Intro/Outro (00:02):

Welcome to Logistics With Purpose, presented by Vector Global Logistics in partnership with Supply Chain Now. We spotlight and celebrate organizations who are dedicated to creating a positive impact. Join us for this behind the scenes glimpse of the origin stories, change making progress and future plans of organizations who are actively making a difference. Our goal isn’t just to entertain you, but to inspire you to go out and change the world. And now here’s today’s episode of Logistics with Purpose.

Kristi Porter (00:35):

Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us for another episode of Logistics With Purpose, the only podcast focused on supply chain’s positive impact. I am your co-host for today, Christie Porter, Chief Impact Officer at Vector Global Logistics, and my typical partner in crime, Enrique Alvarez, is here with me. How’s it going, Enrique?

Enrique Alvarez (00:54):

It’s going great. And you do such a better job introducing the show anyways, Christia. You can see why they’re asking you to perform that from now on.

Kristi Porter (01:02):

150 episodes. We’re going to get it right at some point, right?

Enrique Alvarez (01:05):

I know. It’s the practice that makes perfect. But today we have an incredible guest, so I’m very excited about it. And I guess without further ado, let me introduce everyone to Stephanie Benedito, CEO and co-founder of Alokia, formerly known as Queen of Raw, recognized leader in circular fashion and climate techs. She also serves on the board of advisors for the NYC Fairtrade Coalition and was named one of Inc’s 2020 female founders. Stephanie, how are you doing today? Good morning.

Stephanie Benedetto (01:33):

Good morning. Thank you so much for having me and for the lovely introduction. Glad to be here.

Kristi Porter (01:38):

We’re so excited to have you. We’ve been dying to have this conversation with you. Anybody, first, go follow her on LinkedIn because she is one busy lady doing one cool thing after another. So we’ve been following her journey for a while and now are excited to have this conversation. So before we jump into some of your background, which I really want to hear about and some of the evolutions that you’ve been through, first, let’s just take a quick peek behind the curtain and your thoughts about your industry. So here we are 2026. Every conversation is around data and AI and software and SaaS and all the things. And so we have all these tools at our disposal, yet we still are in very really traditional industries that are still trying to pivot and keep up. So a lot of the decisions that are made are still leading to mass excess and inventory.

(02:25):

So what do you think they’re fundamentally missing in this conversation to get the process going?

Stephanie Benedetto (02:30):

Yeah. Well, you kind of hit the nail on the head. You just said all these tools, and I think that’s incredibly powerful, but it also means there’s a lot of options out there and a lot of things that have to play nice together. And a lot of tools that at the pace we’re moving right now, that doesn’t always happen. And I always laugh in this industry how far we’ve come, as you just said, but in so many ways how we’re still doing things the way my great-grandfather did in 1896 with a pen and paper, placing an order or handing something to a local customer in person. And although the world and supply chains are much more complicated than those days, you’re right, not everything has kept up to pace. I think the good opportunity now in the face of tariffs, trade wars, pandemics, recessions is that everybody is looking for opportunities, opportunities to do more with less, save time, save money, save resources, and leveraging technology.

(03:23):

If we do our job right, we can make it quick and easy to do that. That’s our goal.

Enrique Alvarez (03:26):

Absolutely. And you have to keep innovating. You have to keep on the edge of the technology breakthroughs if you want to continue to be competitive. And we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about that. But before we dive into what you do and the amazing things that you have accomplished already, I would like to go take a step back and tell us a little bit more about who you are, where do you grew up? What was your childhood like?

Stephanie Benedetto (03:48):

Yeah. So I was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, although I swear I sound like I have a New York accent, but it is Greenwich, Connecticut originally now in New York. And growing up, I was raised in a predominantly female household. I went to an all women’s school and I mentioned that because I think that very much shaped a lot of how I think about things where you want to break down barriers, break down silos, be empowered to do what you do best and go make a difference and build something that’s going to change the world. And that was something that was ingrained in me from those experiences very early on and that I hold dear and hope to bring to my children as well.

Kristi Porter (04:26):

I love that. I think it’s also very timely because we’re recording this episode on the day that Artemis is about to splash back down on earth. We have a woman breaking all kinds of barriers. So I love to hear just your own personal influence and how that’s shining through as well. Do you have a story or something that you can help illustrate for us that shaped who you are and what you’re doing now? It sounds like you probably have a lot, so I’m going to ask you to just define one of them.

