In a world where consumers are demanding transparency and environmental responsibility from brands, greenwashing—the act of misleading consumers about a product's sustainability—has become all too common. This challenge presents a unique problem for both brands and consumers seeking trustworthy products.

Enter Novi, a company that’s redefining how brands substantiate their claims through data. By partnering with certification bodies and retailers, Novi has built a platform that rigorously vets and verifies sustainability claims, helping brands achieve transparency while giving consumers the confidence to trust those labels.

In this conversation with Kimberly Shenk, Novi’s founder, we explore how her background in data science led to the formation of Novi, the challenges brands face in achieving transparency, and the future of sustainable products across industries.

We also discuss the role of data, the importance of third-party certifications, and how companies can avoid greenwashing while building consumer trust.

🎧 Listen or watch the episode

👤 Interview with Kimberly Shank

Dunya Jovanovic: Let’s start with a little about yourself and what inspired you to start and reconnect to the company we’re discussing today.

Kimberly Shenk: My background is in data science—I studied at MIT, worked in the Air Force as a data scientist, and led data organizations at tech startups like Eventbrite. I’ve always viewed the world through data and its potential to create positive change. Since I was young, I’ve had a passion for health and wellness. In 2017, I co-founded a company called Naked Poppy, which helped women discover and purchase products that were both healthy and environmentally responsible. The beauty industry is filled with confusing claims, and we saw a major transparency issue—getting accurate, verifiable data on product ingredients was a challenge. It became clear this was fundamentally a data problem: understanding product origins, ingredient transparency, and environmental impact. This need for data transparency led me to start Novi, and that’s what drives us today.

DJ: Can you tell us more about Novi and how it fits into the climate tech ecosystem?

KS: Novi is a platform that simplifies and scales certification and product claims for the consumer industry. We partner with certification bodies, retailers, and regulatory leaders to understand complex requirements around “clean” and “sustainable” labels. Then, through our vetting engine, we help brands meet these standards quickly and accurately. When consumers see a claim on a product, they can trust it’s been verified by a third party.

DJ: Ensuring transparency and accountability in these claims must be challenging. How do you achieve it?

KS: We rely heavily on supply chain data, which underpins the entire platform. We help brands gather, document and verify this data by guiding them on what’s needed to make valid claims. This ensures that brands don’t just make assertions but have documented proof, based on data, to support those claims.

DJ: What challenges have you encountered while verifying a product's environmental impact?

KS: A major challenge is transparency versus disclosure. The consumer product industry is built on proprietary formulations, which means there’s a reluctance to share certain information. Transparency issues run deep in the supply chain, making it difficult for brands to obtain needed data from suppliers. However, as consumer demand for transparency grows, brands are increasingly motivated to seek out and disclose this information.

DJ: Do you think policies could help drive this shift?

KS: Definitely. The EU is far ahead in its transparency policies, which creates an environment where information sharing is more common. In the U.S., the lack of regulation is being filled by retailers who are setting their standards. Programs like Sephora’s “Clean at Sephora,” Target’s “Clean” and “Zero” labels, and Ulta’s “Conscious Beauty” are great examples.

DJ: Have you encountered greenwashing in this space?
KS: Yes, and it’s more prevalent now. With consumer demand for sustainable products on the rise, brands are eager to market themselves accordingly, often without substantiated claims. This has put transparency under the microscope; consumers are more informed and researching products closely.

DJ: How does Novi's tech influence the sustainability movement?

KS: We sit at the heart of data capture, empowering third-party certifications and regulatory bodies with accurate data. Our technology is agnostic—we’re not defining what’s “good” or “bad.” Instead, we give brands the tools to verify claims and enable substantiated transparency across sales channels.

DJ: Many U.S. companies use transparency to build trust with stakeholders. What advice can you give?

KS: Brands need to be intentional upfront, selecting supply chain partners that align with their values. Certifications can also build consumer trust. Today’s consumers want assurance beyond the brand’s word—they’re looking for third-party validation to verify claims.

