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.
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 Rate — for a candid conversation on entrepreneurship, partnership, and the reality of a “double alpha household.” But this isn’t a typical founder interview. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to build ambitious companies while building a life together...
16 Feb 2026
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 bring a scientific lens to one of the most emotional conversations in sustainability: what our products are actually made of. With a career spanning conservation science, animation preservation at Disney, medical device 3D printing, and next-gen hardware systems, Dr....
2 Feb 2026
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 journey from Formula 1 dreams and warehouse robotics to building the world’s first closed-loop beverage system. Denis explains how decades of experience across industries shaped the way Kadeya is designing smarter, circular systems — and why solving climate problems starts w...
19 Jan 2026
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 the science behind climate change — and why rising heat, extreme weather, and misinformation are reshaping everyday life across the U.S. Angie shares why clear, credible communication may be one of our most powerful climate tools. In this conversation, you’ll l...
12 Jan 2026
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 Kadeya investors and supply chain operators, to break down how today’s beverage infrastructure actually works — and why single-use bottles became the default. Together, they unpack what most consumers never see: the hidden logistics, costs, and inefficiencies behind bottled beverages ...
29 Dec 2025
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, 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...
15 Dec 2025
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 really happening beneath the surface of the most important freshwater ecosystem in North America. Joel breaks down: • How the Great Lakes became a global freshwater powerhouse — and why they’re at risk • What long-term Adopt-a-Beach data shows: plastic is the dom...
8 Dec 2025
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 founder/CEO of Ahimsa, the world’s first colorful stainless steel dinnerware company for kids. After the American Academy of Pediatrics released research linking plastic foodware to hormone disruption and health risks in children, Dr. Manasa didn’t just worry… she went to work....
1 Dec 2025
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, TV commentator, consultant, and thrifting queen—to talk about our culture of overconsumption and what it actually looks like to live with less. Ashlee breaks down: Why “eco-friendly” shopping isn’t the solution we’ve been soldHow conditioned consumerism took over our lives (and homes)The story behind Ashlee’s N...
24 Nov 2025
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 climate hardware. In this episode: - The flashback: sprinting to a working demo (and what broke first) - Early R&D unknowns and the “this changes everything” pivots - Why reuse wins: on-site micro-factory > moving pallets around the world - Product v...
23 Nov 2025
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 No plastic. No long-haul transport. No landfill. Just clean, cold, convenient drinks — on demand, powered by reuse. After raising from institutional investors led by Refashiond Ventures, Kadeya is opening the same opportunity to you. Invest alongside the pros and help build the infrastructure for a reuse-based...
17 Nov 2025
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 problem. In this episode you'll hear about: The spark: convenience vs. sustainability doesn’t have to be a trade-offManuela’s path from China/Brazil to Palantir to water & systemsDenis’s world of automation—and why moving pallets ≠ real efficiencyEarl...
13 Nov 2025
Welcome to Unbottled
A Startup Podcast by Kadeya, hosted by Manuela Zoninsein. New Episodes Every Monday. ______ Would you invest $100 to eliminate plastic bottles? Invest in Kadeya on Wefunder and help build the future of beverage infrastructure. Invest here: https://wefunder.com/kadeya ______ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like what you hear, rate, review, and subscribe to Unbottled — the podcast reimagining how the world hydrates and building a beverage future that’s smarter, healthier, and waste-free. Subscribe on You...
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