Edison, New Jersey · John P. Stevens High School · Class of 2027

Aditya Herekar

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR, CHAMPION FOR UKRAINE, WRITER, RESEARCHER, AND TEDX SPEAKER.

Ventures

Naturista dissolvable machine pod filled with coffee

Naturista

Established Dec 2024

A dissolvable, fully biodegradable coffee pod made from pullulan, born from 200+ failed prototypes on a kitchen counter. Built on top of published research and has a pending patent.

Invest2Empower

Established Jul 2023

A 501(c)(3) financial literacy nonprofit I co-founded at 14 to teach personal finance to displaced Ukrainians in the USA.

Luminate Studio

Established Dec 2025

Personalized storybooks and planners, run start to finish on Etsy. Half of the profits go to helping Ukrainians and funding Invest2Empower.

Learn More →

Research

A coffee pod that brews and then biodegrades quickly.

It started on a kitchen counter and ended in a Rutgers laboratory.

Read the research →

Peer-reviewed publication

Future Scholars Journal · DOI 10.61340/fsj.2026.08
Patent pending

Provisional filed, utility patent pending - 64/119,414
Rutgers University food science laboratory

With the Rutgers Food Science Lab, researching packaging materials that extend shelf life; co-wrote a commercialization plan submitted to the USDA.

A sequence of failed pullulan pod prototypes, progressing from torn and bubbled shells to the final working pod holding coffee — 200+ failed prototypes, from torn and bubbled shells to a working pod.

Radar chart comparing nine biopolymers on biodegradability, solubility, tensile strength, thermal stability, and scalability — Nine biopolymers compared on five properties.

Social Impact

Giving back to the communities that shaped me.

Teaching Ukrainians personal finance, tutoring through a war, and sitting with veterans.

All service work →

Co-Founder, Invest2Empower

Hybrid financial-literacy bootcamps for 3,000+ displaced Ukrainians, with outreach through the ENGin network, training videos in English and Ukrainian.
English tutor, ENGin

Weekly conversational English with Ukrainian students since 2023, where my Ukraine work began.
Volunteer, NJ Veterans Memorial Home

Companionship and activities for 100+ veterans, including weekly blackjack games.