From broke undergraduate to sustainable celebrity, that is how Susannah Jaffer created a sustainable model with intention.
In the event you haven’t heard of Susannah Jaffer, allow us to offer you a breakdown. Earlier than remodeling herself into an entrepreneur, Susannah was {a magazine} editor centered on the intersection of sustainable trend, retail, and media. By way of her 5 years within the business, Susannah discovered an inner shift in her perceptions of trend. Not eager to perpetuate a hole cycle, she started to weave intentional purchasing into her work as an editor. This included spotlighting rising manufacturers which are deeply linked to their provide chain and carry social impression.
Naturally, her subsequent large step was to start out Zerrin. Singapore’s first market champions unbiased designers and sustainable trend labels round Southeast Asia. It’s house to manufacturers like Indosole, The Verdant Lab, and Wray Crafted. Apart from managing Zerrin, Susannah can be the voice behind the Made Higher podcast the place she sits with inspiring people to discover questions on sustainability. It covers the impression of what we create and eat, and the way to decide on higher for a more healthy planet. And naturally, this made her the right contributor for our first-ever Sustainability Awards.
Learn on to search out out extra about this absolute powerhouse of a lady.
5 issues we learnt about Susannah Jaffer, founding father of Zerrin
#1 She truly got here to Singapore to be a instructor!
That’s proper. A contemporary grad in 2012, Susannah arrived on our sunny shores to be an English instructor. Sadly (or luckily?), the visa for the instructing position fell by way of. This led to her discover different choices which landed her in a PR company doing an internship on a piece vacation visa. From PR, she ultimately moved into magazines the place she labored her method up from junior editor to managing each the style and wonder sections.
#2 She’s an extremely passionate storyteller.
Along with her media background, Susannah is an enormous fan of crafting narratives. When she first began Zerrin, she managed nearly every thing by herself. This included creating content material, writing, and directing photoshoots. All of those abilities have been particularly helpful as she started to create content material for the manufacturers she works with, and that advanced into Zerrin Studio. This arm of her enterprise is the place Susannah deep dives into the essence of the manufacturers she collaborates with as a way to talk their story.
#3 She was recognised as one of many high Singapore voices for sustainability on LinkedIn in 2022.
Regardless of contemplating herself an “unintentional thought chief”, it’s not a shock that Susannah’s main the eco-charge on LinkedIn. She initially began utilizing the platform to maintain up with information on sustainable trend and social impression. Earlier than she knew it, she was resharing and posting her opinions. There was by no means any intention to have folks sharing her posts, however that didn’t cease a few of Susannah’s articles from going viral.
#4 Her key to success? Be obsessive about value-adding.
From her days in editorial to her entrepreneurial journey, Susannah focuses on including worth wherever she will be able to. Each motion she takes is intentional and at all times serves a goal. This ranges from organising offline occasions to offer folks the chance to buy merchandise in individual, and curating a listing of sustainable lists anybody can flip to.
#5 Her greatest enterprise mantra: Simply do it.
For any entrepreneur on the market who’s on the lookout for an indication: that is it. It’s positively not the simplest journey. There’ll be a number of challenges that come up whilst you’re constructing your small business. This can even contain carrying many hats as you get your model established. However Susannah reminds us that there’s an answer for every thing. You simply must take the time to search out it.
Let’s chat sustainability with Susannah Jaffer
What does sustainability imply to you?
On a person degree, sustainability means being extra considerate and linked to how, why and what we eat. On a enterprise degree, it means being extra considerate and linked to how, why and what we create.
What are some methods to dwell sustainably, particularly in Singapore?
The best method anybody can begin, no matter socio-economic standing, is to eat much less and eradicate pointless purchases. From meals to trend to family items, it’s necessary to be extra considerate about what you’re spending your hard-earned cash on. It’s okay to need issues – shopping for new shouldn’t be a unclean time period. However what you are able to do is search for secondhand items first. I at all times do that with furnishings; 80% of my family is secondhand from Carousell and also you wouldn’t have thought so!
What are your sustainable targets in 2023?
To provide much less muddle, cook dinner extra at house and purchase substances from my native moist market to cut back meals packaging. I finished going to the moist market throughout Covid and haven’t gotten into the behavior of going again but.
Who’s your favorite eco-warrior and why?
I like Aja Barber, who’s a London-based writer, content material creator and necessary voice in sustainable trend and activism. She’s been instrumental in educating and empowering communities to assume extra deeply concerning the nuances of sustainable trend. She has a very highly effective, genuine and sincere voice which comes from her lived expertise as a minority, individual of color residing and dealing within the UK.
I additionally admire the truth that she has by no means taken a greenback of promoting from a quick trend firm, regardless of her (deservedly) rising platform. She simply retains it actual and isn’t afraid to focus on the hypocrisy throughout the trend business and the best way we create and eat clothes.
For extra insights on Susannah’s sustainability journey, take heed to Launchpad’s podcast episode along with her.
And don’t overlook to vote to your favorite manufacturers in our Sustainability Awards for an opportunity to win a keep at an eco-resort price $950! (Voting ends on 21 Might 2023)
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