Unbottled: A Startup Podcast by Kadeya
Building the Future of Beverage — one sip, one story at a time.
Hosted by Manuela Zoninsein, founder & CEO of Kadeya, Unbottled takes you behind the scenes of building the world’s first closed-loop beverage system—a reusable, refillable, zero-waste alternative to single-use bottles.
In this limited first season, you’ll hear raw, unfiltered conversations with the people rethinking everything we know about water, plastic, and sustainability:
• Founders rewriting the rules of reuse
• Experts exposing myths about recycling and microplastics
• Investors betting on climate hardware
• Workers and operators fueling change from the ground up
From fighting plastic pollution to re-engineering the beverage supply chain, each episode dives into the problems, people, and possibilities behind the bottle.
Because the future of beverage isn’t bottled —
It’s built.
New episodes every Monday.
Unbottled: A Startup Podcast by Kadeya
Water Is Infrastructure: Inside the Midwest’s Blue Economy with Alaina Harkness
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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 explore why the Midwest is quietly becoming a global leader in the blue economy — and what’s at stake as water scarcity, PFAS contamination, microplastics, and climate pressures collide with rapid technological growth.
In this conversation, you’ll learn:
- Why water security is emerging as a national economic priority
- How the Great Lakes region holds 20% of the world’s fresh surface water — and why that matters
- What the “blue economy” actually is (and why it’s not just about oceans)
- The hidden water footprint of AI, data centers, and quantum computing
- Why reuse, circular systems, and decentralized infrastructure are critical to the future
- How innovation, policy, and workforce development intersect to reshape water systems
- What it will take to build a circular, waste-to-wealth water economy
Alaina also shares her personal journey — from growing up near Lake Michigan to leading one of the country’s most ambitious water innovation coalitions — and why solving water challenges requires long-term thinking, cross-sector collaboration, and relentless optimism.
Because when it comes to water, what’s invisible today will define our future tomorrow.
💧 Unbottled is brought to you by Kadeya, building closed-loop beverage systems for a world beyond single-use.
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Follow & Support Current, Chicago’s Water Innovation Hub:
Website: https://currentwater.org/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/greatlakescurrent/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/currentwater/
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Follow Alaina Harkness:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-harkness/
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Follow Kadeya:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kdy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kadeya.club/
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kadeya.club
Website: https://www.kadeya.com/
Invest in Kadeya on Wefunder: https://wefunder.com/kadeya
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Follow Manuela:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelasweb/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manuelasweb/
Substack: https://manuelazoninsein.substack.com/
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💌 Go deeper with The Drip newsletter — Kadeya’s inside look at how we’re re-engineering the $2 trillion beverage industry. Get founder insights, progress updates, and ideas shaping the circular economy.
Newsletter Sign Up: http://bit.ly/4opCVW2
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Building the future of beverage—one sip, one story at a time.
Unbottled shares raw conversations with the people rethinking everything we know about water, plastic, and sustainability. Because the future of beverage isn’t bottled—it’s built. New episodes every Monday.
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If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Unbottled