• 2018, New York University, Master of Science, Chemical Engineering
Daniela Blanco studied chemical engineering in Venezuela, where the oil industry was vast. She was sure that she wanted to be part of that space because of how much she grew up. However, after graduating the polluting industry was given, while the chemical industry is the third largest contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases in the world.
Daniela was surprised that something that was used daily caused so much contamination and that most people did not care. She went to the United States, where she was accepted to a Ph.D. program where she began working with a professional named Innovator under 35 by MIT. He started working with him to redesign the process of making nylon, one of the most polluting plastics.
In recent years, Daniela has worked on building new reactors to make the nylon industry more efficient, while creating her own company, Suntethics. Daniela did not know anything about business, nor her co-founder, who is also a chemical engineer. They started with the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute program, also called Leslie ELab. They joined acceleration programs to learn a little more about how to create a company.
A teacher told them that there was a GSEA program for students who are developing a business. She registered to get more support for the company, but later she realized that the program was more than just a competition. For her, the real prize was the experience acquired as an entrepreneur.
Daniel Blanco recently won the GSEA contest for entrepreneurial students. He also won first place in the NTU Entrepreneur Challenge and the NYU InnoVention Competition. So far, he has managed to raise more than $200K for his startup.
