Celebrating the Bold Leaders Shaping the Future Through the World's Most Ground-Breaking Companies
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) recently announced that Stephen Ezell, founder and CEO of Truly Free Home, a mission-driven company renowned for its plant-based, non-toxic cleaning and laundry products, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Michigan and Northwest Ohio Award winner. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive awards program for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. For 40 years, EY US has celebrated ambitious entrepreneurs who are transforming industries, impacting communities and creating long-term value.
Ezell was chosen by an independent panel of past winners, top CEOs and business leaders. Judges assessed candidates on long-term value creation, entrepreneurial spirit, purpose-driven commitment and significant growth and impact.
"I'm incredibly honored and deeply grateful for this recognition," said Ezell. "Building Truly Free Home into the success it is today hasn't been easy, but it's been fueled by a mission I believe in with all my heart: protecting families, reducing our environmental impact and proving that small, purpose-driven businesses can challenge—and outperform—the big-box giants. To date, I'm proud to say our formulas have freed over 468,000 homes from harmful chemicals and eliminated more than 13.9 million single-use plastics from the environment. As we look ahead, I'm excited to expand our impact by continuing to develop products that make our customers' lives healthier and easier, and by helping other entrepreneurs thrive through our newest project, Truly Free, a decentralized marketplace where everyone wins. This award isn't just a milestone, it's a launchpad for what's next, and a reminder that doing good and doing business can go hand in hand."
As a Michigan and Northwest Ohio award winner, Ezell is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 National Awards. The National Award winners, including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2026.
Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to strengthen it for the future.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:
- James Park of Fitbit
- Reed Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn
- Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company
- Jodi Berg of Vitamix
- Arthur Blank of The Home Depot
- Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
- Eric Yuan of Zoom
For additional information on Truly Free Home, visit trulyfreehome.com.
About Truly Free Home
Founded in 2015, Truly Free Home is renowned for its plant-based, non-toxic cleaning and laundry products, helping to create a greener world, not just a clean home. Since pioneering the refillable cleaning revolution as MyGreenRefills in 2009, Truly Free Home has freed 468,000 homes from harmful chemicals and eliminated 13.5 million single-use plastics from the environment to date. Consumer purchases of its all-natural formulas and products like Dryer Angels, hand-made by women rescued from poverty and human trafficking, support global give-back projects, donating half a million dollars in proceeds to their local communities worldwide. Named to Inc.'s Best in Business List in 2022 and 2023 in the Consumer Products category, thousands of families rely on best-sellers like Laundry Wash and Everyday Cleaner to make cleaning safe and easy. For more information about Truly Free Home, visit trulyfreehome.com or follow along on Instagram @trulyfreehome and Facebook @trulyfreehome.
Media Contact
Lindsey Stecki, Truly Free Home, 1 619-507-5281, [email protected], https://trulyfreehome.com/
SOURCE Truly Free Home
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