Interview with Nita Tandon, Founder, Household food storage, Canada

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Interview with Nita Tandon, Founder, Household food storage; Canada

Nita Tandon is the visionary founder and CEO of Dalcini Stainless. Nita recognizing the urgent need for healthier, more sustainable alternatives, she founded Dalcini Stainless in 2015, determined to create practical solutions that prioritize human well-being and environmental stewardship. In addition to her innovative approach to product development, Nita also took the bold step to build the company on her terms, valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion at every step. She understands that true sustainability encompasses not only environmental impact but also social responsibility, and she is committed to fostering a workplace culture that reflects these values. Under Nita's leadership, Dalcini Stainless has become a beacon of sustainability and inclusivity in the housewares industry. Her unwavering dedication to her vision has not only propelled the company to success but has also positioned her as a respected leader and advocate for positive change. Through her pioneering work, Nita continues to inspire others to prioritize ethics and sustainability in their own endeavors, reaffirming her commitment to making a meaningful difference for generations to come.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#3. Good Health and Well-being, #8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, #12. Responsible Consumption and Production

Social impact:
Nita Tandon is the visionary founder and CEO of Dalcini Stainless, a values-driven, people-first, sustainable housewares company dedicated to revolutionizing the food storage industry. With a deep-rooted commitment to improving the lives of people and the planet, Nita leads her company in its mission to combat the detrimental impact of food packaging on both environmental and human health. Driven by her background in biopharma and a profound concern for the pervasive use of harmful chemicals in food storage, Nita boldly decided to step away from her successful career to address these pressing issues head-on.

Website: https://dalcinistainless.com/

Nita Tandon, Founder, DALCINI Stainless

Note: This conversation is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

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Introduction to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast

[00:00:00] Suzanne F Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified podcast, where we have conversations with She, social impact leaders, addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals. These leaders are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions. I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, the wave maker at YouMeWe Social Impact Group. I’m an international speaker, author, community builder, and a multi award winning social entrepreneur. And you guessed it, your host for UmiWe Amplified Podcast.

Meet Nita Tandon: CEO and Founder of Dalcini Inc.

[00:00:29] Suzanne F Stevens: Today we’re having a conversation with Nita Tandon, CEO and founder of Dalcini Inc., with a lifelong interest in sustainable health, a university degree in applied health sciences, and a 20 plus year career in health sciences, Nina was acutely aware of the bio accumulative impact of toxic chemicals from plastics on human health. Equally troublesome was the environmental damage created by food storage containers. she left her successful career to do something about it. I love that! from Ontario, Canada, welcome Nita Tandon, CEO and founder of the award-winning stainless housewares company, Dalcini. Inc. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:20] Nita Tandon: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:21] Suzanne F Stevens: S

The Catalyst for Change: From Plastics to Stainless Steel

[00:01:22] Suzanne F Stevens: o let’s dive in. Although you’re very knowledgeable in applied and health sciences, can you share more about what was the catalyst for starting this housewares company?

[00:01:33] Nita Tandon: Well, it really started with me just reading scientific journals. It was all the biggest journals, New England Journal of Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics. I mean, any of the large journals were talking about BPA. And if you remember, BPA made all the news that they were going to ban BPA in Canada.

Everyone thinks there was a ban, but there was only a ban on BPA in baby bottles. It’s still widely used in food storage containers. if it was a problem with baby bottles, my issue was, well, why do we still have it in food storage containers?

And so I wanted to do something about that. And when I had my daughter, that saying, if you know better, do better. I wanted food storage containers for myself. and when I couldn’t find them, I decided to create them. So really that was the impetus.

 You had a good job. I did, I did, but at some point you, start to think of your values change. And, at some point you can do a really great job for someone else. But I think at some point you look at your family and you say, this is the greatest job that I could possibly have. And how do I make this better and safe for my child?

And that was the start. The journey was, I was originally born in India, and so I grew up this balance between India and Canada, constantly. And so I was very Canadian, in the sense of I went to French school, French immersion, I, went to a good university, I did all these things.

But when you come home every night, you’re still, looking at the things that you grew up with, and stainless steel was one of them. And so, at some point, I looked and I said, well, India’s been doing this for this many years, Canada’s been doing this for so many years, is there a way that I can combine this to have, this cumulative effect of both worlds?

And that’s really how it started.

[00:03:27] Suzanne F Stevens: and I love what you’re saying so much is we can learn so much from different countries and how they do things. And often in the West, we think we know best do best, but that’s not the case.

Did India ever use plastic in their food storage?

[00:03:43] Nita Tandon: Well, they do now, but you know, it was always stainless steel. And stainless steel is infinitely recyclable. but what you get on the store shelves in Canada was stainless steel that’s still going to landfill because it has either resin on it, it has plastic coating on it, it has paint. As soon as you start doing mixed materials, It just becomes too difficult to recycle, so people don’t end up in the landfill.

So people think they’re doing a good choice by picking, something as reusable. At the end of the day, it’s no different than plastic. If it’s reusable, that shouldn’t be the goal. And so I looked at what India was doing, and over the years India wanted to be like the rest of the world.

So they started introducing plastic in massive amounts. I think sometimes rather than thinking you’re going forward by looking at what the other world is doing, I think sometimes we need to go back and say, what are the countries that have been around for much longer than Canada has been? What did they do?

And why are they still around? And really, that’s when you’re looking at Indigenous communities. You’re saying, those people that have been around for so much longer than we have, there needs to be learning at that level.

