Unbottled: A Startup Podcast by Kadeya

What happens when two founders build companies—and a family—under one roof? In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with Andy Dunn — a founder of Bonobos, Monica + Andy, and Pie, venture investor, and author of Burn Rate — for a candid conversation on entrepreneurship, partnership, and the reality of a “double alpha household.” But this isn’t a typical founder interview. It’s a behind-the...

We can’t design better products if we don’t understand the materials they’re made from. In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with Dr. Carolyn Carta — materials scientist, educator, and founder of CArtLab Solutions — to bring a scientific lens to one of the most emotional conversations in sustainability: what our products are actually made of. With a career spanning conservation science...

How do you redesign an entire industry without asking people to change how they live? In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with Kadeya’s cofounder and Chief Product Officer Denis Lussault to unpack his personal journey from Formula 1 dreams and warehouse robotics to building the world’s first closed-loop beverage system. Denis explains how decades of experience across industries shaped...

Everyone talks about the weather, few understand what’s really happening. In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Angie Lassman , certified broadcast meteorologist and environmental reporter at NBC News, to break down the science behind climate change — and why rising heat, extreme weather, and misinformation are reshaping everyday life across the U.S.  Angie shares why clear, credibl...

The beverage supply chain wasn’t built for sustainability. It was built for scale, speed, and disposability. In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with Brian Laung Aoaeh and Lisa Morales-Hellebo, early Kadeya investors and supply chain operators, to break down how today’s beverage infrastructure actually works — and why single-use bottles became the default. Together, they unpack what m...

Water isn’t just essential, it’s infrastructure. It’s economic security. It’s power. And it’s shaping the future faster than most of us realize. In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Alaina Harkness , CEO of Current , a water innovation hub based in Chicago, and CEO of Great Lakes RENEW , the National Science Foundation–funded Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine. Together, they expl...

What if the water that sustains 40 million people is quietly becoming unsafe? In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Joel Brammeier , President & CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes , to explore what’s really happening beneath the surface of the most important freshwater ecosystem in North America. Joel breaks down:  • How the Great Lakes became a global freshwater powerhouse...

When it comes to protecting our kids, plastic shouldn’t be part of the story.  In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with Dr. Manasa Mantravadi — board-certified pediatrician, public health advocate, and founder/CEO of Ahimsa , the world’s first colorful stainless steel dinnerware company for kids. After the American Academy of Pediatrics released research linking plastic foodware to ho...

We can’t shop our way out of the climate crisis. In this episode of Unbottled , Manuela sits down with sustainability powerhouse Ashlee Piper - author of Give a Sh t* and No New Things , TV commentator, consultant, and thrifting queen—to talk about our culture of overconsumption and what it actually looks like to live with less. Ashlee breaks down: Why “eco-friendly” shopping isn’t the solution we...

Co-founders Manuela Zoninsein and Denis get tactical: how Kadeya went from idea to an autonomous, closed-loop beverage system. From “quick-and-dirty” demo builds to pivotal build vs. buy decisions, they unpack what it really takes to ship climate hardware. In this episode: - The flashback: sprinting to a working demo (and what broke first) - Early R&D unknowns and the “this changes everything”...

Kadeya is building the world’s first closed-loop beverage vending system to eliminate single-use waste — and you can now invest in them on Wefunder → https://wefunder.com/kadeya No plastic. No long-haul transport. No landfill. Just clean, cold, convenient drinks — on demand, powered by reuse. After raising from institutional investors led by Refashiond Ventures , Kadeya is opening the same opportu...

Co-founders Manuela Zoninsein and Denis Lussault finally tell the startup story they never share in pitch decks: why Kadeya exists and how their paths—from sustainability, systems thinking, and automation—collided to tackle a $2T single-use problem. In this episode you'll hear about: The spark: convenience vs. sustainability doesn’t have to be a trade-off Manuela’s path from China/Brazil to P...

A Startup Podcast by Kadeya, hosted by Manuela Zoninsein.  New Episodes Every Monday. ______ Would you invest $100 to eliminate plastic bottles? Invest in Kadeya on Wefunder and help build the future of beverage infrastructure. Invest here: https://wefunder.com/kadeya ______ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Unbottled — the podcast reimagining how the world hydra...