May 18 Questions: Caitlin Crosby

Each month we will ask a new eco-maven 18 questions about his or her life, occupation and advice for other like-minded people. This month we connected with Caitlin Crosby, singer-songwriter and founder of The Giving Keys, a jewelry line made out of repurposed keys with inspirational messages on them. Once the owner of the key finds someone who needs the message more (i.e. Strength, Love, Inspire), they pay it forward and then write about their story on the company’s blog. The company has many celebrity supporters including Ryan Gosling, Harry Styles, Demi Lovato and Zac Efron, to name a few.

 1. What is your name (and age)?

Caitlin Crosby

2. What is your occupation?

Singer-songwriter and founder of The Giving Keys. The Giving Keys is a jewelry company that repurposes old keys into new jewelry with inspiring words on them. We also employ people transitioning out of homelessness. It may sound simple, but when someone is given a key, the impact of the message on the key can inspire them through overcoming huge obstacles in life.

3. Do you have a “green” memory growing up?

My mom always taught me to recycle. She would also always take me to shelters downtown to give people all of our extra clothes, blankets, and food. Because of this, I have a huge passion to serve homeless populations and I have worked that into my business model at The Giving Keys.

4. What’s your favorite meal?

I love Thai food. There’s this amazing restaurant called Ghindi Thai right around the corner from my home that I eat at multiple times a week. And of course ice cream!

5. Who/What inspires you to be more “green” in your life?

My friend Barbara Burchfield and her bestie Olivia Wilde started an incredible e-commerce site call Conscious Commerce. They find the most eco-friendly, stylish and purposeful products out there and create a platform to showcase to the world why purchasing with a conscious is so important.

6. Where on the “green scale” do you fall?

I love “green” movements! At The Giving Keys we use old recycled keys to create new jewelry. Also, I personally chose to drive a Prius. Here in LA, it’s the only car that makes sense.

7. What are the most rewarding and most challenging parts of your job?

This is hard because I stay busy with a few jobs! I am super passionate about encouraging young women, so the most rewarding part of writing music is hearing how the songs have helped girls going through hard times. The most rewarding part of my work at The Giving Keys is reading all the stories of how receiving a key can impact someone so personally. Also, it’s amazing to see lives being changed among the team that we hire. I love that we provide our staff with a second chance. My greatest challenge for both jobs is finding time to fit everything in. It is so easy to become stressed out just looking at the unread emails in my inbox.  I need to have more brain energy to write songs. I plan to work on this in 2014!

8. Where’s your “greenspot”: food, bodycare/beauty, oceans, home or neighborhood, explain:

I’m obsessed with juicing. Pressed Juicery and Whole Foods makes the most delicious juices and I love doing their cleanses. As far as the outdoors, I grew up in Malibu so I will always be an ocean girl at heart.

9. Where do you turn for your news?

The Huffington Post. (I especially love their refreshing ‘Good News’ section.)

10. What is one environmental change you vow to make in the next year?

I vow to use reusable cloths instead of paper towels in the kitchen.

11. If you could trade places with one person from any time in history (past or present) for one day—who would it be and why?

Mother Theresa. I would love to experience the environment she created for others and witness her gifted heart to live a life of 100% service.

12. You have a meeting with the leader of every country in the world. You have 30 seconds to tell them anything you want. Go!

Gary Haugen (of the International Justice Mission) once said “Justice is doing for others what we would want done for us.” This is basically the golden rule, but I honestly believe that if world leaders acted in the best interest of those beyond even their own borders, we could make massive changes on a global scale.

13. You have the chance to send one tweet to all the tweeps in the world. Let’s hear it in 140 characters, or less!

Keep your eyes open to all the needs you see around you.

14. If there was one industry/product that you could make more eco-friendly, what would it be?

The food industry. So much goes to waste, while so many people go hungry. My friend Kristen Irving just helped start L.A. Kitchen where neither food nor people should ever go to waste. They’re special in that they cover all the bases: they support local farms and help end food waste, they train and employ people others discard, and they create nourishing meals for those who need it most.

15. Where in the world would you most like to be right now?

I’m a few weeks away from marrying the love of my life, Colin. Anywhere with him is exactly where I want to be.

16. What is the best book you have read recently?

“The Reason for God” by Tim Keller. Also his book ‘The Meaning of Marriage.’

17. What makes you cringe?

My friends call me a “Mama Bear” because I jump into action when I see someone being picked on or ostracized. I just always am cheering on the underdog, so I can’t stand it when society or individuals are cruel to the marginalized.

18. What do you want your legacy to be?

I hope it would be that I truly loved people well. I would want to be remembered as someone who created a ripple effect in this generation to remind people of their worth; to help awaken the soul to live at their highest potential, to be who they were created to be.