Episode 17 - Everybody Water
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Everybody Water is premium water in a 16.9 oz carton with a mission to change the lives of women and girls by funding clean water projects to bring running water into their homes for the first time in their lives so they no longer have to carry water and instead have the time to attend school, earn incomes, and thrive. Co-Founders Megan Hayes and Kimberly Reilly wanted to make amazing change happen by helping people get their most basic needs and are building a community of people and businesses who want to do the same.
THEIR START & EVERYBODY WATER
Kimberly and Megan talk about how they met and began their friendship as neighbors and became fast friends both having a lot in common. They eventually began to brainstorm on what the next chapters were in their lives. They started Everybody Water not with the intention of being in the water business. As they both were determining what was next in their career they both wanted to be involved in something that had an impact. Both having daughters, they thought about what was holding back other girls around the world and what they could do to help solve that. What they found was that for many women and girls, it actually starts with water. They learned that when girls and women lack clean water, they spend a good portion of their days walking to secure water and in turn don’t even have the opportunity for an education. They were shocked to learn this but also noticed the importance of building awareness around this fact. We discuss how a good portion of the population in developing countries live without running water and sanitation in their homes and don’t have access to clean water nearby. It is often left to the women in these communities to get the water which is extremely time consuming as well as a physical hardship. They stress that the impact is huge and for women and girls. The projects that Everybody Water supports are particularly aimed at supporting women and girls. Their projects bring water directly into every home in the community which creates a huge ripple effect. Megan and Kimberly discuss seeing the communities who have had water for some time really thriving with schools, businesses and more and how incredible that is.
THEIR BACKGROUNDS
Kimberly discusses how she grew up overseas in Thailand and Egypt and saw women and girls walking for water first hand and that while at the time she didn’t make that correlation it impacted her greatly as she’s been able to see the impact with Everybody Water come full circle. Megan talks about the ability to travel and see the water projects firsthand and to be able to bring her daughter and how eye opening that experience has been. She also talks about having purpose as a business and how motivating it is to have those memories and to know and see the people who are impacted by their projects. She talks about how having a real reason to get going every day and to keep going and persevere has meant a lot. They both talk about how the travel piece was critical and they talk about being able to see the projects they are funding and to be able to keep their community up to date.
FOUNDING EVERYBODY WATER
Kimberly and Megan discuss how they started to think about how they could engage people about the importance that accessible water plays in the lives of women and girls and they thought what better time to do so than when people buy water. They thought about how they could do it in a way that was engaging and different so they could get people’s attention and they’d be interested. That is where they came up with Everybody Water. They also knew they didn’t want to contribute to the world’s plastic water bottle problem and they made the decision that the carton packaging was the most sustainable way to package water in terms of the recyclability as well as the production itself. They talk about how water is so complicated to package and how learning all of the different components has been such a part of their journey and process. It took them a couple of years but they were able to get their first production of the water and it has been an amazing grassroots experience with small businesses supporting them along the way.
CHALLENGES
Kimberly and Megan discuss how as they have gone, they’ve been learning along the way. They talk about not having done things in a traditional way and having gone to market in a very different way but that they are really engaging consumers who are passionate about clean water and who want to be a part of what they are doing. They talk about setbacks such as trucking and how daily things would come up that they had to solve but add the importance of believing in their mission and to focus on the customers that they can work best with. They found that so many businesses want to make a big statement with the water and that those are the customers that they want to focus on and how that has created more success. They believe that their customers are such a big part of the contributions that they like to highlight their partners as well.
MEANINGFUL MOMENTS
We discuss meaningful moments in the business and Kimberly and Megan talk about how seeing the completion of a water project is the most fulfilling aspect of the endeavor. Seeing villages that have no running water and then a year later seeing full systems in each house and the joy on the faces of people and the celebrations that come with that has been life changing. They discuss that no matter what happens when you’ve been able to improve someone else's life in that way you feel success. They talk about how it is hard to explain unless you are there and we talk about how they do such a great job of telling the story and bringing that experience to their consumers and partners as well. They also talk about the response of their partners who want to make an impact. They talk about how it is all about coming together as people and making a difference together and how validating and humbling that has been.
COVID IMPACT
We discuss how much of their business came to a screeching halt as businesses, events and hospitality were completely shut down but that they believe in focusing on silver linings and took advantage of their time in order to focus on internal efforts. They also talk about how clean water is so relevant to COVID and the ability to wash hands and stay healthy. They saw a big impact in people being more intentional about the products they buy and what they spend their money on. They discuss as business owners focusing on what you can do versus what you can’t do and also how people have had more time to focus on building relationships and how important that has been.
ON PARTNERING AND NON-PROFITS
Kimberly and Megan talk about their selection in the non-profit that they support. They discuss Water First International and how they liked that their projects are designed to be sustainable and last for generations and are also complete. They talk about really getting into the details with the non-profit and to be able to speak to what they are doing and that the quality of their work is high. They recommend that the closer you can get to the non-profit, the more time you can spend with them to really understand how the work is implemented, the quality and sustainability of it is so helpful in determining who you want to support. They discuss how initially they thought they would support multiple non-profits but that having a one to one relationship with their non-profit partner keeps them really focused on what they are doing. They also talk about asking a lot of questions and that what became evident for them was that there are some big names in the water space but they wanted to dive in and determine what specifically helped to change the lives of women and girls and that quickly narrowed down who they wanted to support. They also talk about not being afraid to reach out to people by email and phone and to ask a lot of questions and learn as you go. They stress that the worst thing that can happen is that someone says no.
COMMUNITY & PARTNERSHIPS
We discuss how the local community in and around the South Shore and Boston area has been so important and joyful to see. Kimberly and Megan talk about how there are so many creative and dynamic people that they have met and that there is a new energy in the area of dynamic business ideas and that it has been great to support one another. They also discuss how at their core they themselves had a lot of the same principles and how important that was in being able to start Everybody Water together. They also talk about how people come to them and introduce them to companies and partners and how great it has been to build out a community of people who are passionate about clean water. They discuss when you are able to identify a business that feels passionate about sending out a message of supporting local and being environmentally and socially conscious that they work with them closely to be able to communicate that. They work hand in hand with any company big or small to give them the assets to communicate what it is that they want to communicate and put out a message of their company ideals and that they make it easier to do that. They also discuss how they often go with their gut and really trust one another’s gut feelings and have learned to have faith and trust in their own partnership together.
EVERYBODY WATER
We talk about how to support Everybody Water and that they sell their water by the case wholesale for business owners and that they support their customers with assets that they can use for social media and mailing for their clients and that for consumers they also have a subscription service with online ordering on their website.
NEWS AND UPDATES
Kimberly and Megan talk about their newest partnership with the newly opening Newbury Hotel in Boston and that they have also launched outside of New England for the first time in Aspen, Colorado with Hotel Gerome and that they are in some of the top fitness and wellness locations in Aspen.
links + resources
WHERE TO FIND EVERYBODY WATER
GET INSPIRED
Book Club Recommendations: Mission in a Bottle
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
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