Lauren Truslow

Francesca Rinaldo (00:01.463)
Hello, hello and welcome to our podcast marketing for what matters. I’m here with Lauren Truslow. She’s the CEO at 3D Enviro and

Let me start that over. Okay, this is what I’m going to say about you though. Let me know if you’re okay with it. I’m going to say you’re the CEO at 3D Environmental, I mean at 3D Envirologics, a small women -owned environmental remediation firm, you’re a long -time environmentalist and sustainability advocate, a mother, and a marathon runner, or something else.

Lauren (00:30.884)
Well, that’s, I have run marathons in my life.

Francesca Rinaldo (00:37.303)
I mean, I don’t have to include that part either. I just was putting like…

Lauren (00:40.324)
No, I think it’s fine. I mean, I definitely am an avid runner. Not currently running marathons, but you know, I think it’s all relative. I also have a three year old, two year old, so.

Francesca Rinaldo (00:49.335)
Yeah, okay. I was also like D1 athlete, but then I was like, that was so that was that’s weird. That was too long ago. Yeah, okay. Okay. Ready? To action. All right. Welcome. Welcome everybody to the marketing for what matters podcast. My name is Fran. I’m one of your hosts. And I’m really excited to be here today with Lauren Truslow. She’s the CEO of 3d and viral a small women owned and

Lauren (00:55.748)
I think runner’s fine. Okay.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:19.511)
She’s also a long -time environmentalist and sustainability advocate, a mother, and a marathon runner. Lauren, today I really want to talk about your work and sustainability, but first, can you tell us a little bit about you and your journey to this point? What has been your journey to sustainability and how did you come to the work that you do today?

Lauren (01:44.164)
Sure, well first thank you for having me on the pod, Fran, and thanks to Peaceful for reaching out. Yeah, I have had quite a journey into sustainability. I think it started though, I think my mom and dad have always had a love for the outdoors. And so at a young age, I feel like it was cultivated, like we went camping when we were little.

My dad always wanted to come back to Virginia. He grew up in upstate New York and always wanted to come to Virginia because as a child he would come to the Shenandoah National Park and go camping. And so he wanted to come back to Virginia to go to college. And so he went to Washington and Lee and Lexington, which is beautifully tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains. And they always wanted to come back here because of that. So I think it started at a young age and then…

sort of just was cultivated every step along the way. Hopefully we’re doing the same with our kids too.

Francesca Rinaldo (02:41.815)
Yeah, yeah. so tell me, tell me a little bit more to I know, I know.

Lauren (02:53.636)
I don’t think I answered that question at all. I think I forgot what the question was.

Francesca Rinaldo (02:58.743)
That’s okay. So let me, yeah, let me expound upon that.

So, okay, so Lauren, I’m flopping. Give me one second.

Lauren (03:11.204)
That’s okay, I totally forgot the question that you asked me, so I was like, okay. We’re killing it, Fran, we’re killing it.

Francesca Rinaldo (03:13.815)
No, it’s okay. It’s okay. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (03:21.335)
Okay, so your journey was really began and cemented by your parents. Was there any other, as you grew into adulthood and adolescence, was there any other forays into sustainability that you took career -wise or extracurricularly? How did you take that sort of foundation that your parents had set for you and really turn it into your own vocational purpose?

Lauren (03:46.596)
Yeah, I think if I think about like my journey into sustainability and environmentalism, I think that I grew up just like a lot of kids did in a neighborhood and loved riding my bike around, but also really felt a draw to the outside. And I think parenting was like a little bit different when I was growing up. And I feel so old saying this, but like my sister and I would just like go into the woods and play.

for hours. Like that’s just like what I remember of my childhood. And I don’t even think when I say woods, I mean, it was probably like an acre in an urban neighborhood. But, you know, that’s where all the kids sort of collected. And there was a creek back there. And I just remember playing in the creek for hours. Like we would come home disgusting. And and then from there, I feel like, you know, I went to. When I was in high school, I loved this nature camp. I was a counselor at this nature camp.

Francesca Rinaldo (04:15.575)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Lauren (04:44.996)
It was called ARC. It’s here in Charlottesville. It’s on Panorama Farms. My best friend’s family had a conservation easement on their farm. And so we would just like muck about on the farm. And that was sort of the first look into like preserving land and like what that looks like on a local level. And then when I went to college,

Francesca Rinaldo (04:59.479)
Mm.

Francesca Rinaldo (05:09.143)
Yeah.

Lauren (05:12.772)
I thought that maybe I wanted to go into like public policy and sort of like do environmental advocacy work, but then realized that I like really loved science and like understanding how things work. So then I loved studying environmental science. And I think it was kind of like a hot topic. Like it was, I dunno, I feel like in my era, it was kind of like a new age thing to study environmental science.

Francesca Rinaldo (05:39.767)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren (05:41.124)
And it was like edgy at the time. I have no idea if that’s true or not. That’s just that was my vibe. It felt cool. Yeah, it felt cool and it felt like the the options for a career afterwards seemed really in line with like a work life balance that I wanted, which was like spending time outside and like saving the earth. I think it also.

Francesca Rinaldo (05:43.927)
Yeah, yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (05:48.727)
I don’t know. It’s like, that’s what they’re doing.

Lauren (06:11.556)
wasn’t a bad thing that my husband, who was not my husband at the time, but my boyfriend also was studying environmental science. And so it was like something that we related to very deeply and like trying to protect the earth. It was also a period of time where like individual efforts were like really important, right? Like we were bike riding everywhere and like, you know, you recycled and the individual person like felt powerful in this system.

to like do something about the earth warming. And so that was kind of like that set the foundation. And then after college, after I graduated with an environmental science degree, I was fortunate enough that I, well actually it was during college that I got hooked into an environmental, like outdoor education group. And so that was the best, like in my twenties to be able to travel,

and take kids to national parks and teach them about environmental science, like hands -on. And so I focused, you know, my work with Grand Classroom was at first in the Grand Canyon, which is, you know, totally different ecosystem than what I grew up in in Virginia and geologically so cool. Just like got to apply all the science that I loved and also take kids there, which it’s like, there’s not much more that could be cooler.

And then that work led to a trip in Alaska. And so another vastly different ecosystem that I got to learn and teach, all while being super social and getting to engage with kids. So that was kind of like the foundation of the environmental work that I started. And then from there, I loved teaching. So I went into, when I wanted to…

Francesca Rinaldo (07:40.567)
Yeah.

