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.
Episodes
13 episodes
Inside a Double Alpha Household: Building Startups and a Marriage
What happens when two founders build companies—and a family—under one roof?In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Andy Dunn — a founder of Bonobos, Monica + Andy, and Pie, venture investor, and author of Burn R...
Building Better Products: Why Materials Science Matters More Than Ever
We can’t design better products if we don’t understand the materials they’re made from.In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Dr. Carolyn Carta — materials scientist, educator, and founder of CArtLab Solutions — to...
From Robotics to Reuse: How Kadeya’s CPO Is Rebuilding the Beverage Supply Chain
How do you redesign an entire industry without asking people to change how they live?In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Kadeya’s cofounder and Chief Product Officer Denis Lussault to unpack his personal ...
Forecasting Our Future: Why Climate Is Personal with Meteorologist Angie Lassman
Everyone talks about the weather, few understand what’s really happening.In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Angie Lassman, certified broadcast meteorologist and environmental reporter at NBC News, to break down t...
Investing in Supply Chain Transformation, with Co-Founders of REFASHIOND Ventures
The beverage supply chain wasn’t built for sustainability.It was built for scale, speed, and disposability.In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Brian Laung Aoaeh and Lisa Morales-Hellebo, early ...
Water Is Infrastructure: Inside the Midwest’s Blue Economy with Alaina Harkness
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, C...
Why Our Drinking Water Isn’t As Safe As We Think: Joel Brammeier on Great Lakes, Plastic & Policy
What if the water that sustains 40 million people is quietly becoming unsafe?In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Joel Brammeier, President & CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, to explore what’s re...
From Pediatrician to Founder: Ahimsa’s Dr. Manasa Mantravadi on Fighting to Protect Kids from Plastic
When it comes to protecting our kids, plastic shouldn’t be part of the story. In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with Dr. Manasa Mantravadi — board-certified pediatrician, public health advocate, and found...
How to Break Overconsumption: Ashlee Piper on No New Things & Sustainable Living
We can’t shop our way out of the climate crisis.In this episode of Unbottled, Manuela sits down with sustainability powerhouse Ashlee Piper - author of Give a Sht* and No New Things
Part 2 — How We’re Building Kadeya: Early Lessons in Climate Hardware
Co-founders Manuela Zoninsein and Denis get tactical: how Kadeya went from idea to an autonomous, closed-loop beverage system. From “quick-and-dirty” demo builds to pivotal build vs. buy decisions, they unpack what it really takes to ship clima...
Would you invest $100 to eliminate plastic bottles?
Kadeya is building the world’s first closed-loop beverage vending system to eliminate single-use waste — and you can now invest in them on Wefunder → https://wefunder.com/kadeya...
Part 1 - The Why Behind Kadeya: The Startup Story We Never Share
Co-founders Manuela Zoninsein and Denis Lussault finally tell the startup story they never share in pitch decks: why Kadeya exists and how their paths—from sustainability, systems thinking, and automation—collided to tackle a $2T single-use pro...