Each week on the EcoSend Podcast we chat with like-minded businesses about how we can have a positive impact on the world.
Episode 6 is already upon us, and this week James chats with the wonderful Charlotte Worsley, who is Head of Partnerships at Stories Behind Things, which is a media platform exploring sustainability, climate and consumption.
Previously, Charlotte also worked in a creative strategy role at Refinery 29 before embarking on a master’s in sustainable business and innovation.
Charlotte is now on a mission to engage more people in climate action through effective communication strategies, making her a very welcomed guest on our Podcast.
Here is a recap of the conversation between James and Charlotte. To listen to the episode in full, click the links below.
Studying Sustainable Business And Innovation
James Gill: “I’m very keen to dig into Stories Behind Things a little bit more. It sounds great. I might just go back though, just to start.
You did a master’s in Sustainable Business and Innovation. What made you want to study that?”
Charlotte Worsley: “I’ve always been interested in people, the planet and our relationship with the environment around us. I became really interested in circular models, in terms of how we can use what we already have on this planet. So I wanted to go back and study. At the time, back in 2020 when I was applying, I found it quite difficult to find the right master’s degree, especially focusing on the triple bottom line.
I found this program in Barcelona. So there are now loads of universities in London and wider in the UK, supporting these kinds of programs, but at the time, this was one of the few that I found, and conveniently it was in a beautiful city.”
James Gill: “Yeah. That ticks all the boxes for where to study. You mentioned looking at the triple bottom line, forgive me, but what does that mean?”
“Marketing Has A Huge Opportunity To Change Things On A Bigger Scale“
Charlotte Worsley: “So focusing on people, profit and the planet and how they’re interlinked.
Businesses can really benefit from focusing on environmental sustainability and social responsibility in line with profiting.
I read an article more recently about the impact on raising investment. Businesses that are focusing on ESG commitments right now are actually more likely to attract investments.”
James Gill: “Yeah absolutely. I think it’s weird sometimes when you talk about the industry of marketing, you sort of think well, marketing’s about getting people to buy things. Overall, this whole industry exists to try and increase sales of something like Coca-Cola.
But actually, marketing has this huge opportunity right now to influence change on such a bigger scale and to do something really powerful. I think there’s something quite incredible about the combination of having that awareness and drive to make a change and having those marketing skills. I think you can have such an outsized impact on the world.”
Charlotte Worsley: “To give a little bit more context to Stories Behind Things. It was launched in 2018 by Gemma Finch originally as a passion project to celebrate the power of storytelling when trying to live a more sustainable life. Since then, it’s grown into the multifaceted platform that it is today.
There are lots of different things going on at the moment. But our main focuses are the editorial content that we put out, the digital partnerships where we work with brands on more bespoke creative campaigns and our online shop, which is accessed by a membership program.
Offline, we’ve got a series of different events going on. We run a lot of educational panel events, and we also run the big clothes switch, which is a way of reframing what newness can feel like by inviting our community in to swap their pre-loved items and tell the stories behind their clothes.
Finally, we also have two popups in London. These are immersive concept stores that take place, one in summer, and one in December in London, and they’re filled with lots of sustainable brands. We do workshops and panels, our next one is actually coming up in December in Coal Drops Yard. So definitely come down!”
“Creating Diamonds By Extracting Negative Carbon From The Sky”
James Gill: “Oh, cool. That sounds awesome. So would you say your core thing then is helping these brands tell a story about their sustainability angle? So a brand will come to you and say, ‘Hey, we’d like to be more climate-conscious, or we’ve got a product we’re working on, but we’re not sure how to market it.’ Like how does it work?”
Charlotte Worsley: “So, typically we work with brands who are already doing something within the sustainability space. So for example, we recently partnered with a company called Sky Diamond, and they are a company that are creating diamonds by extracting negative carbon from the sky and, I mean, it’s so cool. It’s amazing.
They’re really reshaping what the luxury jewellery category can look like, and they’ve got such an incredible story to tell. So we’ve been helping them tell that story in a new, creative, exciting way. We created educational pieces about diving into the brand and what they’re doing. Then we actually launched a horoscope series to engage our audience because we are aware that’s something they were really interested in.
By doing so, we are kind of positioning Sky Diamond as the leaders within the space and that connection between the sky and the stars and sustainability.”
Where To Find The EcoSend Podcast
The conversation is just getting started between James and Charlotte, so we hope you’ll tune in to listen to the full episode.
You can find episode 6 of the EcoSend podcast, along with episodes 1-5 on the above links for free.
Be sure to share this episode, and let us know what you think! You can also tag us over on Twitter on our new EcoSend account.
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