Lauren (08:08.068)
settle down and not travel all over. I decided to go into teaching and teach science to kids. And all while this is happening, my father’s business, 3D Enviro, was sort of getting off the ground. And, you know, he had always kind of planted the seed, like, I’ve got this business, we could really use someone like you, and I just needed to find my own path and like figure out what that looked like and how I could…

Francesca Rinaldo (08:10.967)
Hmm.

Lauren (08:38.308)
create this business that also reflected some values that I have too. Because environmental remediation, indoor environmental remediation is not really that sexy. It’s gross. It’s gross. Like asbestos and hazmat, you know, but I do think though the heart of it is like the mission and the heart of it is something that keeps my drive going. Like, yes.

Francesca Rinaldo (08:43.959)
Mm -hmm.

Francesca Rinaldo (08:50.455)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren (09:06.148)
gross, like we’re in gross places. I’m not in beautiful national parks, but I’m in like old hospital buildings. But the work itself is important because it’s one system, right? It’s one system. And when we put stuff in one place, it affects other places. And so keeping these gross things out of the environment is important. And so I guess that’s what keeps me going. So anyways, so that’s kind of like the path of which.

I walked.

Francesca Rinaldo (09:36.246)
Yeah, that brought you to 3D. I know you were just saying a little bit about what 3D Enviro does, mainly environmental remediation, and talking though about how, obviously, like you’ve said, sustainability is often a trending topic or something that’s made to seem like, you know, sexier or cooler, right? It’s like the panda bears and the polar bears, not so much the asbestos basements.

Lauren (09:38.852)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (10:05.399)
But I think you spoke to something really important, which is that it’s about that we’re all in a system together and we do need to be plugged into every aspect of the system. We can’t just care about the sexy stuff, right? So can you tell us a little bit more about that mission of 3D Enviro, how sustainability is part of your mission statement apart from just the literal work that you do?

Lauren (10:32.996)
Yeah, I think that the work that we do with 3D Enviro and I think first as a CEO, the most important piece to me is creating a team that has like shared values. I think if you don’t have a team that like supports the mission and like has an understanding, then it’s not going to work. And I feel really fortunate in this small business world to have a team that is just wonderful.

I mean, I can’t speak enough about the team that I have. And I think we all share values, environmental values that are important. Whether that’s trying to cut back on our plastic fork use in the workroom or using our own water bottles to, everybody goes on vacations. All my employees go to do cool outdoor adventures, right? Like,

I have an employee who’s going to the Shenandoah National Park for like a long weekend next weekend with his wife. And then another one who’s going to be sailing in the Chesapeake Bay. You know, I think that it’s, everybody loves being outside. And so the deeper understanding of the natural world, I think is.

a priority to the folks that work for us, I guess, is how I would phrase that. And I think it’d be really hard to not have that in my team. Like, I think it’d be really hard to have a deeper understanding. So I guess the point of that is that I feel like we’re all avid environmentalists first, and then we come to our jobs. And I think that like kind of keeps us going. I hope that answered your question though, Fran.

Francesca Rinaldo (11:53.783)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (12:10.231)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (12:16.055)
Yeah, and you can see that bigger picture of why this work is important, even if it does feel grueling or it doesn’t, you’re not seeing this big end in sight. But, you know,

Lauren (12:28.964)
Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, the opposite of that is that like my husband does work for the Nature Conservancy and is outside planting and counting. You know, he’s the director of land management, so he he manages big preserves. And so his team is outside, like counting invasive species and like counting native species. So there is a huge range of work in the environmental field. It’s like massive. And so. But I do think that we come.

Francesca Rinaldo (12:35.735)
Ugh.

Francesca Rinaldo (12:53.687)
Yeah.

Lauren (12:57.604)
all come back to like this work is important and it’s not outside but like it is protecting it is protecting places that we care about so in a different way.

Francesca Rinaldo (13:07.447)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, to that point, I wanted to ask you about motivating people because, you know, like you’re saying, the people you work with or your husband, Sam, or me too, you know, a lot of us already have this innate desire to help the environment or innate belief in sustainability, in sustainability of all living things. And so that like step towards

isn’t as difficult to make, right? Because we know, you know, even if I have to do this thing that’s not so fun, like I’m doing it because I really care about the environment. And I wanted to know what your experience has been with people who maybe don’t have that innate drive and how you’ve come to get them to care. You know, I think that that’s something I’m asking myself a lot these days is like, how do we get people to care? And thinking about your history with students particularly, you know,

like often an apathetic crowd of people. And so I’m just curious if you could speak to just some of that experience or what you found motivates people or gets people to care. And I mean, also you could speak to the work you’ve done in 3D Enviro, because I know sometimes you have to do these presentations where you have to convince people to care that there’s mercury everywhere. To convince people to know what the…

Lauren (14:09.508)
Yeah, yeah.

Lauren (14:26.66)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s yeah. I think first kids are really malleable. Right. And so like that when I think about the it’s like almost a 180 from like what I’m doing now to what I was doing like kids you can take and like throw that they can be inner city kids and you can throw them into the natural world and they’re shocked. But it’s also like they adjust their resilient kids are way easier than adults.

Francesca Rinaldo (14:51.255)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren (14:56.164)
to open their eyes to like the beautiful world around them. And they just are more receptive to it. So I used to love taking like we had Kip Academy, it was a charter school that would come and you know, we throw them into the Grand Canyon and you know, first there’s like, you know, the five stages of grief, like there’s like shock and terror, disbelief, and then like, then there’s like this acclamation and kids like go through that process so quickly. And then…

Francesca Rinaldo (15:08.119)
Well yeah.

Lauren (15:25.54)
they love it, like they love it. And so even if that kid walks away with some understanding that like this is cool and we have to protect these cool places, like I won, right? And part of that is like giving them knowledge, but also having fun. It’s way easier with kids. Like kids are so easy. And then in the classroom, like when I was a science teacher,

Francesca Rinaldo (15:27.063)
Mm -hmm.

Francesca Rinaldo (15:38.903)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (15:44.055)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren (15:50.18)
that was more challenging, right? Like when you’re in the natural world, it’s like, this is cool. But then when you’re in a classroom, like that was more challenging. You know, one thing in my classroom that I, I’m always been an agitator, always been an agitator. So like in the classroom, in the classroom, maybe that’s the right word.