DJ: What strategies can companies use to avoid greenwashing in their messaging?

KS: Accurate data is key. Many cases of greenwashing are unintentional, resulting from inaccurate or incomplete information. Brands need to verify the information they get from suppliers rather than taking it at face value. When accurate data underpins claims, greenwashing can be minimized.

DJ: Are consumers becoming more informed about greenwashing, and is that pushing companies to change?

KS: Absolutely. Today, a misleading claim can go viral on social media, damaging a brand’s reputation overnight. Younger consumers, in particular, are highly research-oriented, making transparency essential for brands.

DJ: As a marketing agency, what advice can you give on sustainability messaging and avoiding greenwashing?

KS: Storytelling needs to be both authentic and data-backed. Consumers appreciate certifications as trust markers, and brands should consider incorporating them. Companies that succeed in both authentic storytelling and third-party validation build consumer trust.

DJ And how does Novi build trust?

KS: At Novi, we focus on accurate, reliable data without labeling products as good or bad. We support brands with data tools to substantiate claims, ensuring objectivity.

DJ: Many climate tech companies set ESG standards and community-based approaches. Do you see this as essential?

KS: Absolutely. Marketing teams need to work with sustainability teams to reflect these values accurately. Consumers want companies that don’t just do the work but can talk about it authentically.

DJ: What trends do you see for sustainability in the coming year?
KS: We’re seeing sustainability expand into more categories, like baby products, pet food, and building materials. This isn’t just about luxury brands anymore; mainstream retailers are embracing transparency, making it a standard expectation.

DJ: What’s next for Novi?

KS: Expansion. We’re focusing on entering new consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories. We want to democratize transparency and sustainability, making these values accessible to all consumers, not just those in upscale markets.

📝 Full episode transcript

Hello friends, you are watching or listening, depending on the platform of your choice, the Green New Perspective Podcast, a place where we talk about innovative technologies and discussing marketing strategies that are accelerating growth. If you like what we do here, please consider subscribing to our channel on your favorite streaming platform, hit that subscribe button and support us in bringing you more high quality content.

This episode is proudly sponsored by New Perspective, a Boston-based marketing agency working with climate tech companies for over 20 years now. And if you want to explore how New Perspective is helping climate tech companies to grow, you can check the links in the description of this episode. There's a lot of information there for you to dig through. In today's episode, we are going to talk about the importance of transparent communications.

Why? Because there's a lot of been washed there where companies are misleading their customers or partners about sustainability. My guest today is Kimberly Sheng, the CEO of NoviConnect, a company that uses data and is partnering with certification bodies to verify claims. So if you want to know how you can be a better informed consumer while you're shopping for sustainability related products or a company that wants to boost their

transparency and communications efforts. Stay tuned and enjoy the conversation and of course leave your feedback after watching. We would really appreciate it.

Hello Kimberly, welcome to the Green New Perspective podcast. Thank you for having me. So for starters, can you tell our audience a bit more about yourself and what inspired you to start and where we connect to the company we're talking about in this podcast? My background, I'm a data scientist at heart. I studied at MIT. I was a data scientist in the Air Force.

led the data organization for Eventbrite and a couple of other tech startups. So that's my, I've always viewed the world through data and how it can be leveraged for good. Ever since I was young though, I've always had a strong passion for health and wellness. And back in 2017, co-founded a company named Naked Poppy and the whole mission was to help women discover and purchase trusted products, good for their health and for the environment. And it was a really confusing landscape. We were

aspiring to cut through the noise and that got complicated really quickly as we built that company. And it gave us a really interesting insight into how the industry operates. And that was the core problem that I became obsessed with. I realized it was a data problem at its core, really understanding how product is made, what ingredients are in it, whether they're sustainable and clean. And that's where I got inspired to start building the technology.

that is now Novi and what we do today. So can you tell us more about Novi and how does it fit into the climate tech ecosystem for those who are familiar with what you do? So we're essentially a platform that's scaling and streamlining the certification and product claims landscape for the consumer industry. And so we have done the really hard work of decoding all of the complex requirements around

clean sustainability, have partnerships with certifying bodies, partnerships with retailers, partnerships with a lot of industry leaders to understand all of the regulatory requirements, certification requirements, what it means for a product to meet a certain claim. And then through that, we've a proprietary vetting engine that automatically vets products against these claims, no matter how complex they are. And so all of this is rooted in data.

