Denise Woodard is the Founder and CEO of Partake Foods, a natural food company that was inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Just this month, Partake Foods announced it has officially become a Certified B Corporation.
Created in 2016, Denise started the business by self-distributing (selling cookies out of her car around NYC) and self-funding (depleting her 401K and selling her engagement ring). To date, the company has raised $19M from investors including HER, Rihanna, Circle Up Growth Partners, FF2032 and Marcy Venture Partners.
Partake was named #45 on the Inc 5000 list in 2022, Denise is the first Black woman to raise more than $1 Million publicly for a CPG food startup. This is a huge feat, as it has been reported that Black founders raised a only $187 million out of the near $43 billion in venture capital allocated in Q3 this year – to put that into perspective, that’s only about 0.43% of the total investment made in the quarter.
Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a decade in consumer-packaged goods at various Fortune 100 companies. She lives in New York City with her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Vivienne. She graduated with her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Arizona State University.