83. Sharina Perry – Utopia Plastix – Plastic Reimagined

Sharina Perry:

I remember being on a call with one of our partners, Kim Bradley, who I respect greatly. She's achieved a lot of success and been around and in circles of people who have achieved a lot of success. The things she shared with me was that what most have found that what made them really successful wasn't the chase for money, but more the chase for purpose.

Aaron Ackerman:

From HoganTaylor, I'm Aaron Ackerman and this is How That Happened, a business and innovation success podcast. On each episode of the show, we sit down with business and community leaders behind thriving organizations to learn how business and innovation success actually happens.

All right, welcome to another episode of How that Happened. My guest today is Sharina Perry. Sharina is an inventor, an entrepreneur and a founder of Utopia Plastix. I'm excited to get into the story of Utopia, but I've got to tell a story real quick, Sharina. Sharina and I met a few months ago on a trip on I guess what I would call sort of a leadership retreat. She was talking about Utopia Plastix and her plant-based kind of plastic alternative and she handed out straws. I got to tell you, as soon as I touched the straw, I was sold on whatever Sharina had to say because if you've ever tried to use a paper straw, and this is just me talking, that it's a pretty lousy experience. It has a weird texture, it gets wet and falls apart. I'm all for trying to eliminate, get rid of single use plastics, but the paper straw has not been one of our better innovations as a society. So I'm excited for the listeners for all of you to hear about what she's doing with Utopia.

But what I really wanted to say about you, Sharina, is we did not get to spend a lot of time together on this trip. The way it was organized is we kind of paired up with different person each day. It was just two days I guess. And so we never got paired up, didn't get to spend time together doing an activity. But we were conversing one night after everybody had gone out for their fishing or their hunting. And I asked Sharina, "How was your day?" Do you remember this, Sharina? You do? So she said, "It was great. I got on a train and rode through the mountains in New Mexico and had all this scenery, saw all these animals." And I had spent all day fishing. And when I say fishing, I mean in a boat not fishing, waiting for a fish to bite.

I like fishing, but I don't like all the waiting in between the fishing. And so when Sharina told me what she had done, I was immediately kind of jealous, a little mad that I hadn't thought, I said, "I didn't know you could do that." And she's like, "Who says what you can do and what you can't do? I found this train, I got on it and went for the ride." So I could tell right then I like Sharina because I'm not really known for my strict adherence to customs and norms. I like to kind of do my own thing. And so I was jealous, Sharina, that you got to go on that train ride while I was sitting in a boat waiting for something to happen. But I think it's a little bit indicative and we'll listen to you talk of the fact that you are a free thinker, you're kind of your own person. You're not waiting for someone to tell you what to do and how to do it, right?

Sharina Perry:

I think that's true because the thing about that is you also don't want to disrupt what anybody else enjoys. So I had done the enduring thing. I got in touch with nature, got on the boat. My first cast, I caught a fish. And so that was the accomplishment, right? A nature accomplishment, sight seeing. That was all tied up in a day.

Aaron Ackerman:

Sure.

Sharina Perry:

So I could make everybody else aware that I was not interested and then make them miserable, this other person. But the irony is I have been paired with somebody that loved fishing one day and so I'm like, "Okay, so maybe..." And I did. Man, I messaged the group and I said, "When y'all are ready to go, I'm going with you guys."

Aaron Ackerman:

That's awesome.

Sharina Perry:

But it's not to disrupt the person that enjoyed it. So I just had made the decision. There was other beautiful things to see in that city and it wouldn't affected anyone else.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yep, I love it.

Sharina Perry:

And I did what I enjoy.

Aaron Ackerman:

So if we go on that trip or similar one again and we're both there, just don't get on the train without me. Let me know. I will go with you, okay?

Sharina Perry:

We'll pre-arranged it.

Aaron Ackerman:

It's done. No, but that was a fun trip. Loved getting to hear your story and getting to know you a little bit. And so before we kind of get into Utopia, I am curious about your past, your personal history, because anyone that knows about Utopia, knows about Sharina. You're not knocked off course easily. You've got this amazing ability to have strong determination to push through obstacles and everything. Where did that come from? Was that part of your family culture? Is that just something that you came into the world with? Where did that trait come from?

