The Story Exchange, Chance Claxton, Kids Konserve, UKonserveYour Name: Chance Claxton

Business Name: Kids Konserve/U•Konserve, a maker of reusable food storage products

Type of Business: Children’s Goods & Services

Business Location: Pheonix, Arizona, United States

Website   www.kidskonserve.com
Twitter   @kidskonserve
Facebook   www.facebook.com/kidskonserve
Pinterest   www.pinterest.com/kidskonserve

Reason for starting
After the birth of my daughter my awareness and ‘stress’ around the environment sky rocketed. My daughter’s preschool sent any lunch time trash home in her lunch box. At first I thought this strange, then brilliant. I researched the staggering amount of trash created by school lunch packing. 67 pounds per student per school year heads to the landfill each year! I called who I knew would be the ideal person to help solve this problem and be the ideal business partner, Lynn Julian. We immediately got to work creating the Kids Konserve Waste-free Lunch Kit.

How do you define success?
Having an impact on your customers, feeling fulfilled (most days) by what you are working on or working toward, earning enough to make the journey worth the ride and being able to have balance along the way – I am still working on the balance part.

Biggest Success
Being able to work successfully with a dear friend and to still put business first, even though we talk shop all the time, we won the Eileen Fisher grant for women in business, and got the nod from Pottery Barn Kids when they sold our leak-proof nesting containers.

What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
Our top challenge is how to grow and fund the company in a way that makes sense to all and to be true to our mission. Being in our fifth year of business and experiencing some great growth, we are now constantly talking to people and refining our plan for funding, bringing on an equity partner etc.

Who is your most important role model?
My mom.