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“[The GREEN Program] has inspired me as an entrepreneur to think about how we can be the MOST sustainable as a business.”- Hannah Redmond TGP Alum, Costa Rica 2011
Hannah Redmond, a GREEN program Costa Rica Alum, graduated from University of Maryland — College Park, and then went on to pursue an MBA at Rutgers Business School. It was while at Rutgers that Hannah attended the GREEN Program, following a recommendation from one of her Professor’s. While in Costa Rica, Hannah honed in on how to do business sustainably.
Hannah’s experience was very unique, given that they traveled over Thanksgiving – they even had Thanksgiving dinner in Costa Rica! She describes it as an experience she’ll never forget, stating, “I met one of my best friends on the trip and learned SO much about Costa Rica and how amazing their initiatives to run the country in a sustainable way are.”
“Happy Box – a place where you could build unique, custom care packages in a few clicks and even include a handwritten note for a personal touch.”
Since her time on The GREEN Program and finishing her MBA, Hannah worked in corporate marketing strategy for nearly 15 years before taking the leap and starting her own business with her sister — Happy Box, a family, minority and women owned company!
Hannah had the idea for the company when she was still in college, saying, “my sister, Ariel got dumped by her boyfriend. I lived states away and wanted to cheer her up by creating a custom care package full of unique and fun stuff but found it to be a terrible experience. I had to go to seven stores and wait in line for 20 minutes at the post office only to find out I had the wrong label and had to buy shipping tape, which I never used again. At the time, I remember thinking it was CRAZY that you could customize a car online but not a simple care package.”
Enter — Happy Box! Hannah goes on to explain that experience stuck with her well after college. Years later, she pitched the idea of Happy Box to her sister and now business partner Ariel; “a place where you could build a unique, custom care package in a few clicks and even include a handwritten note for a personal touch!”
With Hannah’s experience as a marketing strategist and Ariels background in creative direction, they got to work fulfilling orders out of their apartments in NYC when they weren’t working their full time jobs. In October of 2020, they took the business full time and are now #53 on the 2022 INC. 5000 list of fastest private growing companies in the U.S.!
Sustainability has been at the forefront of Hannah & Ariel’s minds while building Happy Box. Their local, domestic box vendor uses recycled materials and water-based recyclable ink for each of their unique care packages (each of which has a call to action on it to recycle the box!). Happy Box also has custom recyclable poly bags made of recycled plastic that are used for shipping needs. They also partner with and source from many sustainable vendors and have a give back program that prioritizes organizations that focus on environmentalism & human rights.
Check out Happy Box for all your holiday gifting needs: https://happyboxstore.com/
Follow Happy Box on Instagram: @happybox
Connect with Hannah on Instagram: @hredmond
*Our team here at TGP loves to stay connected with our alumni and share their post-program stories! Do you want to be featured in our Alumni Spotlight series? Email Andrea at info@thegreenprogram.com to find out how!