Name: Jessie Buechel
Age: 30
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Education: Jessie attended Utah State University but left a year shy of graduation. As she likes to say, her education comes from the “school of life.”
Job Title: Cofounder, Your Conscience Clothing, a T-shirt company that helps support environmental awareness. Every time you purchase an eco-tee or cloth bag off their website, a five-dollar donation is made to one of four environmental organizations: the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, or the Surfrider Foundation.
What She Does: “My typical day looks something like this: Get up, walk the dogs, get on the laptop. I might spend some time thinking up designs or new products, writing Web content, updating the site, marketing the brand, making sales calls, or sending out sample packages,” says Jessie.
How She Got Her Gig: For Jessie the decision to cofound her own company was easy. She met her partner Jeff Gano through her former job at a graphic-design and marketing firm. “Jeff is a very talented screen printer and developed techniques that are used in several well-known fashion lines,” she says. “He also has a passion for environmental issues. One day we were talking about my personal style and Jeff’s vast knowledge of screen printing and came up with the idea for our company.”
It’s Not Easy Being Green: The path to an eco-chic life wasn’t always smooth or straightforward. Jessie was a reluctant environmentalist as a child. “My mom was constantly putting my sandwiches in recycled bags, and I thought it was kind of embarrassing.” Mom also told Jessie that small green steps were not only good for your conscience, they helped save the planet. Thus, the idea behind and name for Your Conscience was born.
Learning as She Goes: Jessie tries to stay superorganized, especially as the holidays roll around. But early on there was one thing she didn’t count on: the Chinese Harvest Festival. “I had no idea the Chinese take their holidays so seriously!” she recalls. My holiday order was two weeks late because of the two-week-long Zhongqiu Jie Festival.” Now the Chinese calendar and all its holidays are built into Jessie’s production schedule.
Required Reading: Jessie reads numerous fashion mags, fashion and eco blogs like IdealBite and The Daily Obsession, and environmental literature from the Nature Conservancy that helps keep her fresh, inspired, and up-to-date on what the Your Conscience Clothing demographic is talking about that week.
This Job’s for You if: You’re willing to jump right in and tackle any task. “You can’t be afraid to ask for what you want.” Case in point: Right after the launch of Your Conscience Clothing, Jessie contacted legend Willie Nelson to ask if he’d be interested in sporting one of their designs. He said yes, and also gave a tee to his friend Woody Harrelson. One shameless phone call, and two ardent environmentalists join the cause. “I never imagined that I would have a job that allowed me to do something I love and contribute to organizations that were doing so much good for the world,” says Jessie. “But when you believe in what you do, it’s crazy the things you can accomplish.”