[00:04:54] Suzanne F Stevens: If we learned how to live lives as Indigenous people did, boy, the world would be a very, very different place, a much happier place.

 I love what you’re saying. And it is interesting that India has now adopted plastics.

 T

The Problem with Plastics and the Benefits of Stainless Steel

[00:05:09] Nita Tandon: The problem with the plastic water bottles is that over time, one, there’s leaching and also over time, there’s the microplastics that are ending up in your water and you’re consuming. So you’re actually ingesting little tiny bits of plastic. You’re ingesting the resins and then it’s going to landfill.

So that’s the problem with plastic. The problem with stainless steel water bottles, the ones that are currently on the market, this big rage for having double walled. Well, when you start to think of the chemicals that are now introduced, you now have lead. Whenever they do the double walled, where there’s the seam, where they’ve joined the two sides, you can’t even see it, but it’s a tiny, thin coating.

The same way you’d get in a can of chickpeas or something, right? That aluminum can is the same as the water bottle. There’s a fine mist of plastic to protect the food from touching the chemicals that are in the seam of that. Well, that resin coating, Contains BPA. And so, while we think we’re doing the right thing, we’re not.

We’re actually introducing ourselves to all these chemicals that we thought were banned in Canada. They’re not. And so really what I wanted to do was just live a very simple, healthy, sustainable life without having a massive impact in my convenience. And so I decided to create products where I could still, do all the things I was doing before.

I can still put it through the dishwasher. I can still transport it to where I want it to go. My husband and I, him being Italian, myself being Indian, I don’t want stains on my containers. And so, I just wanted to introduce stuff that would work for our family. But in the end was safe for everyone.

 That resin coating is porous. So, a good way to test is if you look at your water bottle. And you say, okay, I’m going to put in a cinnamon tea or a chai latte or whatever it is one day.

Well, you wash it and the next day it still smells of that. That’s the resin coating that has now absorbed the odors of what was in there. When it’s plain stainless steel doesn’t absorb any smells. And so, what I’m saying is, why can’t we have stainless steel goods that doesn’t absorb anything?

It doesn’t have any cadmium, it doesn’t have any lead, it doesn’t have any of these chemicals that we know are harmful. And it’s infinitely recyclable. And that’s the simplicity.

Health Impacts of Chemical Exposure

[00:07:35] Suzanne F Stevens: Tell us about those health benefits.

What happens to us when we are ingesting these chemicals in our body?

[00:07:47] Nita Tandon: Well, it’s a hormone disruptor. that’s the biggest issue. And what we are doing is ingesting synthetic chemicals that mimic our natural hormones, and it’s most damaging to, actively growing cells. You think fetus, you think young children, infants, but even teenagers growing bodies.

What it’s doing is it’s attaching to receptors in our body that takes the synthetic hormone instead of our natural hormone. And the thing hormones is that it affects every system in our body. It’s not like if you ingest plastic, it’s going to, make your finger, do something.

No, it’s your entire body. It’s your circulation. It’s your. growing, it’s everything. And so, when you look at some of the health, issues that happen because of hormonal imbalances, you’re seeing a rise in early childhood cancers. You’re seeing, gender, issues. You’re seeing, young, baby boys whose testes don’t descend at birth.

There’s behavioral issues, there’s neurological issues. And so the idea that, it seems like it’s overreaching because it is a big problem. It is, affecting our entire systems. And so, if we could do one thing, is limit the amount we are ingesting, because it’s really everywhere.

I mean, it’s in store receipts, it’s in all these different things, but if we can limit, our food contact, with these chemicals and what we are ingesting, That’s a massive change. Where I started was when I was looking at kids food containers. And when you look at kids, you look at roughly 200 school days a year or kids before they even start school, how many snacks they’re having and they’re eating out of plastic.

And then they’re using plastic cutlery to use it and put it in their mouth. And they often chew on it and they chew on the plastic straw. Just think of how much we are putting into kids, not even looking at the toys that they put in their mouth and all of these other things. And so, what I wanted to do is wherever we can have the greatest impact, food storage was my start. But there’s so many other areas that we can expand to.

[00:09:58] Suzanne F Stevens: Do you know of any other companies that are doing what you’re doing in the food storage arena?

[00:10:04] Nita Tandon: I don’t know in the food storage, but I do know, bees, wraps, wraps that are looking at the same sort of thing where they want to preserve food, but without, adding chemicals and having everything be very natural using natural products.

You know, what the earth has given us, use that. Instead of creating something and think that innovation involves creating a new chemical. I think sometimes innovation is what the world has provided. Take those elements and put them together and have that be the innovation.

[00:10:35] Suzanne F Stevens: Oh, I love that. How about in other sectors?

[00:10:38] Nita Tandon:  I would say in, in wellness. So, I look at soaps, shampoos. there’s a lot of phthalates still to this day that are, in face products, beauty products, creams, shampoos, all of those types of things. And there’s a number of different products that are now on the market that are pulling away from all those chemicals.

when I say, BPA, I’m not just talking BPA, I’m talking about all bisphenols. There’s now more and more research that is showing that yes, bisphenol A BPA is the one that sort of got everyone’s attention, but there’s BPS, BPF, there’s a number of bisphenols and they’re all showing the same effect.

And so, when you see something that says BPA free, it’s really a marketing term, because what they’re telling you is they don’t have BPA, but they could have replaced it with a very similar chemical, which is BPS or BPF. When we want to go natural, it’s not to try to substitute one for another chemical.

It’s, I want to see products in all sectors say these chemicals aren’t required here. They may be required elsewhere. And so I look at beauty industry. I look at food storage. I look at, water bottles. I think there’s glass ones that are available that are looking at that.

