Kat Nouri has a love-hate relationship with plastic.

As an artist and product designer, she’s enamored with its transparency and the endless creative uses for it. But as a mother, and an environmentally-conscious consumer, she’s disgusted by it.

“Plastic is a big part of our daily lives. There’s no denying it,” said Nouri. “But every time we use more of it , we’re harming ourselves and Earth.”

So she’s doing something about it.

On Thursday, Nouri unveiled Stasher, a line of sandwich bags made entirely of silicone, a natural material made of sand, rock and oxygen.

Related: More plastic than fish in oceans by 2050

Like plastic sandwich bags, the silicone bags feature the same pinch-press, air-tight closure. But the comparisons end there, said Nouri.

Her silicone bags are petroleum-free and contain no PVC, latex or phthalates.

And while 20 million plastic bags end up in U.S. landfills each day, Stasher bags are reusable for at least three years and can be frozen, microwaved or put in the dishwasher.

With dry-erase markers, you can scribble notes and labels directly onto the bag’s surface. Not feeling creative? The bags also come in fun designs — think circus, space and monster themes.

Stasher bags will be available online in February and in retail stores in March.

Related: She’s $10 million closer to replacing plastic bottles

Nouri has been on a personal crusade for more than a decade to help consumers replace everyday plastic products with safer silicone-based alternatives.

She was partly motivated by her upbringing in Iran.

“My father was a champion wrestler and my mother has a PhD in nutrition,” she said. “So I was very conscious about health and nutrition growing up.”

Nouri immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was 10.

“I became somewhat of a rebel,” said Nouri. “I was just very creative and wanted to do things my way.”

After graduating from UC Berkeley, Nouri took a sales and marketing internship at IBM. “But I always had a little business venture on the side,” she said. “People would constantly tell me I was a natural entrepreneur.”

Nouri launched her company Modern Twist in 2005. The company makes silicone-based placemats, coasters and a variety of baby items, including bibs, cups and food containers.

“As consumers, we focus more on what we eat,” said Nouri, who has three kids. “To me, especially as a mom, it was just as important to evaluate where we are putting our food. I was packing three lunches a day in plastic bags.”

Today, Modern Twist is profitable, generates about $10 million a year in revenue, and its products are sold in over 4,000 retailers nationwide.

Related: No really. This pencil grows into a tomato

Nouri said Stasher bags are a natural evolution of her vision for a plastics-free world.

She spent three years and $500,000 researching and developing the silicon sandwich bags. “It was a big investment for us at the time and I nearly went broke,” she said.

The silicone bags (which sell for $12.99 to $14.99 apiece) do cost quite a bit more than a box of disposable plastic bags. Still, she’s hopeful that the long-term economic and environmental value of the silicone bags will sway consumers to buy them.

In the meantime, Nouri is already planning to expand the Stasher line with other sizes later this year.

“I hope that these bags can become a symbol of how we are rethinking plastic and caring for our planet,” she said.

CNNMoney (New York) First published January 28, 2016: 8:00 AM ET

Touchdown for Death Wish Coffee Company! The startup just scored a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl on February 7.

The Super Bowl is the most watched event of the year and is notoriously expensive for advertisers. A 30-second ad during this year’s game is expected to cost a record-breaking $5 million.

But for Death Wish Coffee, the hefty pricetag is irrelevant.

The company beat out 15,000 other small businesses in the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Big Game contest, which gets it an all-expenses-paid ad to air during the Super Bowl.

“Winning this commercial is beyond our wildest dreams,” said Mike Brown, owner of Death Wish Coffee, based in Round Lake, New York. “It’s amazing to think that our 11-employee company will be on the same stage as the brands we’ve always admired.”

It’s the second time that Intuit has run the contest, which is voted on by the public. In 2013, Goldieblox — which makes engineering toys for girls — won.

Related: Super Bowl tickets heading for a record

Big brands like Budweiser, Doritos and Coca-Cola (KO) typically dominate the ad lineup — Death Wish Coffee will be the only small business ad to be seen by more than 100 million viewers.

It’s a big deal for a business that’s only four years old.

