Meet The Team
Leila Shamtobi, CEO
Leila is a full time law student at the Loyola Law School. She graduated from University of Southern California with a B.A. in Philosophy, Political Science, and Law with a focus in entrepreneurship. SUSTAIN STRAW has fulfilled her eight year-old self's long-time dream of having a straw company which would enhance the drinking experience. During Leila’s sophomore year of college, she took an environmental studies course where she discovered the urgency of plastic pollution and the threat that it imposes on everyone. Leila was inspired by wanting to create a more sustainable future for her nephew as she learned that by 2050, the world would be overpopulated, polluted, and it would not be the same planet earth as we know it today. Our founder acknowledges that she is not zero waste or plastic free, but she tries in her everyday life to reduce plastic consumption in anyway possible.
Tony Shamtobi, CO-Founder
In 1994, Tony, Leila’s father, started a label and textile company that would go to change the industry as we know it. Labeltex Mills Incorporated is a leading manufacture in the apparel industry. In recent years, he extended into the package industry where he works with making sustainable and recyclable packaging for his consumers. Tony’s venture into the sustainable world will be as impactful as it was in the apparel industry.
