This Former Google Exec Left Tech To Chase Tornados — Now, His Sustainable Personal Care Brand Is Lightning In A Bottle

Most group watch The Wizard of Oz for its whimsical characters and fantastical setting, but for Jeff Shardell, laminitis and CEO of Humble Brands, nan existent point was nan tornado scene. As a child, Shardell described himself arsenic "one of those weird kids who ever loved thunderstorms."

"Most group would tally incorrect and hunker down, but I'd tally extracurricular to watch nan powerfulness of these storms coming astatine me," Shardell recalls.

Decades later, that weather-loving, free-spirited kid recovered himself moving a patient occupation astatine a mini nett startup called Google. You mightiness personification heard of it.

"I retrieve erstwhile we were launching Google Print, and Larry [Page] said, 'Why don't we conscionable digitize each book and mag ever published?'" Shardell shares. "It seemed impossible, but to him, it was a no-brainer."

That audacious, outside-the-box reasoning adjacent a lasting belief connected Shardell, shaping really he approaches daunting challenges.

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As nan upwind blows

Though Shardell played a cardinal domiciled successful expanding Google from nether 100 to complete 20,000 employees, he recovered himself craving overmuch fulfillment.

"I publication years agone that it's bully to reinvent ourselves each 10 years aliases so," he says. "Looking back, I consciousness for illustration we've seen our parents and grandparents instrumentality to nan aforesaid occupation paths their afloat lives, rarely, if ever, making a change."

Instead of buying a Ferrari aliases going to Vegas, he decided to clip disconnected his patient business and spell a large wind chaser.

"I convinced a friend to subordinate maine connected a recreation to Denver," he says. "We rented a car, and pinch my constricted storm-chasing skills, we witnessed an unthinkable tornado connected that first outing. I was hooked."

What started arsenic an investigation became a hybrid occupation slash hobby that drives him to this day. Living connected nan roadworthy during ample upwind play had a profound effect connected Shardell's outlook.

"Storm chasing forces you to boil life down to nan essentials," he explains.

This minimalist mindset sparked a question: Why is modern surviving — peculiarly nan products we use—so unnecessarily complicated?

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A cleanable storm

That curiosity planted nan seed for Humble Brands. After learning astir nan imaginable wellness risks of aluminum-based antiperspirants, Shardell tried switching to earthy deodorants but was unimpressed pinch what was available.

"Nothing worked for maine — they didn't last, they were messy, aliases they utilized synthetic fragrances," he says.

True to his resourceful nature, Shardell tackled nan problem head-on. After buying 2 pans to build a homemade double boiler, he sewage to work, donning rubber gloves for illustration Walter White successful a lab.

"I started pinch a elemental cognition of cornstarch to sorb sweat and baking soda to termination germs — conscionable for illustration baking soda absorbs smells successful a fridge," Shardell explains. "While nan look worked, it adjacent down a powdery messiness and, arsenic he puts it, felt for illustration "a half-risen loaf of breadstuff nether your arm."

Undeterred, he began experimenting pinch waxes and oils for a smoother application, each while keeping nan ingredients elemental and recognizable.

"I wanted group to spot what they saw connected nan label," he says. Mixing batches successful his kitchen, he tested nan look connected himself and shared it pinch family and friends for feedback. "It conscionable grew from there."

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From drizzle To downpour

Today, Humble Brands products are sold successful complete 11,000 portion locations nationwide, including Whole Foods, Erewhon and Sprouts. But contempt this growth, Shardell is wished to enactment existent to nan company's mission: creating simple, effective products that are amended for group and nan planet.

"We ever tally our products done a litmus proceedings to guarantee they align pinch our halfway values," Shardell explains.

This accuracy extends to packaging. While Humble Brands still uses plastic, it's made pinch 75% post-consumer recycled materials, and Shardell is actively moving to trim moreover that. The institution has already introduced paperboard packaging for deodorants and is pushing toward further innovation.

"It's not conscionable astir what's bully for america individually but collectively what's bully for everyone and nan earth," he says.

Shardell believes sustainable packaging is nan industry's adjacent frontier, an penetration he gained by watching hunt trends. His eventual extremity is to create a 100% biodegradable bioplastic that is caller for nan market.

It's a daunting task, and Shardell knows there's still overmuch activity to beryllium done earlier his dream becomes a reality. But alternatively of shying distant from nan challenge, he recalls nan reside astir Google Print pinch laminitis Larry Page years ago.

"I still transmission nan mindset I had during that gathering erstwhile moving connected caller projects," Shardell says. "It reminds maine that nary business is excessively big."