Sharina Perry:

I think it's a combination of all those things. I mean, our environment, our culture, our family dynamics, I think that all plays a part in it. But I will say I had extremely resilient parents who had extremely resilient parents who had extremely resilient parents. And so when I also had this group of family, and I will say from my grandfather to my uncles, as far as even men in the space and my dad, I was always reminded that I could do anything that I wanted to do.

My grandfather actually would told me I was going to change the world. But for me, I was very kind of critical on myself too to a degree because I always challenged myself. It was never about comparing myself to anybody else. I just wanted to be the best person Sharina could be. I wanted to help people along the way. You kind of had to help me understand why something is the way. You can't just say it's the way that it is.

Aaron Ackerman:

That's right.

Sharina Perry:

I need to learn and know. And I would take that knowledge. That was just the kid that. I was probably really innovative. I was a tomboy. I had my brother was closest to me in age. So I think that's probably part of it as a young kid because I'm like, "I can do anything you guys can do."

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's great.

Sharina Perry:

But that was kind of young and I know I wanted to touch a lot of things and I wanted to learn. I used to say I could be a career student forever. Learning always and still is very important to me.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's so good. So does all of that sort of background... I'm sure you feel some responsibility to play that same role to be the encourager for maybe the young people in your life whether it's kids, nieces, nephews, just people you come into contact with to be that voice for them saying, "Hey, there's nothing you can't do. If you want something and you work hard, you can do anything you can dream up"?

Sharina Perry:

I think we can always say that. I think we always have this thing that people say, "Oh, you can do anything." But I think the most important thing is that people see it.

Aaron Ackerman:

Well, right. And you've demonstrated it as well, which is more powerful than just saying it, right?

Sharina Perry:

Right. So I don't really worry about whether I'm going to tell them the right thing because I know I lead authentically. People in my life or who have known my journey have seen my peaks and valleys. They've seen my wins and losses and I've been very authentic about that. But I think the value that people have is how you walk out the faith in your journey and believing that even though there's that challenge, that's not your stopping point. So for me, I never wanted to stop at the challenge because that to me was just the bump in the road.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So the young people around me, when I often hear them come back from my nieces, my nephews, when they have wins and they want that to be celebrated, that they're excited to tell me, that they're excited for me to be a part of that, but they also know, "I'm going to challenge you too. I'm not going to let you settle into the mediocrity. I'm not going to let you just jump off the cliff. I want the best for you. Love is what drives me to want that from you," but that's from my own kids to my personal relationships, to my friends, to my business, my colleagues, to my community. That's what matters to me. I want the best for the people that are around me, and that means what can I give you that's the best of Sharina to help make you better.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's so good. I love it. Okay, so Utopia Plastix, how and why, and just what's the story? How did you get started and what kind of twists and turns have you had to go through to be where you are today?

Sharina Perry:

Well, I'm going to first take you back a little bit because I didn't see that it was going to be Utopia Plastix today.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

When I was a young girl, I didn't really understand disparity. There was a lot that I saw. We didn't have social media then, but we had news. We had bad things happen to people that we loved. I didn't understand that. But I was studying God's word and building my own personal relationship with God. And as a young kid, it really doesn't make sense why things end up the way that they do. So I developed this world called Utopia. Utopia was really imagining if we did it God's way, imagining if we work together, imagining kind of life if we intentionally chose to do the right thing.

So in Utopia, I mean, literally if in the history books, I would read of a problem and a challenge that still resulted in people not feeling like they were whole, I would dry off this solution. We had a logo, we had everything. We had our country symbol for Utopia, which happens to be-

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. So how old were you when you were thinking this?

Sharina Perry:

I was preteen. I was young. I want to say it started kind of more of seven years old. And that was seven, eight. It was when you get into school, you start diving into history, you start kind of just being more aware of certain things. So I developed this world called Utopia. Utopia kind of was my escape. So I think that's probably my belief that everything could be good. I mean everything could be worked out.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So fast forward in 2018, my nephew was diagnosed... Well, he was actually at this time in surgery and it had progressed. He's 19 years old, his quality of life was changing and he had been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis 2, which is an incurable growth of tumors. And so I watched this young man that I loved as my own son now at 30% hearing. I watched the love of his mother, my sister, and the impact that that had.