 The only issue I had with glass, I mean, health wise, no problem, but glass, is often not, being recycled because it’s a health issue for the person that’s picking up the glass. and it doesn’t end up getting recycled and also because you can’t mix the different colors of glass.

And so, it just becomes a logical, issue, not a health issue. And, so that’s why I, I just said, let me start with one area and really start to work closely with other companies that are also doing a similar thing in other sectors. And let’s try to, raise this new profile of what innovation looks like.

[00:12:30] Suzanne F Stevens: I see my shift, personal consciousness of saying, no, I don’t want that product.

I do want this product, but I don’t like what I’m hearing from you is BPA. All of a sudden you’re, you’re become aware and everyone says, okay, let’s market that out to everybody. But the ethics behind that is very troublesome. But that may not be the, they may be replacing it. Which leads to my question.

Ensuring Product Purity and Safety

[00:12:58] Suzanne F Stevens: How do you ensure through your supply chain of getting your product to market that there’s nothing foreign that enters into that supply chain so your product is pure?

[00:13:12] Nita Tandon: I have it tested. I think there’s one, which is I am meticulous in what I ask for from my manufacturer. I think I also set up, situations where I say if this isn’t right, you’re going to take it back So I think There’s a level of trust that happens, but there’s very specific asks that I have also.

I don’t leave it up to the manufacturer to decide what he’s going to send me. And so, there’s conversations the whole way along. The next part is, I’ve had it third party tested. And so, what the manufacturer has told me is, I just want to verify that. And so, we did random samples, and in the U. S.,

there’s a lot more legislation around what can be on products, as opposed to Canada. And so, Canada doesn’t really have a standard when it comes to what, should be food contact. Whereas in the U. S., stainless steel has to be, food grade, which means it’s non magnetic, which means it’s, the surface, the grade, the class, all of that.

So, we are now, Dalcini Stainless has tested, a sampling of all of our products, and they have passed both US standards, and as well as EU standards. And so for us, that being the highest level, as well as California standard, which tends to have within the US, a higher standard than many other States.

And so we’ve passed, state level, certifications. And we’ve also passed, many of the federal level. And now in the U S there’s new legislation that’s passing for PFAS, which is, the forever chemicals that you see like on nonstick coatings and you see it in clothing. A lot of it is for the nonstick surface, but you’re seeing more and more legislation come into play to say, let’s get those chemicals out of here too.

Surprisingly, there is a lot of PFAS on. kitchenware. So, you’re thinking, the nonstick coating on things and, fry pans. And there actually is also in packaging. And so we’ve had ours tested also for PFAS. So, we don’t have, BPA, we don’t have cadmium, we don’t have PFAS on our product or our packaging.

And that’s tested by third party in the U. S.

[00:15:19] Suzanne F Stevens:

Advocacy and Raising Awareness

[00:15:19] Suzanne F Stevens: I had a signpost go up while you were answering that question. And the fact that Canada, as we’re fellow Canadians, is not as stringent in this process. Have you done any advocacy work in regards to getting Canada and its provinces to escalate the safety requirements on their packaging to be transparent?

[00:15:46] Nita Tandon: Well, there is new legislation that’s coming into play, which is, more about greenwashing to make sure that when we call a product eco it’s not a marketing word. What are you saying with that?

There is new legislation coming forward. When it comes to PFAS, when it comes to BPA being, expanded to other areas, when it’s looking at BPF and BPS, they’ve been discussed at the level of Health Canada, and it has made it to House of Commons a number of times, and it’s a file that constantly gets pushed over a later date.

There’s always some other urgency that comes up. And I think it really needs to come from all Canadians to say, what is in our products? And this has to be not just a few people in Canada that are voicing it. this is what we want our elected officials to work on.

Starting the Business and Educating Families

[00:16:30] Suzanne F Stevens: When you started your business, if correct me if I’m wrong, did you? start with educating families on the threats of the microplastics and hormone disruption in our bodies. Is that where you started? And then you eventually decided, okay, I gotta do this.

[00:16:52] Nita Tandon: So it’s interesting because when I first started, people didn’t even understand the word sustainability. I said, I’ve got this product, and this is what I’m going to do and all these types of things. And everyone said, no, at the end of the day, people just want a pretty product.

My gut was telling me that if people knew what was on their products. They would make different choices. And so, when I launched the company in 2015, but 2015 was really when I registered as a corporation. There was a lot of work between that and when the first product came to market.

And when it did come to market, the first place I went was a trade show in Toronto and every person that came up to booth, I explained it to them. And I explained it in, I don’t know how to, like in mom terms, like in a mom speaking to another mom to say, did you know, and this. And I explained it in a way that they could understand it.

And when they understood it, it was an immediate, Oh my goodness, I didn’t know. And it only takes a couple of Google searches to say what I’m saying is the truth, that there’s so much scientific research. But at the end of the day, scientists are not marketers. And so, there’s no one taking what the science is and spreading it out to the masses.

And so, when I gave a few people that information, well, they passed it around pretty quickly. I went from a startup to winning a national award a few months later, we went from two products to seven products to 22 products. We grew because people were concerned when they found out, As much as I say, I love it for the science and I love it for the environmental.

I also love it for the ease and simplicity. I think how many moms are thinking, Oh God, I don’t want to have to hand wash my plastic containers. I don’t want to use the glass cause it’s going to break. Just all these different little things in households.

