PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2023

WHAT’S NEXT FOR KHUSHI SHAH

Khushi Shah shows the sensors that go with her irrigation invention

Shah has been recognized by Google, NASA, the United States Navy and Forbes Ignite, in addition to the plaudits she’s receiving here at home. “What Khushi has been able to do this far in her entrepreneurial journey is remarkable,” said Danielle Scarzello, her mentor at gBeta Distillery Labs, a think tank that helps startups in central Illinois. “She’s not your average 18-year-old and has shown a willingness to work hard and explore her options … The future of Drizzl, and Khushi as a founder, is what excites all of us at gBETA Distillery Labs and we’re with her every step of the way.” Added Chris Setti, CEO of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council: “Khushi is the perfect example of the type of amazing talent and drive we have here in greater Peoria. She is not the type of person most regular folks would think of as an entrepreneur and innovator: a teenager, a female, a person of color. We have been excited to work with her, both on Drizzl but also to help define her path forward. We are excited to see where her future takes her.” Meanwhile, Shah keeps plenty busy. She has an upcoming collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and a book in the works. Her most recent pursuit has been the podcast Rise and Shine with Khushi Shah . And she works full time as the CEO of Drizzl, of course. That is, until she goes to college in the fall. “I’ll be studying in the computer science and business/entrepreneurship honors program at Northeastern University with cross-registration at Harvard and MIT,” said Shah. “I’ll be spending my first year in London and then heading to Cambridge University in Boston to finish up my degree.”

“The goal of the smart system is to eliminate the use of time-based irrigation systems, like automatic sprinklers, which don’t take into account precipitation,” she said. Her system ensures that plants aren’t over watered and that users save money on their water bill, a win-win. ELIMINATING WASTE Beyond that, Drizzl forces the user to think more about when water is really needed and how much water is actually needed. HER SYSTEM ENSURES THAT PLANTS AREN’T OVER-WATERED AND THAT USERS SAVE MONEY ON THEIR WATER BILL Many people in the U.S. don’t worry about where their clean drinking water is coming from. We often don’t step back to consider what a luxury water is. Average daily water usage in the United States is about 1.22 trillion liters. “Irrigation alone takes up 37% of this,” said Shah. According to National Geographic, drier climates and climates with only seasonal rainfall can’t sustain agriculture without irrigation. About 18% of the world’s crops rely on irrigation to thrive, which has greatly expanded in

the last few decades, especially in South America, Africa and Asia. By using Drizzl for irrigation, home owners can save up to 25% on water bills. Meanwhile, the United States as a whole could save 4.5 billion liters of water a day from being unnecessarily used. CREATING A BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH Shah started her high school career at Dunlap High School. When the pan demic shut down in-person learning, she applied to the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora. She com pleted the rest of her high school career there, save for the last quarter when she returned to Dunlap to graduate early and devote a full year to Drizzl. She credits her mentors at IMSA and Dunlap High for encouraging her to take the working model she created for her science project and develop it into a business. When she looks back, she realizes how valuable her mentors were in her journey. “Having younger and more relatable mentors was very impactful,” said Shah. As a result, she decided to step up and be a mentor to other young innovators. Shah speaks to students all over the world – 3,000 so far and counting – offering a build-a-business workshop and other presentations.

Katie Faley is a Peoria native – Notre Dame High, Class of 2013 — who moved away following college but returned with a fuller appreciation of her hometown. She works at OSF HealthCare

JUNE 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 39