Built in the middle of a first trimester.

Keniya started in a grocery aisle at 9pm. My wife was newly pregnant, craving something — anything — that would actually sit right, and every option meant reading another label, searching another ingredient, second-guessing another choice. The snack run had turned into a research project, and she was the one doing the research while feeling her worst.

So we built the thing we wished someone had handed us: a box of fourteen genuinely good snacks, chosen around how she actually felt that week — with a folded “Packed for You” guide explaining exactly why each one earned its place. She calls it the first gift that did the reading for her.

The name comes from kɛnɛya— “health” in Dioula, the language of my family’s roots in West Africa; Keniya is simply how we write it so everyone can say it. Health there is something you wish on people you love. That’s the spirit every box ships with.

I also live with type 1 diabetes, which means I’ve read nutrition labels my whole life. That obsession became PharmaGuide, the ingredient-intelligence platform I build by day — and it’s the same engine of care behind how Keniya curates: every item screened for its ingredient story, not just its marketing.

We’re starting small on purpose — fifty boxes, packed by hand at our kitchen table, allergy swaps done one box at a time. The Pregnancy Comfort Box ships first. Balanced Blood Sugar and Heart Wellness are next, and the waitlists decide the order. This is a family company; it will grow at the speed of trust.