Nancy Zavada - The Accidental Founder Who Changed the Events Industry

[00:00:10] Dominique: Welcome to Green Champions.

[00:00:11] Christy: Thanks for joining us in a conversation with real people sharing sustainability success stories.

[00:00:16] Dominique: This podcast is a platform for green champions to share their stories and plant new ideas. I'm Dominique.

[00:00:22] Christy: And I'm Christy.

[00:00:23] Dominique: Today we are so excited to be talking about sustainability as it relates to global events. Today, Christy and I are speaking with the wonderful Nancy Zavada, the founder and president of MeetGreen. MeetGreen helps businesses to design and deliver events that are environmentally responsible without sacrificing quality or experience. Today we have Nancy as our wonderful green champion, and we're so excited to hear Nancy.

[00:00:46] Nancy: Thank you. It's an honor to be here.

[00:00:48] Christy: Nancy, tell us where are you recording from today?

[00:00:50] Nancy: I am recording from the Oregon coast in a small fishing village, Netarts, and it is a lovely place to work remotely.

[00:01:02] Dominique: Amazing. All the podcast listeners cannot see how jealous I am. Before we get into more of your background, but Nancy, how long have you lived in Oregon?

[00:01:10] Nancy: My entire life.

[00:01:11] Dominique: Oh wow.

[00:01:11] Nancy: Born and raised.

[00:01:12] Dominique: And you love it?

[00:01:13] Nancy: I love it. I have traveled extensively, but I have never found a place I wanted to live more.

[00:01:17] Dominique: That is amazing. Okay, so you've been in Oregon your whole life. What was young Nancy like?

[00:01:23] Nancy: Young Nancy was certainly nature based. I mean, The Oregon Coast, the Mount Hood for skiing. You know, we've got the beautiful Columbia Gorge. Our attractions here really are nature. So, spent a lot of time with that. When I was young, I wanted to be either a marine biologist or I wanted to be a flight attendant because I wanted to travel. So I think I've kind of merged the two in my work I do today. Getting to travel as well as certainly the scientific aspects of meetings of being sustainable.

[00:01:56] Dominique: You truly have. That is so impressive. Did you ever get deeper into marine science or do biology, or did you study something related to that in school?

[00:02:05] Nancy: A little bit, but now I volunteer for a stewardship for the Friends of Netarts Bay, and it's very science-based, marine biology, teaching students about nature. Many of the students here haven't necessarily been out to the ocean, worked with the ocean. And it's kind of incredible 'cause they don't live so far, but really bringing it to them.

[00:02:27] Dominique: That is amazing.

[00:02:29] Christy: Nancy, how do you think that that influenced what you're doing today? Why did you like, you've got this stewardship background with your volunteering and things that you're doing in the community. How did that shape you professionally and how you were thinking about life?

[00:02:43] Nancy: Until I started traveling around, I didn't realize that there was another way to be, right? We've always recycled, our beaches have always been free. This is just how we lived our life. And so as an event planner, when I started traveling around to other parts of the country and the world, I was shocked at the amount of styrofoam, plastic, ways of doing things that we just don't do here. So it's in me.

[00:03:10] Dominique: What was it like to have some of those conversations the first time you noticed that contrast?

[00:03:16] Nancy: Definitely my 'aha-moment' is I had planned a meeting for 2,500 people for five days, it was a scientific event. And we had held it in Portland, and then we'd gone to a Midwest city. And when we got there they said, oh, it's too big to use glassware. You have to use styrofoam cups and styrofoam plates for all your events. So when I went back and did the math, that week alone would be 31,000 styrofoam cups that would go into the landfill.

[00:03:48] Dominique: Hold on. 31,000 cups, but only 2,500 attendees?

[00:03:54] Nancy: Yeah, for five days. Two and a half cups a day.

[00:03:57] Dominique: Too many cups a day, but that makes sense. 

[00:03:59] Nancy: But people didn't bring their own. So it was outrageous. I was shocked. So I said I'm just not comfortable with that. So they let me sub out or bring my own, send my own paper, 'cause paper was the next best thing that we could do. But I'm just one planner and there's thousands, tens of thousands of planners.

And I thought, what an impact I have. By one ordering decision, by one thing, what a difference I can make. And I got really excited about that and started telling everybody about it. And some cared, some didn't care. But then when I put the business case with it, people really took notice and started to care about the impact and what they could do as planners.

[00:04:44] Dominique: Yeah. I mean, that is such an impactful mental image to give us kind of a quick first glimpse into the light bulb moment for you. And I also like for listeners who maybe would've thought, oh, what kind of impact can events have? I think you're really affirming why it's so important.

How did you first get into planning that event? So going even back to how you first got in that position to discover that, how did you get there?

