Back in 1991, Nadine Cino says she “got everything I deserved” when she hired a budget moving company. “They held our freight hostage,” recalls the fashion consultant and globetrotter. “They wouldn’t release it unless we paid them several thousands of dollars because we used more cardboard boxes than we had estimated.” More than losing her valuables, she bemoaned the amount of waste those boxes created. “Back then, there was no municipal recycling, and I felt like a tree cremator,” says the 66-year-old Latina entrepreneur.
The most effective way of leading is to learn empathy so that you know how to inspire people and help them see what’s in it for them.
Then her husband (whom she endearingly calls “a nice Jewish boy from Long Island”) had an epiphany, leading to the invention of Tyga-Box, storage totes that are stackable and cost efficient for big moves. They also coined TygaTrax, which are tags that monitor the whereabouts of items during a move via a smartphone. “You can see everything in real time,” says the WeWork Bryant Park member. “If there’s irregularity between what was planned for the move and what happened, we can notify the appropriate parties.” That’s not all. The couple is taking tracking to the cloud. “We call it Traxi, which is the same concept as tracking, but for everyday stuff sitting in a closet, attic, or basement. We want people to start sharing, selling, and renting on the cloud. It gives a whole new opportunity to play on a social field and expand the sharing economy a bit more.”