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Kavita Shukla - The FRESH GLOW Co. and the Inventor of FreshPaper
Kavita Shukla is 30 years old, the founder & CEO of The FRESH GLOW Co., and the inventor of FreshPaper.
She is one of the prominent young female entrepreneurs in India who has been able to impress people worldwide because of her story and how humble her background is.
Kavita Shukla is the world’s youngest woman awarded the INDEX Design to Improve Life Award, the world’s most prestigious design accolade. She has also received four patents.
Families and farmers worldwide take advantage of the benefits of FreshPaper. The FRESH GLOW Co. has worked with several stores, such as Whole Foods and Walmart.
Kavita spent years perfecting her idea of infusing spices into sheets of paper and creating her paper blend from a craft shop's $25 worth of materials.
Fenugreek, located in Columbia, Maryland, now produces a simple and revolutionary product that is spice-infused FreshPaper. This product helps keep food fresh and prevents bacteria and fungal growth.
Various media platforms like The New York Times, Glamour, Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNN, and The Today Show have all featured her work.
Kavita Shukla had just finished high school and was already on her way to a prolific career in science and invention, with two patents and a company of her own to her credit.
Shukla was born in Germany to Indian parents who moved to the United States when she was a young child. The Harvard University graduate attended high school in Ellicott City, Maryland. At the age of 13, she created a lab safety device for bottles containing hazardous materials. She patented the device, dubbing it the “Smart Lid.”
Around that time, she also became interested in the potential uses of an Indian herb called fenugreek in preserving food and fighting bacterial growth. While visiting her grandparents during a trip to India at age 12, Shukla accidentally drank contaminated water. Her grandmother whipped up a homemade concoction containing ground fenugreek seeds and gave it to her to consume, saying, “Take this and you’ll be fine.” Shukla was skeptical, but she took the powder and did not become ill.
When she returned home to the United States, Shukla began conducting her own experiments with fenugreek, exploring its antibacterial and antifungal properties. Through her research, she found that fenugreek could not only remove toxic substances from aqueous solutions but could also inhibit bacterial and fungal growth. She wondered if this discovery could be applied to food preservation, and had an idea to develop a packaging paper using fenugreek that might better preserve and protect items from bacteria and fungi.
Shukla was onto something: she observed that food wrapped in fenugreek-treated paper lasts four to six weeks longer than food protected by traditional wrapping. It is also natural, non-toxic, biodegradable and easily produced in large quantities, making it ideal for developing countries and developed nations alike.
She obtained a patent for her fenugreek-treated paper in the spring of 2002.
Also in 2002, Shukla was the winner of the Lemelson-MIT Invention Apprenticeship. She worked with her Invention Mentor David Payton, Principal Research Scientist in the Information Sciences Lab at HRL Laboratories for two weeks. Their project was related to the development of software for controlling hundreds of tiny robots with the goal of making them work collectively. The robots could then accomplish tasks such as search and rescue.
In addition to her academic and scientific prowess, Shukla is an accomplished violinist and dancer, and an entrepreneurial talent. She was co-founder and CEO of SAFEH2O, a non-profit, student-run water testing company that operates in partnership with Columbia, Maryland-based W.R. Grace. SAFEH2O had tested more than 450 residential water samples in the Baltimore area and alerted residents about problems, such as excessive lead or other impurities. Shukla had overseen virtually all aspects of the project, from marketing and finance to research and management duties.
Shukla founded Fenugreen in 2010 to market her FreshPaper invention to Farmer’s markets and street fairs in Cambridge, Mass. Today, Fenugreen now known as The FRESHGLOW Co. is a social enterprise and used by farmers and families around the globe. FreshPaper is sold online and in major retail and grocery markets. Shukla has received a number of national and international awards for her inventions. Her work has been featured in CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah Magazine, Glamour and the Today Show. Fast Company featured Shukla as one of the “7 Entrepreneurs Changing the World” and she made the Forbes “30 under 30” list in 2014.
Kavita Shukla is a renowned social entrepreneur and the CEO of The FreshGlow Co. She is also the inventor of FreshPaper, the flagship product of The FreshGlow Co. that has garnered international recognition for its ability to prolong the life of organic food.
