November STEM Grant Awarded to Sustainable Chemicals

Congratulations to Dr. Silvia Luebben, Founder of Sustainable Chemicals for being the WomensNet $10,000 November Business Specific Grant recipient in the category of STEM.

Recently, WomensNet Advisory Board member Jama Hernandez sat down with Silvia for an exclusive interview. You can listen to their conversation and view the transcript below.

Video Transcript

Jama: Hi everyone, my name is Jama with WomensNet, and I am here talking with our November, 2023 winners.

We have with us have Silvia. And Silvia is our Business Category winner for the month of November. Her business is Sustainable Chemicals.

And so we’re excited to chat with you and learn more about the awesome things that you’re doing. So, can you tell us a little bit about Sustainable Chemicals?

Silvia: Sustainable Chemicals is a material science company. We are trying to develop a novel bioplastic that is both renewable, meaning made from, not petroleum, but plant-based biomass. It also, when it’s at the end of life, if it’s dispersed into the environment, it breaks down into non harmful chemical. And if it’s collected it can be recycled, chemically, meaning it can be broken down to the monomer, rebuilt into virgin plastic.

Jama: Tell us a little bit about how your company developed, maybe even some partners or organizations that you’ve worked with that have helped you along the way to develop such an amazing product.

Silvia: So we have been working on this now for a year and a half. We have a few patents, issues impending and we are very excited to be, have been selected by the Wastegate Entrepreneurship Program, which is co-sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Lab.

With them, we have been learning a lot about how to build a technology company. I also have been very grateful for the training and mentorship provided by the Rocky Mountain Venture Club in terms of fundraising. And then there has been an outpour of support from many other small companies that helped us build the website and start to grow the company. So, we are very grateful for all that support.

Jama: Wonderful.

You’re in such a unique industry, and just I absolutely love it. Can you please tell us a little bit about how all of us that are hearing these incredible things that you’re doing, how our WomensNet Network, can support you and your business?

Silvia: We really are focused on essentially three goals globally.

One is the carbonized plastic industry, which has an impact on global warming, [two] reduce the pollution of plastic in the ocean, and then [three] decrease the amount of micro-plastic that we eat daily. So those are the three tangible goals that should be relatable.

In terms of daily support, we started a grassroots fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, and anything we can have to keep spreading the word to keep propagating to media and social media and promoting our fundraising campaign, it’s absolutely welcome. It is been a fantastic journey so far.

Anyone who wants to get involved and feels called to help promote a company that’s really focused on making the planet a better place for everyone, we welcome input. Whether it’s an influencer on social media promoting fundraising or helping in many other ways. We have on our website links to how you can get involved and to our fundraising campaign. Any input is welcome and we are very proud.

Jama: Wonderful. And can you please share with us your website, so that our listeners will be able to find you?

Silvia: Yes: sust-chem.com

Jama: Wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time out today to be able to connect with us and to connect with our listeners today. We really appreciate it.