How Can You Make Every Little Thing Matter?
Last year one of our first interviews was with Marine Schumann, co-founder of Brighten Solar.
I loved getting to know her, and we have since not only become good friends but she has become the sponsor of our Kinder World of Commerce campaign! One of the things I love most about her is her holistic approach to life and living. In other words, she is not only interested in growing her business but in growing herself both inter and intrapersonally. This means that she is always learning and evolving as a human being, and this type of growth then spills over into her business. It is with this lens that I wanted to interview her again and discover what is new and different at Brighten Solar since we first interviewed her and explore what she has in mind for 2023!
ML: What are you doing to ensure that by going solar there’s a positive impact on both the environment and people’s lifestyles?
MS: With my partner Jeremy, we run our business like we run our lives. We want to have fun and enjoy life while leaving a positive impact. At home, it means spending time with our kids and raising them to become curious and nurturing beings. It means fighting waste at every level while providing our family with everything it needs to enjoy life and dream big. It also means using our environment to teach our role in life and the importance of being kind to others and nature. At work, it means “walking the walk”, trying to inspire our employees, retain them and provide them with a solid job so they, too, can have fun and enjoy life at work and during their downtime. It also means furthering our mission to help people reduce their carbon footprint.
Today our medium is solar, but we’re trying to amplify our impact by allocating more working hours to research ways to help our community consume more sustainably. Installing onsite renewable solar energy is important, but it can’t stop there. We believe that our customers care about the environment, that they want to do the right thing. So our extended mission is to support them in doing that in the right way. We don’t have all the answers, but when it comes to protecting our planet, our passion leads us to finding some of these answers and sharing them with our audience.
ML: Can you give us a concrete example?
MS: You’d be surprised to learn how much more energy people end up using once they have solar. Probably because they now think that energy is free, or that since it’s solar it’s infinite. In reality, not only will they end up paying that extra energy consumed from the grid at a high rate, but it’s not the behavior we want to foster. So we have been following up with every single customer we have done an installation for over the past year to check their energy consumption, make sure they understand their bills, and remind them that their system was designed to produce a certain amount of energy. So far, our clients’ feedback has been amazing, and we feel that it’s time well spent!
ML: I understand that Brighten Solar is about so much more than just going solar. Tell us about why living a sustainable lifestyle is so important to you and your company.
MS: There is just no other way. Our resources are finite. Our generations and the one before us were led to believe that our lifestyles can keep expanding without limits, but we know this isn’t true. The latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports were very clear on the danger our current lifestyle represents to the viability of our environment and our species. That is frightening. I want to keep enjoying life as I know it, and I want that very same thing for my family and future generations. I believe so strongly that it’s better to start the work now rather than later when everything will just be damage control. I know change can be threatening, but it can also be attractive and gratifying. I want to embrace it and be part of the solution. If we are smart enough to send people to space, I think that together, we can figure out a more sustainable way to consume to protect our climate.
ML: What is your vision for 2023 and the impact you want to have in our community and beyond?
MS: We are finishing 2022 full of gratitude and hopes for the future. We are closing our best year ever for the company, and we want to use our network to keep doing what we love, and do even more. This will translate into big things for the company (more to come…) as well as little things, like this Eco-guide that we just finalized with my co-worker, Lea. We have been testing eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products and gathering the most sustainable ones into a document. Through this initiative, we’re hoping to help our community shift some of their consumption habits. My hope for this coming year is for us to be more intentional and more discerning around how we spend our time and our money. When it comes to sustainable living, our buying power is our biggest power, so let’s purchase from companies that do good things. We’ve done the work for you and don’t have anything to gain except the joy of knowing that we’re contributing to positive change. Every little thing matters and makes a difference.
ML: Thank you, Marine, for everything you, Jeremy and your company are doing to make a positive impact. We know it’s not easy to do business responsibly and are so very grateful that you doing so lives so deeply in your hearts. We are so very blessed to have you as part of our community.
Wishing everyone peace, joy and more of all that matters this holiday season and in the New Year,