Brown said he was inspired to create an ultra-strong dark roast blend simply because there was demand.

“I’ve had a coffee shop for years and my customers were always asking for stronger coffee,” he said.

“An average cup of coffee has 217 mg of caffeine. Ours is double that,” said Brown. Last year Death Wish Coffee logged $3 million in revenue.

The brand has also developed a fanatical fan following. “We have fans who’ve tattooed our logo on their chest,” said Brown.

Related: How the Super Bowl will handle millions of selfies

Brown said he’s excited for Death Wish Coffee to bask in the 30-second spotlight.

“We’ve revamped our website, hired more employees and we’re getting ready for it,” he said. “We’re already in about 100 grocery stores locally. I want everyone in the country and around the world to taste out coffee.”

As for the ad itself, Brown said it’s like a movie trailer.

“It will shock everyone that it’s an ad about a small business,” he said.

CNNMoney (New York) First published January 28, 2016: 8:54 AM ET

Women are buying handguns in record numbers — especially weapons that are small enough to conceal.

But they are frustrated by the lack of firearm accessories catering to them. So some are starting companies of their own to tailor products to women.

“I thought to myself, ‘Where’s all the women’s stuff?'” said Lorelei Fay of Boise, Idaho.

Fay couldn’t find a suitable holster when she got her own concealed carry license. Her mother had taught her to sew, so she made her own: an elastic belly band with a holster for her Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun. It also has pockets to hold two backup magazines.

When her friends laid eyes on it, they wanted one too. So she stitched up some of the corset-style holsters and starting selling them in 2014.

Fay called her company Miss Concealed.

“When I started selling my stuff on eBay (EBAY), it started selling like hotcakes,” said Fay, who peddles a lacy line of holstered corsets called Hidden Heat for $30 to $50. “I couldn’t keep enough inventory. As soon as I make them, they’re right out the door.”

Fay said she hired seven sewers as revenue swelled to $200,000 in 2015. She made more than half of that in the last three months of the year.

She said orders spiked after a mass shooting in San Bernardino killed 14 people in December.

“Women want to protect themselves,” said Fay. “There’s so much craziness going on right now. Men and women don’t want to be a victim.”

Last month, when she was exhibiting her products in Las Vegas at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show, she had to temporarily stop taking new orders because her sewers couldn’t keep up with demand.

Fay wasn’t the only woman entrepreneur at the SHOT Show catering to the growing market.

Related: Gunmakers streamline pistols for women who carry

Self-protection is serious business for Leslie Deets, founder of a gun-centric handbag startup called Concealed Carrie. She and her husband also co-own Sharp Shooters USA gun range in Roswell, Georgia.

Being in the gun business “hits close to home,” said Deets, as she described a harrowing assault while a college freshman. “He kidnapped me, stabbed me and held me at gunpoint.”

Deets sells handbags containing hidden holsters for small handguns, like her pink Walther PPK .380 semiautomatic, which she can access in a “crossbody” draw from her purse. She designs her purses, satchels, clutches and compacts to be fashionable as well as utilitarian, providing quick access to concealed guns, TASERs and pepper spray.

Related: Guns, guns guns: 2015 was a record year for FBI background checks

“We want to enhance your wardrobe, not distract from it,” she said. “We don’t want everybody to know our business.”

Prices top out at $229, though she offers free replacements to women who shoot through the bags to protect themselves from assault.

Tessa Renaud, an Ob-Gyn from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has also made a business out of self-protection. She got a concealed carry permit when she used to work in the ER because her shift ended in the wee hours and she wanted to be armed when she walked alone to her car.

But she didn’t know how was she going to holster her bulky Smith & Wesson (SWHC) 1911 semiautomatic pistol and her Ruger (RGR)SP101 revolver.

“I looked for weeks and couldn’t find the right thing,” she said. “I got so frustrated I decided to come up with something on my own.”

She designed a line of lace flexible wraps that are fastened to the body with metal clips, like Ace bandages. Her booth at the SHOT Show featured a mannequin covered in lace wraps like a mummy, with replica guns strapped to its torso, arms and legs.

