About Us
An apparel company with a purpose.
The Idea is simple.
Fervor & Zeal selects cause-driven nonprofit organizations to partner with to create designs on their behalf.
We commission socially-minded illustrators and artists to create custom artwork used in the apparel we retail.
We print and ship all purchased items from our website.
The artists and nonprofits share in the profits of every item sold.
25% of profits are donated to the artist who designed the artwork.
25% of profits are donated to the nonprofit to continue its impactful work.
Fervor & Zeal, the artists, and the nonprofits promote the shirts.
Rinse, repeat.
The Founders
Matthew Billingsley
Co-founder & Creative Director, Visceral
Jay Buys
Co-founder & CEO, Visceral
Sam Mazzeo
Founding Partner, A Better Professional Corporation
We three share something in common.
We believe businesses should operate with principles and put people first. The agencies we created work with this in mind. We provide full benefits, disperse profits among our teams, and only take work that we feel advances society.
Click those links to see for yourself.
Board of Directors
Matthew Billingsley
President/Chief Executive Officer
Jay Buys
Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer
Sam Mazzeo
Secretary
Aël da Silva
Board Member
Our Advisory Board
Rachel Cross
Rachel is a brand strategist, culture consultant, and marketing communications expert, working with global companies across industries including Google, Qualcomm, Intuit, World Vision, and more. Rachel helps leaders and their teams positively impact culture, product innovation, customer journey, and brand expression. She works with businesses in every stage, from Fortune 500 and privately held to start-up and pre-to-post-IPO.
Along with her values of connection, curiosity, and life-giving, her love for learning allows her to show up as a courageous, innovative guide in her work, hence her title, “business sherpa.”
Allison Smith
As a Marketing student at the University of San Diego and with hands-on experience working with non-profits, I’m really excited to support the work of Fervor & Zeal. I’m passionate about helping organizations that make a real difference, and Fervor & Zeal’s commitment to supporting San Diego’s non-profits aligns perfectly with my own values. I enjoy using my marketing skills to amplify causes that matter, and I’m thrilled to contribute to a team that’s so dedicated to giving back to the community.
Erlinde Cornelis
Dr. Erlinde Cornelis (Ph.D. 2013 Ghent University, Belgium, BAEF grant) is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Senate Distinguished Professor at the Fowler College of Business. She also serves as the Chair of SDSU's Senate Sustainability Committee, Senate Executive Committee, and as a co-prime investigator for SCEIN, a Cleantech SD incubator funded by the California Energy Commission. In 2017 and 2018, she was named the Most Influential Professor in Marketing in the Fowler College of Business. In 2024, she won the university’s Senate Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2025 she was nominated for the California State University’s Wang Family Teaching Excellence Award.
Erlinde’s academic research includes social, economic, and environmental sustainability in marketing (e.g., sustainable consumption, climate despair, wellbeing, and grant-funded research on climate resilience in underserved communities). In her free time, Erlinde spends as much time as possible offline and outdoors (backpacking, hiking, bike riding, etc.) or in her kitchen (vegan cooking and baking). She lives in a small, sustainable biophilic paradise together with her husband and her cat, Chamise.