We recently connected with Heather Itzla and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Our company started as a reseller of the least wasteful school + office supply products we could find in the marketplace. It was nearing the end of 2018 and my business partner and I went out to shop for weekly planners to use for the upcoming year. What we
found was that EVERY planner we came across was ultimately destined for landfill due to the way they were bound, or because of the cover material (pleather, leather, cloth, laminated papers).

We went back to the office empty handed and designed our own planner and went to print with it.

It’s our best selling product 5 years later, and we’re growing the category – we’re now (mostly) a Zero-Waste Planner business.

*we also design the only repairable/recyclable 3-ring binders on the market

Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Our concern (bordering on obsession) around plastic pollution brought us (founders) together in 2016 after crossing paths at numerous plastic pollution events.

After many years of clean-ups and community education, we came to understand the scale of the problem: the amount produced annually outweighs all of humanity, it’s now documented in our air, soil, and water, from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the
Mariana Trench. The most meaningful way to address the issue is to disrupt the addiction to plastic products by designing products that intentionally prevent waste.

Heather, being a parent, and frustrated with the annual back-to-school prescription of cheap, disposable plastic supplies, saw an opportunity to provide a “waste-less” solution for her son’s school. She crowdfunded
the effort and stocked each classroom with plastic-free school supplies.

Over the next several years we achieved our BCorp Certification (receiving Best for the World honors) and worked at reducing waste in schools by stocking classrooms and through our website/ecommerce by developing and sourcing a comprehensive assortment of plastic-free,
vinyl-free and spiral-free school supplies.

The part of the pandemic where all schools nationwide closed for a few years was rough, but it allowed us to take a step back to reexamine the business – and the truth is we were in over our heads and trying to
do too much at once.

In the end we have systemized our processes in order to scale, and narrowed our assortment so that we are now focused exclusively on growing our Weekly Planner business and our vinyl-free, repairable, recyclable 3-ring binders (patent in the works).

Our motto: Waste is a design flaw.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Let My People Go Surfing (Yvon Chouinard – founder of Patagonia)

the BCorp Handbook – we used this book like a bible to build Wisdom Supply Co. We knew from day one that we wanted BCorp Certification, and this manual helped us think each step through.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Transparency and honesty. Even when the truth hurts. Owning our mistakes publicly and going the extra mile to make things right.

We are also very honest in our messaging about why we do what we do – but try not to come off preachy or judgy – everyone starts where they are.

We cite our sources on our posts and we only use reputable sources – sometimes what we are conveying is hard to believe/digest, so we want people to be able to check it out for themselves.

*like the fact that chemicals from plastic production are now in everyone’s bloodstream, or that plastic is now present in raindrops and the air we breathe… or that plastic recycling is a fool’s errand – this can be hard to hear – we work hard to make it make
sense and our customers respond very positively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wisdomsupplyco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wisdomsupply.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisdomsupplyco
• Other: vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user161924283