Stephanie Benedetto (04:52):

Yep. So one that comes to mind is early on at my school at Greenwich Academy, one of the first classes they had us do in fourth grade was public speaking. And at the time, I didn’t really understand why. I’m like, why do I have to get up there with, at this time, it was like note cards and deliver in front of thousands of people some speech on some topic. But of course I did it, right? We do the work that’s asked of us. And those experiences and that training, which I continued ever since then, was probably one of the most valuable things I have ever done in my entire career. It led to, for me, what was a very pivotal moment in our business. We were given early on in the company 60 seconds to pitch Ashton Kutcher and a bunch of celebrities on stage.

(05:38):

And you’ve got your 30-minute pitch, you’ve got your 10-minute pitch, but we had to have a 60-second pitch. And I was very fortunate to call in some of those experiences. We won and that moment, I think, really helped to find it. So for anyone out there, I highly encouraged. It’s a great tool and something I continue to try to do better on.

Kristi Porter (05:55):

Fantastic. Now I really want to hear that 60-second pitch. I don’t know if you still remember it or not.

Stephanie Benedetto (06:00):

I can

Kristi Porter (06:00):

Still

Stephanie Benedetto (06:00):

Do it, but it’s all over

Kristi Porter (06:01):

YouTube.

Enrique Alvarez (06:03):

We’ll paste all the links to the YouTube pitch and I’m sure a lot of the listeners will be very interested in listening to it, especially because it was Sashton Kritcher as well. The one that you earned a BA in philosophy, political science and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Emory here in Atlanta. This is quite a spectrum of interest, right? What did you originally think you would end up doing after you graduated from school?

Stephanie Benedetto (06:27):

Well, I did do that philosophy, politics and economics undergrad at UPenn because that was their pre-law equivalent. And I wanted to go be a lawyer, work for Legal Aid and go represent minorities, women, children, and go make a real difference in an impact. And at the time, after going to law school at Emory, loving Atlanta, it’s an amazing city. Go down there to visit as often as I can while my friend’s there in the school. But after going to law school, I kind of got lured into what at the time was booming in 06, Wall Street. And so ended up on Wall Street doing M&A and securities. And it was a really fun, exciting time there, taking companies public, building these great businesses, seeing supply chains evolve and grow and businesses expand. And then of course, we all know what happened soon after that, when the market crashed in 08 and 09.

(07:18):

And I think at that point, talk about seeing the height of waste and greed and excess and Wall Street just got so dark and it lost the love and excitement and passion that I felt for it. And at that moment, I kind of took that as my opportunity to get back to my roots, who I was and what I really wanted to do, which was kind of go out, build a business and go change the world. And that was kind of what started my entrepreneurial journey and never looked back.

Enrique Alvarez (07:42):

I mean, you went from Gordon Gecko, basically, and all the rest of the gang at Wall Street to a mission-driven business and sustainability. Tell us a little bit more, because you went a little too quickly from one end to the other. So what shifted that mindset for you? How did you come back to your origins, if you will?

Stephanie Benedetto (07:59):

That S word sustainability. It means so many things to so many people. And I struggle with it because from my point of view and from my school training, if something isn’t sustainable, it’s not a business that’s going to be around tomorrow. And I don’t just mean because of environmental or social impact, I mean, pure economic impact. And so I always felt like we should get rid of that S word sustainability and it should just be the way good business is done. Businesses should run efficiently, sustainably, profitably, successfully, while keeping in mind what’s good for people, planet and profit. And so going into this space of sustainability, although it’s very much who we are at our DNA and the kind of business I always wanted to build, just to me, that was just the way a business should be. So after seeing on Wall Street what I liked and learning the ins and outs, but also what I didn’t like, I went out on my own and given my family roots, which was in manufacturing supply chain, I had very much grown up around that since my great-grandfather in 1896 through the generations were all in fashion, textiles, manufacturing and supply chain.

(09:06):

I wanted to kind of get back to my roots. I wanted to get back to manufacturing. I had my own manufacturing facility and we were making a sustainable material, a new leather alternative in New York by hand handcrafting this beautiful artisanal leather alternative. And it didn’t note the market. It started taking off. And as the business was growing, I would go to these really big brands and retailers from Theory to even Chrysler, the cars, and they wanted this leather alternative. And I’d go to their factories and mills and warehouses around the world and I’d see all this perfectly good stuff. All these materials and metals and textile things just sitting in warehouses collecting dust was going to be burned or sent to landfill. And I would say like, well, great that you’re buying this new innovative, sustainable material from me, but what about all this stuff?

(09:53):

What are you going to do with that? And that became this just bigger vision that I had to solve that there was broken inventory, broken data, broken supply chains, and we just needed some technology to get them from that warehouse into the web, into a buyer’s hand and be able to measure and report the economic wins. And that to me was the core of what I had to solve.