Simplicity and Sustainability in Everyday Life

[00:18:39] Nita Tandon: And so really when I look at everything and which is why our tagline is Safe, Simple, Sustainable.

It has to be healthy. It has to be simple, easy to use, and it has to be infinitely recyclable and have that sustainability, that is good for the planet.

[00:18:55] Suzanne F Stevens: I love your tagline. And unfortunately, being someone in the social impact space as well and focusing on elevating the underrepresented, marginalized and vulnerable communities. As much as things can make sense, if it’s not easy or simple, as you say, people just don’t do it. Even though their consciousness and their ethics tell them, oh, I should do this. Many people I’ve interviewed have said, you have this brilliant idea, but at the end of the day, it still has to be simple. And it’s human nature. it’s where we’ve gotten to, clickbait and everything else that we’ve gotten to.

Impact of Food Packaging on the Environment

[00:19:39] Suzanne F Stevens: Now, food packaging and food storage is, the single largest category of waste sent to the landfills, correct?

[00:19:48] Nita Tandon: Correct.

[00:19:49] Suzanne F Stevens: What impact is that having on the environment?

[00:19:53] Nita Tandon: If you look at just kids going to school in Canada, that is 5 million kids taking lunch to school every day, 5 million kids. And they do that for 10 years. So that’s JK to grade eight.

 If that sector alone could now have a product that they’re going to use from JK right through to grade 8, and that they were going to introduce no plastic, and that is no longer, is not going to go to the landfill. It’s a massive impact. Now, if you can take all your leftovers that you’ve got in the households, again, of how many Canadians that we have, and, look at, even when you’re going camping or you’re going on a trip.

I mean, anytime you look at food. If we can just shift that’s a massive change. And so what has become the largest, category of waste being sent to landfill can quite easily shrink if we just make conscious efforts. And again, it’s not changing the complexity of what we have to do every day.

It’s changing the product. You can still do all the things you wanted to do. It’s that simplicity, uncomplicated living.

[00:21:01] Suzanne F Stevens: We are a big fan in my house of leftovers. Okay, so we eat everything. And in doing so, some containers are better than other containers, far as making sure it stays fresh.

Advantages of Stainless Steel Containers

[00:21:16] Suzanne F Stevens: Does your container, is it comparable or better than an alternative container with some of these chemicals in it to make sure that the food stays fresh?

[00:21:30] Nita Tandon: I would say better and I’ll tell you why. If you look at stainless steel in its natural form, meaning it doesn’t have paint, no resins, no anything, the reason it’s so popular in hospitals, if you look at when you go to the dentist, why do they use stainless steel for your dental tools?

Why do they have the operating table is Stainless steel. why in industrial kitchens do they use stainless steel? It’s because it’s non porous, so it’s not absorbing any of the smells or bacterias or anything like that. And if you don’t have, areas for food, bacteria to hide, so tight corners, lips, all these other elements, if you don’t have that, you’ve got an incredibly safe product that doesn’t introduce bacteria, and can protect your food for much longer.

 The type of stainless steel that we have, is also good for high fat foods, for acidic foods. So, think of storing a tomato sauce, for example, it’s not going to absorb into the container. But you also think of things that are, raw meat, eggs, the types of dressings that can kind of creep into little crevices.

We don’t have any of those hidden spots for bacteria to flourish. And so I would say our containers are better. Many of the containers, that are considered safer containers, their lids are not, necessarily safer. And so, for me, I look at a product as it’s as good as its weakest piece.

And so if the entire product, isn’t the best, I think there’s an alternative. And we should be looking at the top, the bottom, the outer coating, the inner coating, like all pieces of it, should be, a healthy alternative.

[00:23:07] Suzanne F Stevens: It’s definitely another opportunity to really amplify the impact that you’re actually having keeping it out of the landfills.All I think of is my brother. I don’t eat leftovers. and there’s that shift in behavior that also needs to be addressed because a lot of people don’t eat leftovers. with the food costs the way they are, probably more people are eating leftovers in the last couple years because food costs are so expensive, but there is that mind

shift for a lot of people that they also need to make, which would help keep food from the landfill. And if they have the right product.

[00:23:45] Nita Tandon: Right. we even look at like in our household, we, store avocados in stainless steel and the avocado lasts for much longer. in An Italian Indian household Friday nights is comfort food. Well, comfort food for husband is different than comfort food for me. And so sometimes we’ll have individual food.

it’s not leftovers. It’s just, we prepare it to put in the freezer and, we just take it straight out of the freezer and into an oven. All of the containers are oven safe, freezer safe, dishwasher safe. It’s, you start to really look at one container is multi purpose.

[00:24:19] Suzanne F Stevens: Regardless of how many thousands of people listen to this podcast, you’ve sold me. Because I love that going from the freezer to the oven idea, I feel like I’m constantly or my husband, because we share all our duties in the house, are doing dishes.

[00:24:40] Nita Tandon: the other thing too is that people say, Oh, but you know, this glass container, I can put the glass container in the microwave. But people don’t realize glass actually takes a long time to heat up. And so, what you think is easy is taking you longer to heat up your food in glass.

It’s great if you’re going to put a lasagna in the oven and then you’re going to go do something for an hour and you’re going to come back. But sometimes you just want to heat something up, put it in a toast oven. So, we’ve often done the only time we do leftovers is if we do takeout, cause it’s always like more than we can eat.

But if you do Thai curry and rice and you’re thinking, okay, well, I don’t want to have it now. you can put it aside. Or I do rice and dal, which is lentils. It’s very much a comfort food. And sometimes I just want to have it ready. And you can just take it out, open up the container, stick it in the oven, and it heats up so much quicker than glass.