We can talk about that, but the core of this is to build a very simple interactive workflow that's personalized to a brand and their products, only showing them that's relevant to them so that they can get to those certifications and claims that are verified as fast as possible. So that's the core platform, but we partner with lots of large retailers to power their product claims programs.

And so then when you're a consumer interacting with a product and you see a claim on it, you can trust that that product has been verified by a third party and that it actually meets the claim that you're hoping for as you're going to purchase the product. This is definitely not an easy job to do. So how do you ensure transparency and accountability in the claims? Absolutely. Yeah. So we, this is where we require the detailed supply chain data. Data is

The core of the product, the core of what we help brands uncover document attached to different claims. But we do require that raw information. And a lot of what we're doing is then helping to understand like, is that the right document? Is that from the right supplier? Did you get the right piece of information? Is it saying the right thing? Do you have the right substantiation to go forth and meet this claim? So that's why the workflows.

personalization of the tools really important so that we help that brand focus only in on the data that they need to gather and provide in order to make a claim. But yeah, at the end of the day, we are always in the nitty gritty, tiny minutia of the data that then gets aggregated up to at the end of the day, just the claim that the consumer sees. And what are some of the challenges you've encountered while verifying the impact of products, environmental impact?

A lot of the consumer product industry is built on secrecy. And that's largely just because every brand is creating something innovative. And it is, at the end of the day, based on some sort of proprietary formula or way that they've crafted their product.

Transparency of that information starts to lead to IP issues, people not wanting to disclose. And so one of the challenges is largely transparency without full disclosure. The other, I would say, is actually getting access to that data from your supply chain. And it's largely just because that transparency issue.

travels all the way down the supply chain. So you might be working with a really interesting supplier of a ingredient and you want to get transparency on how that ingredient was manufactured or the feedstock it was made from. And that supplier has also spent a lot of time in IP developing that ingredient and doesn't want to share that up. so transparency without disclosure happens all through the supply chain. And so really

getting that information so that you can then go to the consumer as a brand and make a claim is really, really challenging. I think I would just say like up until recently, the incentives for a company or a brand to spend the time and money to look for this data have not largely been there. But what's interesting is now the consumer demand has shifted so aggressively that it's no longer a cost.

or an activity that's so challenging. It's now, I need to do this to remain relevant and to drive the revenue opportunity that my competitors are seeing because they're out there making these claims. And so the flip has been, now I have the leverage, the revenue opportunity, the internal buy-in from the organization to go forth and do the activities to get this information. So we're starting to see that shift in the industry. Do you feel like policies could help to move the shift forward?

Yeah, I mean, we're seeing it in the EU, right? The policies and the regulation there are so far ahead of the US. And that has caused that industry, you know, that landscape, that market to be much more transparent and to disclose information. think what's fascinating and what's happening in the US is in the absence of regulation, that vacuum is being filled by retailers.

And so retailers are starting to say, well, we see this opportunity. Consumers are demanding and switching to products that have solid claims around clean transparency, sustainability, whatnot. And so we're going to put forth badging programs. And this is where you've seen Sephora with Clean at Sephora or Target with Target Clean or Target Zero or Ulta with Ulta Conscious Beauty. Obviously we have Whole Foods and Thrive Market. have all of these.

companies that are now filling that void by putting together programs and helping consumers navigate when our regulatory and government bodies are not. And have you encountered greenwashing in this space? Yes. So that's, think that's the interesting dynamic that's more and more prevalent today, largely because I do believe 10, five, maybe even five years ago, the concept of doing

or creating, developing, putting in market a more clean, sustainable product was less common. And it was the really mission driven companies, early innovators of the space that were cared about doing this. And now we're in a landscape where consumers have, there's so many statistics out there, like 50 % of the growth in the CPG industry is coming from products that are being marketed as sustainable data.