Kristi Porter (10:13):

So a hundred year legacy is really incredible and something not very many people can even consider or think about. So I’m curious how that looked over the different generations of your family. And also your great-grandfather was also into fabric recycling. So it’s all a very natural progression. Was there ever any … So first, I guess tell me what the evolution of that was in your family. And did you feel any sort of pressure or did it just feel like a natural extension of you?

Stephanie Benedetto (10:43):

Yeah. Well, I was very fortunate that my great-grandfather lived a beautiful age of 105 and he lived a few blocks away from me.

Kristi Porter (10:50):

So

Stephanie Benedetto (10:50):

I grew up very close to him, spending a lot of time at dinner talking and I hear the stories of the old school ways of doing business. So in 1896, he came over on a ship from Austria. He landed at Ellis Island and he settled into the Lower East Side of New York. That was the original garment district. And as an immigrant, he came with nothing. I mean, as a young kid and he had to make a living. So he would find materials and supplies nearby, old fabrics and furs and things immigrants brought over on the ships, but they weren’t using anymore. And he would repurpose them by hand into the most beautiful garments. I have them in my closet. I still wear them a hundred plus years later, his jackets and stoles and they were gorgeous. And he’d sell it to local customers. And he didn’t talk about it as sustainability.

(11:33):

At the end of the day, that’s very much what it was. And so I grew up hearing that way of doing business. You asked about the generation. So then my grandfather, he was in Army surplus. So post World War II, the government gave him all these excess uniforms and car parts they didn’t know what to do with anymore. And so he would start repurposing them, reselling them. And I grew up hearing the stories from him as well that waste isn’t wastetill you waste it. So here’s this stuff. It could be something more of value and put it back into the supply chain. The two really influenced my journey, my thought about how good business should be run and what makes sense for people, for planet, but also for businesses profit. To your point, I didn’t do the family route, went to Wall Street, but I guess at the end of the day, you always just get back to your roots in who you are.

(12:20):

We can’t run and hide. We are who we are.

Enrique Alvarez (12:23):

It’s a great story and I love it. What was the name of your great-grandfather?

Stephanie Benedetto (12:27):

Yeah, so Morris Gross, but we called him Peppy.

Enrique Alvarez (12:29):

Well, good visionaire. It’s amazing how things happen from scarcity, because he didn’t have all this materials, he didn’t have all this resources. And I think that was in part why he thought that it was a good idea. And now, of course, we have so many resources, we have so many things, and yet we still need someone like you and your company to help us understand that waste is bad for the environment. It’s bad for the economy. It’s part for our communities too. And so it’s a great story that has come full circle. And I love what you said about waste is only waste until you waste it, right?

Stephanie Benedetto (13:03):

Exactly. I think one of the … It’s interesting when you just said about how it’s bad for the economy. When we first started looking at this issue, I can’t tell you how many people said, oh, that’s so nice. Go talk to our sustainability department. We’ve put together a little donation or non-for-profit project. And as we got deeper, as we always knew, and I’m sure you see, it’s now quantified at $2 trillion a year and growing of lost economic opportunity tied directly to excess inventory globally, two trillion. So what starts as a little pilot project or a little, it’s become something real and that is having a real impact and effect on the world.

Enrique Alvarez (13:45):

Absolutely. I think that that’s a shift that we’ve been seeing, or at least I’m seeing in the last few years. It’s people finally starting to realize that it’s not because you’re nice and want to save the planet. Yes, some people like you and us are nice and want to save the planet, but there’s a huge economic impact of not doing the right things for the right reasons. And that’s why purpose and sustainability have become so important. We love having people like you to talk and continue fostering that awareness in our communities. You’ve been recognized by many organizations like NASA, Cartier, Fast Company, featuring outlets from Good Morning America to the New York Times. Looking back with all these different accolades and all these different milestones that you have achieved, is there one in your career that you’re particularly proud of? I mean, can you share it with us?

Stephanie Benedetto (14:33):

Yeah. Well, obviously for anybody out there as an entrepreneur, this is truly a journey and there are going to be wins and there are going to be losses. And one of the greatest quotes that a mentor of ours at Techstars ever gave us was, “The highs are never so high, but then lows are never so low.” And I always took that to heart to try to stay that even keel. But that being said, there are certain moments in this journey for which we’re really impactful and meaningful. For anyone looking to build a business and wanting those early adopters, I have a lot of respect for the Cartier Women’s Initiative. The reason is that group, there’s a lot of incredible impact groups out there that are doing great work. But when you can be a part of a program like this that it’s not just a one year, it is a for life.

(15:22):

We’re a part of this. You are getting access and they were supporting us with business plans, with financial accountants, with pitch and public speaking skills, with traveling the world to meet prospective enterprise customers and getting deals out of it, as well as to real dollars that they invested. That became so meaningful for us as a business and such a community that we continue to share and get involved. I was just with them a couple weeks ago in the city. So finding those kinds of groups who, yes, they’re built with purpose and impact, but have that vision to really help you succeed and grow, that was super valuable and we’re super proud to be a part of them and to recommend them to other people.

