U.S. now, took over this Green Festival and is now scaling it to new heights. ROLAND BLEINROTH: It was just an opportunity that came along. The former organizers and founder of Green Festival are still onboard – two major associations here, Green America and Global Exchange. They founded this particular show 14 years ago. They are still our partners here. They are still promoting the show. They are still backing it. We were happy to have the opportunity to step on this plate and take it to the next level. That was just an opportunity that came up. We thought it was the right show for us at the right time in the right place, because North America is certainly ready for it and we feel we can contribute a little bit to the growth of it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How long ago did you take over these shows? ROLAND BLEINROTH: This was in March 2013. So we are pretty much in the second year now of us operating it. It runs in five destinations – five cities in North America and there is probably room for more. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Right. You have a unique perspective. You’re European-born, but you spent a lot of years here in the United States. So share a little bit about the differences in sustainability, culturally speaking, in Europe and the U.S. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Well, particularly with Germany, to start, they’re maybe pretty much ahead of the U.S. in that particular category. It’s been mainstream for the last 30 years or so. It is just becoming mainstream here, which is great, and we’re seeing it capture on really, really quickly, but that happened in Germany 30 years ago. Recycling and separating your trash is nothing new to people. That’s become a habit. JOHN SHEGERIAN: It’s part of the DNA of Germany. ROLAND BLEINROTH: That kids grew up with. They would expect the trash can to be a single can. It always comes in three or five inclinations right next to each other. So people actually grew up with it. They take a whole different attitude to it. It’s not something that you do because somebody tells you this is what you should be doing. It’s become natural. JOHN SHEGERIAN: What have you learned from the experiences with the Green Festival, really not called the Green Festival as you say, numerous different trade shows underneath one roof, what have you learned from the sustainability version of the Green Festival in Stuttgart that you had four weeks ago that you can now apply to scaling and taking the Green Festivals in the USA to new heights? ROLAND BLEINROTH: There are probably a couple of lessons. One of the most important ones is for people to grasp that it is not expensive, that it is not something that would cost them an arm and a leg if they really make intelligent choices about what they consume and what they buy. That is not really the case. You can be conscious of what you buy and be conscious of how you spend your dollars without having to spend more. The choices are out there. It’s a matter of finding it, and again, since it is a little bit more challenging to find these really good products, that’s why you should come to the Green Festival because this is where they are. People are actually excited when they walk through the hall and they discover great products that they never had heard of and they haven’t seen at their retailer. We have retailers coming in who feel the same way about it. JOHN SHEGERIAN: The Green Festival is truly B2C and B2B. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Yes. It’s a hybrid show, which is the same in Germany and it actually has to be because there are many small companies here and they need also a sustainable business base, not just three days of business here and that would not take for the rest of the year so they would definitely need the retail exposure. We’ve worked on that a lot the last two years to get the retail community to come here also. So, yes, we want the B2B business. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, Roland, this year when you look at all the cities that you’re going to, and here we are today in beautiful New York City, what new sponsors are you excited about that have signed on and which ones are you still really visioning and hoping to get in the future? ROLAND BLEINROTH: I can still imagine a really, really long list of sponsors that could be involved and that should be involved. But it’s nice also to see that more and more are catching on. Maybe, most prominently, you start at the very top, the platinum sponsor, is Volkswagen and Audi. Those are our platinum sponsors. JOHN SHEGERIAN: They’ve signed on this year. ROLAND BLEINROTH: They’ve signed on this year and they will be presenting their electric and hybrid vehicles only. Not really the mainstream of what they do, but they will be highlighting their electric vehicles. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wonderful. ROLAND BLEINROTH: For hybrid vehicles, Ford was onboard for many years in the past. So, yes, that’s also very exciting to see that the vehicle industry is really discovering electric mobility is an economical option. JOHN SHEGERIAN: And your type of clients that come here will respond to that so they’re seeing this as a very important place to showcase their new products. ROLAND BLEINROTH: It’s a great opportunity to get the message out to the customer. Again, you’d be surprised just on the vehicle-side how much is already a part. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Do you have some brands that are already showcasing their products back in Stuttgart that want to now come and bring their brands to the U.S. yet? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Yes, that’s happening also. We’re very excited about that happening. Some products are actually making the jump across the Atlantic. One is right here next to us doing test drives with bicycles. It’s a Swiss company called Stromer, who also became a sponsor here. They do all five cities in the U.S. now. These are gorgeous, really gorgeous bikes. You’ve got to see them. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Electric bikes. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Electric bikes. Yes, of course, you still pedal but you’ve got electric support to it. But they’re designed from the ground up. It’s not a bicycle with an added electric motor and battery attached somewhere, which always looks clumsy and not so attractive. JOHN SHEGERIAN: These bikes are really designed beautiful. ROLAND BLEINROTH: And they ride like a charm. You get 50 miles on one charge. It’s amazing. