While studying abroad, Danya Sherman had a drink spiked. The incident led the then–George Washington University undergraduate to start work on KnoNap, a cocktail napkin capable of detecting drugs commonly used for drink spiking. The test, designed to enable people to discreetly determine whether their drinks had been spiked, would be the forerunner to another product that would do the same thing, with the goal of protecting people from possible sexual assaults.
“KnoNap’s mission is to empower, educate, and advocate against drink spiking, and everything that we do fits within one of those three buckets,” Sherman says.
Through her undergraduate studies, a Halcyon Incubator fellowship, an MBA program at Georgetown University, and community outreach, Sherman continued to develop KnoNap. The startup garnered significant attention in the process: The Arlington resident was named one of Toyota’s Mothers of Invention in 2018, listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 social entrepreneurs list in 2020, and was a runner-up in Barclays’ 2023 Small Business Big Wins competition.
She says that the company pivoted its design during the pandemic when, via community feedback, she saw that COVID-19 had changed the way people were drinking and socializing — they were going out to bars and clubs less often and bringing smaller items out with them. Her product needed to adapt.
So Knope was born. This updated design, which looks like a stick of gum, is a “more discreet, more portable” test that can detect 12 drugs in the benzodiazepine and ketamine families upon saturation. Benzodiazepines, commonly called benzos or downers, are sedatives, while ketamine is an anesthetic that has hallucinogenic effects. It goes by street names like Special K and Cat Valium.
“We wanted to make sure that all of our offerings, educational resources, and products were affordable, discreet, and gender inclusive, to empower anybody, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, or geographic location, to be able to use [them] so they can empower themselves in social settings,” Sherman says.
KnoNap also leads an educational campaign to support victims. The What Now Campaign provides information about what to do after you have been drugged, harassed, or assaulted. Sherman says she expects Knope to be on the market “in the coming months.” It can be pre-ordered at knonap.com.
Feature image of Danya Sherman and Knope by David Stuck
This story originally ran in our September issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