Kristi Porter (16:01):

Oh, that’s super cool. Yeah, I had no idea. So thank you for sharing more about that. Well, you’ve given us some glimpses so far into Alokia. Can you walk us through more of the evolution and origin story of your company?

Stephanie Benedetto (16:13):

Well, as you said in the intro, we started being called Queen of Raw, which became a little bit more my name and my personality.

Enrique Alvarez (16:21):

Queen of Raw, right?

Stephanie Benedetto (16:22):

Yes, which is fine and great, but it’s a little funny when big companies like Anheuser-Busch and Shein are signing bills to Queen of Raw. But at the same time, we did that early on because obviously we were attracting to start fashion and manufacturing companies. It was a name we wanted to be sticky that people weren’t going to forget, and we had a lot of fun with it. But like any good company in a journey, you come to a point and an evolution in what you’re delivering. Our core is still the same, our purpose is still the same, but our technology, how we deliver the results has grown globally and across industries. And so at that point, although we love and still own the name Queen of Ron, still talk about it, it became something much bigger. And just like WeWork, I think, what were they?

(17:04):

Greendesk and StockX was campus. All these companies, you had prior names and then you hit that point. So for us, we’re Alokia and word is made up by us, but comes from the word allocation. And to us, this is at our root, allocating resources efficiently. And when you do that, everybody wins. How the platform has evolved and what does it do for a lot of big, large public companies that work from fashion and manufacturing to food and beverage, CPG, beauty and others, and automotive and aviation now. We help businesses find what they have in their supply chains and excess inventory. Once we find it, we help them create a plan of how to allocate it efficiently, it saves and makes them the most money. And then we measure and report the economic and environmental wins. Those results are now fully audited by Deloitte backed by MIT and can be included in public filing.

(17:57):

So they get the benefit of being able to share economically win and also share for good brand equity and consumer demand, the impact they’ve had doing better as a business. So being able to deliver that across one infrastructure platform for our customers has been super valuable. And as you mentioned at the beginning, Christie of this, any good company, we’re using blockchain, we’re using AI, but at the end of the day, what really matters is not the technology that we’re using, but the results that we’re delivering and helping our customers do it quickly, easily, cost effectively. That’s the name of the game.

Kristi Porter (18:29):

Yeah. Can you give us a couple of those wins? You don’t have to name the client if you don’t want to, but I’d love to hear a couple specifics.

Stephanie Benedetto (18:35):

Yeah, no, happy to share. We have a number of public case studies on our website that people can read, but a couple examples that really stood out. One is we do work with Shein and with them, we are actually the only non-Chinese company in the world fully integrated into their OMS, their WMS and the ERP systems. What this means is that as a business, they don’t have to do anything differently. Their teams can log into their procurement systems, their ERPs, their order management systems, do what they do best every day. Only it’s powered by Alokia’s AI and our algorithms in the background, being able to drive their procurement efficiency by now 40% increase year over year while saving over 70 metric tons of CO2 annually. And so helping economically, environmentally, them do better as a business, which is why we built the business that we did.

(19:24):

We’re here to solve a problem. And we as a company take the position that we want to work with everybody so everybody is stronger and can stand behind the impact that they have and do better.

Enrique Alvarez (19:32):

So Stephanie, with all the experience that you have and all the different customers and people that you have helped in the past, where do you see the most significant potential for turning what is waste most of the time into measurable impact? Well,

Stephanie Benedetto (19:45):

We always got excited about the work and the impact that we can have in fashion and manufacturing. It’s huge, right? A lot. I think fashion textiles sit behind oil and agriculture as the number two biggest polluter in the world. So huge challenge, but huge opportunity to solve the climate crisis if we rethink how we do things. But to us, fashion and manufacturing was always just the tip of the iceberg. Because literally every business with a supply chain, any of you has excess inventory. And the idea is that your access to one person, but it could be leveraged and used by someone else. You just need the technology and the logistics partners and the payments to be able to get it from point A to point B. And if you can do that quickly and easily across a digital exchange, a digital infrastructure, why the hell wouldn’t somebody do that?

(20:30):

How do you say no to that? And so for us, obviously, although we’ve got done a lot of work in fashion and manufacturing now as we’ve been growing with Anheuser-Busch and others in food and beverage, in CPG beauty, all these other industries, when you can leverage each other’s learnings, resources, intelligence, I mean, that to us is when this explodes. And we’re already seeing over 60% margin gains for our customers by leveraging our platform.