Related: How the Iron Pipeline funnels guns into cities with tough gun laws

Renaud started Lethal Lace about two years ago with her husband, Mike, an ex-sheriff and stay-at-home dad for their six kids. They said they sold 1,000 of the products last year, with revenues totaling $25,000 December alone, which was their best month. The wrap holsters cost $58.

At the SHOT Show they launched a new wrap holster for men, sans lace. But the Renauds said they’ve already sold a lot of lace wraps to men.

“I wear the lace one,” said Mike. “It’s concealed. I’m man enough to wear it.”

— Abigail Brooks contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (Las Vegas) First published February 2, 2016: 10:46 AM ET

Jane West cofounded Women Grow, a professional networking group for female cannabis entrepreneurs, in 2014.

The group’s first event had 70 attendees. Today, Women Grow has chapters in 44 cities, 21,000 newsletter subscribers and 30,000 followers on Instagram.

Related: Women cash in on the marijuana boom

“I was stunned that the industry was mostly made up of Caucasian men,” West said. “It didn’t seem right. My vision of the industry was to have more women in it.”

The cannabis industry is quickly becoming a magnet for female entrepreneurs.

Medical or recreational marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. As legalization has increased, so have sales. In 2013, the industry was at $1.8 billion.

In 2015, it was estimated at $5.4 billion (accounting for evolving business models), according to the ArcView Group, a cannabis-focused investment and research firm.

“The cannabis industry is so new that there are very few barriers to get in, especially for women,” said Giadha DeCarcer, CEO and founder of New Frontier, which provides data analysis for the marijuana industry.

More importantly, she said the marijuana industry isn’t as heavily skewed toward men as many other industries. It’s what personally appealed to DeCarcer, a former investment banker and consultant in technology and defense.

“Those are all heavily male dominated areas. It was the biggest frustration for me,” she said. “It made it harder to rise to the top.”

DeCarcer launched New Frontier in 2014. She said the business doubled in value and size in less than a year. She said it’s profitable but won’t disclose revenue.

Related: Take a weed break at work. It’s allowed

Women account for 36% of all executives in the cannabis market, according to Marijuana Business Daily. That far surpasses the 22% national average for women in executive roles across all industries, according to Pew Research Center.

Finding the overall number of female cannabis entrepreneurs is harder to come by. But the anecdotal evidence is strong that more women are getting a foot in the door.

Jane West is at the forefront of this trend.

West, “a proud cannabis user,” cofounded Women Grow, a professional networking group for women in cannabis. Its first event in 2014 had 70 attendees. Now it has chapters in 44 cities, with 21,000 subscribers to its weekly newsletter and 30,000 followers on Instagram.

The Women Grow summit kicks off February 3 in Denver. West expects the three-day event to have more than 1,500 attendees this year, including singer-songwriter, Melissa Etheridge.

“There is nothing but opportunity for women in this industry. We need to spread the word,” said West. “Women are coming up with terrific business ideas. Many of them are driven by their advocacy for legal marijuana.”

Related: The women of marijuana

Salwa Ibrahim has been an advocate of legal marijuana for a long time. “I’m also from the Bay Area, which is the birthplace of the medical marijuana movement,” she said.

Ibrahim and a business partner opened Blum, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Oakland, California, in 2012. It was a steep learning curve, but she made some smart moves to quickly get established.

“I attracted the best possible talent and gave them incentives to stay and grow with the business,” she said. Blum now sees 800 to 1,000 patients a day, and has added a cultivation center, production facility and 70 employees. More than half of her staff are women.

Last month, her business was acquired by Terra Tech Corp (TRTC). Ibrahim is staying on as executive director and adding two dispensaries in Las Vegas and one in Reno.

On the cultivation side, cannabis growers are still predominantly men.

That doesn’t sit well with Jennifer Gote.

Related: Forget Ohio, ten more states try to legalize marijuana

Gote fell into the industry out of necessity. “I got out of a bad relationship and became a single mom to four kids,” said Gote, who was living in Arizona. A friend suggested she take up a job as a trimmer at a marijuana cultivation facility.

“That’s how I got started,” she said. In a year, she learned every aspect of the business — growing, harvesting, packaging and distribution.

