Join NEW INC and Kickstarter for a conversation about sustainability, systems change, and the path from product design to exponential impact.

We’ll hear from Kickstarter creators Ali Rose van Overbeke, founder of Genusee, and NEW INC member Krystal Persaud, founder of Grouphug Solar. We invite anyone interested in learning more about the many roles a founder plays, what it takes to kickstart, launch and support a product, and how both Genusee and Grouphug’s tangible wares are driving long-term social and environmental change.

About the presenters

Ali Rose VanOverbeke is the founder of Genusee - the first circular economy eyewear brand - Genusee designs and manufactures eyewear in Flint, MI from upcycled plastic water bottles. Genusee is bringing a new manufacturing legacy to Flint by employing and empowering citizens as artisans to make glasses. 15 plastic water bottles are diverted from landfill and upcycled with every purchase. Genusee successfully launched through a Kickstarter campaign in May 2018 and has since upcycled more than 90,000 water bottles into eyewear, created jobs for seven team members in Flint, and donated more than $6,000 back into community organizations in Flint. Genusee is stocked at Shopbop, Anthropologie, and Ace Hotels, and has been featured by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, Katie Couric, Vogue, Elle, Bustle, Refinery29, NYTimes: T-Magazine, Oprah Magazine.

Grouphug is a sustainable technology company based in New York City. Founded by industrial designer Krystal Persaud, Grouphug demonstrates how creativity and design can push renewable energy to be more accessible. Grouphug’s flagship product is the Window Solar Charger, a window-mounted solar panel for apartment dwellers to effortlessly charge their devices off-the-grid. The company creates easy-to-install, stunning solar panels of any shape or size. Grouphug’s “Solar Cat” is a giant 140-watt cat-shaped solar panel installed at the historic New York Hall of Science.