Kristi Porter (20:53):

Absolutely incredible. Thank you. Obviously, it has been a long shift for a lot of companies to try and get here as Americans, we’re very good at excess. So I am curious, you are a pro. I hope you have also written a thank you note to your fourth grade teacher because she started you on an amazing path, but you probably also, you’ve made a lot of business cases. You’re very good at data and numbers and presenting the case. What are some of the common threads and conversations that are either blind spots for people, they don’t know how to get started, they’re not seeing this as a problem or seeing the full potential of it. What do those conversations look like?

Stephanie Benedetto (21:30):

Those are our favorite kinds of conversations because there’s the people who know they have a problem and they want to fix it and that’s great. But when you can show somebody who doesn’t even know or think they have a problem, how big that problem is and how impactful that can be, you become one of the most valuable players in their business and for them. And so I can’t tell you how many times when we first started this business, like any good business, all the nos that you hear, right? And we’re going around in person, myself and our CTO, co-founder, Phil, we’re going then door to door in the fashion district, knocking on doors in New York City, tried and say, “We have solution for your problem.” And they’re like, “What problem? What do I have? ” And they would tell us, “Oh yeah, we don’t have any excess inventory or, oh yeah, we got a little bit of excess inventory.” And the most fascinating thing starts to happen when you start to unpack that a little bit, ask a couple questions like, “Oh yeah, I don’t know about that.

(22:23):

” And, “Oh yeah, I don’t have visibility into that tier one, tier two supplier.” And slowly, I think on average now when they come to us, companies think they have a certain amount in liability on the books. A lot of times it ends up being 15 times that or more and they’ve been holding it year over year when they didn’t know. And one statistic that is crazy is that for every dollar of unsold inventory, up to another $1.40 goes on top of it every year in warehousing, personnel, holding costs, depreciation, insurance. And so these numbers, then they become powerful. And this isn’t just a small little initiative anymore. So that’s a journey for companies to see and realize that pain point. If any good can come out of everything going on in the world right now, all of the challenges, I think it’s that people realize this is an opportunity for them.

(23:11):

In the face of all the regulatory changes and tariffs and trade wars, you got to unlock margin and opportunity. And when they start to realize that there’s real dollars here, CFOs love us because they want those financial liabilities off the books. They want it solved. And supply chain teams love us because you make it quick and easy. Click a button, start to see what you got. Click a button, have it move from point A to point B, leveraging incredible logistics partners and payments partners that we have and just making it automated and scalable around the world. When we started early on, we did focus mostly just on the US, right? We tried to be very focused in New York or just the US, but very quickly learned for our early customers that supply chains are global. The world is global. We had to be global.

(23:56):

So now we do operate in Europe, in Asia. We have a non-for-profit in Africa, and we took that as very important with team on the ground in those locations because you need to be able to support this at a global automated scale. That’s very important today more than ever.

Enrique Alvarez (24:09):

Absolutely. And I think to your point, a lot of companies out there are caught into day-to-day and maybe applying for the future and then trying to get new things, but then there’s this smaller thing that keeps growing and growing year after year and all of a sudden you have tons and tons of wasted inventory or unused inventory that no one’s using, but the resources are still being spent on that to carry the warehousing and shipping and maintaining and liabilities.

Stephanie Benedetto (24:33):

And this is kind of controversial and I don’t know how you both feel, but I do say this where a lot of people say, “But if we could only buy less and if we could only change behavior of the companies to produce less, how you’re telling a for- profit corporation that has shareholders or investors and customers that they shouldn’t meet that demand, that they can’t grow as a business.” I’ve always found that frustrating because that is the opposite. They’re for profit. But when you can build a model that allows them to still do more, grow as a business, grow revenue, attract new customers, but do it in an economically and environmentally efficient way, well, then that works. But I think one of the hard preconceived notions of any innovation, especially in this S-word sustainability sector, is that it’s automatically going to cost you a lot more money.

(25:24):

And it’s automatically going to require us to change all of our systems internally, and it’s automatically going to require us to change all human behavior and our board, and that’s just not the case. We need to meet people where they are. We need to make things quick and easy to participate while allowing them to grow as a business. We take that very seriously to align the economic and environmental. It has to be.

Enrique Alvarez (25:42):

Well, I think even starts with addressing that you have a problem, right? Everything else before fixing anything, you have to understand that you already have a problem. And then here comes your company and tries to fix that problem that they already have and face. And so you’ve worked with many, many companies like Cotopaxi, Victoria Secrets. Shane, you mentioned a couple on Heuser-Busch as well, and you’re moving from the textiles into other industries, which is very exciting and something that I’m sure a lot of industries really need. How does this platform really work? Behind the scenes, if you could tell us without disclosing the secret sauce, of course, how does it work? How do you do it and why is it applicable to so many different industries?