And it holds its heat as well, so that even when you’re doing something, you run off, you come back, whatever, it’s still going to hold its heat.

I think if you just give stainless steel a chance or give it a try, you’ll realize it’s not that big a shift and it’s why millions of people have done it around the world, for even longer than Canada’s been the country, right? It’s a reason it’s been sustainable.

[00:25:53] Suzanne F Stevens:

Advocacy for Women in Business

[00:25:53] Suzanne F Stevens: We mentioned earlier your advocacy work. Tell us about what that looks like.

[00:26:02] Nita Tandon: So, advocacy is on a number of different levels. And so advocacy for me is looking at women in business and saying women are not men and advocacy is to be heard at the table. It’s to elevate a conversation and say, we’re not trying to be men. We are not trying to take over someone else’s position.

We’re trying to give you a different opinion. And also, still to this day, if you Google business. The pictures that come up are white men. And, business is so much more than that. And at some point I want to change the face of business. And so my advocacy work is also, talking about me as a founder and my company, but also talking about the many other women that have made massive contributions and would like to be heard.

[00:26:50] Suzanne F Stevens: And thus, YouMeWe Amplify podcast, which is exactly in line with why I do what I do. We’re definitely aligned, because we do lead differently. And it’s so interesting that you said when you Google business, you see men. And now I’m very conscientious to find women and intersectional women when I create presentations or my website.

The Power of Representation in Media

[00:27:20] Suzanne F Stevens: But there was a time, particularly when I was working in Africa for a couple of years, there were no pictures of Black women that were professionals.

[00:27:27] Nita Tandon: There’s still a long way to go. What happens is, our, thoughts and emotions and everything is related to what we see. So what we see in the media, what we see in pictures, what we see in everyday life is all connected. How we form our opinions. And so, if you don’t see women in business, and every time that you profile a women’s company, you profile it amongst women.

Like I still see on Women’s Day, they talk about all these successful companies and I say, why are you profiling them amongst women? We know we’re great, Women need to be in front of the major, business community to say, look how we’re doing things differently. And I think women can learn from men as well, but I also think men can learn from women.

I think there needs to be at some point where I see success is when we no longer have women’s business, groups and male, that they are connected.

Challenging Traditional Business Paradigms

[00:28:18] Nita Tandon: I even look at when I first started, I was told by a entrepreneurial center that the way to achieve business success was to get the lowest price, it’s really just working so hard with your manufacturing to get the lowest price, and why do you care about child labor?

just get the lowest price. Your job is to then get You know, price it. And I said, I understand where you’re coming from, and I realize that a lot of businesses have done that, but what if I have a different paradigm for success? And they just kind of looked at me like, oh, there’s not one path to get to where you want to go.

And not everyone has the same goals. And just hear me out, right? that’s all I wanted. and I think I’m glad that I started at a much later date as well. I think when you start early on as women, you want to listen to the business mentors around you, which tend to be men. And you doubt yourself constantly.

Whereas I had been in business for a long time. I was used to going into rooms. And having my opinion heard. And so when I started a business and my opinion wasn’t being heard, I was able to pivot and say, but I’m still going to do it this way.

Embracing Conscious Leadership

[00:29:29] Suzanne F Stevens: And that’s why I’m an advocate for conscious leadership and conscious leadership is baking, social initiative into your business, inclusivity, diversity, being caring, compassionate, but also being profitable. So it’s marrying all of those things together. And I know you are now going for your B Corp.

certification. So you’re going to be making a shift in your business in the near future. Tell us about that.

Journey to B Corp Certification

[00:29:58] Nita Tandon: Well, I think I’ve always started fundamentally a B Corp. And I just didn’t have the designation the money and the power and all of that stuff behind me, to get the certification. But I believed in it 100%. And I think a lot of women, when they start their companies, are doing it for an innate reason other than just financial.

When I looked at what B Corp stood for, I, just every ounce of me agreed with it. And when I did the process for applying, I agreed with it even more. The other part that I was very interested in was that I met other businesses that think the same way. And so instead of struggling with people that see the world in a different way than you do, and you’re trying to convince your value and your worth.

If you just end up working with people that see the world and want to see it flourish in a different way, conversations are just different. And they’re easier, and you can get to where you want to go to, with a much smoother path, I think going forward, as a B Corp, it’s partnerships, it’s, values aligned, it’s, growth opportunities.

[00:31:02] Suzanne F Stevens: How do you measure your impact as far as health and in the environmental ways?

[00:31:08] Nita Tandon: There’s a list of, 90 chemicals that need to be banned, essentially. It’s actually even more than that, but there’s 90 that are the top-level ones. And I think I’m working very hard to eliminate as many of those. When I compare to what regular food storage contains versus what mine contain, we are now measuring.

Now, what we start doing is look at the average container that we’ve got last for 20 to 25 years. If you end up having one for that long, what’s the impact to landfills? and ours right now is at the end of its life, 100 percent of that product is recycled to make a new product.

So, there’s no waste with stainless steel that is all the same type of stainless steel. So, for example, if you had stainless steel that is like a 300 grade and then you’re mixing with a 400 grade, and then you’re mixing, it’s the same. It’s the same issue that you have if you’ve got, brown glass and you need to mix it with, green glass and clear glass, right?

As soon as it starts getting into mixing, it’s not getting recycled. And so, the purer and more similar that you have the product, the better.