When a manager position came open, she threw her hat in and was promoted. “I earned everyone’s respect because I worked my way up,” she said.

She quit last November to start AOW Management, a cannabis cultivation and dispensary management company.

“Business is going really very well,” she said. But Gote now wants to see more women on her side of the business.

“I would love to hire women,” she said. “In fact, I would hire women right now with no experience. This way I can teach them from the beginning everything that I learned.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 3, 2016: 7:38 AM ET

Lehman Brothers is synonymous with financial catastrophe, but one entrepreneur hopes the brand will make him a fortune — as a range of Scotch whiskey.

James Green, 34, is launching three whiskies with Lehman Brothers on the label. The most popular of the range, “Ashes of Disaster,” claims to have a “wicked suggestion of burning banknotes, a hint of ripe autumn fruit about to fall.”

Lehman Brothers collapsed in the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history in September 2008, sparking the global financial crisis.

A British real estate investor, Green filed in 2013 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to use the term “Lehman Brothers” for bars and spirits.

He says he’s now taking online orders for the whiskey from bar chains in London and New York.

Barclays Bank (BCS), which bought parts of Lehman Brothers, filed in 2014 to stop Green using the name. It noted, among other arguments, that the investment bank often gave “cut crystal whiskey decanter[s] etched with the mark Lehman Brothers” as gifts, which means its trademark should extend beyond banking. The filings show Barclays suspended its case in October 2015.

Barclays declined to comment.

Green told CNNMoney an outcome of the dispute is “pending” so his lawyers have told him to sell as much whiskey as he can.

“It’s full speed ahead,” said Green, who expects bartenders on both sides of the Atlantic to be pouring the whiskey within months.

Related: Drink up? Whiskey investing brings huge returns

Another of Green’s Lehman whiskies is his spicy American-made “Snapfire,” which he suggests is “perfect with reckless maneuvers, long gambles, and explosive consequences. Drink alone, if possible.”

Green is now looking for investors to help him open Lehman Brothers themed bars, including one on Wall Street. It would perhaps be the perfect place to sell the third whiskey in the range, called “Evergreen.” It is being marketed as “perfect for when fortune is with you and you are riding your luck. Tastes best when you are sitting on top of the world.”

CNNMoney (London) First published February 8, 2016: 10:34 AM ET

At STEM³ Academy, sticking to the norm doesn’t work.

In fact, the school was launched to do just the opposite.

“Our emphasis is on learning versus teaching,” said Dr. Ellis Crasnow, the school’s director. “Our students learn by doing, experiencing and constructing rather than just sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher.”

STEM³ Academy largely focuses on “STEM” subjects: science, technology, engineering and math). Teachers there use a “flipped classroom” model. This means that time in class is used to complete projects and homework assignments, while time at home is spent reviewing the next day’s lessons.

The Los Angeles school took an out-of-the-box approach for a specific reason: All of its students have a learning challenge, like autism-spectrum disorder, Asperger’s and ADHD.

The students are especially gifted in subjects like math and science, but have fallen behind in their social and communication skills. (The curriculum also includes traditional subjects like English, art and language.)

“As far as we know, we’re the nation’s only STEM-curriculum school for students with these needs,” said Crasnow. “Our goal is to help them realize their potential for achievement in school, in college and later in a STEM-based career.”

Related: Wanted: 100,000 new STEM teachers

STEM³ Academy is part of The Help Group, a nonprofit that runs 10 special-needs focused schools in the L.A. area. It opened as a high school with 30 students in August 2015. As word spread, Crasnow started getting calls from parents nationwide. Two months later, it added middle school. The school now has 60 students in grades 6-12.

About 75% of the students at STEM³ are placed by a district program (which pays the tuition). Otherwise, tuition is $35,000.

STEM³ Academy has an innovation lab that’s equipped with a CNC machine, 3D printer, CAD machines and electronics. It also offers programs in robotics, entrepreneurship and programming. Much of the learning is based on group work to facilitate social interaction (the students sit at large communal tables).

“The statistics are telling,” said Crasnow. “We know that 34% of students with these learning challenges that go on to college chose STEM majors.”

