Our Story
It all started with a love of bugs and their power to shape the planet. After all, E.O. Wilson is quoted as saying:
In early 2020, immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic set in, Sharon Eastburn-Hidalgo conducted an investigation and wrote a paper for the New Jersey Youth Institute that proposed using the black soldier fly as a potential tool in the fight against climate change due to its voracious appetite for food waste--a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when buried in landfills. The more she read, the more she became convinced that this method of remediation and carbon sequestration could become the model for a viable business, as black soldier fly startups have gained traction (and investment) in many parts of the world.
Sharon presented her investigation at one of the very last public events held in New Jersey in March of 2020, yet did not let the pandemic slow her progress in studying the effects of black soldier fly remediation as a solution to the food waste problem. Entering the Spelman CleanTech Competition, her team was among 20 finalists selected from around the world for her design of sustainably-sourced boxes made from bamboo that would provide shelter for black soldier fly larvae while they processed food waste in low-resource countries. While not ultimately selected as one of the three winners, the ideas kept coming and the movement stayed alive.
Enter 2021, when the periodical cicada emergence made headlines when several students from the Princeton High School Insect Eating Club held a series of outdoor events that highlighted the benefits of entomophagy, although an insect that only emerges every 17 years cannot be considered a dependable food source. Regardless of the actual practicality of eating cicadas to prevent global warming, these events generated a great deal of local and regional publicity:
Appearance on ABC Channel 6 in Philadelphia
Story from NBC Channel 4 in New York City
Two appearances on NJ.com
Later that same year, teacher Mark Eastburn received an email from the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, which challenges students to consider means to combat the world's greatest challenges through the power of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Upon mentioning this to his student Daniela González, she encouraged him to enter the competition, drawing ideas from the initial project that Sharon had developed and focusing on using black soldier fly larvae as animal food. After the proposal was submitted, Daniela continued to investigate other environmental challenges--including rainforest destruction to feed the global demand for palm oil--and she, along with a team of students in the Princeton High School Research Program, started to test whether oil extracted from black soldier fly larvae could be used in the production of household products like soap. This resulted in the Princeton High School Solve for Tomorrow team's selection as a Top-10 National Finalist, represented in a three-person team of Ngan Le (our Chief Marketing Officer), Matthew Livingston (co-founder of the Princeton High School Insect-Eating Club with Mulin Huan), and George Kopf, who then went on to win the 2022 National Grand Prize. Here is the video that made that recognition possible, where Ngan and Sharon (our CFO) briefly appear:
During this time when the video was recorded and the team was assembled to present at the Solve for Tomorrow National Finals, Daniela was struggling with severe housing insecurity, a sleep disorder, and anxiety over her English-speaking skills that kept her working behind the scenes. Upon winning the Grand Prize, Daniela was energized to continue this project, experimenting with a variety of ingredients and formulations to produce the soaps that are now offered for sale with Sol Feliz. This continued work allowed us to win First Place in the New Jersey Student Climate Challenge in 2023, and our entry video can be viewed below:
This continued effort, which has already saved several tons of food waste from entering landfills, has been further supported with a video that was sponsored by Samsung and recorded by Pressure from NYC.
This continued work also allowed a team from Princeton High School under Daniela's leadership to demonstrate the process of raising black soldier flies and producing soap with their oil in the 2023 Samsung Day of Service, as well as the establishment of Sol Feliz as an official business registered in New Jersey and we have recently gained international recognition through Samsung's presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics as can be seen below:
https://csr.samsung.com/en/storyView.do?contentsId=197
Please share that link and help us reach even more people--spreading the word on conservation through entrepreneurship is what we love to do!
On a side note, it was another team of Princeton High School students who won National Grand Prize in the 2024 Solve for Tomorrow Competition, and Mayda Jiguan, a member of both the 2022 and 2024 teams, helped us climb to victory! Here is our entry video, where Daniela (our CEO) also appears:
And here is a follow up video from NJ Spotlight, where collaborators from Morristown, NJ were thankfully able to participate:
From this point, we hope to keep branching into a brighter future, where our strengths combine to create solutions to some of society's most pressing challenges!