Why these business leaders center culture at the core of their companies

As the Trump administration continues to wage war against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, many business leaders have had to grapple with either standing firm in their previously stated DEI goals or abandon them and face consumer backlash.

However, for some executives who have built their businesses around specific cultures, the ethos of DEI is inextricable from their missions. The founders of Mabï Artisanal Tea and Issei Mochi Gummies, and the president of Minnetonka Moccasin Company, took to the stage at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW earlier this month to share how this approach to business shapes, rather than detracts from, their success. 

Education over exploitation

For Jori Miller Sherer, president of the shoe company Minnetonka, reconciliation and community work are top of mind. Founded in 1946, the Minneapolis-based business has sold Indigenous-inspired moccasins since its inception, though it was not founded by nor did it employ people from those communities. The company first addressed and apologized for its history of cultural appropriation in 2021, hired a reconciliation advisor, and began working with Indigenous artists to design their products, which included a partnership with Red Lake Nation member Lucie Skjefte on a rebrand of the company’s signature Thunderbird, or “Animikii” shoes. 

“One of the first things that we did was get to know people in our local community and just listen and learn from them,” Miller Sherer said, noting that a number of Indigenous people reside in the Twin Cities. Over 40% of Minnesota residents who identify as American Indian live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, according to a 2021 report from the Minnesota Department of Health.

For the Indigenous designers Minnetonka works with, “it isn’t just about sending a check or having a royalty payment, which of course we do,” Miller Sherer said. “It is about really giving them the microphone and giving them the spotlight.”

Jerry Grammont, the founder and CEO of Mabï Artisanal Tea, echoed this sentiment. Grammont, who is from Haiti, was inspired to start his iced tea company in 2020 to blend wellness and taste. His teas contain mauby bark, an ingredient used in traditional Caribbean beverages that is believed to offer a variety of health benefits. Grammont is mindful of how he can use his product to educate consumers who may be unfamiliar with the drink and the region it originates from. 

“I find that when we’re educating our customers around our culture and what we’re doing, we’re also selling the product itself because it’s directly tied to it,” he said. “It’s not about the financial gains. It’s about how we bring this wellness ingredient to the States.” 

Getting creative with limitations

Mika Shino, the founder and CEO of Issei Mochi Gummies, discovered quickly after launching her mochi snack business that most American manufacturing equipment isn’t designed to handle gummies made from traditional Japanese ingredients. The mochi, which is made from rice flour rather than wheat and gelatin, created gummies of a much thicker consistency than factory machinery is built to handle. 

“We called over a hundred manufacturing facilities. We worked with over 11 food scientists, all PhDs in starch—I didn’t know you could get a PhD in starch, right?” she told attendees. “We hand baked, hand slabbed, and hand cut 3,000 pounds of mochi. It was really difficult, but it taught me the difficult path of innovation when you’re really trying to do something new.” 

Jumping into her business sans blueprint paid off. Issei, which means “first generation” in Japanese, now has two patents that are pending. “We could never have done that if we were just another gummy bear with less sugar or just another peanut butter cup,” Shino said. 

Staying the course and building long-term success

For Minnetonka, success means continuing to directly confront the company’s past. The business reckoned with its history of cultural appropriation and went public with its reconciliation efforts after the murder of George Floyd at a time when many corporations made similar commitments that they have since reneged on. 

For Miller Sherer, the pledge that Minnetonka made to elevate the voices of Indigenous people is more than a fad or empty words. “We first went public with this back in 2020, and we didn’t do it because of external pressures or because of trends at the time. We knew it was the right thing to do, and it was the right thing for the business too,” she said. “We’re going to keep talking about this story because it’s now become a part of who we are and it always will be.” 

At Mabï, diversity is essential to the company’s functionality. “We’re a Black-owned company. We have probably 75% females in our company,” said Grammont. “There’s no way that I can say, ‘I’m not going to employ diversity [as] part of my strategy.’ It literally is my company.”

Shino, who worked at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for 17 years, said culture was essential to facilitating diplomacy and connection. “I think when you make things that are authentic to you, it’s a stealth way to communicate a message,” Shino said. “I worked at [UNESCO], where we used cultural goods like philosophy, art, literature, poetry, music as a way to bridge cultures. I really hope that our product can be a part of that, so you’re not forcing [that message].” 

At the same time, Shino doesn’t plan to shy away from what makes Issei unique. “We’re not going to waver from who we are,” she said. “We’re going to lean into [the fact that] we’re Asian owned, we’re women owned, we’re heritage proud. That’s not going to change,” she said. “And that’s how you resist.”