And so my sister, we were in Dallas and he was in surgery and I remember we were actually standing in the gift shop. She was crying and she hugged me and she said, "Sharina, you have to do something." And for me, I don't know why it felt a matter that it was something I needed to do. So I started studying what would shrink tumors. I will say I know how a lot of medicines are made. I mean medicines are made from molecules, microbes from plants. And then I just feel like sometimes we don't have treatments and cures for stuff because we haven't figured out how to monetize it yet.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So I decided I was going to study plant material to see what shrunk tumors and I will share that. My studies led me to cannabis and of course the wide variety of cannabis. So it wasn't just marijuana, it was hemp, it was other plants as well that were in the cannabis family, but most importantly it was marijuana. This is where I think love for somebody happens too, because I had strong religious beliefs around this, and then all of everything was happening in Oklahoma. But I will say that education turned my ignorance into an advocacy for really the health benefits of this plant that grows from the ground.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

And so I developed a health and wellness line. People were developing... Thankfully what happened is when I announced that that's what I was going to do, there was a lot of people that showed up in support, from doctors to therapists to chemists to educators, people just wanting to help. And I think again, people know I don't really give up. So people were, "Here, how can we help you?"

So I developed a health and wellness line, Utopia Health & Wellness in it. That line had hemp-based products in it. But I also needed to understand like, I was seeing a lot of products, they weren't FDA approved. The dosing, I didn't really understand that. So I was kind of drilling down into how do you do this but actually make it where it's a real solution and not like a roll of the dice as to what would happen. And that's what... I got with a therapist that actually showed me how to... We did thermal imaging of the products to see how inflammation was reduced. And so that was a study of plant material.

So here I had this health product. Now the amazing part of what was happening is I had doctors sending their patients. People were being able to get relief from RA, from MS, from neuropathy, but I couldn't make any claims. All people could do was give me testimonials. So I was like, "Imagine if I was able to move towards some FDA approval." And my product was approved for distribution in Japan.

Aaron Ackerman:

Which means like clinical trials and all of that, right?

Sharina Perry:

Mm-hmm. Yep. And my pocket was not set up for that.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. There's a reason why Pfizer and Merck, they end up buying all of the IP because I mean it's so cost prohibitive.

Sharina Perry:

Extremely. And just to submit the applications, you're moving into close to the millions of dollars, and then to do the clinical trials. And if all the clinical trials, to reduplicate that. So pharmaceutical companies definitely have the leverage to be able to do it.

And so I will just share, as I spent so much time researching plants, because that wasn't my background at all, I also learned that crops could be used as an alternative to petroleum, cotton and wood. And so there was a point where it kind of like an aha moment. I read an article in the New York Times that Starbucks was paying $10 million to somebody who would come up with a solution for their single use plastics. That kind of sat over on the shelf and it sat on the shelf over here too. I'm working through my health and wellness line. And it was one day not far from where you're at right now, I'm sitting at McNellie's.

I think that if you were to say, "Hey, how does that all come together?", it was the point where vision met education and experience and led to purpose, because that day in McNellie's I got a paper straw. Immediately, particles were floating in my drink and I was grossed out. I was also all of this stuff on climate because that was also around the crops that I was using, understanding how they could benefit the environment. So all these things were coming together and I told my business partner I was with at that time, I said, "I'm going to make a straw and I'm going to submit it to Starbucks."

Aaron Ackerman:

Get that 10 million.

Sharina Perry:

"I want to get that 10 million and I'm going to get my FDA testing done." So I had like, "Really?" But there was more to it because at that moment I was like, "This straw cannot be the solution." This paper straw.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

Because we're cutting down trees. What happens when all of these manufacturers who make these straws end up having to retool their equipment, people lose jobs? I just didn't feel like we were getting it right by that solution. And it wasn't like, "Oh, Sharina's coming to save the world." That was not the thinking at all. I just thought, "Hey, if I introduce something, perhaps if it works, it's really going to... Hey, we can grow crops that aren't harmful, that actually do good and we could really be an alternative in a way that doesn't cost a lot of money and I could use it as a plastic and as a paper. I could do all of these things."

So I made a straw in my kitchen that's literally-

Aaron Ackerman:

Out of plant-based materials?

