I'm Ali Rose Vanover back.

I'm the founder of Genesee Eyewear.

We make eye glasses right here in Flint, Michigan, from recycled single use plastic water bottles I had was working in New York is a fashion designer.

I had ties to Michigan.

I grew up here.

I had been volunteering in Flint during the water crisis with the Red Cross, and I was just really drawn to the creativity and the camaraderie here in the community.

So I saw a waste stream of single use bottles that was being generated by this man made water crisis Onda community that was in need of more infrastructure as well as jobs.

And I don't know how to solve a water crisis, but I know how to make things.

So my thought was, how can we use this waste to do something positive in the community by creating jobs So our eyeglass frames are made from recycled single use plastic water bottles, the bottles air collected from here in Flint.

They're processed locally into pellets which we then injection mold into the frame parts.

It's a pretty extensive process to make.

I aware there's a lot of hand assembly as well as's hand finishing and processing that goes into those parts.

We send them.

We washed them.

We both, um and then we assemble them and you have the best pair of classes in the world.

E.

I am proud, absolutely proud, especially from where I came from.

To be accepted in a company like this e treat you like family.

That's a great thing with Jenny.

See, is an I guess company.

But it's also an incredible opportunity provider, and I've already learned so many new skills that I can't even imagine having done.

I'm incredibly proud of the eyewear that we produce every day.

We're growing really quickly, so we're doing everything from post processing and assembling the frames.

We do shipping and fulfillment.

So our assembly team marketing design everything's happening here locally at our facility in Flynn, Clinton underdog.

It's a city that's full of possibilities and just so many amazing people that living coincide here.

So much talent is in Flint.

It just people just have to give us opportunity to see for themselves, Really.

But the great thing about Flint is that no matter what comes our way, we gonna find a way, no matter what.

So Genesee Supply chain is really uniquely within 180 mile radius of Flint, Michigan.

Our goal was to keep all of our manufacturing, production and material sourcing as close to flint as possible Are polishing bags air sewn at the new Life Center on the north end of Flynn.

The bags are even made from recycled plastic water bottles, and they're sewn here locally, New Life Center employees the structurally unemployable and trains them with sewing skills on gives them pathways to employment.

They're super rooted in the community and aligned with the same values that Genesee holds.

I want people to know that we are so much more than what everyone has seen on the news.

I hope that its own actually sees all the talent that we really have and actually tap into that talents, but actually makes one feel that they could be a better than I think.

Genesee is one of many solutions and making life better here in Flint for individuals and really just using our business as an opportunity to amplify the voices of a community.

Genesis is really setting a new standard of how to do business in a way that takes into account people and planet.

We need to create sustainable solutions so that we can protect our resource is and actually have a future environment, Yeah.