Meet Meridith White: Founder & Operator of Sea Bones

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

Hi Meridith, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Sea Bones is a brand that works to raise awareness about the importance of preventing further plastic pollution in our oceans by raising awareness and by hosting local beach and estuary cleans as often as possible. In addition, Sea Bones has contacted local highway departments to get heavily polluted roadways near waterways and estuaries cleaned that are too dangerous for volunteers to clean without assistance. Sea Bones encourages people to report polluted roadways to the local highway departments to help prevent further runoff plastic pollution into waterways and ultimately in the ocean. In two and half years Sea Bones is responsible for close to 3000 Ibs of litter removed from the local beaches, roadways, estuaries, and swamps.

Sea Bones hosts most beach cleans where it was created on Folly Beach, SC. My daily routine of running the beach when I was a Folly resident quickly turned into me running with a trash bag because of the overwhelming amount of plastic pollution I saw every day. Folly Beach is home to hundreds of sea turtle nests and to thousands of sea birds who are affected directly by plastic pollution. I have a great love for all animals and to see a dead sea bird with a belly full of plastic due to human carelessness hits pretty hard. I want to help to protect those creatures and other sea life as much as possible. When I host cleans I make an effort to explain why it’s so important that we do our part to combat plastic pollution. Most volunteers are shocked because they had no idea how much litter and single-use plastics get left on beaches or tossed out of car windows into the estuaries. Volunteers later tell me that they always pick up liter when they see it now and that makes it all worth it. It’s planting the seed of awareness and knowledge that your actions as an individual can make a difference. Even if it’s one piece of trash, you could save one turtle, one sea bird, or one fish.

It’s up to each of us as individuals and business owners to do our part in helping to protect one of the planet’s most precious resources. If our ocean dies, the human race will die quickly after and the world needs to be aware that we are all directly responsible every day to help make a positive difference. Mother Earth and the ocean need us to come together as a community and as the human race to help save her more than ever.

Sea Bones strives to be a purpose-driven brand that teaches you, you can make a big difference as an individual. We all need to work together to spread that awareness in our communities and our communities can help the world.

What should our readers know about your business?
Sea Bones is different than most brands because it was founded to be a purpose-driven brand. I want the brand to grow and create financial success, but I want that success to come from good intentions and creating a positive difference. I’ve picked up an overwhelming amount of litter on beaches for hours by myself, all sweaty, covered in sand and people ask me why? They ask if I’m serving community service or if the city is paying me? My answer typically confuses them when I say it’s my purpose to help protect the ocean and the purpose of my brand is to help protect the ocean no matter what. It’s exciting when people hear this and immediately ask me, “what can I do to help?” That’s what’s it’s about.

I’m most proud that in less than 2 1/2 years and through Covid, Sea Bones has helped to remove close to 3,000 lbs of litter from beaches, estuaries, and swamps.

A valuable lesson Sea Bones has taught me as a business owner is to not over-invest too quickly. When I first started Sea Bones, I was shocked at how quickly the shirts sold out in the first few months. The local demand was so high, I had to start creating a preorder list because my online store wasn’t even set up yet. I needed way more inventory for events, surf shops, and enough inventory to stock an online store. So I spent everything I had on Sea Bones inventory and then I lost my full-time job with a two-day notice due to Covid. Like most business owners I felt completely hopeless in the beginning. How do I sell all of this product I just spent all of the money on? All my events were canceled, my surf shops closed down and my online sales are none existing at this point. I wanted to throw in the towel, but with the support of my community and friends, I was able to push through.

Sea Bones is still very new and still has a lot of growing to do, but my hope is to make it a worldwide known brand that is actively working to create a positive difference.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
To get a complete Folly Beach experience, I would bring them my favorite little restaurant and bar named Chico Feo. The whole bar and restaurant are located outside surrounded by beautiful trees and tropical plants all around. A bowl of Cuban rice and beans with their specialty cocktail the, “samurai sling” is the perfect combo. Followed by a siesta on the beach and then if we’re lucky enough to have waves then do a little surfing. Another must would-be the Charleston Pour House for live music on the deck under the trees with amazing murals painted by local artists all around you and everyone is dancing. A truly wonderful music venue that the community loves and is awesome to experience.

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?
Sea Bones would not exist today if I did not have the encouragement or inspiration from a wonderful group of female entrepreneurs in the Folly Beach community. One of my dear friends Briahna Wenke who is an amazing artist has been a major influence in my life. She could see the potential in my ideas and she always encouraged me to create more. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself so I’m forever grateful for her. Another major influence is my friend Doreen Sullivan, the creator of My Bud Vase who is featured in Forbs for her tremendous success in the cannabis industry. She’s been my entrepreneur mom so to speak when needed and encouraged me to keep going even though at times I felt I should give up. I am very lucky to have had these two incredible women in my life.

Website: seaboneslife.com

Instagram: @seaboneslife

Image Credits
@richardbrendal @truthisoutthere