It is challenging. It’s not like you can say a one container is eliminating this many products. It’s a category that is shifting so much with so many changes right now. That what is our comparable is our big thing. We know we’re making an impact, but what’s

the KPI, I think we’re still fine tuning that.

[00:32:35] Suzanne F Stevens: You, alluded to this earlier on. Now, you’ve been an advocate on sustainability, health, toxic chemicals, and microplastics.

Impact of Awards and Media Exposure

[00:32:43] Suzanne F Stevens: As a result, you’ve won the National Revolution HER Startup Award in 2016 and have been featured on many news channels and podcasts as a result. My first question is how did that award impact your business? Or did it?

[00:33:01] Nita Tandon: Well, it absolutely did. I think, it changed my mindset as well. I think I went in thinking, Oh, I’ve got this little product and I’m working out of my home. It was a panel of very esteemed judges. my goal was to have those judges know who I was.

I really had no expectation of winning. I just said, I’m going to put my product in their hands. But when I won, I was completely shocked, because I’d only at that point been selling for two months. It gave me this confidence to say I’m on the right track. And it opened doors for me.

I had someone call from, California. The Discovery Network that wanted to do a story on a mom who was, moving into sustainability. And, at that point I thought if they can see me and they can hear me, even if my community, which is Ottawa, was not ready to be sustainable yet, I knew that many parts of the world, were further ahead than we were.

And it just gave me ammunition to say, let’s go, let’s do this.

[00:33:57] Suzanne F Stevens: Okay, great. the reason I asked that question is a lot of times these opportunities come up for people in general and because we’re focusing on empowering women to take advantage of these opportunities. An award winner beside your name does not hurt from a marketing standpoint. Which leads to the appearance on news channels and how did they assist with your growth?

[00:34:22] Nita Tandon: Well, again, it depends on which news channel. So there were some that, didn’t, take, the Dalcini message, and it was really, look at these containers, they’re like all the others, right? So that did nothing for us. And so there was times where, I can list a whole bunch of different, TV shows that were on that didn’t move the dial.

But then there’s a number of others that the minute they, hit on our key messages. We just saw sales start to grow. And so I think it really comes down to who do you partner with? Who is the person who’s going to be the champion of your message and who gets it? And don’t just strive to be seen, strive to be seen, in the spotlight of your message and your brand.

[00:35:03] Suzanne F Stevens: That’s great advice. And now you also do podcasts.

Now, what’s your objective when you participate in a podcast? And how do you select which podcast you’ll do?

[00:35:14] Nita Tandon: Very good question, but I think a lot of it is to change, mindsets. if I’m going to talk on a topic that is very generic and everyone else already knows about that topic and I have no real, key insight into it, I feel like it’s not worth my while.

But if there’s new, elements that people are not aware of that I think they should be aware of, that’s where I go.

[00:35:36] Suzanne F Stevens: I love that you’ve shared that because a lot of times we, as business owners, we don’t know where are the best places for us to go amplify our messages.  And,YouMeWe Social Impact Group, It’s not only about amplifying your message, it’s about amplifying women. So with that, what has been the most impactful initiative that you’ve done to grow your business?

[00:35:59] Nita Tandon: Good Morning America was pretty spectacular. They asked, if they could, have our product on their show. Aand of course the answer was yes. We were the first Canadian company with no roots in the US, to be on their show. I think it was this conversation with, are the Americans going to a Canadian company that’s going to be on, good Morning America.

And, when you look at the reach and that so many states were further ahead in terms of the conversation that we’re trying to bring forward, it felt like the right match. And when we did it, it was a big boost in sales and it was that level of recognition that this, suburban mom from, the burbs in Ottawa, had a product that was on Good Morning America was a pretty spectacular moment.

I would say that, Oprah Winfrey, goes for a walk every year, and she had a gratitude walk, and, she ended up posting this one picture, and I looked at it, and I said, Oh my gosh, that’s my product, and so I zoomed in, and sure enough, she was using Dalcini containers for her gratitude walk, As much as there was nothing that I did to make that happen, that was completely on her, but it was a moment also that said, you’re on the right track.

There’s people that understand your message and, it made a huge impact.

[00:37:16] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah. My hope someday is when I’m carrying your product, I have a sliver of that impact in comparison.

Navigating Supply Chain Challenges

[00:37:25] Suzanne F Stevens: I do understand that your shipment was rerouted. At some point during the conflict in the East and, prayers go to everyone there. How does that uncertainty of that supply chain impact future decisions for you?

[00:37:42] Nita Tandon: It’s horrible when it happens Most companies, it’s between four and six weeks. you expect it at five weeks and you make all of your decisions based on when you’re going to get your products.

Up until this time, it’s been pretty regular. Even during the pandemic, there was a little bit of a slowdown, but not this way. We waited five months. to get our product. And in that five months, it was also during our peak sales time. And, we also got a massive, account. But we couldn’t fill the purchase orders.

And so, there was just this disappointment and how are we going to do this again? And, are we ever going to get this opportunity? All of those types of things. But when you align yourself with people that are values aligned and they like you as a person, they understand that I’m being honest when I say it’s not that I don’t want to fulfill your order.

It’s that I’m in this situation. And they were very good to say, let us know when you get your products. And sure enough, as soon as we got our products, we communicated. If you look in marriages or you look at households, you look at women tend to be the social conveners of the household.

And they’re the ones that are planning all the social events. And I think that’s where, business going forward, I think women have a huge part to see success because it’s in partnerships. It’s in communicating. It’s in all of those soft skills that were never valued.

And when I ended up working with that partner, we’re now just getting ready to fulfill the purchase orders that we couldn’t and get ready for the next one. And, it’s really getting values aligned and partnerships.