Francesca Rinaldo (15:55.319)
Mm -hmm.

Francesca Rinaldo (16:05.175)
What?

generated.

Francesca Rinaldo (16:11.671)
Thank you.

Lauren (16:12.644)
You know, I would take my kids outside all the time and there was always pushback from administration. Like, well, what are you doing out there? I’m like, well, we’re just going outside because we want to see stuff. You know, I always have my blinds open. It drove me nuts. It’s still to this day when I go into my kids classrooms and the blinds are closed tight. Like, no, we got to open this up. You know, my whole room was plastered with pictures of national national parks, like every single space, every square inch was.

Francesca Rinaldo (16:23.319)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (16:33.079)
Yeah.

Lauren (16:41.796)
covered with pictures of national parks from all over the United States. And it was really hard when you’re not tangibly in a place, it’s harder to get people to care. And now in the adult world, in the adult world, adults are hard. And unfortunately for the business, my tactic has always been,

giving people knowledge first and helping them understand how it affects them. So like something tangible like mercury, you know, this is something that’s every single water system and fish and, you know, is almost affected by mercury. I mean, there are mercury warnings for almost every waterway in every state.

And I think that that’s a really valuable thing to look at. I mean, the state of Maryland has a really cool website that gives you, walks you through every single local waterway and like the mercury warnings on it. And so even just Maryland alone, you know, you can look at that map and it’s shocking, you know? So I think letting people know that this actually is a problem and it’s a local problem, right? Like it’s not just a national problem, but it is a local problem.

I think has been the best tactic because unless you live in a hole, you have heard of mercury warnings and fish and like, you know, especially the predatory fish. And so that is a tangible way to connect to people. And people are always really interested when I get to that slide in my presentation, like, well, this is why we’re doing this work. Like when you put it in the environment, it doesn’t go away. It doesn’t go away. It actually gets worse. So I…

Francesca Rinaldo (18:11.351)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (18:29.559)
Yeah. Yeah. And it comes back to us.

Lauren (18:34.02)
Right. And it comes back to you, right? And here all the problems that we know Mercury causes. So I think in my work with adults, it’s providing education. They have to be receptive, though. So, you know, it’s like this is the problem with the world today is like making sure that it’s an education that doesn’t feel.

Francesca Rinaldo (18:50.263)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren (19:00.036)
that feels tangible and not isolating, that opens a conversation instead of making people feel like they’re doing something terribly wrong. Because most of the time they’re not, right? Like most of the time the mercury in the environment is not from you being a jerk and not recycling, right? Like, so it does make it feel more approachable, I think.

Francesca Rinaldo (19:10.199)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (19:22.775)
Yeah, yeah, it’s so interesting as you were talking, I was thinking about, you know, you were saying how it’s so much easier to get to get people motivated when they’re directly in touch with the natural world because like they’re looking at the things that that are beautiful. You know, you can’t you can’t deny the emotion you feel looking at like a beautiful mountain range, right. And I think that, yeah, speaking to emotion really is what.

ultimately motivates people, right? Like more so than I think logic. And I don’t know, just thinking about how like what you’re saying, our lives more than ever are contained within buildings and contained within our space and removed from the natural world. And I almost wonder if that is connected to maybe some of the like apathy or just lack of action that we have collectively. I know there is lots of action happening, but why maybe not every single person’s on board because

we’re just removed from these natural processes, this understanding of the natural world and like the experience of the natural world and how life -giving and impactful it can be for us as human beings to just go into nature. Like you said, I feel like for people, there’s so many people who’ve like never even gone camping before, never had that experience of standing alone in the woods and being like, I’m so small. And I don’t know, that makes me sad. It’s making me think about like,

We need to get people outside more.

Lauren (20:50.244)
Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting if I could just put a plug in. I just finished reading this book that I passed on. I don’t know if I passed it on to you Fran, but I passed on to Gus. And definitely my husband’s currently reading it. It’s called The Comfort Crisis and it’s by Michael Easter. And it’s basically that I think it’s called The Comfort Crisis, embrace discomfort and reclaim your wild, happy, healthy self. And a lot of the research he’s a, you know, does a lot of.

Francesca Rinaldo (20:54.071)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (21:12.695)
huh.

Lauren (21:16.58)
outdoor research and like how it affects your brain. And so he like really digs into how important nature is for our brains and like looks a lot of the like at the Japanese research of nature bathing and like how important it is for our development. And I think, you know, I think one of the stats he gives and I’m going to botch it exactly. But, you know, New York City is like one of the most unhappiest cities on the planet.

And yet, and they are trying to make links between that and its lack of nature and what that does to our brains. And so anyways, I think it’s just a really, I think it’s a really interesting thing to think about. There’s also tons of research out of Japan about just like how good nature is for our bodies. And…

Francesca Rinaldo (21:46.295)
Yeah.

Lauren (22:10.98)
you know, bringing elderly people who have heart issues out into a park for 30 minutes a day and like what that does to their blood pressure. And like all these really significant data points of how important it is to actually be outside. And there are different levels too. So like, you know, the base level is.

Francesca Rinaldo (22:17.847)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren (22:33.54)
three times a week for 20 minutes to be outside in nature. And that can be urban nature, you know, and that’s like the first level. And that’s like just to be somewhat healthy and be, have your brain function.

Francesca Rinaldo (22:46.231)
Wow, so this is like a, like a, almost like a dietary guideline in a way.

Lauren (22:49.38)
it is like it is like the it’s like the food pyramid for nature. The second level of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the second level of that is once a month being in a more rural nature for five hours. And this is like, you know, the prescription for this, this is all coming from Japanese research. The prescription for this is also like no phones. You can’t have your phone. There’s no technology.

Francesca Rinaldo (22:53.303)
Wow, I did not know that that exists.

Lauren (23:15.332)
in order for it to be fully restorative for your health and brain. And then finally is the three days in remote, you know, as remote as possible to do like a full, you know, cleanse, if you will, and like really reset your brain. So anyways, it’s really interesting research and I would highly recommend, I know National Geographic had,

Francesca Rinaldo (23:25.495)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren (23:42.276)
a big study on this nature bathing probably a couple of years ago. It’s been out for a while. And Michael Easter’s book that came out during COVID is also fantastic. But I do think that it is something we’re not talking about enough and how important the disconnect or like how much there is a disconnect. And certainly for me, raising children in this world, all of that data is like super important to me because…

Francesca Rinaldo (23:55.671)
Yeah.

