Fashioning the Future With: Ashie Bhandiwad

What's that delicious aroma radiating from your web browser? It's today's tasty blog post about Ashie Bhandiwad, a bio-scientist who is also the founder of StemChef! StemChef is an escape room for kids that combines two things we love: STEM education and cooking up scrumptious noms. That's some #SciComm you can sink your teeth into.

StemChef, located in the San Francisco Bay Area's Danville, offers a unique experience where participants must "escape" a themed room by finding clues and making fun treats. That sounds like the perfect way to spend a day, and we think founding StemChef qualifies Ashie as the scientist version of Willy Wonka. Flipping fizzy lifting drinks, we can't think of anything more fascinating than that!

On top of being an entrepreneur and science-based escape room trailblazer, Ashie holds a PhD in Engineering from Dartmouth, a Master's in Biotechnology from Fachhochschule Mannheim in Germany, and a BE in Chemical Engineering from the R.V. School of Engineering in Bangalore, India. Prior to StemChef, Ashie worked in bioenergy for UC Berkley. On top of all that, she's also a mom who credits relating to her daughter as integral inspiration for her escape room business. Oh, and Ashie's also a TEDTalk speaker. Talk about a super sweet CV!

We were thrilled to ask Ashie about her journey from scientist to scientist-entrepreneur, who inspires her, and what her favorite moment from running StemChef is. Meet Ashie Bhandiwad, creator of StemChef!

When did you first know you were a scientist? What drew you to engineering?

My career path to becoming an engineer had been half chosen and half compelled by cultural, geographical background. I grew up in India — and becoming a doctor or an engineer were my only options. That being said, I had been very motivated to help the environment from age 12. This was greatly influenced by my dad who worked in pollution control. Since then, my academic choices (although non-linear) have been to work in saving the environment. I chose Chemical Engineering since I wanted to better understand the impact that large industries had on the environment and how to mitigate the toxic effects. As I became aware of other technologies and efforts in environmental sustainability, I was drawn to renewable energy, eventually studying and working in bioenergy.

Have you always been interested in cooking, baking, and candy-making?

Absolutely! Ever since I can remember. I always loved cooking up crazy things in the kitchen, and candy is my first love!

It has been an indulgent dream of mine to open a restaurant someday. In fact, I did do a few popup restaurants.

What inspired you to found your company StemChef? 

Single-handedly my daughter. I have always passionately felt that the education system needed to be changed but never thought I would ever embark on such a journey myself. Growing up I wasn’t a brilliant student and barely managed to pass math courses. I never enjoyed school and thought K-12 education to be such a drag.

Years later, after having my daughter, I realized that learning and education can be super fun and self-initiated. Since she was three years old, she has always been curious to learn about everything. I am so happy I let her meddle in the kitchen, let her discover things, and answered her questions while we were in the kitchen cooking. Over time the organic learning and teaching that came about in my kitchen led to the foundation of StemChef.

What is the age range for StemChef?

The philosophy of StemChef is teaching science through cooking. It is currently manifested as an escape room and the appropriate age range is 8 -13. However, the philosophy goes beyond that age range from 3-year-olds through to adults.

How does being a mother influence your relationship to STEM?

Being a mother, I see STEM through more than one lens. It is not just Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It is how aspects of these fields influence our daily lives — also, how STEM is so organically integrated into anything and everything we do. I do not believe in compartmentalizing subjects and learning something for the heck of learning. Instead it is crucial to help kids understand the seamless integration of many concepts in STEAM help solve tangible problems that matters to them.

What about being an entrepreneur as well as a scientist; is there an overlap in the ways of thinking regarding business as well as STEM?

The phrase “out-of-the-box” or creative thinking is probably overly used. But the true gist of it is a common feature for succeeding both as a scientist and an entrepreneur. As a scientist you are researching and finding something new. As an entrepreneur you are creating something new. In both cases if you follow what has been done before you are not going to be able to stand out as any different. You need to bring your own authentic perspective to be able to find a novel solution or build a unique product or solve a problem in a way that has not been done before.

It’s so cool that StemChef is both an interactive experience and an escape room. What inspired the escape room aspect of StemChef? 

Ever since I started StemChef, parents had been asking if I could do birthdays. So, I listened to what the customers wanted. I was trying to envision what that experience would be like. At around the same time, my daughter was really getting hooked on escape rooms (mostly board games).

We realized there weren’t too many escape rooms that were age appropriate for her. It was the perfect answer to my question. I could combine the teaching science through cooking aspects with a more immersive experience where the kids could solve puzzles and teach themselves through the clues they get. And then it all just fell into place.

In the new year, what are some StemChef themes kids can look forward to? 

Outwardly, the themes are seasonal, but the science and recipes are not. Every month reflects the common popular holidays and events. In December we have the holiday season. January will be a winter theme. February would most likely be a Valentine’s theme. March would be a Spring theme. April will be some environmental theme in sync with Earth Day.

What are birthday parties at StemChef like? 

Every month the theme is different so as soon as the kids come in, they are presented with a new challenge they need to solve to “escape”. They have to use observation and analytical skills to solve puzzles and then crack the clues to understanding some science concept. They do a hands-on experiment that usually gives them more clues, and then they use that information to make a recipe.

It is usually a sweet treat they prepare and enjoy the instant gratification of learning some new concept.

Do you have a favorite moment/anecdote that took place at StemChef?

Oh my gosh yes, this happened just last week. I have many kids come back when I change the themes. There was this one kid — he is 8 years old. To educate him in finance, his parents have given him pretend money to invest in the stock market. He asked me if there is any place where he can get StemChef stocks!

It was such a heartwarming moment to realize that kids are so invested in what StemChef stands for that they are literally willing invest $$!

Which scientists (modern day and/or historical) inspire you?

This might be cliché — but Einstein. Despite the fact that he was the absolute definition of genius, his story is just so down to earth. He had so many issues that are faced by people today — autism, poor social skills, communication skills — but inherently the genius shone through. In a couple sentences I cannot capture the authenticity that is an evergreen inspiration.

Do you have any favorite STEM/chef/entrepreneur characters in books/movies/other art forms? 

I absolutely love Ratatouille and Remy the little chef! I especially love the message: “Anyone can cook.” To me it feels really deep and underlines the message: “Anyone can do anything” — especially as a message to girls about STEM.

If you were a superhero, what would your go-to wearable tech device be?

Hmm! I need to give this some thought :-)

To learn more about Ashie Bhandiwad and to keep up with what's cooking at StemChef, visit the StemChef website, the Facebook page, and be sure to follow StemChef on Instagram!