Danya Sherman

This week’s Women History in IP Spotlight:
Danya Sherman

Through her company KnoNap™, Ms. Sherman has developed a regular-looking napkin that will detect the presence of various date rape drugs in a drink.  A spot on the napkin will turn a bright color when it comes into contact with a small amount of contaminated liquid, alerting the user that their drink has been tampered with.

Before starting KnoNap™, Ms. Sherman didn’t see herself as a budding entrepreneur.  Her entrepreneurial parents encouraged her to enroll in a Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative course in Spring 2017.  Having the space to put her thoughts down on paper and create a business plan changed her life.
Her passion for empowering and educating her peers about drug-facilitated sexual assault was born out of personal experience.  Ms. Sherman was studying abroad when a friend slipped drugs into her drink and took advantage of the situation.  She decided then she wanted to create a product that would empower individuals in social settings and ensure they didn’t have to choose between their social comfort and welfare.

“We are so proud of KnoNap™, because it can be seamlessly incorporated into any social setting and used by anyone regardless of gender and sexual orientation,” Ms. Sherman said. “What I want my company to do is join the movement of individuals, thought leaders, survivors and advocates to say, enough is enough and something has to change.”

Danya Sherman and her KnoNap™ invention are featured in Episode 8 of Stroke of Genius™ podcast. Listen here!