Page 29 - BusinessWest July 6, 2020
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Pia Kumar, seen here with coworkers at the company’s Holyoke
plant, says that, while she’s
focused on all aspects of the business,
connecting with employees and helping them address challenges has become her primary
focus.
a common face shield.
“You can wear it all day — you’re fully cov-
ered, you’re fully sealed,” she said while dem- onstrating the product, noting there are several styles, including models invoking Halloween and Christmas, and another promoting breast-cancer awareness. Response has been good, she noted, and there are ongoing discussions about perhaps making such shields for children.
These PPE products are part of the com-
Plastics roughly eight years ago — she dates the transaction to the birth of their first child — from long-time owner Joe Peters. Flashing back to that purchase, Pia said the couple, who met while they were both working in finance in New York
“We had always had this dream to someday own and run a small business together. We just liked the idea of building something, we liked the idea of having autonomy, we liked the idea of taking something, growing it, and making it our life’s work.
after graduating from college, were looking for a challenge they could undertake together.
“We had always had this dream to someday own and run a small business together,” she said. “We just liked the idea of building something, we liked the idea of having autonomy, we liked the idea of taking something, growing it, and making it our life’s work.”
And that’s exactly what has happened with Universal, a company launched by Joe Peters’ father in Chicopee and eventually moved to Holyoke.
Indeed, the Kumars have added four other companies over the past several years, with the
       ”
   pany’s pivoting efforts during the pandemic, she explained — a way to assist the community and especially the healthcare and education sectors while also keeping employees working at a time when many traditional customers, including those in aerospace and medical-device manu- facturing, have scaled back as a result of the pandemic.
And such efforts are among the current focal points for the Kumars, who acquired Universal
 BusinessWest
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
JULY 6, 2020 29
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