Some large companies — including defense contractor Raytheon (RTN) and aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman (NOC) — have already approached the school about potentially working with the students.

Related: The most innovative schools on America

Terry Whiteside’s son Cullen is a junior at the STEM³. He was previously in two other schools in The Help Group’s network. Whiteside said Cullen, who has autism, is gifted in math and programming, but struggled socially before coming to STEM³.

“It’s been a big change,” she said. “Before he wouldn’t talk much about his day. Now he comes home and has conversations with me about what he did at school.”

Related: This is how you make math fun

She compared this to his performance growing up — his standardized test results were poor, even though she knew how bright he was.

“What’s so amazing to us as parents is how far Cullen has grown since we started the educational journey,” she said, adding that he tested in the 99th percentile of the PSAT and has had interest from several top-rate colleges.

Cullen symbolizes what STEM³ Academy is trying to achieve.

“The stats regarding the post high school success of students with special needs is very poor. 80% to 90% of them are unemployed or underemployed,” said Crasnow. “These are horrific numbers and our goal is to change them.”

Crasnow said STEM³ Academy will become a K-12 school by the end of the year.

“We want our students to be able to stand side by side with their typical peers after they graduate,” he said.

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 9, 2016: 8:10 AM ET

A-list celebrities are used to getting what they want.

A prime table at a full restaurant? No problem. Shopping after hours in an exclusive department store? But of course! First class travel for pets? Why not?

But there’s one group of people whose job it is to say no to them. Meet the Hollywood business managers.

They’re paid to guide the stars away from money pitfalls, helping them invest the proceeds from their latest project. Occasionally, their task is to stop celebrities spending beyond their means, which can mean putting the brakes on extravagant purchases.

“I tell my clients that if they only want to hear yes, I’m not the right person. I’m going to tell you no,” says Michael Kaplan, a partner at Miller Kaplan Arase in Los Angeles. Kaplan was named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s 25 most powerful business managers last year.

“I’m going to tell you what you need to hear, not you want to hear,” he says.

Related: The businessman who turned $40 into $6 billion

From collecting cash receipts to overseeing investments, business managers handle daily money matters for A-listers. They also advise when it comes to purchases — cars, boats, houses or something more outlandish.

“One of my clients wanted to buy an island,” recalls Kaplan. “And yeah, it’s a wonderful idea, but then you realize what you have to do for upkeep.”

Restaurants also raise red flags. Britney Spears’ now defunct Nyla restaurant and Jennifer Lopez’s Madres eatery are just two examples of many doomed forays into the hospitality business.

Kaplan says his clients put cash into the restaurant trade because they can afford to lose it.

“We already set aside enough money from real investments. We’ve already put that aside, and dealt with that, and basically said to them, ‘hey, here’s a chunk of money. Enjoy. Do what you want with it.'”

Related: How to create a restaurant empire

Kaplan says his job is to help clients live the lives they want, while planning for the uncertainty that comes with a career in entertainment.

“The thing that you have to understand with celebrities is that the entertainment industry is like a roller coaster. There are ups and downs and you have to make sure that you cover that,” he says.

For those forging a career in the public eye, there’s the added pressure of maintaining a media profile.

“Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the business, because if they’re not visible, they’re invisible,” Kaplan says.

This means frequenting trendy restaurants, going on exotic holidays or appearing at hotspots where their picture will be taken — and that means splashing cash.

“If they’re not picked up on CNN or People magazine or US magazine or those types of things, then people start to wonder, ‘are they washed up? What’s happening to them?'” says Kaplan.

“So that’s the balance that you have to maintain. You want to maintain a certain lifestyle, but you have to protect them financially.”

CNNMoney (London) First published February 9, 2016: 9:47 AM ET

Solving the refugee crisis should be a collaborative effort.

That’s the message of a global grassroots nonprofit called Techfugees.

Techfugees held its first U.S.-based event on Tuesday. Roughly 180 tech professionals gathered in New York City at Civic Hall.

Attendees — who hailed from places like Warby Parker, Mastercard and General Assembly — had eight hours to work on tackling four aspects of refugee education, like enrollment barriers and language hurdles.