[00:39:15] Suzanne F Stevens: Where can people buy your product?

[00:39:17] Nita Tandon: You can buy it online. You can buy it at Simon’s in Canada. You can buy it at Winners, Home Sense, and Marshalls across

[00:39:23] Suzanne F Stevens: Yay!

[00:39:24] Nita Tandon: Yeah.

[00:39:25] Suzanne F Stevens: That is fantastic.

[00:39:28] Nita Tandon: Super exciting,

They’ve got 600 stores across Canada, also plenty of stores in the U.S., but just the idea that, you may not see it in every store quite yet, and that’s really because of a supply chain issue, not because of a partnership issue.

[00:39:41] Suzanne F Stevens: Look for your, The store is near you, we will be there.

Creating Inclusive Work Environments

[00:39:45] Suzanne F Stevens: Just before we go into rapid fire, I know one of the sustainable development goals that you’re proud of is creating a decent work and economic growth. Can you share with us how you create decent work and economic growth environment and how do you ensure you sustain that?

There’s times where you can hire and other times you have to downsize and it goes up and down, but the one thing that is constant always is that the people come into the office, always show up. I remember, growing up in Canada, there was times where I would go out and I would be very Canadian and want to hide every bit of my being Indian.

[00:40:19] Nita Tandon: And there was times where I’m like, you can’t hide the Indian in me. Like it, so I would bring, chickpeas and roti for lunch and sometimes have it with pomegranate as my fruit and not an apple. And so what I really want is for people to show up the way they want the world to see them.

if that means you’re LGBTQ, if that means that you come from another culture, if that means you have an accent or you’re a new Canadian, it’s whatever way you show up that makes you feel like you and the rest of the team will adjust. And I think when people feel comfortable in who they are, they produce, way better work.

I intentionally hire people that are different than me. We hire people that have sometimes not been given opportunities and, we watch them shine and they start in some positions and there’s many times where I see that they’re actually really good for something higher, I’ll give you an example.

We had a woman who had immigrated recently from Brazil. She came in and she said she was here to fill the position of filling packages. Just in the first conversation, I could tell that she could do more than just fill online orders. I said, what’s the real job that you want? She said, no, I’m here for this job.

I’ll take it. I knew that she was looking for a salary. And so, I said, I will tell you right off the bat, you have the job to do that, but please be open to let me know what other things that you’d like to do. And soon she became my right hand. Like she could do everything in the company that I could do.

And it started with an opportunity and I would have never seen that other side of her had she not opened up. So that’s one. I pay fairly. So it’s not just minimum wage. It’s, what is a living wage. And there’s flexibility. There’s, if there’s family issues or there’s, it’s, again, show up

in a way that is true to you, but also that balances with your life. And I think we get a lot better work going forward.

[00:42:15] Suzanne F Stevens: Were you always like that?

[00:42:18] Nita Tandon: I think I’ve always been that way. and I think I also look back at, the opportunities that I’ve had or times where I didn’t feel like I was seen. And if someone really knew what I was like that sort of imposter feeling, An imposter like is a work scenario, but I think also as a Canadian, like if they knew I eat such and such food or whatever it was, and it just felt really good when people knew exactly who I was.

And so, I wanted to make sure I gave that experience to everyone coming into the company.

[00:42:47] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, the only the reason I asked you that is because I look back as me as a leader and I’m mortified. All I knew was what I saw, which is very patriarchal and very different value systems, and then I learned over maturity, confidence. African women who taught me that I interviewed for YouMeWe Amplified podcast. I learned how to become an authentic conscious leader through them. My experiences are very different than your experiences, right? That’s why I was just curious if you were always like that, authentic to who you were, because I knew I was not.

[00:43:32] Nita Tandon: I think I was.

again, when you come as an immigrant from a country that is quite different than the Canadian culture, I think your starting point is always knowing a different way. And if eating a meal was done at five o’clock, I’m not sure how to pronounce it.

I think it’s something like five o’clock, but my family normally did it at seven. There was not a right and a wrong between five o’clock and seven. It was just different. And so, I think I always had that attitude of there is no right and wrong. and then at one point I went to France for the tail end of high school.

I remember walking around France and thinking, Oh my goodness, they actually go to all these different stores to pick up their dinner. So, they’ll go to the meat store and the cheese store and the bread store. Again, it was just different, not that it was right or wrong.

And when I came back, there was elements of that way of living that I incorporated into my life. And so, I took it on as my own. I look at people the same way in the sense of if I’m speaking to an Indigenous person and they say something to me that I didn’t know before that I think that really makes sense, well, then I say I’m going to now bring this into my world.

 I’ve always been that way which is let me see how you’re living and let me see how it resonates with me and there is no right and wrongs and I also live my life based on gut so whatever my gut’s telling me is right that’s where I go.

[00:44:54] Suzanne F Stevens: Cause it’s never wrong.

[00:44:55] Nita Tandon: Yeah.

[00:44:56] Suzanne F Stevens: That’s never wrong.

Rapid Fire Insights

[00:44:57] Suzanne F Stevens: So, we’re going to dive into rapid fire.

[00:45:00] Nita Tandon: Okay.

[00:45:01] Suzanne F Stevens: This is 10 to 12 questions, just first thought, best thought, and then we’ll sign us off today. Sound good? Are you ready?

[00:45:09] Nita Tandon: Sounds good.

What do you think is the most significant thing citizens can do to increase their health? Be conscious of everything that you are consuming. Whether it be a skincare product, a food product, everything that you purchase, know what’s in it and how it affects you and the world.

