Denise Woodard remembers standing in her home kitchen in 2019, already thinking big.
“We had one other employee, and I was like, ‘We’re going to make a Girl Scout cookie one day,’” she recalls. “I think she thought I had lost the plot!”
But Woodard was right.
As a dietitian and food-allergy parent, I know first-hand the terror of the first reaction you see. It may unfold in just seconds, but dealing with the implications can take a lifetime. You learn to make substitutes for your mealtime staples or pack homemade snacks, but it’s not long before a school event or friend’s party leaves your child empty-handed, watching the others enjoy a special treat.
All allergy families know that pain of shielding their child from the world to keep them safe. How many change the world instead?
Woodard and her 11-year-old daughter, Vivienne, are doing just that, with a little help from the Girl Scouts of America.
When Vivienne was just 8 months old, she had a reaction to a dish at her first Thanksgiving and was soon diagnosed with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) to eggs. This kind of reaction is different from the usual food allergy; it’s delayed by at least a couple of hours, and the symptoms are largely gastrointestinal. Severe reactions can progress to shock, however, and they can’t be treated with epinephrine.
As is true for many with FPIES, Vivienne also developed severe typical food allergies. Suddenly, Woodard had to figure out not just how to feed her daughter with nourishing ingredients free of eggs, nuts, corn and sesame, but also how to help her engage in regular social life — play dates and special occasions — safely.
Although she worked in food product sales, Woodard says she had no idea how food allergies affect the people who have them, and their families, until the severity of Vivienne’s corn allergy shook her.
“I feel embarrassed by how much I trivialized it until I was living the journey myself,” Woodard told me, “but you realize that food is such a massive part of every single event and every single thing that you do, and then you have to send your kid out into this world where things that are just so common can actually be deadly for them.”
Woodard admits she felt discouraged by the list of allergens at first, and credits Vivienne’s nanny Martha with helping her kick into gear. Making a truly safe, truly delicious sweet treat without a bunch of questionable ingredients is easier said than done, but they got into the kitchen to figure things out.
She also decided to leverage every dime toward making this dream a reality for everyone. She left her corporate job in 2017, and with some assistance from a professional food product developer, her retail product line was on its way.
Although she initially funded her efforts by draining her 401K and even selling her engagement ring, her idea struck a chord with investors like Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, and in 2019, she became the first Black woman to raise over $1 million for a packaged food company.
Much of the packaging for such product lines screams “substitute” instead of “scrumptious,” but it was important to Woodard that kids (and adults) like Vivienne feel seamlessly included.
She named her company Partake because it’s her mission to let everyone take part without being set apart, and you’d never know the brand is free of the top-nine allergens if you didn’t read the fine print on the tempting label.
There are multiple flavors to suit every taste, from grahams to wafers to snaps. In fact, Partake’s market research shows that about half of their customers don’t have severe food allergies.
Vivienne has helped with flavor ideas a bit, but she relishes her main role as taste-tester. Her favorite? The Teeny-Tiny Crunchy Chocolate Chip.
“I like how small they are, so you can just pop them in your mouth,” she says.
The Teeny-Tinies might have some competition soon, though. In January of 2027, the cookie that Partake and Girl Scouts co-created will hit the website for digital orders from Girl Scouts like Vivienne herself. They’re called Sparkables, and they’ve got chocolate chips and a rainbow of colored sprinkles that will make any kid want to partake, allergies or not.
“We wanted something that kind of matched the ethos of Partake, where you don’t feel like you’re sacrificing, you don’t feel like you’re being othered,” explains Woodard. “You get to fully participate and have something that’s delicious and looks as fun as the other options that are available for people without food allergies.”
“The comments that we’ve gotten so far have been from various Girl Scouts who are so happy that they’ll be able to eat the cookie that they’re selling this year. It’s just been bringing tears to my eyes.”
Up next for Partake is a line of breakfast foods, but Woodard isn’t going to stop there. On her entrepreneurial journey, she has learned a lot about how all kinds of groups are left out not just from snack time, but dinner tables and boardrooms, too, and she has tried to make belonging the thread that runs through the company as a whole.
“We have a big focus on fighting food insecurity and have donated over a million meals to food insecure families. Our board is 80% women of color. We have a very diverse team,” she explains. And, their nonprofit Black Futures in Food & Beverage Fellowship is aimed at increasing diversity in the industry.
“The [company’s] ethos really is coming to life in this dream partnership with the Girl Scouts, but it’s also, ‘How do we build a big enough table that people from all different walks of life, places, etc. feel welcomed and celebrated?’”
It’s a lot to put on her plate, but Woodard has already shown she knows how to take on a really big project — one bite at a time.