She can take the heat. Asha Kangralkar is the queen of the kitchen, and pots and pans were her loyal subjects. That is, until they started burning, sticking, and altogether failing. But instead of throwing in the drying towel, Asha rolled up her sleeves and founded AVACRAFT, a top-quality cookware company.

Together with our sponsor Amazon, we chatted with Asha about leaving engineering for entrepreneurship, finding the perfect frying pan, and why Jessica Alba is on her nice list. And once you’re convinced that she’s the real steel, you can support Asha and more founders by shopping Amazon’s Small Business Gift Guide.

When did you develop a passion for cooking?
Oh, it was there from the beginning. I used to watch my mom when she was cooking, but I started experimenting after my marriage. In India, it’s all Indian food, right? When we moved here, I saw that there is Mexican food, there’s Lebanese, Thai, and different varieties. We used to get a lot of to-go food. Then I thought, “Can we make a healthier version at home?” That’s how I started learning, and it’s been one of my passions. Whenever I get time, I cook!

How did cooking lead to launching AVACRAFT?
I used “healthy” pots and pans like stainless steel, and if I had any questions, I’d reach out to the manufacturers. When you’re cooking in a stainless steel pan, it has to have the right temperature to pour in the oil, then to pour in things like meat or vegetables. I had questions like, “What temperature should it reach to put the oil in?” And when stainless steel heats up too much, it gives [off] a rainbow color. I’d ask, “How do I get rid of that and what kind of stainless steel do you use?” I just got, “Okay, we got your question, we’ll get back to you.”

So you decided to do it yourself?
One day I asked my husband—we’re both engineers—“Why don’t we just start making [pots and pans]?” He thought I was joking, but I was serious… Now I receive the same questions from my customers, but I’m there to answer them. When we started, we were just 5 minutes away from answering them, and now that our customer base has increased, we still answer within 24 hours.

We never really think of pots and pans as being “designed.” What are some common issues in cookware you’ve noticed?
When you’re pouring from a saucepan, we always use our right hand, right? That’s because there is 1 spout. But for the left-handed, there is no spout. So I thought, “Why not?” Those small things matter. Also, it’s a myth in the industry that the heavier the pot, the better the quality. There are so many older people and people with arthritis who love to cook. They can’t lift heavy pots, right? Keeping that in mind, we have 2 types of saucepans. One is lighter- weight and one is a bit heavier-weight, but [they’re] equally good standards.

Once you had the idea for AVACRAFT, how did you test your prototypes?
For the saucepan, I try to make rice and see how it sticks. I [also] make a soup with tomatoes. Generally, acid will [make] stainless steel give off a rainbow color. Once I do that, then I see how to get rid of it. You just boil hot water and vinegar, and then it goes away and never develops again. I do it at home so that whenever customers have that question, I can give all the answers and details.

How has selling in Amazon’s store benefited your small business journey?
Oh, it’s the best decision we made. When we started, we tried to sell on our website, but getting traffic to your site is difficult. You have to invest in ads and know SEO. We figured we could sell in Amazon’s store because it has a large customer base. You just take care of the customers, and then they’ll help a small business like us. It helped us grow the business from $0 in 2015 to $2 million in revenue last year.

What would you want holiday shoppers to know about AVACRAFT?
Oh! I mean, AVACRAFT has really good pots and pans. [Laughing.] It would be a good collection for the gifting season, Thanksgiving cooking as well. And last year, Jessica Alba endorsed one of our products.

Really?! That’s so cool!
Yes! She was on Good Morning America. We were sleeping because it’s on New York time, but in our website chat, [customers] were saying, “I saw your product on Good Morning America.” I was like, “Wow, I didn’t even know.” Then I saw the video and it was a pinch-me moment.*

*Hi there. This is a sponsored post.