Sharina Perry:

Yeah. And at that time I made it out of 100% hemp and blew me away to what happened, because when I took the straw and I formed it, I was really intentional too. It's like, "What do we coat it in? Beeswax because it's a food contact item. And then paraben. What are the coatings?"

And so I took it and I put it in a glass of a cold drink and it hardened. That was the first thing, that the straw hardened. I've not seen a paper straw hardened. And then I took it over to the pot of beeswax. So I saw a reaction to cold, now once see a reaction to hot. And 340 degrees, I got that up to boiling and it still didn't break down. So I really knew I had something.

Well, my life's journey for the most part has been building and developing and entrepreneurship, but I've also known people who had great ideas that could be impactful that all the time you hear of their regret, how they don't go through it.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So I developed this kind of a "Three strikes and your out" deal. And I believe that, and this is totally just my theory, that we all have these gifts in us where randomly this idea comes to us and it just happens out of the blue. And for some reason, we can be not paying attention and it comes again. I call those kind of God winking at you moments. And I have a "Three strikes and your out" because if you don't act, it's going to still happen, but somebody else is just going to get it.

So I sat that night and I sat at my table probably most of the night kind of mapping out, prayed, "What do I do from here?" And so I boldly reached out to the large... Fast forward, I was working with the group, trying to, "Okay, what does this look like?" I'd already been engaging with the group with our health and wellness product. I reached out to the company that made that straw that I had at McNellie's which happened to be the Aardvark straw. They had been acquired by Hoffmaster. Hoffmaster acquired Aardvark in part because Aardvark was having a problem keeping up with the demand that the market had created for this shift from single use plastic straws. And so if they were still backlogged in getting the product in the market, my thought was is not to come in and compete, but maybe we can use this other natural resource and create straws and then we would have a solution that was actually a better product. They agreed.

Actually, even that little rough straw that I made in my kitchen, the company that had been interviewed in the New York Times article was packing wood in... They're in New York. I reached out to the CEO, a meeting was arranged. And that rough... I mean I got a box from Hobby Lobby. I labeled each of the raw materials that go with what is made up of the plant. But I also made a brochure that contained articles and information of all of the research that I had done so that I knew that educating would be a key part of it and I would need the right partners to develop it.

Honestly I was like, "Why couldn't it be me?" I have that thing even with the lottery. "Somebody's going to win. Why couldn't it be me?" So anyway, I put it in front of the owner packing wood or we had it put in front of the owner packing wood. And then he said it's probably the best thing he's seen in 12 years. And if we could get it commercial-

Aaron Ackerman:

The one from your kitchen?

Sharina Perry:

Yeah. Well yeah, that material. Because they do bamboo.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, right.

Sharina Perry:

They make products of bamboo. And so he said, "If we could get it commercialized, we really have something." Well, that was the motive, to really reach out to Hoffmaster and these other groups that were making a shift or announcing they were doing something different.

So fast forward, I thought it was going to be easy. It wasn't. It just took a lot of determination. I found a company who had acquired a pulp mill, they made pulp for me. I found a company, they brought me a company that was specialty paper company that was willing to make the paper to the specs that Hoffmaster had told me. And so I made the straw in my kitchen in late September 2018. By June 2019, Hoffmaster had made it into straws and done third party testing. In the meantime, I was working with a local company here, a manufacturer, to develop it into plastics by combining it with...

I wanted to see what happened with the combination with traditional materials, and so I worked with a company, Aico, to develop, or work with them, hired them to kind of do some testing for blending it with other materials. I had some prototypes there by March. And then fast forward, that took a lot because I remember going to a manufacturer and the straw didn't work out good and it popped in my face and I got these dinosaur looking bones.

But in February 2020, I had a material that I sent to manufacturers across the country and I asked them to use it in their existing processes and report back what happened. I got astounding results from every one of them. And that was from blown film to injection mold, to thermal forming, to blow molding, to extrusion with the thin wall, all of these methods of manufacturing, and really wanted to see what happened with retooling.

