Meet Sonia Paryani | Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonia Paryani and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonia, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Sincerely, By Paryani was started as a passion project, and mainly as a way to share my healthy, nutritious goods with people that have allergies and restricted diets.

My husband and I owned jewelry stores. Jewelry and food are my 2 passions. In 2011, I was hospitalized for 3 weeks and diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I lost 22 lbs in 20 days. The doctors started me on a cocktail of drugs and told me I would have to live on these medications for the rest of my life. These medications helped me control the symptoms, but caused me to have drug induced lupus, have hallucinations & other side effects.

I started researching ways to manage UC with diet and came across The SCD ( Specific Carbohydrate Diet) by Elaine Gottschall. The science behind the diet made sense to me and I changed my lifestyle and regained control of my health. I have been medication free for over 8 years now!

While on this diet, my health improved but, I missed cookies and cakes and also the sentimental moments of celebrating with sweets. I started baking with almond flour and other SCD ingredients. Not only were these expensive and difficult to bake with, but having to do everything from scratch made me wish for some ready to eat options. With a lot of experimentation, practice, I was able to bake delicious breads, cookies and more!

When my family and friends tried these, they found it difficult to believe these goodies were gluten free, grain free, dairy free and refined sugar free AND delicious too!

We decided to retire in 2016 and move to Atlanta to be closer to our children. This business was started in early 2019 as a way to help people who have dietary restrictions and have decided to take care of their health through lifestyle changes. We still want to eat delicious breads, cakes & cookies!!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The reason for starting this business was to sincerely help people who have food allergies, sensitivities, autoimmune conditions, celiacs and who choose to eat healthy. I know how difficult it is to find clean breads,cakes and more. All of our baked goods are always gluten & grain free, they are also dairy & refined sugar free. We use only 5-6 ingredients to bake with. We absolutely do not compromise on quality! We sincerely take pride in making everything from scratch and using either almond flour or organic coconut flour in all our baked goods. We NEVER use any preservatives, gums, fillers, sugar, high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors.

I have heard numerous stories from my customers at farmers markets, through emails and text messages of how thankful they are to have found us. The one thing that is common is everyone is different and our bodies react differently to foods. Please listen to your body and do what is right for you! Food matters!!

It has been a challenge to keep our costs down, since we use premium ingredients. As of now we are not focused on profit margins but delivering the very best product!

This has been a learning experience, from selling high end jewelry to cakes, but I wouldn’t change it for anything! I’m so excited to share our food with people around the country and our local community, which is why we recently started shipping!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It’s difficult for me to eat out, but still there are many places where they care. We love taking our friends to the Beltline, Ponce City Market. There are a number of great Indian restaurants in Atlanta. Our favorite is Tabla, Botiwalla, Mint leaf. They take your food allergies seriously.

Piedmont Park, Atlanta Botanical gardens is another must see. We love taking them to any new exhibits round town.

On the weekends Atlanta has bustling Farmers Markets, with great local produce and local food creators sharing their creations. The real farm to table! We started in Farmer’s Markets too! Peachtree road farmers market & Marietta square farmers market are some of our favorites.

For a relaxing day out we enjoy driving to nearby Helen, GA. The old world charm and beauty are worth the drive.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank my husband of 35 years for standing by my side in this second chapter of our life! My children who trust and believe in me. This new venture is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. It’s challenging and a ton of fun! Thank you to all my customers now friends who have supported my venture from day one! I couldn’t have done it without them. Last but not the least for God in helping me overcome the trials & challenges of facing an autoimmune disease. This really proves “If life gives you lemons, make Lemon coconut cake!!”

Website: www.Paryanifoods.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Paryanifoods/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raj-and-sonia-paryani-aa368923/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sincerely, By Paryani

Image Credits
Shreyamadphotos Shreya Maddireddy Shreyam254.wixsite.com