The consumer landscape has changed to Gen Z and Gen Alpha. They're expecting products to have this intrinsic property of clean health, sustainability, planet friendly, all of these kinds of claims. because of that, brands are now running after how can I market myself in that way? How can I tell that story? How can I capture that demand and that revenue that's now being shifted to those types of products?

really brought a lot of the greenwashing up, know, increased and on the scene, I would say much more drastically than it has in the past. And so that's, think, why we're starting to see more and more need for transparency, need for actual information. Consumers are doing a ton more research like, huh, is this product really what it says it is? Or is it just claiming that so I can, I purchase it and it makes money? So yeah, it's interesting shift.

And how do you see your tech influencing the broader movement towards sustainability? We are sitting right at the core of that data capture. I think a lot of what we do, so we're not defining what's good and bad at all. And so our technology is very agnostic to that. We are empowering the third party certifications, like, you know, obviously the certifying bodies, regulatory bodies, retailer programs to capture that data, to help them build the trust and to have the substantiation.

But at the end of the day, we're mostly building the data network to empower that ecosystem and help do that in a very easy, seamless way. So as a brand is capturing that information, they can leverage it across everywhere they sell. Just because you capture it to prove a claim at Target doesn't mean you should be able to leverage that same data and use that to prove a claim at Macy's or wherever your product is in market. And you mentioned that this transparency, sustainability movement

in the US is pushed by companies. So can we talk about how, well, companies all over US can leverage transparency to build trust and engage stakeholders, whoever they may be, customers or partners, whatever. So there, I mean, there's a couple of ways there's obviously as I'm, we're seeing a huge shift actually, and as products are being brought to market, really,

careful conscious decisions on who to partner with in your supply chain, where to source materials, manufacturing partners, starting with a lens of tell us upfront before we even start working with you versus in the past it's been, my goodness, we have a product in market. Let's furiously go down the supply chain and figure out what's going on to start to diagnose. I think now it's more intentional. And so flipping the script to say, we're not going to sign a PO to put this.

you know, $100,000 or 100,000 unit face wash in market until we have full disclosure on these five things or else we're going to take our business elsewhere. And that shift has been really powerful as choosing stakeholders upfront. The other side though is now product is developed going into market. Honestly, it's just going to be, we're seeing a proliferation of different certifications, but going after these SEAL certification badges as a way to drive consumer trust.

So this is basically the consumer saying we can't take the brand's word for it anymore. And so I do think this is where we're going to see a lot more new, I mean, we're seeing it already, new certifications popping up, but this this trend is also really interesting because there's a dynamic where, we kind of talked about before, the CPG industry is both off of differentiation. so.

Not every product, not every brand wants to say the same things. And so not everyone wants the same certification because that says the same thing. And so we're seeing diversity in the types of claims a brand or a product wants to make so that they can show how diverse they are. I might focus on fair, responsible practices in my supply chain while somebody else might really focus on clean ingredients. Like it all can be different.

And so that is partnering with different certifying bodies or different badges or seals or organizations out there that can help you differentiate as a product and brand and as you go to market. So yeah, I think it's across the supply chain. mentioned greenwashing. So aside from certifications, what other tactics or strategies can companies use to avoid pitfalls of greenwashing in their messaging?