The FreshGlow founder started developing her product, FreshPaper, at 12. FreshPaper is a unique wrapping sheet infused with botanicals that helps extend organic food’s shelf life. Unfortunately, food decay accounts for 25% of global food production, making FreshPaper an essential tool in the fight against food waste. Kavita has taken up this global issue. Through her invention of FreshPaper, she has provided an intelligent and inventive solution recognized by reputable media outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Economist. FreshPaper’s intelligent and inventive approach to food preservation has been embraced by farmers and families worldwide.
I think food waste is a challenge that can feel really overwhelming, but what’s also inspiring is that there are really small and simple interventions we can all make to start to reduce food waste.
Kavita Shukla, FreshGlow Co. Founder
KAVITA SHUKLA EARLY LIFE
Kavita was born in Keil, Germany, but her parents had to relocate to the U.S. when she was young. She was then raised in Elliot City, Howard County, where she demonstrated her entrepreneurial spirit at a young age.
Despite showing much promise at an early age, Kavita Shukla- Education was always a non-negotiable aspect. She completed her education in Elliot city before pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree at Harvard University.
KAVITA SHUKLA: PLANTING THE SEED OF A DREAM
Kavita’s interest in organic food preservation started at the age of 12. While on vacation in India at her grandmother’s house, she mistakenly drank tap water supposedly contaminated with harmful substances. Her grandmother instantly handed her a glass of a strange beverage called a ‘Herbal Potion’, effectively preventing her from getting sick. Upon returning to the U.S., Kavita looked up the potion’s ingredients and discovered the antimicrobial properties of Fenugreek seeds mixed in the water her grandmother made her drink.
This revelation inspired her to explore the potential applications of these spices, leading to her inventing a wrapping paper infused with Fenugreek seeds to preserve food products against harmful microbes effectively. The idea later became the foundation of her invention and development of FreshPaper.
Alongside, at just 13 years old, she curated a laboratory equipment protective kit for flasks and tubes containing toxic chemicals, which she trademarked and named ‘Smart Lid’. This marked the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey, during which she obtained 4 patents in her name.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF KAVITA SHUKLA
With her tireless efforts to tap into a global problem, the young and bright Kavita has achieved remarkably over the years to become a food security and preservation pioneer.
Her noteworthy achievements started with Kavita being awarded as the youngest woman to win the prestigious INDEX Design to Improve Life Award – the highest honor for design in the world – presented by the Crown Princess of Denmark.
She has also received many other international accolades for FreshPaper from humanitarian organizations and has been featured in major business magazines such as Forbes’ ‘30 under 30: Social Entrepreneurs’, Time Magazine’s ‘5 Most Innovative Women in Food’, Variety’s ‘Power of Women’ and Newsweek’s ‘125 Women of Impact’, which have successfully branded her as an iconic and inspirational figure for women in business. She has also been featured in Smithsonian’s ‘Picturing Women Inventors exhibition.
Kavita was inducted into the National Gallery of America’s Young Inventors, a museum of young American inventors whose ideas promise to impact our society positively. In addition, she has worked with global stores like Walmart and Whole Foods and generated a worldwide outreach for FreshPaper. As of February 2023, Kavita Shukla’s net worth stands at approximately USD 25.5 million, a considerable achievement for a young entrepreneur of 30.
KAVITA AND A PIECE OF PAPER
Kavita’s success with FreshPaper has demonstrated that a good idea doesn’t need to be trendy to be successful. Her problem-solving approach has made FreshPaper a household item in millions of homes and farms.
Kavita’s journey has inspired many, including women, entrepreneurs, humanitarians, and young people, motivated by her example of using innovative thinking to impact the world positively. At FreshGlow, Kavita works tirelessly towards her vision to reduce food wastage and bring change to the world, one piece of paper at a time.
Awards and Recognition
Kavita Shukla's groundbreaking work has not gone unnoticed. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and accolades. In 2013, she was honored with the INDEX: Design to Improve Life Award, considered the world's largest monetary design prize, for her innovative contribution to sustainable living. Shukla has also been recognized as one of Fortune's "World's Greatest Leaders" and was named one of Forbes' "30 Under 30" in the Social Entrepreneurs category.
Furthermore, Shukla's achievements have brought her to various global platforms where she passionately advocates for sustainable solutions and the eradication of food waste. She has delivered influential TED Talks and has been invited to speak at renowned conferences, universities, and organizations worldwide.
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