Emy Kane

Emy Kane is the Executive Director and founding team member of Lonely Whale, an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to preventing ocean plastic waste. Informed by over a decade of experience in communications and impact strategy, Emy’s work is inspired by her belief that we all have a role to play in solving our greatest social and environmental challenges and that storytelling is a powerful tool to advance impact and empathy.

In 2020, her team launched the TOM FORD Plastic Innovation Prize powered by Lonely Whale, a multi-year program to vet and scale biologically degradable alternatives to thin-film plastic, which accounts for nearly half of new ocean plastic waste. Prize winners—Sway, Zerocircle, and Notpla—were announced on March 9, 2023, at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards by Tom Ford.The $1.2 million Prize Purse was a combination cash prize and direct investment presented by Title Sponsors TOM FORD BEAUTY and The Estée Lauder Companies, and Trousdale Ventures, the exclusive venture capital partner of the Prize. Their seaweed-based solutions inspired the production of Seaweed Stories. Learn more at lonelywhale.org.