This is actually what we found is interesting. think for me personally, I've always lived under this mantra of data is only as good as it is garbage in garbage out. Basically, it's only as good as you're able to clean it and structure it and capture it properly. And so a lot of the greenwashing we've uncovered, especially as we work with brands and partnership, is unintentional.

to be quite honest, thinking it was one thing or not having the actual piece of information that was needed to substantiate their claim. And so I think as consumers, we're actually experiencing this firsthand as we're using AI products like ChatGPT and they can go off the rails because of inaccurate information. And so when we put, you know, models or things on top of inaccurate data, I do think that's where it leads to problems. And so the onus is now on

brands are getting more curious and asking the right questions instead of taking the word of their supply chain and saying, yeah, we trust you. You did the right thing and saying, no, show us how you did the right thing. You know, I have a manufacturing partner for this product. Show me that you source the materials in this way or show me that you did this on the assembly line or whatnot. So I do think greenwashing is going to be combated just by getting to the core, which is accurate, reliable information and data.

And that'll help to drive decision-making and uncover a lot of stuff that we, think, as many brands didn't even realize was happening in the first place. Consumers are more informed about greenwashing and they know how to spot it. that's basically what's driving the company. Not the only thing that's driving the companies, but it helps to drive. Absolutely. mean, today, if you...

Say something incorrectly. I mean, you can lose trust and loyalty on TikTok overnight. Something can go viral and destroy your brand in hours. I mean, is now no longer, you know, this wasn't covered over months and years and we have a J and J situation where we're like, yes, there's talc in the baby powder and here we are this many years later. This can happen like this. And so I do think it's something where we're so socially connected. have access to so much information. Consumers are so.

intelligent and research oriented, especially the younger generations that are up and coming. But yeah, think it's now, it's just an imperative. We are a marketing agency. Would you share advice from your experience on how marketers can contribute to the sustainability messaging movement and avoiding rewiring in communications? One of the ways that we think about this all the time is of course,

telling the story authentically, leveraging data, bringing to the forefront how you as a company are putting the practices in place to actually capture this information and sure it's trustworthy, going to the source, who you actually talk to. But then there's also the signals that customers are really looking for, which would be those third party certifications and things that they look to as trust. And so that's going to be different for every brand. Every consumer is going to look to something different.

that we are just seeing that it's got to be twofold, authentically telling the story, but then recognizing that a lot of consumers feel a little burned and aren't necessarily taking the brand's word for it and are looking for third party validation from other partners who don't have skin in the game and are checking and ensuring that the data is correct. so companies, think, that are investing in both are doing really well. And how do you build trust for Novi?

For Novi, a lot of the, yeah, for us, the trust mechanism is we are constantly hounding accurate, reliable data, and we don't make a determination of what's good and bad. So for us, we are not saying, yes, this is a great product or no, this is a bad product. And so for us, the trust is actually with the brands that we work with because we want to be a partner in helping them get there. And so the minute we start to...

gang up or tell a brand that they're doing bad or promote a brand when potentially, you know, we start to not look like we're completely unbiased in the conversation. So yeah, that's how we build trust is we very data driven and factual driven and just there to support. We hear or work in perspective, our marketing agency and we're working with climate tech clients and a lot of them are shaping their businesses according to the ESG standards. In your opinion, how can we shape our marketing efforts?

according to the same standards. think the marketing angle on setting standards is starting to become the most important because there's a large disparity between the hard work that sustainability teams do within an organization and how it's talked about externally. And more and more, which I think is exciting, is that's what the consumer is looking for, is those companies that not only do the work but can talk about it.

I've talked to so many different, even retailers who, there's brands that do amazing work and aren't getting credit for it because they're not talking about it and it's not forefront to their message. they, that I think we're now just starting to see that the revenue side of the organization is being attuned to the fact that the consumer is demanding it and putting their dollars into those companies. And I think that's what's going to shift marketing team focus on, okay, well, of course we're going to market and do the things that are going to drive them.

demand and bring us revenue. so starting to bring the sustainability team into the revenue conversation is extremely important. It's no longer a cost center. It's no longer a because we want to do good, which obviously we do, but it's now because it's going to drive meaningful impact and top line dollar for the business and how to shape that conversation and bring those partners into the equation, I think is actually really, really important.