Stephanie Benedetto (26:21):

So we’ve made it three key steps, if I can oversimplify it for a second. One is we get companies up and running now, what used to take days and minutes. So they can be up and running in minutes, plug into their systems quickly and easily with our own industry standard, see what is excess. We have standards we apply. Standardize the data, bring it in quickly and easily. They can start realizing time to value one of our last enterprise customers in three days. Start seeing what you have in excess inventory. That’s step one, right? In just the data, visualize it. Step two is actually take action on it. Click a button to reuse it, click a button to resell it, click a button to recycle it. From clicking that button on, our system has all the algorithms and the workflows and the matchmaking with the global network to take the action.

(27:07):

And then step three, measure and report the economic and environmental results. So they’ve got that to take to stakeholders, to take to the PR, to take to the board, and show the economic and environmental wins. And what I’m super excited about is, yes, we’re solving the immediate pain point, but now how can we take that data and help them do better tomorrow? Be a better business, not have all this excess and inefficiency to begin with anymore. Because now you know, if you think about what’s out there and so many people who are trying to solve this problem, there’s no system of record that has all this information, no AI out there that has this. And we want to be that system of record to standardize and have access to all that data and information because once you do the power of what you could do with it, it’s incredible.

(27:52):

And we’re just at the beginning of being able to do that for these customers and more and get it in real time. They can quickly and easily ingest, act and measure and report and do better tomorrow’s a business.

Enrique Alvarez (28:04):

That’s a very important point that you bring. It’s just how do you get better into the future? It’s not only about fixing the problems or the mistakes that you’ve made in the past, but then how do you help these companies become better stewards of our planet into the future? And something that I was going to ask you is you work with companies like Sheen and a lot of those different companies, fast fashion and others that raise definitely challenging questions. They don’t have a super positive opinion sometimes. How do you approach these partnerships first and foremost? And then how do you turn this access fabric from one brand into raw materials for another? And how do you approach this from a lens of having the public opinion of being very critical about this type of companies?

Stephanie Benedetto (28:48):

Yeah. Well, as Christie knows about us, we’re very much out there. I believe if we’re not out there sharing the work we’re doing and the impact that we’re having, then what the hell are we doing? And so we took the position early on as a company and with our board that anyone who wanted to work with us, as long as we speak to what we do, everything is audited, we measure and report the results and we work towards goals and milestones and to have a real impact, we want to work with them. Because if we’re only working with the people who don’t have the problem or aren’t-

Enrique Alvarez (29:20):

Well, you want to work with the people that are the biggest offenders, for

Stephanie Benedetto (29:24):

Sure.That’s always been our goal. We want to be out there and solve this for the largest. And that’s why we went after the whales first because we wanted to solve this for the biggest companies in the world to prove that this could have a real impact. And those that were willing to make commitments, like Shein, work with us year over year, grow in their efficiency. What’s important to us, we measure and report the results. We are audited by Deloitte for that, and we speak to what we can speak to. So why shouldn’t you be speaking to the work you’re doing? On the flip side, I find we work with a lot of great companies, some of them, and it’s their choice, don’t talk about it. And I just think that that’s okay. It’s It’s their business choice and they don’t have to, but it’s a missed opportunity.

(30:03):

This becomes a competitive advantage and an edge in today’s business more than ever. And so I do think it’s important, powerful when you can, and we have best practices that we can share in how to communicate this and get something out of it because companies do deserve for the good work they do to get more customers, to get more results for that. While they’re doing the good work, that’s how you incentivize them. I think a lot of people also, when they talk about solutions like this, they automatically assume, if I’m going to buy something made sustainably in any industry, it’s automatically going to cost me more money. And what I’ve always hoped to unlock with a platform like this is that in a scalable way, we can actually deliver a quote unquote sustainable product at the same price or even less because this is made out of excess at a discount readily available locally.

(30:51):

And that to me is when you really start to unlock and harness because then you don’t have to change consumer behavior. You’re getting something at the same price or less with your impact embedded into it. So that’s where I’m really excited to go. And ultimately, although we got known for our work with the biggest companies, I’ve always wanted to democratize access to the tools, to the standard and empower so everyone can participate. And that’s a little hint at where we’re going.

Enrique Alvarez (31:16):

Well, how do you companies that are maybe not as big as the ones that we’ve mentioning, are they also following the same steps, the same path? How do they actually get into a company like yours?

Stephanie Benedetto (31:28):

We’re very public, obviously, with the larger ones in the case studies, but we work now with SMEs and we’re excited to be able to give them access to the platform and the tools and the learnings. And what’s awesome about the way leveraging technology and having a platform like we do, and thanks to our great CTO and co-founder, Phil, he made it so people can come in and participate at the level that they’re at. So does an SME need necessarily what a huge company does and a full integration? Absolutely not. Could they still come in, leverage our management?

