Diane van Zwanenberg, Founder of Coconut Matter, on the process (& importance) of creating all-natural and plastic-free cosmetic products + the entrepreneurial journey that led her here

Meet Diane van Zwanenberg, the founder of Coconut Matter, an ethically made, all-natural, socially driven skincare brand based out of Hong Kong on a mission to reduce plastic waste from the global cosmetics industry, simply put, to reduce plastic waste from our bathrooms.

“My business is about enabling sustainable living. And, I can’t enable sustainable living if a product doesn’t work or if I am asking people to be inconvenienced by the product -- inconvenienced as in, you have to put your arms up for ten seconds while your deodorant dries, or accept that it drags on your skin and it hurts, or that it causes rashes, etc. That’s not enabling sustainable living. So you have to produce a product that really works and that’s a pleasure to use and then sustainable living just becomes the icing on top. It’s a no brainer.” -- Diane van Zwanenberg

In this episode we chat about:

• The journey that led Diane to founding Coconut Matter (even though as a kid she swore she would never run her own business)
• Why creating a business that made both a social and environmental impact was so important to her
• The challenges she's had to overcome to formulate, package, and market her plastic-free plant-based products (it’s not been an easy journey)
• Why creating a zero-waste cosmetic product was so important to her + the importance of using plant-based and non-toxic ingredients
• How she developed a relationship with Kokonut Pacific, an organization that works with rural populations in tropical countries to help better their lives by improving their utilization of coconuts
• And so much more!

Happy listening!

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