Food As Medicine Brought To You By Danielle DuBoise & Whitney Tingle of Sakara Life
How two best friends took 8 years and built a $150M company.
Our weekly profiles are (hopefully) shaped to be mutually beneficial: promoting founders and creatives to uplift their financial success, and inspiring you to (potentially) start something of your own. Like we discussed in the Amy Liu x Tower 28 feature, we’re all here to get by with a little help from our friends (it’s me, I’m your friend).
Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle had the same mentality. These founders met in seventh grade, but they didn’t step into the act of founding until need forced them to (sound familiar?). We’ll get into the juicy details, but I’ll start with a ping for you: who would be your dream co-founder, and what current need do you have right now that doesn’t yet have a solution?
Let that marinate while we get into all things Sakara Life — and how two friends turned a bit of a mess into their mission, building a $150M company in the process.
The Danielle & Whitney Origin Story
Raised in the magical land of Sedona (think energy vortexes, crystals, and healers), Danielle and Whitney grew up immersed in alternative wellness. But adulthood and big city life pulled them off course. Post-college, they moved to New York City — Danielle to pursue pre-med, Whitney to Wall Street.
As they pushed through the hustle of the city, they both felt something was “off.” Whitney’s 80-hour workweeks led to chronic cystic acne. Danielle’s body-image struggles and fad diet obsession ended in hospitalization for pneumonia after a 7-day water fast. These rock-bottom moments were a clear sign something needed to change. So they turned to food.
Danielle shifted her studies from pre-med to integrative nutrition, and Whitney joined her on the journey to find a better way of being. A few new recipes and an endless amount of whole foods later, Sakara Life was born.
From Health to Literal Wealth
In 2012, Danielle and Whitney took the nutritional discoveries that healed them — plus $700 — and launched Sakara Life. Their idea was simple yet pioneering: deliver organic, plant-rich meals that were as delicious and beautiful as they were nourishing.
At the start, they did everything themselves: cooking meals in their tiny NYC kitchen, packing them, and biking around the city to hand-deliver. While meal delivery is common now, it was far from the norm in 2012. But their passion and belief in the product carried them forward, bolstered by buzz from early adopters like Gwyneth Paltrow and Lily Aldridge.
Their guiding philosophy? “Seduce people into taking care of themselves.” By making the experience both nutritional and glamorous, they built something that felt more like a lifestyle than a diet plan.
Today, Sakara is a nationwide wellness empire. Beyond their cult-favorite meal delivery, they’ve expanded into supplements, functional powders, and elixirs designed to support everything from gut health, to sleep, to glowing skin.
All of their products are rooted in Sakara’s Nine Pillars of Nutrition — their science-backed philosophy that food is medicine, and that beauty and health begin from the inside out.
Since launch, they’ve also co-authored the bestselling cookbook Eat Clean, Play Dirty (a favorite of mine for recreating the Sakara experience at home without the delivery price tag), been honored by Oprah, MindBodyGreen, and Forbes, and most importantly, transformed the daily lives of their customers.
The Act of Making Wellness Aspirational
Was wellness ever uncool? Honestly, I think everything is considered uncool before it’s considered cool. Danielle and Whitney took concepts once dismissed as “hippy” — plant-based eating, detox rituals, gut health — and gave them a modern, aspirational spin.
By openly sharing their personal health struggles, they’ve built a brand that feels real and relatable, not prescriptive. And by layering that with thoughtful design, chic packaging, and a community-first ethos, Sakara invites people to embrace wellness as a joyful lifestyle choice rather than an obligation.
It’s not just about what’s on the plate — it’s about reshaping culture.
Transforming Challenges Into Purpose
We all face obstacles in life. They can be tedious, frustrating, and make us want to curl up and quit. But here at C’est Cool, we’re not quitters. We’re doers, dreamers, believers.
Danielle and Whitney hit rock bottom, but they built a ladder out of it. They reframed their struggles as a mission to heal themselves and others — and in doing so, created a business that nourishes both body and spirit.
I hope their story inspires you to look at your own challenges as opportunities to grow, create, and maybe even start something new. Feed your body and your soul with what truly nourishes you — and don’t be afraid to share that with the world.
Talk soon!
Kelly