[00:05:08] Nancy: I was a healthcare planner, did a lot of meetings for the healthcare management company I worked for. And then I decided to go out on my own. And that was actually my first contract out on my own was for an open source developers conference, so I started working with them. The beauty of it really was that demographics of that group, they cared deeply about the earth, so they helped me along. And they said, as long as it doesn't cost any money and it's efficient, you go for it and we'll have your back. And that was the best thing that ever happened to me. 'cause they really supported the effort and we're very proud of what they were able to do. This is really, this is 1994. This is before sustainability is a huge thing, but they were believers.

[00:05:54] Dominique: And you were calling it sustainability because that feels also really important. Like what language were you leaning on at that time to have that conversation?

[00:06:03] Nancy: We really weren't calling it anything. It wasn't a thing, right? We were just being better stewards, if you will, of the earth, you know? Then it, when it got a little bit further along, it turned in, they called 'em green meetings. And then, finally to sustainable events but what was so beautiful about it, it was just inherent in what we were doing. It wasn't a separate add-on thing like it has become a lot of times. It was just how we did business, what we wanted.

[00:06:29] Dominique: Well, I was just gonna clarify, I know we're gonna get more into, you know, MeetGreen as an organization in our next episode, but, so at this point in time, when you say we, are you referring to MeetGreen or the organization you were a part of before?

[00:06:41] Nancy: I was an independent planner, it was just me. But it was the organization I was working for when I say we.

[00:06:47] Dominique: Okay. Super helpful. Women love to say we, I do the same thing and I wanted to make sure we knew who we was.

[00:06:54] Nancy: I didn't even realize I was doing that.

[00:06:56] Christy: Nancy, I'm curious. I feel like in the meeting space as well as food service space, people kind of accidentally wind up there. Did you accidentally wind up in events or was it intentional? Can you just share a little bit more? I'm curious about that.

[00:07:10] Nancy: Sure. People did at that point really wind up in events. It wasn't something that you could train for, get a degree in, get a certificate in at that point. It just wasn't. I worked for a healthcare management firm and one of my jobs was just to play on the events. It was just part of what I did.

So then as you grow, learn, and I took on bigger and bigger clients, then the world also got more sophisticated. There became certifications for it, training courses, the whole thing. But at that point it was, you just did fall into doing it.

[00:07:45] Christy: I'm curious that how did you decide to go from working at planning in that healthcare facility to starting your own business. And saying, I'm gonna do this myself and I'm gonna do it my way perhaps. I'm curious, how does that happen?

[00:07:57] Nancy: I've been planning their events for 10 years and I felt like I'd done every single, I felt like I wasn't serving them anymore 'cause we'd done the same meetings and I try to be innovative, but it gets hard when you're serving the same people. And I thought, I wanna go out and try working with new people and doing new ideas, new things, and see what I can do in the world.

And I honestly wasn't planning on starting a company. I was just planning on doing it myself, hanging out my shingle and, that came from there, but I thought I could do it. I thought it'd be exciting. And it was, it was exciting.

[00:08:33] Dominique: I also wanna add, I personally like one I relate to it, but two, I just love hearing from like accidental founders. 'Cause I think there's something really beautiful about that 'cause you're like, ugh, I just was like valuable and then eventually there was a need and then I grew out the need versus like there kind of is that other kind of founder that we all know about that wants the business more than there really is a product market fit.

So yeah. How did that happen for you?

[00:08:57] Nancy: I was definitely an accidental founder and I've actually called myself that. My first client was academic scientific, and I really loved that group of people. I loved working with them, they were my people. So I went from in the healthcare management company I worked for, I planned meetings for 250 people, right?

So this first client I took on was the 2,500 people for five days. They had 35 concurrent sessions. They had poster sessions, they had symposia. I mean, it just, they had all of these different categories, things that some of them that I hadn't heard of. And talk about a learning curve, I really had to figure out and quickly how all of this is put together. They didn't have an automated submission system, so I was their submission system handling all the papers that came through. And I just, I loved it and I was good at it. I'm so organizationally minded, you know, spreadsheets are my life, my friend.

And what was also interesting about it, it was an international committee. They only met when they actually got to the conference, they didn't meet before then. So we did everything over the internet. And I had to get my first email address, which was a CompuServe address. You couldn't even use your name in those times. And we just met and we met at awkward times, early in the morning, late at night, so the whole committee could meet. And we planned it. I was like their interpreter between what they wanted and how they wanted to present it, and the venue. Or the decorators or any of the vendors that work with meetings.

[00:10:37] Dominique: And before you were in that role, how did they do that actually?

