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Kate Sanner
Co-Founder & CEO at Beni | Building the future of fashion
Kate Jean Sanner is the Co-Founder and CEO of Beni, a company that aims to simplify secondhand shopping through a free browser extension. This innovative tool allows users to find comparable secondhand products while browsing online retail sites, effectively merging technology with sustainable fashion practices. Beni was founded in 2022 and has quickly gained traction in promoting a circular economy by making resale shopping as easy as purchasing new items.123
Professional Background
Before her role at Beni, Sanner held various positions in marketing and brand strategy. Notably, she served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Beni prior to becoming CEO. Her previous experience includes significant roles at Anheuser-Busch, where she contributed to the launch of Bud Light Seltzer and managed brand strategies for Bud Light and Michelob ULTRA.13 Sanner also worked with Listen Ventures, a consumer-focused venture capital firm, and had internships at Emerson and Anheuser-Busch during her early career.12
Education
Sanner holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Strategy from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA in Marketing from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.13
Vision for Beni
Under Sanner's leadership, Beni is positioned not just as a product but as part of a movement towards more sustainable consumption practices. She emphasizes the importance of making sustainable choices accessible and convenient for consumers, aiming to shift the perception of secondhand shopping from a niche market to a mainstream option.45
Sanner's commitment to sustainability is reflected in her belief that the sustainable option must be easy and acceptable for widespread adoption.5
Highlights
I'm so proud of this team.
Since stepping into my role as CEO at Beni four months ago, we've been hard at work figuring out how to adapt Beni to truly make resale as easy as buying new.
Our browser extension does a pretty good job of accomplishing this goal by showing users resale deals while they shop their favorite retail sites.
But, we’ve found that while people love the extension once they have it, requiring users to download the extension/app and login to be able to use Beni may have unintentionally made us gatekeepers of our own tech (yikes!)
So, today, we’re opening the resale floodgates with a new web-based, un-gated experience that allows anyone to access our aggregated database of 200M resale listings from 40+ leading resale sites, with no download required.
MEET CHECKBENI.COM
Users can now: 🔍 Search for things directly – whether that’s a specific item like a “Veronica Beard blazer” or more of a categorical vibe like “bright colored sneakers that feel timeless and classic.”
👀 Experience the tech behind the browser extension (without the actual extension) by adding “CHECKBENI.COM/” in front of any product URL to see relevant results for that item. (This is really for you, Android shoppers!)
🤝 AND! Because this experience is completely un-gated, users can also now share results directly with friends who don’t have the app or the extension to help bring more people into the world of resale!
We've always believed that sustainable shopping should be simple, affordable and accessible to everyone -- today we take another step towards that goal.
HUGE thanks to Celine Lightfoot, Leila Thomas, Timothy Cronshaw, Catherine Sullivan, and Will McCulloch for building checkbeni.com to make that vision a reality.
Today is the day for our FUTURE OF FASHION event at NY TECH WEEK, and with 800+ RSVPs it is sure to be a party! Doors open at 5pm and I'd recommend coming early to ensure you get in!
Quick rundown of the FIVE amazing panels we have lined up with leaders who are pushing our industry forward:
✂ 🚛 Panel 1 at 5:45- Production and Supply Chain - Elyse Tosi (EON), Laura Zwanziger (Fit for Everbody), Alan Mak (Version Tomorrow), Thomas Vanderborght (@Lectra) and Crystal Pfeifer (LINES ATELIER)
🛒 🛍 Panel 2 at 6:15 - Retail and Shopping - me!! (Beni), Kotryna Jukneviciute (Arête), Danielle L. Vermeer (@Teleport), Asna Khan (FIT:MATCH.ai) and Devin Gilmartin (The Canvas)
👗 👠 Panel 3 at 7:30 - Post-purchase Journeys - Rachel Sterling (Alternew), Colette Johnson (The PS Collective), Bianca Tarantowicz (Recurate), Yidi Campbell (Indyx) and Coy Griffin (YOC)
♻ 🍃 Panel 4 at 8:00 - Product Next Life - @Mary Chiam (SuperCircle), Carmen Gama (Eileen Fisher), Lina G Londono (Debrand), Kat Hoelck (ANYBAG) and Youssef Elbehri (Growing Green Ventures Podcast)
🔗 ✨ Panel 5 at 8:30- Digital, Phygitial and Web 3 - Raymond Croft (Tommy Hilfiger), Tyler Mulvihill (Consensys), CLARE TATTERSALL (Digital Fashion Week) and Nova Lorraine (Futurist Author and Fashion Designer)
Plus we'll have startups showcasing their innovations through startup demo booths! Come check out &Her, Arête, Beni, FIT:MATCH.ai, Shop Cloo, Confitence.ai, Mackey's and Glaze!!
So excited for this 🎉 Big shout out to my co-hosts Colette Johnson, Kotryna Jukneviciute, and Rachel Sterling for making this happen with me and as always my right hand woman Catherine Sullivan for all the support!