“People don’t know how to take their compassion and turn it into action,” said Brian Reich, director at The Hive, an innovation lab that’s a part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Our job is to move the refugee crisis into a frame people understand — into a product challenge.”

Related: How to make Americans care about refugees

Techfugees was founded in September, shortly after images surfaced of a dead young Syrian child who washed ashore in Turkey. A small group of European techies wanted to help people leverage their technical skills and innovative thinking in a way that could tangibly help agencies and refugees.

“Most of the people in the room wouldn’t have responded to ‘cry and buy’ messaging,” said Reich, referencing the traditional methods of appealing to emotion for donations. “This is not about philanthropy on the margins.”

Related: This plastic toilet could save lives

The goal of this particular Techfugees event was to create a list of the major questions that tech needs to answer — and then start thinking about how the solutions might look.

Questions like: What keeps girls from attending school? Who are the teachers and what are their backgrounds? What kind of devices do students have and how reliable is their Internet access?

There were hundreds of questions, and the discussions at the New York event just scratched the surface. The idea is that other groups will use it as a jumping off point and start actually coding solutions. (A group called Hacktivation plans to host a 48-hour coding retreat for Bay Area engineers to build some of this out.)

Opinion: Big business must ‘hack’ refugee crisis

Traditionally, “no one talks to each other,” Reich said. “Groups are all trying to solve [the crisis], but events happen disparately.”

The beauty of Techfugees — which Reich said has 25,000 in its global community — is that it brings together people from all different disciplines: nonprofits, startups, corporations and government.

“I hope that today will just be the beginning,” said Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who opened the event Tuesday morning. “We are facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II. It is a 21st century crisis and we need a 21st century solution.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 9, 2016: 5:35 PM ET

Eric Dy is reeling from one of his most memorable experiences as an entrepreneur.

Late Wednesday, Dy stood before Richard Branson for seven minutes and pitched his startup Bloom Technologies in the final round of the Extreme Tech Challenge contest.

The San Francisco-based firm has developed a wearable sensor tied to an app that allows expectant moms to track their pregnancy, such as frequency, duration, and intensity of contractions.

Bloom Technologies was one of three finalists that traveled to Necker Island, Branson’s private Caribbean island, and pitch their business directly to the titan.

Dy’s presentation landed Bloom Technologies the big win.

“It was a very long evening but a terrific one for us,” said Dy, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Dy, 36, was the last to present, but the Caribbean island setting helped to calm his nerves.

“We were out in the open, at a beautiful beach house that rolled into grass tennis courts,” he said. “And the beach was right behind us.”

Related: How this STEM school is shattering stereotypes

Bloom Technologies will make its device available to consumers this summer. With that launch date just a few months away, Dy honed his pitch to tightly focus on the startup’s commercialization strategy and plans to gain traction after hitting the market.

It helped that Branson is a proud father and grandfather. Branson’s daughter delivered twins in late 2014.

Dy said his pitch prompted Branson to bring up his daughter, who he said had a pregnancy complication, and ask how Bloom’s sensor would have helped her.

“Most of the judges have experienced raising kids and even grandkids. So our company’s mission resonated with them,” said Dy. “They understood what it means to have a pregnancy go well and the heartbreak when it doesn’t.”

The other judges were Google Maps co-inventor Lars Rasmussen and Samsung Electronics President Young Sohn

Related: This plastic toilet could save lives

The win for Dy doesn’t result in a monetary prize.

All three companies (Giroptic and Sphero were the other finalists) that made it to the end got the same prize package: mentoring from top entrepreneurs, tech and infrastructure support from IBM (IBM)and Amazon, (AMZN) and the potential to raise new funding from investors at Necker Island.

However, the winner does get the bragging rights and a chance to be invited back to Necker Island to schmooze with Branson next year.

Dy didn’t wait for next year. He wasted no time in approaching investors right after his win.

“Some of the judges and folks in the audience did express interest in investing in Bloom,” he said.

What about Branson?

“I had a nice chat with him. He’s amazing and I won’t deny that he also showed interest,” said Dy.

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 11, 2016: 2:35 PM ET