Nicole Richards is the CEO of Allonnia, but like anyone in that position she worked her way up the corporate ladder. Her background is in chemical engineering and her work for many years was developing chemicals and new materials that could "make products better". 

One thing she has learned over that time is that while product improvement is a good thing, there can be downsides. We're seeing them now with PFAS and other chemicals that are hazardous to our health. 

Now she's leading the charge in finding new ways to get rid of these pollutants or mitigate their impact. Advances in techniques such as "bioremediation" are helping to degrade these plastics and chemicals organically. The trick now is finding ways to speed-up the process so it doesn't take hundreds of years but rather months or even just weeks and days.