Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1401085
34 Worcester Business Journal | August 16, 2021 | wbjournal.com 4 0 U N D E R F O R T Y Not many people can boast they started their career by launching a company in the 10th grade, but Zamarin can. He founded the company to solve a problem, at the time, thought impossible in the chemical industry. Less than 10 years later, as the leader of an 18-employee company which has developed PFAS-free liquid repellents and protectors for porous and non-porous surfaces, Zamarin has been featured everywhere from ABC's Shark Tank to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Zamarin is committed to helping other young people interested in entrepreneurship pursue their own dreams. He volunteers his time to help high school and college students looking to start their own business, providing tours of the DetraPel facility and, for some, company internships. During the coronavirus pandemic, the company donated personal protective equipment to fire stations, police departments, and restaurants. For a time, it shifted its production, too, to hand sanitizer and disinfectants. At the end of the day, DetraPel's goal is to make a difference, primarily through redefining chemical standards and stopping the production of carcinogenic PFAS chemicals Zamarin says are unnecessarily used in many products. - M.B. What Olympic sport would you be the best at? Soccer What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you? My mom has sacrificed her whole life for me and my brothers. What is your favorite Central Mass. restaurant? Oga's Japanese Cuisine in Natick or Bourbon's Kitchen & Cocktails in Framingham When a statue eventually gets built of you, what will the plaque say? It took craziness and naivety to think he would change the world. Then he did. David Zamarin, 23 Founder & CEO DetraPel, in Framingham Residence: Natick Birthplace: Philadelphia College: Babson College To say Butler chases her passions would be an understatement, as she serves as a leader in virtually every community she touches. She had been the principal investigator on two National Science Foundation grants connecting underrepresented student groups with STEM training and education, including the $1 million Connecting Mentor Pairs for Academic Success in STEM grant. She led the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation at WPI and provided scholarships for research to more than 30 students, as well as mentoring and training to more than 200 students. Outside of WPI, she has run a Bible study in her home and served as a volunteer mentor and on the boards of Girls Inc. of Worcester and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & MetroWest. But above all else, she is no island: Butler attributes her success to her ability to bring people together. After nearly eight years at WPI, her homestate university snatched her up; as of Aug. 2, she is the senior director of educational equity at Rutgers University. - M.B. If you could be any TV or movie character, who would you pick? Clair Huxtable. She reminds me of my own exceptionally wonderful mom. What message would you now like to give your 10-year-old self? Tiffy, God's grace is always sufficient. Your curly coils, dark skin, and curvy body are beautiful. You are not just clever. You are smart, so own it, and say it with your chest. Perfection is never what is required of you, only that you do your very best because it will always be enough. Tiffiny A. Butler PhD, ATC, 35 Former director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and former teaching professor of biomedical engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute Central Mass. residence: Worcester Birthplace: Somers Point, N.J. Colleges: Eastern University, Temple University The Apex Center, in Marlborough (Special thanks to Apex Entertainment and Altitude Trampoline Park) PHOTO/ERIKA SIDOR