Circularity: in Materials & Relationships

Women AirMiner Ardilla Deneys

Ardilla Deneys is pulled along in this world by something beyond her. From all appearances, she seems to be one of those people who just fall into the perfect career path. Yet her story is much more intentional than that.

Ardilla’s company, Pollima (a word she created from the Greek base Poll and ma) means “Pollinator of Materials”

“Pollima is the culmination of everything I have ever wanted to create. Since I was a young child, I knew I would have the ability to protect ancient forests. As Pollima grows regionally, we will be protecting more and more abundant habitats and diverting billions of pounds of green waste into desirable products.”

Growing up, Ardilla was never exposed to the world of business and entrepreneurship, nor did she know that you could create your own path and make money for yourself. She is from rural Kentucky where her loving parents were academics and didn’t talk much about business. In fact, until recently, she saw her only path forward in academia. Then that force inside of her pulled her to take more risks, put herself out there, and find that string of purpose.

In her early 20’s, Ardilla was a part of an intentional community in middle Tennessee. On 22 acres of land, she built adobe houses with natural cobb and other materials found on the land. With clay stuck to her hands and the tactile smell of earth in her nose, she formally recognized that we have been provided everything we could possibly need to live on this earth.

“Why would I be a part of anything that would disrupt the natural cycles that exist, not be a burden to the earth.”

She knew then that our ingenuity is all it takes for us to truly embrace the ideas of a circular system products that we need, not new materials. Having spent much time in a University lab exploring the R&D behind this theory, she continued to follow that tug of intuition into the start-up world, as she knew that a lab is not where she would fully thrive. Her most recent job is with 3Degrees, where she found many of the skills needed for her current journey with Pollima.

“I knew I had to take action to make my difference. One of the many projects I took on when I moved out west was producing an exhibit during LA fashion week called “Materials Revolution”. I showcased collections and designers that work biology. By taking that action and choosing to do something new, I met a lot of people and opened a lot of doors. I soon found the material I wanted to be working with through all these interactions — hemp waste. Once I hunted down the proof of concept, I realized that I can make an example of what I need to move the new material revolution forward.”

As a founder, it seems as if Ardilla has perfectly modeled the concept of circular regenerative material into the ecosystem of her team of 12. She sees her staff for what they are, digs deep to understand their strengths, steers them in the right direction with the right support, and lets their nature do the rest. Her philosophy is to find people who are passionate about certain things and delegate. Whenever possible she likes to create mini-teams of support systems, not unlike the symbiotic relationships between mycorrhiza and rhizomes. And importantly as a leader, she admits with openness and frankness when she is wrong, mainly through her admission that she is not a perfectionist by nature.

Ardilla’s specific idea of feminism is not wholly traditional either. She was raised by what she called a “hard-core feminist” and always felt the lack of balance in that model of representation. She prefers to project an idea of essential gender differences as a celebration of strengths with respect and equal representation.

“I don’t want to take out the trash, like ever. I like being treated differently. There is something about the beauty in our differences that supports a whole system when it is balanced.”

In 2017 she organized a small event that highlighted companies and founders in the circular economy start up world in LA. It wasn’t until she was pulling together the recap video that she noticed every single one of the founders was a white male. Immediately following the telling of that story she made clear that they are all amazing humans from around the world with incredible talents to give to this industry, but that it was the lack of representation is what struck her.

This societal lack of diversity will leave us off balance at a time that we cannot risk it. And if Ardilla has anything to do with it, she would put faces of Women Airminers on billboards across LA county. That’s the kind of intentional enthusiasm that she embodies, and that is what this industry attracts.

Read more from Ongeleigh on her climate newsletter: Dystopia and Donuts