Lauren (24:10.948)
There’s not one day that we’re not bombarded by technology and we’re busier than ever, but yet, you know, we don’t have time to rest and really enjoy being outside. So it’s something for me to try to keep in the back of my mind with my kids. So.

Francesca Rinaldo (24:27.191)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sometimes though it stinks. It almost feels like you have to like, you have to sort of fight the tide. You know, it’s so powerful trying to draw us all into our devices. But I’m so interested to hear about that research you were saying, because I was just learning about earthing. And I’ve heard about it, which is just going and putting your feet or your hands or like your skin onto the ground.

Lauren (24:42.66)
For sure.

Lauren (24:48.964)
Hmm.

Francesca Rinaldo (24:56.411)
which you might have heard about it, but I heard about it and I was like, yeah, this is a cool thing. It’s great. What could be bad about going to touch your skin to the earth? Sounds like a great thing. And then I saw this research that was actually done by the NIH and it was talking about all of these people who had had different cardiovascular and circulatory disorders and how them doing an earthing practice literally reduced the inflammation and wound healing and balanced.

Lauren (25:17.412)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (25:25.239)
the electrons in their body, which I know sounds, I feel like that almost sounds woo woo, even though it’s very scientific, you know, but it just was so, it was so amazing to me because I was like, wow, this thing that is kind of joked about is like a cookie crunchy thing. You know, I remember at lunch in college, there was a group of people would be like, we’re gonna go earth right now. And we’d all go and stand on the quad and like just hold hands in a circle and earth. But it’s amazing how these things like there is this deep.

Lauren (25:29.892)
Hahaha!

Lauren (25:51.3)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (25:53.719)
intuitive wisdom in our humanity that knows that we like need to do these things for both these intangible reasons and also these like really tangible reasons related to health. And that’s just so, I don’t know, so fascinating to me.

Lauren (26:09.764)
Yeah, I think it’s super fascinating. And I also think it’s like we have, I feel fortunate that I feel like I’m sort of like in the know and have like a look into this and how important it is. And so I think there are truly people who have no idea how important this is. And so I feel really fortunate that it’s something that I care about and something.

Francesca Rinaldo (26:26.775)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren (26:33.86)
that I have designed my life around to try to have easy access to nature any place I go. So, which is a privilege, you know, a huge privilege.

Francesca Rinaldo (26:39.767)
Yeah. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (26:45.303)
Yeah, I think that that’s something that I really struggle with these days is just how it feels like living a life in line with sustainability or, you know, with just consideration and care requires so much individual research in a way. And you really have to advocate for your own life and your own beliefs, because we don’t live in a society that automatically integrates those practices for us. But so,

You know, with that being said, I just wanted to ask you a little bit about, you know, in your work of educating people and trying to get them to care and, you know, how do you balance this? How do you balance the negative with the positive? Because obviously there’s a lot of negative that’s happening and people need to know that, right? But there’s a limit to that, right? That can become paralyzing.

Lauren (27:39.812)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (27:44.343)
And so I don’t know if you could speak to that. I know that that’s sort of your, I don’t want to say like greatest skill, but in a way it is. I feel like your humanism and your understanding of people and what motivates them is so powerful. And so I was wondering if you could speak to that a little bit.

Lauren (27:44.484)
Yeah.

Lauren (28:02.308)
Yeah, well thank you for saying that. I certainly, I think this like resonates with me really hard because of being a mom, right? Like, and bringing humans, you know, any environmentalist will say like struggle in their brain about bringing kids into this world, right? Like it’s a, you know, I think anyone who is in the environmental field is like, well, why would we do this? Why would we bring more people to destroy this earth into the world?

Francesca Rinaldo (28:11.291)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (28:20.823)
Yeah.

Lauren (28:31.364)
And it’s something that I grappled with. It’s something Sam definitely grappled with. And yet we did it anyways. Life found a way. Biology found a way. You know what I do think? But it does raise an interesting question. And I think with kids and especially teaching kids about climate change.

Francesca Rinaldo (28:31.639)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (28:46.135)
Right.

Francesca Rinaldo (29:00.823)
Yeah.

Lauren (29:01.38)
can be so upsetting and frustrating and like from the mouth of babes, right? Like, why are we doing it that way, mom? Like, that seems stupid. I’m like, yeah, you nailed it. Like, why don’t we just, why don’t we just change it? Like, why can’t we do it differently, you know? And so there is a piece of frustration and there are a lot of like really funny kids books and they’re not funny. Like they’re funny because they’re kids books, but like.

Francesca Rinaldo (29:28.599)
Yeah.

Lauren (29:28.868)
I think one that I just read to Peter the other day, my three -year -old is like the greatest tantrum that ever happened or something like that. And it’s like, this kid basically throws a huge temper tantrum in the state Capitol about climate change. And like, sometimes you have to get angry and sometimes you have to protest. Is that working? I think that’s what is frustrating, right? Like there’s not policy change on a large level. On the industrial scale,

Francesca Rinaldo (29:42.519)
Okay.

Lauren (29:57.828)
there does need to be huge change. Like the individual action at this point, it is important and I don’t want to downplay that, but like it also, as we know, has to be at a higher level. And I think that’s what’s motivating for me as a business owner is that you must be the change you wish to see in the world, right? Like that in both your personal life, but also your business. And, you know, sustainability,

Francesca Rinaldo (30:10.007)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (30:19.031)
Yes.

Lauren (30:25.828)
is tangible on so many levels. You don’t have to be an environmental group or company in order to have sustainability. I think that’s the whole point, right? Is that like, we’ve got to make changes on a larger scale in order for anything to happen. And I think it’s possible. It’s really freaking frustrating. And I think also with kids, it can be really disheartening.

Francesca Rinaldo (30:45.207)
Yeah.

Lauren (30:55.556)
to say, you know, I don’t know why it’s this way and it’s dumb. And you know, all we can do is be good humans and try to push this change. You know, and I remember my dad saying like, your generation is gonna be the one to change it, Lauren. Like you guys are gonna do it. And now I feel like I’m saying that to my daughter. And I’m like, what in the hell? We missed the boat. Like what is going on? But maybe we, yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (31:13.911)
No!

