Businesses are exploring circular and sustainable initiatives, but the challenge lies in moving beyond pilots and projects to fully transforming into a circular business. That’s what Citrus Circular is here for—helping businesses shift from incremental steps to full-scale transformation, creating systems that, like citrus, use every part, waste nothing, and regenerate value at every stage.
This work is led by Nicole Bassett, a recognized leader in sustainability and circularity with a long track record of turning bold ideas into practical strategies. She has spent her career helping companies align business success with the health of the planet—bringing both vision and deep operational experience.
Nicole’s expertise blends research and real-world application. In 2005, she wrote her Master’s thesis on the intersection of sustainability and business strategy, focusing on Patagonia as her case study. She later joined the company as Social Responsibility Manager, where she addressed labor conditions across the full supply chain—from cut-and-sew facilities to raw material sources. Her work demonstrated how better working conditions improve quality and strengthen business outcomes.
Businesses are exploring circular and sustainable initiatives, but the challenge lies in moving beyond pilots and projects to fully transforming into a circular business. That’s what Citrus Circular is here for—helping businesses shift from incremental steps to full-scale transformation, creating systems that, like citrus, use every part, waste nothing, and regenerate value at every stage.
This work is led by Nicole Bassett, a recognized leader in sustainability and circularity with a long track record of turning bold ideas into practical strategies. She has spent her career helping companies align business success with the health of the planet—bringing both vision and deep operational experience.
Nicole’s expertise blends research and real-world application. In 2005, she wrote her Master’s thesis on the intersection of sustainability and business strategy, focusing on Patagonia as her case study. She later joined the company as Social Responsibility Manager, where she addressed labor conditions across the full supply chain—from cut-and-sew facilities to raw material sources. Her work demonstrated how better working conditions improve quality and strengthen business outcomes.
Nicole went on to become the first Director of Sustainability at prAna, where she focused on embedding sustainability into core business operations. She led initiatives to increase the use of preferred materials, implement a chemical management program, and launch the first Fair Trade apparel products in the U.S. market. Under her leadership, prAna continued to grow in both revenue and impact—proving that sustainability could drive business performance.
As Nicole deepened her work in sustainability, a fundamental tension became clear—one that extends beyond any single company. No matter how much progress is made in improving materials, reducing emissions, or optimizing production, growth in volume will always outpace the gains of incremental sustainability efforts. The more products a company makes, the larger its overall impact—revealing a critical flaw in the traditional model of business and sustainability.
This realization pushed Nicole to rethink what was possible—not just in terms of materials and production, but in how businesses generate revenue. She began exploring circular economy models as an alternative to the traditional growth-driven approach. This led her to co-found a company that offered brands a full service operational and technological platform to support everything from collection to resale. The Renewal Workshop was a first-of-its-kind model—one that moved the conversation from theory to practice and shifted the industry’s understanding of what circularity could look like in action.
In 2022, Bleckmann Logistics acquired The Renewal Workshop, and Nicole joined the team to expand the reach of circular systems across their global logistics network. Her focus was on integrating circularity into existing operations, making it more accessible for brands to adopt circular business models in ways that fit their realities and infrastructure.
With experience across the full product value chain, Nicole brings a rare combination of strategic insight and operational know-how. She understands the complexity of transforming from linear to circular. Her work is shaped by practice, driven by the urgency to do things differently, and fueled by that confidence that business can be a powerful force for regeneration—not just minimizing harm, but actively creating value for people, planet, and future generations.