Finding Ethical and Sustainable Manufacturers and Suppliers - Kimberly Shenk // Co-founder and CEO of Novi

Disruptors for GOOD | Social Entrepreneurs and Social Enterprises

In this episode of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast I speak with Kimberly Shenk, Co-founder and CEO of Novi, on connecting brands, manufacturers, and suppliers to help launch sustainable products faster.

Technology is fundamentally changing the way we live, work, connect with each other and with the outside world. Current breakthroughs are challenging every sector in every country, with a speed and depth previously unseen. Now, more than ever, the emergence of new technologies has the potential to transform our lives, make the planet a better place, and transform our path from unsustainable to sustainable.

No one knows better how to harness the power of technology for the greater good than Kimberly. Her mission in life is to replace unsustainable products with sustainable ones, a way of life she reflects in both her home and business. When Kimberly became pregnant, her constant questioning of chemical ingredients in beauty and personal care products culminated in a tech company start-up, Novi, a groundbreaking platform for researching, sampling and sourcing raw ingredients and packaging that has enabled a new era of sustainable, transparent consumer products.

Today, Novi’s vast dataset and Artificial Intelligence has had a hand in the formulas and packaging of thousands of beauty and personal care products that are clean and sustainable, and better for people and the planet.

Kimberly’s earlier days saw her graduating top of her class from the United States Air Force Academy with a double major in Mathematics & Operations Research. When stationed at Pearl Harbor as a Captain in the Air Force with a highly coveted Top Secret security clearance and working directly for the Pacific’s 3-star General running intelligence models, she won the 2013 Richard H. Barchi Prize for her work in “Analytics on Improving Integrated Air & Missile Defense in the Pacific Area of Responsibility.”

She then attended graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full-ride scholarship to study Data Science, and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Operations Research.

After the Air Force, she started a second career in the tech industry. She built and led the Data Organization at Eventbrite and led the Product Organization at tech startup Domino Data Lab. With a passion for clean products, she co-founded NakedPoppy in 2017, raising $4 million to use data to bring clean and sustainable products to market.