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Northeastern University honors Indian-origin founders with Innovator Awards
This year’s cohort includes thirty-one students, graduates and affiliated entrepreneurs.
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Bhavana P - Wed, 06, Aug 2025
- 16:47 EDT
- 17
(Top, L-R)Khushi Shah (Image- KhushiShah.org), Soumya Singh (Image- LinkedIn), (Bottom, L-R) Anjali Laddha (Image- LinkedIn), Vallabhi Singh (Image- Northeastern University) and Tejaswini Kambaiahgari (Image- LinkedIn) /
The 2025 Women Who Empower Innovator Awards, presented by Northeastern University, have recognized five Indian-Americans for their commitment to impact-driven innovation.
Khushi Shah, Soumya Singh, Anjali Laddha, Vallabhi Singh and Tejaswini Kambaiahgari were recognized, among others, for their impactful ventures across fields including health, technology, sustainability and social innovation, the University said in a statement.
Also read: Indian American biotech founder Suma Krishnan named to Forbes 50 Over 50 list
Khushi Shah won under the Innovator fellows category, for her startup Drizzl (formerly known as E-Code), which is a patent-pending smart irrigation system. Users simply insert the provided underground humidity sensors into their land/plant & input their location/plant type into the Drizzl app.
She is a first-year student in the Computer Science and Business/Entrepreneurship honors program at Northeastern University, spending her first year in London before heading to Boston to complete my degree. She is additionally cross-registered at Harvard and MIT.
Soumya Singh, an emerging voice in youth-led innovation, won the 2nd position under AI & Technology category. As founder and lead UX consultant at Orange Stack Inc., she has led UX design for major Middleby brands, enhancing usability across 500+ commercial kitchen units.
The company offers end-to-end digital solutions, including UI/UX design, mobile and web app development, and data science services—building machine learning models for NLP, forecasting, and computer vision applications. She is pursuing her MS in information systems at the university.
Anjali Laddha, the founder of Degree2Destiny, a startup using AI to bridge education and employment gaps, won 1st place in the Global Impact category. At 21, she has secured Northeastern’s Startup Founder Coop Program funding, launched a learning platform, and was invited as the youngest speaker at India’s Grace Hopper Celebration by AnitaB.org.
Laddha’s venture has already helped over 1,000 students make meaningful career decisions. She is pursuing her BS in International Business from the university.
Vallabhi Singh secured the 3rd position under the Global Impact category for founding Creatives Around the World- a community-driven platform fostering dialogue, connection, and creativity through in-person salons, a thought-provoking podcast, and a newsletter decoding trends, identity, and creative reinvention. They hosted conversations with 75+ global voices—entrepreneurs, academics, and artists—exploring tech and identity.
A special recognition was given to Tejaswini Kambaiahgari, who co-founded Baseline Tech, which aids snow sport athletes and riders to enhance their performance using smart wearables. She pursued an MS in product development from the University.
Now in its fifth year, the initiative has invested more than $1.8 million in funding to members of Northeastern’s entrepreneurial community as they build and advance their endeavors. The 2025 cohort will also benefit from a new Innovator Fellowship and a follow-on fund, promising sustained support for their global journeys of impact.
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