The Cora Ball Journey
The Cora Ball team is passionate about protecting our ocean. Co-founders and partners Rachael Z Miller and James R Lyne first founded the nonprofit Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean to launch their mission of preserving a thriving marine ecosystem by tackling marine debris through cleanup, education, research, and solutions development.
During Rachael and James' work with Rozalia Project they heard the first whispers of microfiber pollution. Despite being only whispers, the problem screamed out to them as the first warning signs of a much bigger issue. James and Rachael knew there needed to be a solution everyone could use to make an immediate reduction in microfiber pollution.
Rachael, James and technical designer Brooke Winslow joined together to create Cora Ball and launched on Kickstarter in 2017. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of friends, family, and Ocean Lovers worldwide, the campaign was a success many times over and launched Cora Ball into full-scale production in their home state of Vermont.
The first Cora Balls were shipped to Cora Ball backers fall of 2017 and now, over 100k Cora Balls are in washing machines preventing microfiber pollution and protecting the planet.
Our Mission Statement
Cora Ball’s mission is to protect and conserve our ocean and planet by creating products that reduce waste, use sustainable materials, employ low footprint methods and raise awareness. We operate on the premise that lots of little efforts make a big positive impact.
Let's meet the Cora Ball Team!
Rachael Zoe Miller
Rachael Zoe Miller is an expedition scientist, inventor, National Geographic Explorer and Explorers Club Fellow working to protect the ocean. She is the Founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean, a nonprofit working on the problem of marine debris, co-inventor/CEO of the Cora Ball and coraclip’s sea life artist. Rachael leads teams on expeditions whose scientific results are published in peer-reviewed journals and education programs that inspire thousands of people of all ages. She has shared her team’s work at several International Marine Debris Conferences, Underwater Intervention, Microfiber Summit at the Parliament in London, the Explorers Club headquarters, as part of the US State Department’s Speaker Program with the US Embassy Helsinki, and TEDx Lowell, to name a few. Rachael captained the 60’ sailing research vessel, American Promise, certified hundreds of people to be sailing instructors, trained Navy SEALS to find unexploded mines using underwater robots, pitched to audiences at Our Ocean and Plastics Europe and mentors young scientists at the New York Harbor School. She lives in Vermont, loves the snow as much as the sea and does her best thinking on skis, bikes or on a surfski.
James R. Lyne
James Lyne is co-founder and co-inventor of Cora Ball. He is also co-founder of Rozalia Project with Rachael. James has sailed professionally in Olympic and America's Cup campaigns and now coaches for teams such as Quantum Racing, Bella Mente and Windquest. At home in Vermont, he is an enthusiastic surfski and OC1 paddler on the mountain lakes during the summer and fat bike rider in the winter.
Brooke Winslow
Brooke is a co-inventor of Cora Ball and a passionate ocean and lake lover. She grew up sailing in the Pacific Northwest before coming to the East Coast for college and falling in love with Vermont. Destiny brought Brooke to Rozalia Project first as an intern, then as deck ninja and First Mate onboard the Oceanographic Research Vessel, American Promise. Together with James and Rachael, she used her great eye for design and technical skills in CAD with a 3D printer to bring the team's ideas to life. While running Cora Ball logistics behind the scenes, Brooke has been part of Rachael's expedition science team and co-author on published microfiber research. Her favorite days at home in Vermont include long walks with her miniature (120lb) Newfie, Popcorn.
Jarmaine
Customer Support extraordinaire! With the patience of a saint, Jarmaine handles shipping errors, curious inquiries, new partner connections and so much more.