Meet Rachel Kois | CEO & Founder of Simple Switch

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rachel Kois and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m one of the lucky ones who is actually from Colorado; in fact my family has been in Colorado for 5 generations!) and I grew up just north of Denver. Looking back on my life it’s clear why I’d end up starting a company like Simple Switch, a company at the intersection of sustainability, social impact, and entrepreneurship.

My mom would always take me with her to sort and drop off our recycling, and my grandmother was known for stopping to pick up any and all litter, even pulling over cars to do so. They gave me a baseline passion for protecting our earth, and brought me to the mountains often for adventure and escape, and I see my upbringing in and around the Rocky Mountains is a huge contributor to my passion for our earth. I was also exposed to social injustices and global poverty when I was really young, as part of family trips to serve and volunteer in at-risk communities at home and abroad. My dad also grew up in a low income part of Denver, and has always been deeply involved in local efforts around empowerment and education of historically exploited students, business owners, and potential community leaders. I’m so fortunate to have watched their examples of expressing their values with their actions.

Not only were my parents instilling the values that now lead Simple Switch, they and others in my family were also entrepreneurs themselves. This normalized founder journey for me, the intimidation factor of starting my own business was lower from the start, and I got to see examples of leadership and business operations in several different business models (real estate, photography, etc) from a young age, even starting my own little “businesses” here and there with the encouragement of my family. I ended up studying entrepreneurship and business management at CU Boulder, and by then I had the values background and mental perspective to consider starting my own impactful company.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Online shopping has changed the world. In many ways for the better! It’s easy and convenient to get what you need online, and have it shipped to your door. Unfortunately as it stands that online shopping comes with negative consequences on people and the planet. We’re on a mission to normalize online shopping as a force for good by making it easy for business and personal spending to align with social and environmental values. You can head to our website and shop for more than 5,000 everyday products and gifts at simpleswitch.org or our mobile app.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When someone comes to visit, we have SO many options in Denver and Colorado! I always try to hit a mixture of outdoors and cool city culture. If they were up for it (and not afraid of heights) I’d take them for a climbing or rappelling adventure in Eldorado Canyon, a gorgeous spot just outside the city. Then, we’d come back to my office. This may sound strange, but I work out of Green Spaces, an amazing community hub with everything you could want, community space, bar, coffee shop, and shopping that supports local small businesses in RINO. It’s a perfect taste of Denver culture at its best, and the values-aligned spending that I love.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My recognition goes to my parents, who not only raised me around examples of strong values and entrepreneurship, but who’s constant love and encouragement have given me a rare ability to feel really free to try new things and take big risks. I see this confidence and safety as one of the most elusive parts of entrepreneurship, and I’m hyper aware that it’s not available to everyone. So, shoutout to my earth loving, people loving advocate & entrepreneur parents!

Website: simpleswitch.org

Instagram: instagram.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-switch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_SimpleSwitch

Facebook: facebook.com/simpleswitch.org

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEz9SEhahlGtQ1wqsU7v5g

Other: wefunder.com/simpleswitch