Yeah, yeah. But you know, I mean, but there has been, I mean, just, you know, for a little positive, there has obviously been huge changes between your generation and your parents’ generation and Leland’s, your daughter Leland’s generation and your generation. You know, I think it’s like, it’s sometimes hard to parse these things out because we also have more information than ever. So I feel like anytime there’s a win, there’s like 30 news stories of like,

Lauren (31:24.644)
Hahaha!

Lauren (31:45.86)
losses, yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (31:46.839)
Did you know about the world? This is happening and it’s terrible. And you’re like, my God. But I do feel like I do feel really hard because it’s funny. I remember like my parents saying that to me too, like your generation is going to change. And we unfortunately, I mean, I feel like I’m like, we kind of failed. Like we’re already old enough now. The new kids got to come in. But I do feel like so impassioned by.

Lauren (31:49.476)
Yeah. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (32:13.687)
Just the heart and intelligence and knowledge of the young people I see on the internet, I feel like they really are, you know, speaking to these extremely complicated and like macro issues and recognizing their role in it and also their inability to like solve it without collective action. And yeah, I think for me in my journey through sustainability as well, it was a lot more.

individual action, like a lot more was focused on that. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think it’s really important to express to people like live your life with integrity, regardless of the outcome of it, right? Like, do what you think is good for the earth, even if it isn’t is a drop in the bucket. but I feel like now so many kids, you know, are saying like, we can’t do this alone. This, this can’t just be us. This can’t just be the individual, like we need to have serious advocacy. And so I don’t know, that makes me a little

Lauren (32:54.276)
Right, right.

Lauren (32:59.78)
Sure.

Lauren (33:06.564)
Right.

Lauren (33:11.364)
Yeah, and I think with that, it empowers me because it is super complicated and it is multifaceted. And I think there is no silver bullet, right? There is no silver bullet. And even within the environmental world, it’s like, you can’t put a solar farm here because then this invasive species is going to thrive because you’re mowing everything down.

Francesca Rinaldo (33:12.439)
Right?

Francesca Rinaldo (33:20.183)
Yeah. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (33:28.791)
Yeah.

Lauren (33:38.628)
You can’t put the wind farm here because migratory birds are here. And so even within the environmental world, there is debate and problems. For me though, I think it’s motivating because it is multifaceted. And so there are smaller prongs that matter. And so therefore my work with 3D Enviro, are we out there saving?

Francesca Rinaldo (33:39.031)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (33:49.719)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (33:57.143)
Yeah.

Lauren (34:05.188)
Woodpeckers, no. Like, are we out there saving forests? No. Like, but it’s multifaceted and like the work that I’m doing does matter. And I think that that’s where we have to like give a nod and say like, yes, there are many prongs and this is one of them. This is a tiny little piece of it, but it motivates me to keep going. And I think my employees too.

Francesca Rinaldo (34:31.479)
I love that you said that. I don’t know, I just love that you said that.

Lauren (34:35.524)
So yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (34:38.135)
Cause I mean, I mean, yeah, like it is, I don’t know. It is, we are all so interconnected in ways that are impossible for us to, I think grasp at times, but, but.

Lauren (34:46.98)
Yeah.

Lauren (34:51.076)
Yeah, I think it’s really interesting. This like I keep coming back to this. Like I keep thinking about this. I took this class in college and it was a geography class. I was like, what is like geography? Like I was thinking like, this is going to be about like where countries are. And like, no, it was actually like a systems, like an environmental systems. It was like environmental geography. And so it like talked about the world systems and like how everything is connected.

Francesca Rinaldo (35:07.607)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (35:10.999)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren (35:19.78)
to like evaporation on the equator that forms weather systems throughout the whole world, you know, water currents in the ocean and how those connect weather, you know, it’s like your body. It’s so fascinating to me and mind blowing and scary. You know, if something’s wrong in your body, it’s a whole system. And we have…

Francesca Rinaldo (35:37.111)
Yeah.

Lauren (35:43.172)
You know, especially in America, we have own, you know, we have specialists, right, who are only looking at this one tiny little piece of your body. But like really, it’s a system as a whole that needs to be culture, like cultivated. And it’s also the same thing for the planet. So cultivating one place could help something else. And I think I think there are really smart people out there who understand that. But it’s really something that the American public should understand. Well, everybody on the planet should understand more. But.

Francesca Rinaldo (35:57.495)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (36:11.991)
that’s such a good t. parallel, the human body and the earth. You know, I like that idea of it is the way we approach medicine is very similar to the way we approach our environmental problems often too, where it’s like, there’s a fire in California, let’s go put it out. no, now this is happening. There’s a hurricane in Florida. Let’s go drain it out. You know, and it’s like, this is all a system that’s happening together. We can’t.

Lauren (36:12.996)
we have done that.

Lauren (36:26.692)
Yeah.

Lauren (36:36.58)
Yeah.

It is.

Francesca Rinaldo (36:41.111)
keep going. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. I remember that too, though, in a in a environmental the first environmental science class I took where they talked about ocean mixing and how the different temperatures across the globe, like affect ocean mixing and drop all of these nutrients that are like in the deep Arctic seas that we like fertilize the Great Plains or all this crazy stuff. And I was like, this is so wild that

Lauren (36:54.82)
Yeah.

Lauren (36:59.492)
Yes!

Francesca Rinaldo (37:08.727)
the A, the entire oceans completely mix, I think what, like every 200 years or something, like not that long. And I mean, when you think about that, like anytime I even, I live in Florida and I go and I stand on the beach and I’m standing in the water and I’m like, this water has touched the entire earth. It’s so amazing and so impactful and so terrifying and so empowering. And yeah, I don’t know. I, yeah.

Lauren (37:24.9)
So cool.

Lauren (37:35.236)
and complicated, like it’s complicated and it’s crazy. You know, we don’t even understand the human body, let alone the planet. And I think there’s just a lot that we’re still, it’s always fascinating to me, like how much we’re still learning and how complicated these systems are. I mean, it is fascinating to me. And I think that’s why I went into environmental science because it was fascinating and just a world of wonder.

