What makes Queen of Raw unique?
Stephanie Benedetto: Hi everyone, my name is Stephanie Benedetto and I am the Queen of Raw. We are on a mission to turn the world’s pollution into profit. And how do we do that? We have built software so that anyone, from an individual like you to the biggest companies in the world can reuse, resell, and recycle and donate all their excess inventory, unused stuff with a click, keep it out of landfill and turn what would be pollution into profit. I’m really excited that with the journey we’ve already taken over 1 billion gallons of water has been saved and we are just getting started. So never doubt the actions you take can’t make a difference so go change the world.
So you’re talking to someone who has never heard of blockchain technology, how would you explain it to them in simple terms?
Stephanie: That b word blockchain much like the s word sustainability means a lot of things to a lot of people. At the end of the day when people heard we were applying blockchain technology to our circular economy technology they automatically assumed we meant cryptocurrency and bitcoin. While incentives and loyalty points and credits are definitely part of what we do, the reason we are using blockchain is to provide integrity to the data we are collecting. We are in the business of excess inventory management and so blockchain technology allows us to have an auditable record and proof of who sent what, when. What is that inventory made of? Where does it come from? Who does it go to? And when we know that important information not only can we help a business economically but also measure and report environmentally the good work that we do and actually feel confidence in being able to communicate that record with a back-up of proof. That’s how we apply it and the good news is that if we are doing our job right our customers don’t have to understand blockchain technology, that’s our job. All they have to do is good business and good work.
What is one thing in the blockchain industry that you hope to change or improve?
Stephanie: In many ways the blockchain industry is still just at the beginning and it is so exciting to see what’s been evolving and growing so quickly. But we are really just starting to see how powerful this can be and we believe for supply chains and business it’s a real game changer. In how we are applying it we are also just at the beginning of democratizing access to this supply chain data. So that everyone who participates in a supply chain, all the way from the farmer down to the finished good, down to the user-end consumer who takes that good and around again and giving you a higher level of data integrity and oversight into your participation in the circular economy and in that supply chain. So as the blockchain industry continues to grow, I’m excited to see applications in ways that we are using it where you can get access to data anywhere and everywhere from the palm of your hand in a phone and have a level of trust and transparency in that data and then being able to share among all the stakeholders in an easy and secure way. That’s what we are trying to empower and where I am really excited to see other applications continue to grow.
If you could have superpower what would it be?
Stephanie: My superpower would be the ability to heal people. It’s funny that I say that because in the work that we are doing obviously, for people, planet, and for profit. But the people and planet side is what drives us everyday and its what we think about the impact we have. And that billion gallons of water that we’ve saved to date while saving our enterprise customers millions and millions of dollars actually also has given enough clean water to 1.4 million people to drink around the world for three years. So that ability to help is what drives us and building that better future for everyone, a supply chain that is more on-demand, more local, sustainable and circular.
You’ve touched on this a little bit but just to hone in, what does success look like for Queen of Raw?
Stephanie: In our dream and in our future that we are building, we want to empower everyone to be able to participate in the circular economy. So any individual to the biggest companies in the world in the palm of their hand can click a button and take action in how they use materials and resources across industries and around the world. For us, we are really proud that in the face of everything going on in the world, a pandemic , a recession, people have woken up to these issues and it’s become front and center and more important than ever before. I’m really proud of the work our team has done. We actually experienced over 650% growth last year and now have over half a million users in our platform. 30,000 registered, vetted partners around the world and we’ve grown in our teams in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For us and success, the more we can automate and approve how we efficiently use resources we bring environmental sustainability to the forefront and profitability also follows.
Last but not least, our final question, and the theme of this series, but why blockchain? In a few words, sum up why we are using this technology.
Stephanie: You can’t change it and you can’t fake it and that’s how you make it right. Without it there is a lack of integrity and trust and transparency. Then we are just as good as doing it as my great grandfather did in 1896, good ole pen and paper. But if we can leverage tools like blockchain we can trust it, we can communicate it, and we can empower the world.
