Name: Riya Karumanchi
Age: 19
How It Started:
Riya Karumanchi was in high school when she met her friend’s visually imparied grandmother for the first time. When Riya met her friend’s grandmother she realized how much of a struggle it was to get around and do everyday simple tasks. Riya noticed that the white cane that she had helped her perform certain tasks but never thought about how a cane is nothing but a stick without any form of navigational technology and that’s how Smartcane came about.
How It’s Going:
Today, Riya Karumanchi is an award-winning entrepreneur, 2x TED Speaker, STEM leader, and CEO. Karumanchi is attending Stamford University striving to earn her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Bioengineering. Riya has been on a path to success appearing as Teen Vogue’s “21 Under 21”. She also has recently made live appearances at IT summits in which she has shared what she’s learned about CSR, product innovation and sourcing talent. At these summits, she uses her platform to recruit Gen Z talent, and empower girls to take STEM seriously.
Quote:
“You can use entrepreneurship to scale something that you love and solve problems while also impacting a lot of people”