[00:10:41] Nancy: They had a people before who did that. But the people planners before were more, I don't wanna say party planners, that's, but they didn't get them. And so they were really looking, when they went out to contract with us, they were really looking for someone who understood them and what they were trying to do instead of just throw in a great party. That's not what I've ever done in my work is I'm sure the parties were fine, but you know that, that isn't my thing.

[00:11:07] Dominique: Yeah.

[00:11:07] Nancy: I love moving their research forward.

[00:11:10] Christy: Nancy, I've been to some of your events and it has been a party. I just wanna say that yes, everything was organized well, the concurrent sessions, the main stage, all of these things, but there are also some really fun events in there. So I just wanna make sure you get, you and your team get all that credit.

[00:11:26] Nancy: Okay. Thank you. I'll take it.

[00:11:28] Dominique: I wanna know, Nancy, there was one day when you woke up and you were Nancy who organized events and you've been doing it for 10 years and you were like, maybe I'm gonna start a business. And there was one day you woke up and you looked in the mirror and you were like, I'm Nancy, founder of MeetGreen.

What happened? What was that change for you? Like, was it hiring somebody? Was it actually incorporating? When did you feel that change?

[00:11:51] Nancy: Wow. When you asked me that questions, I got shivers up my spine. I don't know when it happened. Is it still just happening? I'm still a little bit surprised even after all these years and I'm not very good at accepting the accolades sometimes that go with it 'cause I still just think I'm Nancy from Oregon doing my thing to make the planet better.

This is the way I can contribute. I'm not a scientist. I'm not doing other jobs in other industries. But this is what I can do and what I can do best and I'm awfully proud of that. So I'm trying to always to embrace the founder in me.

[00:12:30] Dominique: I would agree you are not just Nancy making an impact in one industry. I think you are making an impact across industries but you're really making it sustainable for groups to collaborate. And you're allowing us to get together and make progress and not look at that as anti mission.

We're not gathering in a way that we have to feel, we have to go mitigate the impacts of. I think that is clearly so powerful and in a world where we don't need more reasons not to get together, like getting together is so important. I wanna ask you like how was COVID and how did you navigate that change in the industry, knowing how much you care about impact and knowing how much that must have changed the progress of gathering?

[00:13:11] Nancy: Actually, COVID was very valuable to train people and get better systems to meet virtually, because before that it was bumping along, but all of a sudden COVID made it imperative that we could meet virtually and that we could do it well. We had a client who was, their event was 10 days out when we all got sent home or wherever and we had to transition into a virtual meeting and make it one that people could still interact with, still see, be seen, heard. We worked really hard, but the systems had to catch up too. And they did rapidly 'cause that's what was happening. So COVID was good for business and for the environment and because people, this is getting into the MeetGreen world, but because people were not meeting, we did what we called an non-carbon calculator, and we showed how much savings there are from people gathering virtually instead of gathering in one place.

I can go more into that later but it was interesting. The big companies came to us and, "Show us what we're saving. We wanna see what we're saving by doing it this way."

[00:14:20] Dominique: That is so impactful, and I cannot wait for our next episode for you to get into that. You mentioned a little bit earlier about how, you know, kind of the world of events was a great way for you to connect different passions of yours from travel to environmental efforts. You also mentioned how people now can study some of this work, whereas you really found it and it really worked well for your skillset.

You mentioned organization as a really important part of that skillset, but what would you say are the most valuable skills for someone in your role when thinking about effective event planning?

[00:14:54] Nancy: I think one of the things you have to be as a change agent, and you have to meet people where they are and really enroll them, not just talk at them. You've got to show them why. Why it's important, what are the efficiencies, why should they be interested. And that really wanna be involved too, so that the skills are being able to hear people talk to people, teach. Being a teacher is really important and just being so genuine and authentic. If you don't believe it, why would anybody else?

[00:15:28] Dominique: I love that. And when you say teach, do you think about your client or the attendees?

[00:15:33] Nancy: Yes.

[00:15:34] Christy: Both. 

[00:15:35] Nancy: I think yes, I definitely, I think about the client, you know? What if someone comes to one of our events and they live in a place where there's not recycling or they live in a place where plastic water bottles are still a thing? We show them alternatives way, it's like a learning lab.

And that's what we really try to talk to our clients about too. Sometimes we put things front of house bins and things that we wouldn't ordinarily do, but we want them to sort things out, recycle things. We want them to ensure there's no food waste by cleaning their plate or not taking too much, all those things.

And they're learning too, so they hopefully take it back to their community.

[00:16:13] Christy: Nancy, I know that one of the things that's really important to you is that learning aspect and mentoring others and such. What would you give some advice for young professionals interested in this area? What advice would you want to give them? You kind of touched on some skillset but what would you say?

