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Tashia Tucker’s company motto is “pretty fly.” Indeed, she is all about the flies — the underrated pollinators of planet Earth.  The declining bee population has sounded the alarm about the threatened future of 75 percent of food crops that benefit from insect pollination. Tucker’s inspiration came when she learned that hoverflies are already the main pollinators in urban environments and represent 30 percent of pollination worldwide. But unlike bees, hoverflies are easily distracted from their work. Enter Tucker’s process, which uses advanced recognition technology, A.I. and modified behavior to lure flies to flowers needing pollination. Olombria is conducting lab trials and field trials in berry patches in Britain and early results, Tucker says, are very promising. Tashia is an alumna of Drexel, completing her M.S degree in Interior Architecture & Design in 2013. Tucker credits the Design Future Lab at Drexel, where she worked as a senior researcher from 2013–2016 while also working as an adjunct professor, with introducing her to biodesign – the incorporation of living organisms as essential components in design.  Olombria was an outgrowth of Tucker’s entry in the 2017 international Biodesign Challenge as a graduate student at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2019, she was named one of the Top 10 Women in Tech by the Mayor of London’s TechInvest. Tucker’s work, which also builds pollination data for farmers, attracted the attention of Prince Charles of Wales and Prince Albert II of Monaco — two royals with deep interests in the environment and sustainable food production. In 2020 Prince Albert presented Tucker with the top prize at CleanEquity® Monaco 2020, the forum for sustainable technology innovation.   Her work has been featured in numerous outlets including Forbes, WIRED and the BBC .