Buggin’ Out?

What does it mean to be “green?”

“Green means something different to everybody,” says Kari Warberg Block, founder and CEO of Earth-Kind, a manufacturer of all-natural indoor rodent and odor control products.

Since 2007, her company has experienced 40 percent growth. They are on the fast track to bringing in $5 million this year – nearly doubling revenue from 2012.

Named one of Ernst & Young’s 2012 Entrepreneurial Winning Women, Block says she doesn’t take the honor lightly.

What inspired her big idea?

“I was always taught to leave things better than I found them.”

After a life-threatening accident and the deaths of her father and grandmother, she used her second chance at life to create something that resonated with her since childhood.

After a trip with her father to Fresh Kills Landfill, once the nation’s largest dumping ground, in Staten Island when she was five, Block realized that when you throw something “away” it doesn’t just disappear.

Then, later while working in a cosmetics department, and suffering from headaches, Block studied ingredients in the products she was selling. Her epiphany? The marketplace lacked products that were safe.

“I was always taught to leave things better than I found them. We’re doing the green thing for the right reasons.”

COMMENT: Do you run a “green” business? Tell us.

BONUS PINK LINK: When adversity comes knocking, keep going.

By Emily Barnhill

“When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.” Steffi Graf

Image Shutterstock: Pindyurin Vasily

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