Enrique Alvarez (31:59):

Everyone’s wasting anyways, right? Of course.

Stephanie Benedetto (32:01):

And a platform works from one unit to tens of millions and hundreds of millions of units and being able to see and participate at that level. And that’s where obviously technology helps you do that. The other question we often get asked, which I think is interesting, kind of falls into this concept of with purpose is because there’s a platform like yours that exists out there, aren’t you incentivizing people and businesses to waste more? And I love this question. The first time I got it was from an investor, of course, but now when other people talk about it. And at the end of the day, I think what people also forget is running a business inefficiently with a lot of waste and a lot of access is massively expensive. It makes zero business sense. So the fact that we exist is valuable, but we can actually track day over day, week over week and year over year, whether companies are increasing or decreasing in the volume of their excess.

(32:53):

And we are routinely seeing efficiencies growing because it doesn’t make business sense and they’ve unlocked now an opportunity.

Kristi Porter (33:00):

That is incredible. It is very easy to see after our time with you, as if I didn’t know before why you were named one of FastCompany’s most innovative companies of 2024. You’ve been featured alongside names like OpenAI, Nvidia, even Taylor Swift. So you won a lot of awards. Again, people just go to her LinkedIn profile and check all of it out, but you’ve won a lot of awards. You’ve received a lot of recognition. What do those mean to you? And then how do you think that furthers the sustainability space?

Stephanie Benedetto (33:30):

Yeah. Well, that was incredible honor and incredible group to be with and a lot of fun at the dinner and the events and getting to see those kinds of people there. But the fact that recognition now and with everything going on in the world that a company like ours could be on the same level, and I’ve been now on the same stage within OpenAI, with Google, I think that just shows the power of where the world is going, where consumer demand is going, where technology is going, that even innovative tech startups and technology companies in the sustainable field are treated at that caliber and that level. I think that’s just very telling of where the future is going and that you can build this kind of a company with this kind of a mission and vision, and to your point, still be treated on the same stage with those kinds of likes.

(34:17):

So aside from the personal fun of it, it’s an incredible professional win. Super proud of what the team has built and done, and I’ll pat them on the back right now too. We’ve done all that without spending yet a penny in PR marketing or advertising. And I mentioned that because I think a lot of people think you got to go spend a ton to get these customers and spend a ton to get on that stage with OpenAI and maybe for a separate conversation we can have, but there’s some very quick, easy wins to be able to do that without spending a penny in that. And that’s thanks to technology.

Enrique Alvarez (34:50):

We should definitely think about having an entrepreneurship panel and bringing you over so that you can help other entrepreneurs that are listening to our show and constantly listening to our show, how to scale up such an incredible technology company as yours. You mentioned a little bit about the future, and we talked also about your great-grandfather recycling fabrics a long, long time ago. So now you, thinking about your future, what do you hope to help create for your own family and the next generation? What do you consider your legacy to be, or what would you like it to be?

Stephanie Benedetto (35:21):

Oh, I think about that every day. I actually, so I have two boys, Jacob and Jeremy. They’re 10 and six right now. They are exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing. I had my first child, Jacob. I was starting this entrepreneurial journey and it’s crazy. The moment you have your first child, it’s like suddenly it’s not just about you anymore. It’s about them and their children and there’s children, children. And the whole world just changed for me overnight. And I found this drive and this vision that I wanted to build a business and change the world for them and for their kids and future generations that I wasn’t going to stop till I do. And obviously as a working mom, you can have those moments where you’re working very late at night with your team in Asia and early in the morning with Europe and you feel a little bit of the mom guilt.

(36:09):

But then I remember why I’m doing it. I talked to them about why I’m doing it. And you asked me about my pitch, so I’ll give you one very funny anecdote. Early on in the journey of the company when I was preparing for that pitch, I was pushing my son, Jacob, in the stroller in New York City, and obviously it was really loud like New York City can be. And I hear something coming out of the stroller. He was about four, three and a half, four. And I lean into the stroller and I hear him saying, “Are you naked right now? You’re not because you’re using fabric. It’s everywhere. It’s polluting your … ” He was doing my 60-second pitch. I have it on camera if people don’t believe. I recorded him doing it. And I realized on the one hand, okay, I’m practicing a little too much.

(36:48):

Poor kid, talk to him. But on the other hand, if he could get it at that age, I was like, “Anybody could get this and we got to go build this and go change the world.”