Now there was some individuals involved in the development of this. I was able to be connected with a gentleman who developed a polymer for one of the larger global known oil and polymer companies, but also compounders and manufacturers. And chemists. I was connected with one of the leading polymer chemists in the country. I feel like it was because I chose to walk through what I believed was possible, that the right people were placed in my path. People knew I wasn't going to give up. I would go and find. If I couldn't find somebody that couldn't get something that I needed from someone, but I knew that they were there, I would go find what they needed, bring it back to them to help them get a little bit further, and in an essence, help me get what I needed.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. Man, really a lot of fascinating stuff there. So I love that last thing you said that you know have to help other people get what they want so they'll help you get what you want.I want to ask you about just barriers. Did you experience barriers along the way? Because you're not a chemist, you're not a scientist, that's not your background, did people ever say, "Okay, this might be a good idea, but you don't know what you're talking about" or because you're a female or because of whatever? And along those lines, did you ever worry about when... Sorry, I'm just kind of rambling here, but I'm thinking at some point you would go, "I really do have a great idea. This is working. I need to make sure nobody steals this from me." All of those things. Respond to any of that you want to.

Sharina Perry:

Oh, you know what? I'll respond to all of that collectively, because you're absolutely right. The thing is, I told a little young nine year old yesterday, she's doing a project for her school, I said, "Part of entrepreneurship is first that you have to believe it because you're going to meet people that cheer you and that boo you. But you have to believe it. And what you believe is what's going to keep you moving forward."

And so for me, I had done the research. I had reviewed over 600 white papers. No, I'm not a chemist. And I mean 600 white papers of the USDA study on the alternatives for petroleum, cotton and wood. So I had done the homework, whereas a lot of... So when somebody tells me I can't, I've already been informed to know that I can. A degree, I employed a lot of people with degrees throughout my life's journey. And most didn't land in their degree field. They really pursued more of what their passion was. But I've met some really talented people, including my grandfather who could not read but own a significant amount of land and could transact business very effectively. So I got to see that as a young person.

By the way, when I was younger, my grandfather, he would have me read all of his legal documents starting from when I was six or seven years old. I didn't understand what I was reading, but I could tell by his reaction what that was. And then he would explain to me why something was a good deal or why it was a bad deal. Even when we moved to New Mexico when I was 14, he would still bring those documents. He would save up his mail and bring them to me to read. And of course as I'm getting older now, I'm in teen, I'm understanding what I'm reading. And he used to call me his little attorney way back then.

So when you have people, one, like that, that I didn't grow up with somebody... I was somebody's little attorney without a license. And so I did. I remember being in a meeting even here in Nichols Hills. These gentlemen were there in that meeting. They had a beautiful proforma. People were ready to give them $40 million off of a proforma. And yet they doubted me sitting in front of them with the actual prototypes that had been made in a manufacturing facility. So I do know that there were those barriers and that there continued to be as we engage companies. But I believe that people that want a solution, I've always thought the proof it's in the work that I do. It's not who we are, the quality of people we are and what we do. If we only look at the exterior, we're missing out on great things because we don't know those gifts those people have in front of them.

And so if anything, I remember when OCAST and i2E and the Manufacturers Alliance were there at the facility seeing our product ran at Poly Films and they said, "What can we do to help?" And for me it was to think about that there are many people like me out there that are innovators that have vision, but what holds them back from tapping into that gift is the resources and the access around them.

A talented kid in an inner city neighborhood that doesn't have the exposure that's coming in challenged conditions, he will lack being able to be an MBA player because of access and resources. And it's also because of stereotypes and biases. If we're willing to step outside of the prism of what we know and hear what people have to say, to look at what it is rather than who brought it to us, kind of listen to the message, not the messenger, I think we'll uncover far more.

I've said no to some companies that just really want to know more about my IP. I'll tell you how my patent attorneys called it. They called it the snakes and the vultures that they have arrived and there are people that demand more from me. But those just aren't the right partners for us.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So the way that I look at it is then I could have that type of conversation and then the very next conversation have this whole team of engineers that once I explain to them what I've done, they sit back in awe. Because once you are thinking outside of the box and really looking at chemistry and how it comes together and you are in the space of manufacturing, they get it. And I will tell you, I love having conversations with the engineers at facilities. Those are probably some of my biggest cheerleaders. It makes me proud that the people that actually know how it works will champion for me. The people that know how it seems to work, maybe not so much.