[00:45:29] Suzanne F Stevens: What do you think the most significant thing citizens can do to reduce their impact on the environment?

[00:45:35] Nita Tandon: I would say have less waste.

What’s the one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path?

How women’s voices are not equal.

[00:45:49] Suzanne F Stevens: What is the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:45:52] Nita Tandon: Don’t do it like that.

[00:45:53] Suzanne F Stevens: What, do you recall what that was referring to?

[00:45:56] Nita Tandon: Yeah, it was me wanting to work with a manufacturer and I was adamant that I didn’t want child labor. And they were very adamant on, that’s not how you make businesses grow. Just go for the cheapest.

[00:46:08] Suzanne F Stevens: What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

[00:46:12] Nita Tandon: You’re smarter than you think. And that was my husband who said, you keep going to all these mentors, and you keep trying to listen to others. You know this stuff and you be the expert in where your journey goes.

[00:46:28] Suzanne F Stevens: Are we married to the same man?

[00:46:33] Nita Tandon: I don’t often give him a lot of credit, but you know, he is such a huge part of my success. just do it. And you got this.

[00:46:42] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[00:46:48] Nita Tandon: Everything is figureoutable. It’s that, that there’s this feeling of everything is so big that I can’t do it and I won’t know what to do next. I would say just take one step at a time and everything has, a logical step and you will get there.

[00:47:07] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of we?

[00:47:13] Nita Tandon: That we are already all connected. whether for some people it would be, talk to your neighbors or help them out during times of crisis, we already are connected. But I would say even things like in the air that we breathe and the garbage that we’re putting out, it’s affecting all of us.

We are all in this together. I mean, we kept hearing that during the pandemic, but we really are connected in everything that we do, whether we think that we’re, isolated or not, we are all connected.

[00:47:41] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, all I could think about when you said we’ve said that so much during the pandemic, and that was at the beginning of it. At the end of it, realize so many communities started having their voice like they never had before. Or we heard the voice like we never heard it before, which. is the biggest gift I think the pandemic actually gave us.

[00:48:02] Nita Tandon: Yeah, I would agree with you on that.

[00:48:03] Suzanne F Stevens: If you had a daughter who was 10 years old today, what advice would you give to her?

[00:48:11] Nita Tandon: That you can do anything in this world. even for areas that you think are going to shut you down. You always had the power, and you have the power not just to get by, but to make change.

[00:48:24] Suzanne F Stevens: What advice do you wish you received at 10 years old?

[00:48:29] Nita Tandon: That you have a lot of power and you can change the world. I wasn’t given that, so yeah, this is definitely a big moment.

[00:48:38] Suzanne F Stevens: What is the one thing that you had to do that makes you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have the impact that you’re having?

[00:48:48] Nita Tandon: I think challenge authority. I think authority has seen the world in one way and hasn’t really seen other perspectives. And there are a lot of people in the sustainability world that think they know sustainability better than the rest of the world. And I would say look to older countries, older cultures, there’s a lot of wisdom there.

So I, yeah, challenge authority.

[00:49:14] Suzanne F Stevens: Who’s the greatest female influence in your life and why?

[00:49:19] Nita Tandon: Can it be my daughter?

Really, she looks at the world with just such clean, innocent eyes and doesn’t have the limitations that I grew up with, and I don’t think it was really that long ago, but you know, there was such gender differences. There was girls couldn’t do sports.

It was if you did sports, you had to do ballet or, things that weren’t going hurt you. And so, I just look at her, she just has such a clean look of the world. And whether it be gender is fluid, whether the jobs you take, there’s a fluidity, whether it’s, just the types of jobs that you do.

They all have value. and, yeah, just looking at the world through her eyes.

[00:50:03] Suzanne F Stevens: What three values do you live by?

[00:50:05] Nita Tandon: Honesty, simplicity, and health. And I think if you do all of those things, you end up being sustainable. Sustainability is kind of encompassing of all of that, but that kindness, that honesty of people, is kind of the starting of partnerships and health.

You essentially can’t be healthy in an unhealthy world. And I would also say that, simplicity, right? I think sometimes we over complicate everything. Even in my home, things are simple.

It’s not to buy a ton of stuff. It’s to buy functional stuff. It’s functional things that bring me joy.

 Beside yours. Which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

So other than health and sustainability?

I would say building, equity amongst all Canadians. that goes into, building generational wealth, making sure that the next generation has a stability, to prosper and every generation going forward has that. So I think that starts with equity, opportunity, all of those things with the ultimate goal of building generational wealth.

[00:51:07] Suzanne F Stevens: Of course, we will have your website on your exclusive page on YouMeWe Amplify podcast, but where else can they connect with you?

[00:51:16] Nita Tandon: LinkedIn is the best place. There’s two need Nita Tandons. So make sure link to the one that is DALCINI Stainless. But LinkedIn is the best place to get a hold of me.

Final Words of Wisdom

[00:51:25] Suzanne F Stevens: And do you have any final words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

[00:51:32] Nita Tandon: Live your truth, be who you are and, go in the direction of your values and it will just lead you to doing more. If it feels right, then continue down that path. And if it feels wrong, pull back.

[00:51:44] Suzanne F Stevens: Love it. Thank you, Nita, for sharing your insight, inspiration, and social impact with us. To discover more podcasts with impact leaders transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, please visit podcast. YouMeWe.ca. Please share, and subscribe, and send it to a friend. And until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I encourage you to make your contribution count for YouMeWe.