Francesca Rinaldo (37:51.447)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (37:55.287)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (38:01.623)
Yeah. And I feel like, I feel like that mindset though, I almost wonder if like your background in teaching and the knowledge that this need to kind of like inject curiosity and everything in order to like keep people going isn’t also a really great business tactic or just attitude that you can take into your work and saying like, how can I approach this with curiosity or like how can I?

ask a better question or how can I understand this person better because that’s how we’re gonna make change or that’s how we’re gonna get people to care or understand or know where they even are on their own journey.

Lauren (38:45.38)
Yeah, I mean, I think, like I said before, I think a lot of the work that I do is also about education. And so, you know, I think people have a lot of questions, especially about our mercury remediation, like, well, what is it? Why do you do it? And so a lot of it is providing information on the importance of it. And that’s hard.

hard because it makes it hard to grow your business, but also the people that care do care. And so, so we have been, you know, I think for a small business, we’ve been successful because we have found pockets that care. So.

Francesca Rinaldo (39:10.743)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (39:25.111)
Yeah. So I want to, I want to speak to you a little bit more about that advocacy work that you’ve done. So, you know, I know that, or we all know obviously science is a male dominated industry. I think that’s been changing in recent years, but, or changing definitely, but you know, it’s still as a male dominated industry. Obviously you’re a woman, you’re a mom. You know, I know that you,

took over this company from your father. And so, you know, you’ve been in a lot of male dominated spaces in this industry as a woman and you were a young woman. I mean, you still are. That sounds terrible. I’m going to take that off. You know what I mean? I’m trying to say, when you started out in this work, I know you were a young woman in your 20s. And, you know, can you speak to a little bit about

Lauren (40:23.716)
Thank you.

Francesca Rinaldo (40:24.279)
what that journey has been like, you know, holding an identity that isn’t necessarily respected or welcomed to the table in these spaces. And then being a leader in that space and saying like, hey, you actually have to listen to me and I’m the person who knows best. So yeah, I mean, also, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

Lauren (40:47.588)
Yeah, I mean a couple. Yeah. Good. no, I was just gonna say like a couple of things come to mind about like my journey of being a woman in an environmental field that is male dominated. I mean, we do environmental remediation. So like, it is a male dominated field.

I think more and more companies are trying to have female owners and I just like looked at one of our competitors and now they’re woman owned, which is great. And so I do find this trend that there are more women. I think one thing that comes to mind and I think maybe it’s cause I started in my twenties and this could just be like the age at which I, you know.

Francesca Rinaldo (41:25.559)
Hmm.

Lauren (41:29.348)
gone through my professional life, but like all the American cultural things that are pressed upon women as they age had really come to the forefront of my mind. So like when I was in my twenties, I mean, I was in my late twenties, but you know, I definitely was the youngest person in the room. I was the only female. And so it was a selling point because people remembered me. So like in that regard, it was helpful.

Francesca Rinaldo (41:37.367)
Yeah.

Lauren (41:59.396)
because they’re like, well, who is that? Like, who is this, you know, 30 year old woman in this room? Right. But then at the same, you know, the double edged sword of that is like multiple times I was asked like, can you take notes for this meeting? Can you keep notes for this sweetheart? You know, can you be the sec, you know, someone, someone was like, are you the secretary? I’m like, all right. So, you know, so I do think.

Francesca Rinaldo (42:04.759)
You smile.

Francesca Rinaldo (42:17.171)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

God.

Lauren (42:26.852)
I think any woman in any industry could probably say things similarly to that. But I do think, I do think it was a double -edged sword. So it was both like people noticed and then people also had condescending comments as well. I think that it’s an important piece of my identity as a woman in business and also,

Francesca Rinaldo (42:40.759)
Yeah.

Lauren (42:56.676)
finding other women in business. And it doesn’t have to be the environmental field, but like I have surrounded myself with other women owned businesses. And no matter what business it is, there are similar things that happen as you like progress in your business and also talking to other women. Like it’s like a support group, right? Like I have a business CEO group and the other women in there and men.

But the other women in there have become like some of my best friends because we all, you know, mom, we all run a business and there are all very similar things that happen. So that’s been a really important piece to me as I’ve run this and learned. But it is definitely a strong culture. And I will say that there are things that are really hard for me as I continue to age and just like how society and how our culture.

you know, how women are supposed to be and they’re supposed to be youthful and they’re supposed to look youthful. And, you know, I started young and so it is like, who’s this young woman in this group? So that is part of the identity of 3D is, you know, this random woman walking around these gross places in a hard hat and steel -toed boots, you know, it’s very much a construction site and I’m on there.

you know, walking around with a lot of these guys, but I will say that more and more women are being bad ass and I can, I see you, I see you out there women, and young women too, like young women, like I think there has been a real push for a lot of large construction firms. you know, we just did a big project with like one of the largest construction firms and I was so impressed with some of the women that they had on staff.

Francesca Rinaldo (44:20.023)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (44:29.879)
Yes!

Lauren (44:48.644)
and also just the language that they used. Like it was woke and it was good. Like it was like very inclusive. And you know, I walked away with my business partner and we’re like, we got to use that phrase from now on. You know, like we’ve got to, that’s a good phrase. Like, yeah, we’ve got to address people this way. So I do think that there are young people who care, who are becoming involved in the workforce, who are making changes.

Francesca Rinaldo (45:03.735)
Yeah, yeah.

Lauren (45:17.764)
that will be significant. And that gives me some hope for our future.

Francesca Rinaldo (45:19.767)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (45:23.191)
Yeah, yeah, it’s very, I know, right? I’m like the young people, we’re really, not to put too much pressure on them again, but.

Lauren (45:31.94)
No pressure, but pressure. Yeah, but I also think, I mean, in that regard, like, I mean, just to nod at our political situation, you know, clearly we are still young because like, look at the people who are running our government. And I think we still have a lot of years left, Fran, to like make an impact. And I think we are considered young still.

So I think in that regard, I think we’ve got lots of years ahead of us to play the game.

Francesca Rinaldo (46:01.463)
Yeah, absolutely. You’re right. Yeah, like, let’s get some people who are like 60 years old in government for like me, maybe one day. But let’s just start with like retirement age first. And that. So, you know, earlier as you were were sharing about about your experience being a woman in leadership and and.

Lauren (46:08.452)
Yeah, yeah, exactly, like, just a touch younger! Just a touch!

Lauren (46:16.644)
Yeah, exactly.