So I don't know. I just know what I have and I had... Now, I don't give all the names of everybody who helped me get there. Those are part of our trade secrets.

Aaron Ackerman:

Sure.

Sharina Perry:

But the proof is in what we're doing. The proof is in a manufacturer who runs our our product and is excited about the results they get.

Aaron Ackerman:

Man, that is beautiful the way you just laid that out. I'm being a little presumptuous here, but I know it wasn't just a linear smooth path. There was ups and downs and stops and starts. I'm sure you could talk for hours about all the times you thought, "This is it. This is the end of the line."

But listen, thinking back to your Utopia world when you were 10, 12 years old, whatever, one thing I heard you talk about was not you wanted prosper for yourself. It wasn't just about your Utopia. You had a heart for other people, friends, family members. Even people you haven't met that you read about in a book, you thought, "Man, if we did it this way, life could be better for these people." So I think, and this is where I'm being presumptuous, a lot of your success probably comes because you're not chasing the dollar, you're not chasing notoriety or fame. You're trying to make a difference for everybody, for other people. And I've always felt like if you're just chasing the next sale or you're all about just stacking up your bank account, eventually nobody's going to want to do business with you.

Sharina Perry:

I've had great people that shared great things with me. But I remember being on a call with one of our partners, Kim Bradley, who I respect greatly. She's achieved a lot of success and been around and in circles of people who have achieved a lot of success. The things she shared with me was that what most have found that what made them really successful wasn't the chase for money, but more the chase for purpose and belief in what they were doing. And as a byproduct of that, money just seems to follow.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

That's been true for me in my life that if I set my heart and my mind and my action on the right thing, the other things just naturally come with it. That's more of a spiritual journey. And it really is about what faith is too. If I allow all those things to steer me off course, if I chase the things that don't matter, am I really displaying faith in a way that I actually believe that what I'm doing is going to happen?

I can't say that there's ever been a moment in my life where I thought, "I'm going to give up." In this journey, there's never been a moment that I thought I'm going to give up. It just meant I need to address this problem.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Sharina Perry:

So it's like if you see it... I think that's what I alluded to earlier, that there's going to be bumps in the road. But when you set out on a path... I have this thing that there's always ability. Even if it seems like a dead end, guess what? I can turn around and choose another route.

Aaron Ackerman:

Backtrack. Yeah. Right.

Sharina Perry:

Or I could plow a row through. It's just whatever you set yourself or your mind to do. I have a manufacturer here, Kevin McGehee with Poly Films. Their facility, they call me reroute because he says, "As I've watched you..." And they're one of the first manufacturers that we engaged back in 2019. And so when I approached him, he had never heard of this whole shift to sustainability even though they deal with a lot of clients. And he certainly had not heard of making plastics from plants. But he said it was my determination to educate them, to show them, my willingness to listen. But I would take what he would tell me, because they were part of the R&D, and I would go back and implement that.

And so now today he says, "There's nobody that knows this product like you. And now you're educating everybody else." I'm grateful for people like him. I can't keep my mind fixed on the people that say no, the people that say not now. I have to keep my mind fixed on the people that champion the work that we're doing every day and remember that that pool of people is going to continue to grow.

And so has that grown? Absolutely. To global manufacturers using our material, recently we were included in an article by the Trade Council of India as our company, Utopia Plastix, was listed as a real solution and as they go into their bands. So included in abstracts. And now next year I'll be a keynote speaker at the Biopolymer and Polymer Science Convention in Belgium.

Aaron Ackerman:

Wow, that's awesome.

Sharina Perry:

Yeah. Next girl, without a degree. Everybody else has doctor before their name, but I don't, but I understand-

Aaron Ackerman:

And you're re-route. I love that.

Sharina Perry:

I'm reroute. I'm the plant lady that reroutes.

Aaron Ackerman:

Reroute. Well, okay, that's so cool. So we got straws. What are the other applications that are either already being produced or maybe are kind of up next?

Sharina Perry:

A lot of people think we make single use plastics. We don't. We are a resin provider. So I make the pellets and the powders that manufacturers use to put in their their plastic machinery to make whatever products they make. So we have had manufacturers make bags, cutlery, straws, trash cans, stakes that go on the ground, application tools. Some of it we don't know. Some of them, I've had closures made.

