Thank you to Sydney Poll, founder of SydPlayEat, for sharing how her dad inspired her business. As highlighted in "A Father's Role in Gender Equality," there's a special relationship between a daughter and her father. Girl dad is a term of endearment. Below, Sydney explains how her dad's battle with pancreatic cancer pushed her to explore nutrition and its connection with overall wellness.
Click here to watch our entire conversation with Sydney.
It was Valentine's Day Weekend in 2019. I got a phone call from my mom saying, 'You need to come to your sister's house right now.
Immediately, my heart dropped, and I knew something was wrong. My dad had been in the hospital with severe stomach pain, but it wasn't supposed to be life-threatening. Now my mom told us, my dad, in fact, had pancreatic and bladder cancer.
Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer runs in my family. My great uncle, who was in tip-top health, passed away from it.
So hearing this about my father was very scary for all of us.
As a family, we all were assigned roles in my dad's treatment. I was the designated notetaker, recording verbatim what the doctor would say and sharing the notes with the rest of the family. My best coping mechanism was to collect all the information I could.
Working in the restaurant industry, I was already around food constantly. But, I had started to develop an interest in nutrition – listening to podcasts and reading food-related articles. So my worlds started to blend together.
The first thing I did was Google, who was providing the food for his hospital. I wanted to do something, anything. At that point, I was ready to take on the hospital caters.
People said, 'You're never going to be able to touch them. It's millions and millions of dollars. They have it set. There's no way to change it.'
Then my mentality switched; if I couldn't change the food from the hospital perspective, I could change how people eat before getting there.
I asked myself how I could learn more. How can I expand my knowledge? I decided to enroll at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. So here I was, working full-time, a newlywed, a caregiver to my dad, and now a nutrition student.
I began experimenting in my own kitchen with different recipes. Vegetable oil is terrible for you, so I created an organic truffle chili oil with olive oil. My friends thought the new oil sauce was delicious, so I sold it on Etsy. Then I was furloughed from my restaurant job in March 2020.
Job hunting was not working. None of the listings felt fulfilling. Now, I was armed with a nutrition degree, a sauce recipe, and time. It was time to make SydPlayEat my job.
Entrepreneurship is in my blood. My family owned a bakery supplies company, and many childhood days were spent there. So this made sense to continue the business owner tradition as my dad underwent chemotherapy and had a Pancreaticoduodenectomy, aka Whipple surgery.
In three and a half years, SydPlayEat has grown tremendously. We operate from a shared kitchen at the Hatchery in Chicago and have expanded to three sauce and salt lines. Our products are available on our website, in local retail stores, and in farmer's markets.
Additionally, we were selected to participate in the Target Accelerators Program.
But most importantly, my dad has been there to see it all. He is in remission for both the bladder and pancreatic cancer.
He has helped bottle the oils, taste test, promote, and make business connections. When I was pregnant with my son, he moved every box screaming, 'Don't touch that.'
I'm grateful every day that my dad was able to be present for that, that my dad can be with my son, Abram (Abe/Abie). That he isn't in chemo. He has such a special relationship with Abie and something that, at one point in time, I wasn't sure would happen. It really means the world to me that they can be in each other's lives. And they look alike.
In a way, SydPlayEat is a 'thank you' note to my dad. He shaped me into the woman I am today and is the inspiration that drives me. To my dad Lew Karp - thank you for being there and still being here. Happy Father's Day.
Sydney Poll is the founder of SydPlayEat. Launched in October 2020, SydPlayEat aims to provide a culinary experience that elevates everyday meals with high-quality, unique, and flavorful ingredients. Based in Chicago, SydPlayEat offers two product lines centered around sauces and salts. Connect with Sydney on LinkedIn.
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