Enrique Alvarez (36:57):

That’s funny. And I can relate to that because my kids make fun of my pitch for my company too all the time. They know it by heart. If you were to ask your kids, explain what your mom does, what would they say? Do they know the intricacies of what your software does and how they works and what would they say? I’m curious.

Stephanie Benedetto (37:15):

Well, my youngest would say my mommy is the queen of raw. He definitely still-

Enrique Alvarez (37:19):

I know. That’s easy. Yeah.

Stephanie Benedetto (37:21):

That’s easy. And then my oldest is, as a lot of kids are these day, very into AI, very into blockchain and crypto. So he does understand that mommy is working on something with AI to help companies do better. And I’ve showed him platform. We started talking about the ins and outs, but I just want him to be empowered with the tools of AI to build something even better and greater than mommy can in the future.

Enrique Alvarez (37:45):

I’m sure they will. They’re definitely starting from a completely different mind touch point and with technology.

Kristi Porter (37:50):

Well, I’d love to shift as we’re sort of coming to a close here. I’d love to look macro again for a minute. When you think about supply chain, whether it’s aerospace to textiles, as we’ve discussed, whether that’s a physical shift or a mindset shift to be able to think more about how to make the most of their excess, if you will, and embrace circularity, what do those shifts look like to you?

Stephanie Benedetto (38:15):

I think they have to be one and the same. And what I’m super excited about with where we’re going, where technology is going, where the world is going, is how do you merge the physical and the digital world? Because for so long, what was happening in factories, in warehouses, with supply chains and physical movement of goods, it’s obviously a real object happening and something moving in the real physical world. How do you create that digital twin in the digital world? And how do you help drive the efficiencies and the procurements and the strategies and the shipping and all of that? And so when those two become one and the same and are truly merged, I think we’re building for a really bright, bold, powerful, efficient, sustainable future, but we’re just at the beginning. As fast as AI is moving, as fast as blockchain in the world seems to be moving, as fast as supply chains were moving, I think we’re just at the beginning of what we’re seeing.

(39:07):

I’m super excited about it. I’m super positive on the future. Even with all the challenges, the greatest opportunities in supply chain in the future are born out of these kinds of moments. So for anyone thinking about their about building business now, with everything going on, it’s the greatest opportunity. Go do it and don’t look back.

Kristi Porter (39:25):

Yeah. Well, along those lines then, what can we expect from you and your company next? What’s the future look like over the next couple of years?

Stephanie Benedetto (39:32):

Yeah, we’re super excited to be launching our standard now, our world industry standard on what is excess inventory, helping everyone understand and value those assets in the physical, but also the digital world that is open for public comment. Anyone in the world can go to foundstock.org, read it, comment, and become a part of the consortium, and then where we’re going, cross industries and around the world. So anyone in food and beverage, CPG, beauty, hospitality, we’ve now been working in aviation, automotive. If you are feeling a pain of excess inventory, and if you want to create that digital twin quickly, easily, we’re here to support, we’re excited to connect the dots and find great partners and anyone working in payments, logistics, resellers, recyclers. We’re here to be a network at a bridge and a system of record. So reach out. We’re all stronger together. Love it.

(40:20):

Love your energy.

Enrique Alvarez (40:21):

Thank you so much. Thank you. This has been a very interesting conversation. So Stephanie, as we wrap up, I would like to ask you, what does the phrase logistics with purpose mean to you?

Stephanie Benedetto (40:30):

It means moving people, moving resources, moving the world’s supply chains in a way that makes sense for people, for planet, and also for profit. And when we can do that, that’s the magic.

Kristi Porter (40:43):

That is magic. Oh, and so before we go, also you mentioned a nonprofit. Tell us real quick about your nonprofit.

Stephanie Benedetto (40:48):

Yeah. So we’ll do, we have foundstock.org, which is issuing the standard. And then there is a nonprofit in Africa, very specific to wildlife preservation, wildlife-friendly enterprise network. So that’s where we’re able to both pledge a portion of our proceeds, give back and also support the economy in Africa where a lot of the waste traditionally ends up, but shouldn’t anymore. And so that’s what we’re here to support.

Kristi Porter (41:11):

Fantastic. Well, how can people find you? Where’s the best way to connect with you and learn more about you and everything that’s going on?

Stephanie Benedetto (41:19):

You can go to allokia.com, but I’m very public as well with my email and cell phone because if we’re not out there and people aren’t reaching out, what are we doing? I’m stephanie@allokia.com. And I will say it’s A- L-O-Q-I-A.com without a you. And then my cell is 1203-9816993. We’re here for you. Amazing.

Enrique Alvarez (41:38):

Stephanie, thank you so much. And for everyone listening to this episode and all the episodes, thank you for joining us and we look to see you in a couple more weeks. Thanks again, Stephanie, and have a great weekend, everyone.