I think we saw recently that from pictures that we were sent of... Actually they put us there and over 30 some odd items have been made with Utopia in this short part of the journey. But we are focused centrally on supplying resin. So while it's a container, that may be hundreds and millions of pounds of our pelletized resins that that manufacturer is using to make the containers that their clients.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. Tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I think one of the beautiful parts of this is that it requires... A manufacturer's got their molds and dyes and tools and they're using a petroleum-based whatever to make plastic. They can bring Utopia resin in and not need any modification to their manufacturing process.

Sharina Perry:

No modifications to it. And in fact there's some enhanced benefits that they've reported. One, they run their machines on lower temperatures, they're still able to get a good yield. A lot of times manufacturers will run their materials on higher temperatures so they can get a greater yield. Our lower temperature still produce the high yield. The other is there's no toxic chemical smells that they're experiencing. In fact, they report that it smells like cake and there's enhanced strength properties with our material. It's 100% recyclable. So the waste factor isn't there. There is some slight profile, that's a profile change. If I lower a temperature, that's a profile. But as far as modification or retooling, absolutely not a [inaudible 00:43:52].

Aaron Ackerman:

They're not having to shut the plant down, retool and gear up.

Sharina Perry:

No.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, I mean it's...

Sharina Perry:

They're doing the same thing they would... Like if a manufacturer, maybe they're using a high density polyethylene and then they want to switch to a low density polyethylene, and then they want to switch to Utopia Plastix. In each of those scenarios, they're going to put a purge in to clean out that other and then start running the other line. We've also found that our material is a really good purge to pull out the carbon that's been left behind from those other materials for the traditional plastics. In fact, Kevin told me that he has to... His guys now, when they want to get a good purge out of their machine, they'll ask him, "Can I use your Utopia Plastix?" And he's like, "No." Or, "We got to call Sharina and ask her."

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's great. Well that's great. Congratulations on this great success and just thank you for your transparency. I would encourage our listeners to go check you out, learn more about you, learn more about Utopia. What's the best place to find you on the internet, on social media? Where should people look for you?

Sharina Perry:

We're out there. First, you can Google us. There's a lot of information, there's a lot of videos. We're on LinkedIn, you can follow me, Sharina Perry. You can follow Utopia Plastix on LinkedIn as well. We're on Instagram. We're also on Facebook. We have our Utopia model companies on Facebook as well. Utopia Plastix is trademarked, but our Utopia model companies come together to facilitate how we get to Utopia Plastix as an end product and how we make it available to the market.

So we've shared this journey. I think that's why people love us too because-

Aaron Ackerman:

It's open [inaudible 00:45:55]. Yeah.

Sharina Perry:

... many people, as I was walking through, "Hey, I'm going to make this in my kitchen," I Facebook live it.

Aaron Ackerman:

Oh.

Sharina Perry:

So, many people have followed the journey and I think they champion it because I shared when it blew up in my face in the manufacturer facility. So they've seen the wins and losses along the way.

Aaron Ackerman:

Sure.

Sharina Perry:

So follow us there. Come and share us. Mention our name in rooms if you know someone that's looking for a solution. But we are better together, and that's part of what I share. So I appreciate the support in sharing.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, love it. Well I'm so glad to know you. I'm glad we met and I look forward to that train ride next time. We'll put all of that. We'll put Utopia Plastix and your LinkedIn, everything, in our show notes so people can find you easily.

All right, Sharina, as you know, we've got five questions we ask all our guests as we wrap up. You ready?

Sharina Perry:

I'm ready.

Aaron Ackerman:

All right. What is the first way that you ever made money?

Sharina Perry:

I told you, Aaron, that when you told me that. I've kind of always been a little bit of an entrepreneur. I used to buy candy from a little neighborhood and go and sell it to other kids who didn't have access. So we had a little neighborhood store. It was a lady who had it in her garage. I quickly learned that I could make profit from doing it and I could make profit from the labor part and then also selling it.