I really want you to know this about this industry and to help them be what you're talking about authentic in this space and making events an interactive learning experience?

[00:16:43] Nancy: I think sustainability has gotten so complex over the years and there's so much to learn and so much to know. We are not a hundred percent. I'm not a hundred percent, but start somewhere. Just pick one thing. Just pick one thing and get good at it and be able to measure and track and get better at it all the time.

And then take on something else. Don't try to take on the world, oh it's too big. You can't do it. But take on something and be really proud of the one initiative that you're able to do, or the one knowledge that base that you really have. Just start small, but just start. 

[00:17:18] Christy: I agree. You know, I'm thinking back to you said when you first got started, styrofoam, all those type things. It's still a struggle geographically for meetings and infrastructure. Even probably, you've got some complex clients, I am confident of that, that maybe this isn't quite as important for, and you help them understand that too.

When I'm at events, sometimes I can see, oh my gosh, that is so much food waste or that is so much of that is not being recycled. When you're thinking about the future of events and sustainable events, what is it that's bringing you hope and excitement for the future?

[00:17:55] Nancy: What's bringing me hope for the future is that through all of this, through COVID, through the economic downturn, through all of the things that have external factors that have come forward, sustainability is still here. We are just working on our external forces right now for our company so we go out and look at all sorts of industry. Sustainability ranks in the top five still for all these companies.

Whether they're talking about it or not right now, it's still ranking as vitally important to how they do business. So that is my hope. If it hasn't gone away after all of this, my goodness, I think we got it. You know, It's gonna be in fits and starts. It's not gonna be perfect. But I mean, who can't believe in climate change anymore if you just look out the window? I'm sorry, I'm gonna go there. But really it's changing. We've all gotta be aware of that and I think people are much more aware of that now and how that's gonna impact their events or their lives.

[00:18:52] Dominique: I am so grateful for you, Nancy, that you exist. I only wish there was more of you. And I really appreciate how you're able to be positive and practical with how much you've clearly seen. And yeah, I just really, really appreciate your positivity and you're like centering on the mission.

While I know that you've had so many years of being deep in this work, I do wanna make sure we included it in the episode. How old is your business now?

[00:19:20] Nancy: It is 32 years old.

[00:19:22] Dominique: Wow. That is truly incredible from like success as a founder point of view, but also I can only imagine the impact across that many years.

Wow. For our next episode, I am very, very excited for it. And I know we're gonna wrap up here and I know we began also talking about the fact that you're in Oregon. And I have to ask this because a little birdie told me that maybe you make strawberry freezer jam?

[00:19:46] Nancy: Yes, I do. Little birdie. 

[00:19:52] Dominique: Christy's motioning 'guilty as charged.' But yeah, where did that come from? Can you tell us more about it?

[00:19:58] Nancy: My family, my dad was a master gardener. Berries are very, they're everywhere in Oregon and the Oregon Coast berries are very wonderful and sweet. And so there's no waste in our family. Imperfect produce is the name of the game for my freezer jam. Strawberries, it just takes all kinds. The ones that aren't as pretty are sweeter, but we've always preserved everything that we've caught as in fish or grown. That's the way we live. We've eat a lot of root vegetables in the fall here because that's what we got. So,

[00:20:32] Dominique: I love that. How long have you been doing that?

[00:20:34] Nancy: Since I was a kid.

[00:20:35] Dominique: I love that. Is that a staple in your house? Like we know Nancy always has strawberry jam?

[00:20:39] Nancy: And blackberries from the blackberries that grow right around here.

[00:20:42] Dominique: Wow. I'm deeply jealous. Okay. Thank you so much, Nancy, for sharing your story of becoming an accidental founder. It is truly like a testament, I think, to your focus on the mission of what you're passionate about. That 30 plus years into being a founder, you still call yourself an accidental founder.

I'm so excited to get into the impact you've had. You alluded to even talking about impact around COVID and we're gonna have a lot of conversations around all the amazing impact you've had. How could people connect with you or learn more about your work?

[00:21:15] Nancy: They can email me easily. I'm on LinkedIn and all this platform, but just email me, nancy@meetgreen.com. It's simple. Love to chat.

[00:21:25] Christy: Amazing. Well, thank you so much again, Nancy. Something to remember about Green Champions Podcast is that every single guest we have, they bring a different approach to sustainability, and we're here to highlight the people doing the work that inspires others because climate action takes many forms.

[00:21:41] Dominique: As always, you can find our episodes and support the show at thegreenchampions.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Stay connect with us on LinkedIn and Instagram, @greenchampionspod. Our music is by Zayn Dweik.

Thanks for listening to Green Champions, and we'll be back next week with more of Nancy's champion story.