Francesca Rinaldo (46:29.655)
you know, connecting with other women in leadership spaces. And you were talking, you said something about how you see similar trends or similar decisions being made in a, you know, a women owned business. And I was wondering if you could speak to that perspective that you’ve noticed, you know, that that you’ve brought to the table that maybe other firms aren’t doing. And what do you find? You know, what do you find is lost?

in these discussions when we limit the voices that are shared and the actors that are in power as we’re making these decisions.

Lauren (47:05.732)
Yeah, I think overall, and I definitely have men CEOs that are wonderful and just so great. And there have been a couple of men CEOs in my CEO group who have been just like amazing and such a good compass for me. But I will say that the women that I know, I think what I find when I speak to other women business owners is the key word that I would say is compassion.

I think what I find is that, you know, more understanding policies on family leave and medical and pregnancy and childcare, you know, if we think about who, you know, basically like unpaid work that women have done for centuries in this country, all over the world,

These are all like similar, like childcare is like a huge issue and balancing how to raise kids and work.

Francesca Rinaldo (48:07.415)
Yeah.

Lauren (48:15.46)
is two full -time jobs. I mean, it’s two full -time jobs. And so that piece, I think it gives you compassion for your employees in a different way. And not that men don’t experience that because I definitely think they do, right? Like they do. And being a dad, it gives you compassion for sure. But I think overall, the women that I see, like…

there is a visceral response to it that’s like, I get this, this is important, we need to value this. And just much more of an emotional understanding of a whole person, that it’s not just you’re clocking in at work and here you’re my employee and these are your roles that you need to complete and check off, but like a more well -rounded approach to being a human and taking care of people.

is what I would say for the workforce. And I think that’s the trend I see when I see women CEOs. So it’s like your employees are whole people and emotionally connecting with them. And this is obviously a small sample size, so I have no idea if there could be terrible women out there that own businesses. But this is my experience.

Francesca Rinaldo (49:28.939)
But it’s okay, don’t take these as triple facts.

Lauren (49:34.66)
Yeah, this is my experience in the women CEOs that I know. And I really think it’s motivating to me. It’s motivating and it’s hard. Like it’s hard. I think things are getting way better than like my mom’s generation. My mom worked full time. She was a nurse. She was a nurse practitioner. And so I think from…

And certainly there were more than nurses and teachers in my mom’s generation, but not my grandmother’s generation. I mean, my grandmother was a nurse and you could be a nurse, a teacher or a secretary. Like those are the three things you could do. And, and I think every generation there are different things. And I think in my mom’s generation, it was do it all and don’t suffer. Like you can’t talk about your suffering. Like you just do it.

Francesca Rinaldo (50:08.983)
Yeah. Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (50:26.871)
Yeah, yeah. Don’t complain. Yeah.

Lauren (50:28.58)
Don’t complain, you just do it. And this is what it is. And at least it’s better than our mom’s generation, you know, my grandmother’s generation. But there was a lot of silent suffering and it is a lot to hold to be a mom and to be a C, to work generally. And I think the balance between family and work as a mom,

Francesca Rinaldo (50:42.743)
Yeah.

Lauren (50:57.124)
I guess I only know my experience, but I just know that it’s a common trend between other women CEOs. You got to build your village, build your team because it takes a village. And I think that a lot of.

you know, people that I talk to, it is a constant struggle on, you know, what values you hold and trying to execute those things, like being a good mom and like what that means. Does that mean you need to pick your kid up to soccer practice and drive them across town? I don’t know. It’s so individualized. But I do know that the other women CEOs also have a stacked village and team that they build. And that’s the only way that we can do this is together.

Francesca Rinaldo (51:34.039)
Mm -hmm.

Francesca Rinaldo (51:43.479)
Yeah, it’s so interesting because it’s making me think about being a parent, being a mother is this deep knowledge of how to sustain life and how that perspective and understanding just gives you a holistic perspective that then you can translate out to the environment, to your every decision, to your business decision. And I think a lot when we talk about sustainability, it’s really emphasized on environmental.

sustainability, like the literal natural environment, the non -living and living parts of the environment, and not often, I think, centered around like community sustainability or like human sustainability in a way and thinking about like, yes, we want to create an earth that where all living things can flourish, but also we want to create an earth where we as humans can flourish and where all human beings can.

Lauren (52:37.86)
Thank you.

Francesca Rinaldo (52:40.279)
have self -determination where we’re not making decisions that, you know, like, I don’t know, thinking about the way that marginalized communities are always put next to landfills or, you know, like these things that sustainability is so inherently intertwined with like the human condition. And…

Lauren (52:50.724)
Yeah.

Lauren (52:58.532)
Yeah, and I think it’s like a really, I mean, just a new talking, like I will be the first to acknowledge that like the environmental problems that are affecting people are the lowest economic, you know, group of people that these environmental conditions, you know, putting a landfill next to, you know, an underprivileged neighborhood that’s that’s commonplace, like everywhere in the world.

you’re seeing all these environmental disasters in places. I mean, that’s not totally, you know, the earth doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor. But I will say that humans care and it certainly like we have decided where things go and certainly I will just acknowledge that I am a white privileged person and don’t understand firsthand.

Francesca Rinaldo (53:34.807)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (53:39.287)
No idea.

Francesca Rinaldo (53:54.231)
Yeah.

Lauren (53:55.108)
you know what that’s like so I guess I’ll just put that out there that in my in my preachiness.

Francesca Rinaldo (54:00.823)
Yeah, yeah. Of course, of course. And, you know, same here also. But I do think, though, that, like, I guess that, you know, you saying that is really inspiring to me, because I think that if, you know, we need to understand, like, how to care for human beings, too, and we need to know how to sustain human life as part of this whole, as part of the entire

Lauren (54:22.5)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (54:28.695)
like sustainability and environmentally conscious initiative. And I think that, I think to me, it’s just, it’s so, I don’t know, impactful or beautiful, you know, not to be cheesy, but to think about how, how yeah, that intimate knowledge that you gain or that experience through motherhood of how to, how to sustain this unbelievably vulnerable, complicated, fragile thing, how that can, you know, profoundly shape your.

and your decision making that then creates these like reverberation effects where everyone can be healthy and happy and have self determination. And I can’t, I’m gonna botch this, there’s some quote by this like female psychologist I’ll have to put after in the notes, but it’s basically like, if you meet the needs of children and mothers in society, the needs of every single person in society are met. And that to me is just like, always like, you know.