One time we were getting ready for church and I needed to get some gum because I had to sell it. So I agree, I asked my sister to go get it. I give her a dollar because she gets only a penny a piece. So I tell her I'm going to give her 10 of them and she goes and buys them. So she goes and buys them. She comes back and I give her the 10, because that's the labor part of it, right? And I have the 90 that I sell. And of course I'm covering the costs that I had. But the bad part is she went in her clothes for church and came back and we were running late. And so you also learned that you got to make sure you do business the right way and at the right time. So we got a little bit in trouble for all of that. So that was the first time I made money.

Aaron Ackerman:

That's awesome. That's very unique. We've never had an answer that. I love it. All right. So you have your previous career in cable and media. Obviously we talked about Utopia. What would you be doing, do you think, if you had gone a completely different path?

Sharina Perry:

Well, the interesting part is I wanted to go into international relations, and here I land here. If you would've asked me that before, I felt like I'm really moving through purpose, because I was really good at what I did. I mean, I put on steel toe boots and go trench or balance signals and then turn around and put on a dress and go in an office meeting and structure somebody's plan for our organization. I can't really tell you that there's something that I'm like, "Oh, I'm interested in doing." I just know that if it was a good enough challenge, I would go do it, like, "Hey, this is what we're going to do." Okay. Immediately. And that happens all the time. People will tell me that, "Hey, they want to do something" and immediately in my mind, "Okay, we can do this, this, this and this." I can immediately start running.

Aaron Ackerman:

Problem solver.

Sharina Perry:

Oh man. I don't know. I don't think I've ever had just the desire of, "Hey, that's the job I want to do." I know there are some cool stuff that I want to do, but none of them are really job related. They're just more of a drive a fast car, do something like that.

Aaron Ackerman:

Cool. So what would you like to go back and tell your 20 year old self?

Sharina Perry:

This journey's going to be a lot of things that you'll encounter. It won't make sense. Some of them will be good. Don't be too hard on yourself. But in everything, look for the lesson.

I'm almost 50 now and I can look back and I will say I probably took things too serious. I'm actually wondering why people even liked me because I had a lot of things that I saw the world as black and white and didn't see the shades of gray. I think having kids caused me to see the shades of gray. I think being willing to accept what is given to me and placed in front of me and then navigate that rather than trying to demand that people change something because I see it a certain way. And so that's what I would tell myself, is to always be looking for the lesson and not the negative part of what's happening.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, love it. So what would you title your autobiography?

Sharina Perry:

That's easy. Intentional perspective with Sharina Perry. And it's really around the raising the thinking and what it takes to really run the race and endure it and the intentionality that you have to have and not just settle into whatever is. We don't have to take on everything that's placed in front of us. We can intentionally say no the same way we can intentionally say yes.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's really good. I have to admit I was pulling for reroute, but I think your answer was better. All right. What's the best advice you've ever received?

Sharina Perry:

In business, it came from an employer that I worked for and he said never be afraid to hire someone smarter than you. When I might be discouraged, it came from my dear friend, Amy Walton, who just got Woman of the Year, and she said it to me not long ago, she said, "Sometimes no just means not right now. Don't always take that as a negative." And then spiritually, it is God's reminder that I can make his heart rejoice by my decision.

Aaron Ackerman:

Oh, that's so good. I love it. Sharina, thank you so much. I appreciate your willingness to take a little time here just to talk with me, to tell your story for our listeners. Congrats on all the success. David Woods, who's a friend of HoganTaylor and is a former podcast guest himself and was the organizer of the trip where we met, I think it was the last night during dinner, he said, I've asked three people to talk to the group and there was maybe 20, 25 of us there, and he said, "These three people are doing really meaningful things. They're going to change the world." And you were one of them. You kind of told the story you told today, I mean, he was right. You are changing the world. So thank you for your purpose and your tenacity. I love what you're doing. I'm happy to know you and I can't wait to see what's next for you and Utopia. I'm going to be one of those cheerleaders following you around.

Sharina Perry:

Yay! Thank you.

Aaron Ackerman:

Thank you so much.

Sharina Perry:

Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron Ackerman:

That's all for this episode of How that Happened. Thank you for listening. Be sure to visit howthathappened.com for show notes and additional episodes. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Thanks for listening. This content is for information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Copyright 2022 HoganTaylor, LLP. All rights reserved. To view the HoganTaylor general terms and conditions, visit www.hogantaylor.com.