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Published on: 5/1/2006
Last Visited: 2/6/2008
An interview with Sandy Corso
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Sandy Corso, founder and president of the Peaceful Company, successfully launched a business that makes Earth Day everyday, and has tapped into a dynamic new consumer base in the process.
She believes in renewal, peace and a re-dedication to the care of the Earth and its precious resources.Her company is a thriving retail website (peacefulcompany.com) that provides unique, high-quality products for people who are conscious of living gently upon the earth.Corso has combined her experience launching technology ventures during the 1990s and her passion for the environment and peaceful living to reach an emerging U.S. marketplace conservatively estimated at nearly 63 million people and $228.9 billion.
"There's a real desire in America right now to get healthy and to live better, but it's completely different than the aerobics craze of the '80s and the Tai-Bo of the '90'," she says."There is an underlying spirituality to this new movement.It's about feeling good and being at peace."
Corso is utilizing the community building reach of the internet to engage a dynamic new market, often referred to as "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability" or LOHAS.The interconnection between the economy, the environment and culture plays a large role in the holistic worldview of the typical LOHAS consumer, but equally important are the interconnections of mind, body and spirit within individuals.
"After decades of a 'bottom line at all cost' mentality, many people are simply feeling stretched," she says.
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Just as more and more consumers are purchasing products that reflect their values and interests, they are also increasingly shopping at retailers who reflect those same values, Corso says.
She started Peaceful Company in 2002, designing the first website herself, selling jewelry and candles out of a two-bedroom apartment, and personally driving the orders to UPS.With growing sales and customers, the company outgrew her home office a year later.With limited resources, she faced the difficult and expensive transition into a warehouse and formal office space.With the help of the loan from Count Me In, a micro-lender for women-owned small business, Sandy moved into a warehouse space in Madison, Conn., and Peaceful Company doubled its sales in the process.In 2004, its sales doubled again.
She is currently planning on expanding the Peaceful Company brand name and Peaceful Company products, as well as opening the Peaceful Company flag-ship store in New York City.
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