Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Zavala and Arianne Shipley.
Stephanie and Arianne were both public education specialists for municipal water utilities for ten years. The water educators across the region collaborate frequently, so they had run into each other at meetings before but didn’t officially meet until November 2012. In June 2013, they ran into each other again at a regional water conservation meeting and met up that evening at the Fort Worth Zoo’s Beastro event. There’s something magical about the bond created through the combination of beer, dancing, and playing air guitar. Arianne calls it “love at first laugh” and they’ve been best friends ever since. In February 2014, Arianne invited Stephanie to take a road trip to Austin because she was a judge for the Keep Texas Beautiful awards. On their way down I-35 Stephanie asked, “what if one day we started our own company called Rogue Water where we could do water communication the way we wanted to?” To which Arianne replied, “sure.”
That evening at the hotel bar, Rogue Water was founded on a napkin while they brainstormed a hashtag bit. The bit was a parody of the then viral hashtag video on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake (also besties). An hour later, the entire hotel bar was engaged in their conversation and talking about water. This trend continued throughout the night everywhere they went. It was then that Stephanie and Arianne knew there was something special about this dynamic duo and their ability to communicate the value of water. They started to dream, had a logo created, and coffee mugs made — the important things.
In the summer of 2014, Arianne found out that she was pregnant with twins which slowed down the entrepreneurial itch. In April 2015, Stephanie joined Arianne in the City of Mansfield. With the duo together and Arianne’s third child on the way, the idea of launching a new business was way back on the “someday” horizon. They purchased a real-life chameleon named Zeek as a living vision board but directed their focus at building the education program at Mansfield Water Utilities.
Then, in the summer of 2017, Stephanie made a friend at a conference who did websites as a side business. It was a price they could afford and they had him create a website for Rogue. This put out the Rogue idea into the universe because people started asking if they could do work for them. In October 2017, one of Stephanie’s friends who owned a marketing agency asked what it would take for Rogue to go full time. On November 17, Arianne and Stephanie left the job and work for family they loved to pursue a dream and never have to ask “what if.”
“We would never have made it to where we are today without the friends, family, and an incredible network of professionals that we worked side by side with for ten years. Anyone with a startup business knows how difficult the first year is, but we’ve remained positive, persistent, and passionate about our mission. We measure our moments in stories and our wealth in people. We are humbled and grateful for everyone that has impacted us and support us throughout the years, but especially in the last six months.”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Shortly after we left the city, like maybe two to three weeks, the situation with the marketing agency we were subcontracting with drastically changed. When we thought we’d be getting 40 hours a week in work, we were getting 10-20. Had that been the case, we probably would have been too scared to leave the city so everything happens for a reason. We had to learn how to hustle quick while also securing health insurance and changing our business structure. November and December were super stressful.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Rogue Water – what should we know?
Arianne and Stephanie are the H2duO. That name sort of came naturally from their peers when they started working together in Mansfield. It was never anything professionally then, just a term of endearment. The H2duO is the umbrella of their business model which Rogue Waterfalls under. The H2duO have a podcast launching in June called Water in Real Life. They also hope to generate their own content including mastermind summits, books, speaking engagements, and consulting. Rogue Water is the public consulting company under the H2duO umbrella. Rogue Water provides communication, outreach, and education consulting for water utilities, as well as other entities in the water industry. This includes strategic education and communication plans, digital marketing content, copywriting, video production, event coordination, professional development and brainstorm workshops. We known for our creative initiatives, effective storytelling, and for our passion towards humanizing the men and women of the water industry. We are most proud of our company values:
Be Authentic
Bold is Gold
Stay Curious
Live in Gratitude
Curate Connections
Live your Daydreams
The way we value the power of relationships and collaboration is what sets us apart. Our ability to create partnerships and bridge people together from diverse backgrounds is really what lays the foundation for the divergent thinking that leads to the creativity we are known for. Our passion to serve others is what I believe attracts people to go “rogue” with us.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
We’re real. We’re never too proud to admit that we aren’t perfect. We truly love people and its evident by the dynamic of our duo relationship. We were both running successful programs in our individual cities, but we are so much better when we work together. This is why we believe so strongly in bringing people to the table, having the tough conversations, and learning from each other so that we can be better. We believe it because we live it every day. We’ve experienced first hand on numerous occasions what’s possible when people put ego aside and work together towards something better. We’ve seen what happens when you have belief, a plan, and persistence. It goes a long way.
Contact Info:
- Address: 440 S. Main St Ste J
Fort Worth, TX 76104 - Website: www.roguewatergroup.com
- Phone: 817-703-5003
- Email: stephanie@roguewatergroup.com
- Instagram: the_h2duo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roguewaterllc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/THE_H2duO
- Yelp: https://www.facebook.com/roguewaterllc/
- Other: www.theh2duo.com
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