And what other trends would you say that you're going to see, we're all going to see in the next year when we talk about sustainability, which is not an easy answer to give. Yes. Well, I will maybe stick to the Novi point of view or what we're seeing from our vantage point. When we started back in 2020, it was the early, early days where really it was only in niche categories.

where we saw beauty and personal care really starting to come online really for the only more, I would say like upmarket products. And now what we're seeing is, I mean, obviously food is really strong, but this is really getting into it's in clothing, it's in supplements, it's in baby, a pet food is the one that I'm thinking about. And so as we start to have consumers,

really thinking about consciously what's in their products, wanting to shop their values. The future will be in building materials and we'll start to see electronic purchasing decisions and furniture purchasing decisions and things that I think are a little bit more on the peripheral right now from a consumer lens on how we're purchasing but are very much the same equation, like how is it made, what's in it, how is the supply chain.

And I think the other piece of this is, you know, everything has been very up market, but really getting into dollar general, dollar treat, like the equity conversation around Americans across the country, no matter where you live, should have equal access to transparent, sustainable products. And I think that's the shift that I'm getting excited about too, is this isn't just like a luxury good or a luxury opportunity, but really getting into those down.

downstream or middle America enterprises, because when we start to shift the conversation, things start to become, it's less of a premium dollar to make products in this way and to provide this level of transparency. So it should become mainstream, let's say like that. Exactly. you tell me since we're coming to the end of our conversation, what's next for Novi?

What are you expecting to build in 2025? We have very, I guess over the past year, been heavily pulled into adjacent categories. Like I mentioned, we started in beauty and personal care and are very rapidly now in food and pet food, baby clothing, all of that. And so for us, it is expansion as quickly as possible into helping brands across different categories. And it brings transparency and sustainability to

more of the CPG categories. so that's a huge, huge push for us in this year is how we democratize that. We start to work with more and more mainstream retailers where, like I mentioned, the mainstream consumer is to start bringing more equitable offerings to every consumer out there and not just more of the more niche or upscale.

places that consumers shop. Perfect. And if people are listening to the podcast or watching it on YouTube, will want to know more about Novi or get in touch with you, can they do that? Definitely, you should go to NoviConnect.com. And there's a lot of resources there. There's ways to sign up to get a schedule, a one-on-one with us and learn more. But yeah, you can always just reach out even to me personally. So Kimberly at NoviConnect.com.

Well, thank you, Kimberly. Thank you for being a guest here on Twin In Perspective podcast. Thank you so much for having me. was a pleasure.

Thank you for tuning in to Green New Perspective. This podcast is proudly sponsored by New Perspective. We are a Boston-based marketing agency working with clean tech clients only for over 20 years now. And if you wanna check out how we help our clean tech clients to grow, you can click on the link in the description of this episode. If you like what we do here with the podcast, giving some amazing, amazing people from all over the clean tech space a place where they can showcase their innovative tech and comedy climate change.

You can support us in so many ways. You can leave reviews, comments or consider subscribing to our channel on your favorite streaming platform. We've noticed that around 75 % of you who are regularly watching our show are not subscribing. So just by hitting that subscribe button you could help us to grow, to get even more people from the climate tech space and create additional content. So please consider doing that. Thank you in advance. And of course, thank you for tuning into this episode and hopefully

I'll see you in the next one. Bye!

👉 Follow Novi Connect

Website: https://www.noviconnect.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/noviconnect

📚 Key Takeaways:

➜ Transparent communications are essential in the climate tech industry.
➜ Novi Connect helps brands verify sustainability claims through data.
➜ Consumer demand for transparency is driving industry changes.
➜ Greenwashing is a significant challenge in the current market.
➜ Brands must be proactive in gathering accurate supply chain data.
➜ Third-party certifications are crucial for building consumer trust.
➜ The marketing narrative around sustainability is evolving rapidly.
➜ Companies need to engage sustainability teams in revenue conversations.