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s a fascinating marketing principal. You really have then some very wonderful and long-term sponsors and folks that have been involved with Messe-Stuttgart that can now see the real, as you said earlier in the show, the rise of sustainability in the U.S., take advantage of their relationship with you and now bring their products here to the U.S. public. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Exactly, and it’s working the opposite way too. Just earlier this morning, when I was talking to an exhibitor here who does little, really very, very small types of sonars, it’s not really a sonar about groups of infrared light. Very, very interesting product. We just chatted about him coming to Germany. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So the reverse even is possible? ROLAND BLEINROTH: His product is already certified in Germany. He can market it immediately, and he’s very excited about the opportunity to see that there is a Green Festival in Germany that he can now take advantage of. So it’s going both ways. This business, like any business, is becoming international also. JOHN SHEGERIAN: How is the trade show industry as a whole? You are one of the real leaders of the trade show industry. How is the trade show industry helping push forward the green movement and sustainability movement so it moves faster through society? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Like always it is an evolutionary process and it does take some time. We currently run trade shows, different trade shows not just Green Festivals, in six countries around the world. So we’re doing quite a few countries. The Green Festival right now is in Germany, and it’s here in the U.S. It hasn’t gone anywhere else yet, but we’re certainly looking at other countries. Just to give you one visionary thought here: Maybe China is going to come up. Yes, this is a topic that will be an issue in China not just yet, but give it a couple of years. I’m only talking a couple of years here. I can see this happening in two or three years in China. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Messe-Stuttgart bringing Green Festivals or a sustainability forum to China. That makes sense. ROLAND BLEINROTH: We run a lot of shows in China, and we see in the construction industry, industrial sectors and agriculture how the Chinese are becoming conscious about what they’re doing to the environment, what they’re doing wasting energy and all the rest of the sustainability problems that China is really at the top of the pyramid. They’ve recognizing it, and they’re changing their ways. They are very, very interested to discover how to do it. So I can see this happening in China in just a couple of years. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I see this year to your lineup of cities you’ve added Portland. Can you share with our audience why have you added Portland? Why is Portland now part of the Green Festivals program? ROLAND BLEINROTH: Portland became a destination due to the feedback from our exhibitor base. We spend a lot of time and effort serving our customers. One of those old wisdoms of business is listen to your customer. We do that. We survey our attendees a lot and our exhibitors, including the ones that are not coming. One of the outcomes was Portland is a hub where people are very interested in. We said okay if our customer wants Portland, we will talk a closer look at it. We did. We found it verified that there is a very interesting market in Portland, so we launched Portland for the first time this year and it is actually going quite well. JOHN SHEGERIAN: That’s exciting. ROLAND BLEINROTH: We’re excited about the first show there. JOHN SHEGERIAN: I’ve seen as an employer here in the United States, Roland, that we have a lot of young people that come to work for our company but because people can work virtually now they want to live and work from Portland. We actually have some employees out of Portland, and they’re young. They love sustainability. I think you’ve chosen a winner of a location. I’m excited to go up there and bring Green is Good to Green Festivals in Portland. We’re down to the last two minutes, and I want to give you the opportunity. You’ve come all this way from Germany to be here at this wonderful event that you’re putting on, Messe-Stuttgart is putting on, what final thoughts do you have for our audience members, both consumers and potential exhibitors, in the United States and around the world before we sign off for today? ROLAND BLEINROTH: It’s always exciting to be at this type of event at the Green Festivals, to see the enthusiasm that’s out here. We have 800 volunteers just in New York working on this event behind the scenes mostly, sorting trash to name one, which a lot of volunteers do. We have a zero footprint here. There’s no waste that this show produces. All the energy that we use, electricity, green renewable energies, so no footprint. There is no carbon footprint here. We work on this show actually being green, not only having it in a name. It’s exciting how people are willing to work for that as volunteers. We have that in New York as well as in the other destinations as well. To really see that movement, that people don’t see it just as a commercial enterprise but really as a mission is really exciting and really fun. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Thank you so much. You know Roland it’s always an honor to have you on. We want to have you back on at any of the other Green Festivals this year. Green is Good is so honored to participate as a media partner with Green Festivals. It is truly an honor for us. For our audience out there, to learn more about Roland’s great company, Messe-Stuttgart, go to www.messe-stuttgart.com. Again, this is Green is Good. This is the Green Festival edition of Green is Good here in New York City, New York. Come to the Green Festivals all around the United States. This year they’ve added Portland. Go to www.greenfestivals.org to check them out and also you can go to www.messe-stuttgart.com as well. Roland, you are a sustainability superstar and truly living proof that green is good. ROLAND BLEINROTH: Thank you. Green is good. You’ve got that right. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Thank you.