Lauren (55:23.428)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (55:27.927)
But like not just of human mothers, but like animals as well. You know, like if we can meet the needs of the babies and the mothers of the world, then we’re all gonna be taken care of.

Lauren (55:28.164)
Yeah.

Lauren (55:39.908)
Yeah, I think that’s a really powerful statement. And I certainly, it’s only, I feel biased because it’s only my experience, but I do think that being a mom and also running a business is, you know, I think that’s why I feel so close to the other CEO moms, because the things we all talk about are the same experience and like how hard it is, the pressures we feel.

You know, there are just things that moms do that why we do them, I don’t know. Like maybe it’s biological. I have no idea, but they all seem to be similar feelings. And I do think that it brings more compassion into the workplace, having women CEOs.

I also think moms get shit done. Like I love hiring new moms because like they do everything in half the amount of time because they’re efficient. They’re like, no, I, you know, I’ve got this time I’m going to do this. and so they’re like just highly motivated.

Francesca Rinaldo (56:29.687)
Hahaha!

Francesca Rinaldo (56:44.535)
like that’s the most like I’ve never heard anybody, you know, most people would be like, I would never want to hire a new mom, but that’s, I feel like, yeah.

Lauren (56:49.796)
no, I’m like, give me all the new moms. Like it is, it’s crazy. I think that they are just like, you know, they realize how to prioritize their time and like do things really efficiently. Like when you’re taking care of someone in something, you know, I think you have these windows of time, naps, you have these windows of time where you like ninja around like crazy person.

trying to get shit done. And so yeah, I’m like, give me all the new moms to hire because I feel like they get things done really efficiently. So.

Francesca Rinaldo (57:15.767)
Yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (57:25.047)
Ugh.

Lauren, it has been such a great conversation. I know we’re nearing nearing the end of our time. But both

Lauren (57:33.156)
I’m also getting a text from our babysitter that Peter has a fever. So that’s why I was like glanced down at my phone when, speaking of mom responsibilities, I’m like, I’ll be in in a second.

Francesca Rinaldo (57:45.175)
All right, well, I will I will get you wrapped up here so you can go do it.

Lauren (57:50.628)
No, it’s fine. It’s fine. I, I, it’s be my time.

Francesca Rinaldo (57:54.935)
But before we go, I mean, yeah, you know, I first do just want to say thank you so much. This has been such an inspiring and thought -provoking conversation. And I hope that, you know, I hope everyone, you, the listener can come away feeling hopeful and maybe with a few little action items in your mind. Go hug your mom. But yeah, talk to you.

Lauren (58:17.444)
Yeah, go hug your mom. Tell her she’s doing a good job. Go outside. Put your hands in nature.

Francesca Rinaldo (58:23.383)
Yes, touch the earth, do some earthing.

Lauren (58:26.244)
Earthing, you need to be outside. Put your phone down. Right.

Francesca Rinaldo (58:28.855)
Yes, exactly. No phone zone. But so so you know, Lauren, before we wrap up, I know we’ve talked about this, but part of our as part of our podcasts with each guest, you know, so that we’re also putting our money where our mouth is and having a tangible no, I don’t like this. I’m taking that off. Okay, redo. Lauren, as you know, as part of for each podcast guest that we have, we’ve asked them to

choose an area of the world in which they would like to plant a native tree to help with ecosystem restoration and biodiversity. This is part of the initiative of One Tree Planted, which is an organization that’s really cool and everybody should go check out. And they, you know, people are always saying we need to plant more trees and rather than just planting a bunch of Bradford pears, they plant native trees that the ecosystem and environment actually need.

So with that being said, I wanted to ask you if you’ve given a little bit of thought to which region you would like to plant your tree in.

Lauren (59:34.659)
Yeah, I first love this idea. I love this, love this so much. I will say that the work my husband Sam does as the director of land management, I think he has, I haven’t made a decision yet because I needed to connect with him on it. I thought about the region, obviously locally doing something in Appalachia, but I do think that there are probably regions who need.

need trees more than we do. And I love this idea and I love this mission and I love that Peaceful has decided to do this, but I have not figured out exactly where I want my tree to go. So I need to report back on that one. I’d like to talk to Sam about it because I feel like he actually probably would have a better understanding of what tree where.

than I do. That’s his specialty. So I wanted to converse with him and report back to Peaceful on it.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:00:35.191)
Well, yes, well, just report back to me. I’m excited to hear about Sam’s expert opinion. I know he’s a…

Lauren (01:00:44.708)
Yeah, I am too. I am too. So I’m always learning from him about, you know, different trees and where they should be planted and what species are going to thrive and how that helps their ecosystem. So he certainly is very knowledgeable in Virginia. I don’t know about Appalachia as a whole, but Virginia, he is certainly the one to talk to about it. So.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:01:04.567)
Yeah. Well, I’m excited to hear that. All right, we’re still hearing his, I know, maybe he should give us a little advice too.

Lauren (01:01:07.684)
Yeah, thanks, Fran.

Lauren (01:01:12.388)
No, I think it’s a great mission. And I think like, I think they’re probably utilizing experts on the ground as well. So, everything looks so great and I’m so glad Peaceful has reached out to plant the trees, but also reached out. And, I feel very fortunate to have gotten to talk to you for the last hour. so thank you.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:01:18.135)
Yeah, yeah.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:01:31.927)
well, I mean, really, really same here, Lauren. It’s always so inspiring to talk to you. I really, I feel like I feel your passion and your authenticity. And it’s just always, always such a great conversation. Is there anything, before we go, is there anything that, any other last things that you want to say, anything that you want to leave us with? I know that’s kind of a, that’s kind of a hard question actually. So we all, you can also say no.

Lauren (01:01:46.244)
Sure.

Lauren (01:02:02.212)
that’s a big one, Fran. There’s lots of things I’d like to say. No, I feel like, I just appreciate the work that Peaceful is doing and I appreciate someone taking the time to listen to my story and making me feel empowered in my mission.

it makes me look back to days where it’s not so fun to be doing the work that I’m doing and makes it sort of worthwhile. So I appreciate that. I appreciate that insightfulness that you gave me and I’m going to go kick some ass the rest of the day. So, so cool. Well, thanks Fran. Okay. All right. Bye.

Francesca Rinaldo (01:02:35.511)
Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. I love that. All right. Well, thank you so much, Lauren. We’ll talk soon.