I Am CALS: Sana Siddiqui

By Lea Hart

Sana Siddiqui believes in learning and growing throughout life, and her career path thus far certainly reflects that approach.

Siddiqui graduated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State University in 2007, earning a bachelor’s degree in biological and agricultural engineering with a concentration in bioprocess.

She went to work as a quality engineer with a Research Triangle-based robotic pharmaceutical systems startup following graduation. More than 17 years later, she’s the founder of quick meal kit company, 1eatz, as well as an advocate and ambassador for local small businesses through her platform, Get 2 Know Raleigh.

As someone willing to seize opportunities and learn new skills, Siddiqui says the exposure she received in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering sparked her passion and willingness to pivot and try new things. She took courses ranging from chemistry to math to mechanical engineering. And her senior design project, which focused on creating a bio-filter/heat-exchanger for a hog house facility, even had her working with woodwork and sheet metal.

“That shaped who I am today,” she says.

An Agile Path

In her job with the pharmaceutical systems startup, Siddiqui interacted regularly with mechanical engineers and was fascinated by their work with CAD (computer-aided design) software used to create 2D and 3D images of projects.

So, she applied for and received a position with a consulting company as a mechanical design engineer, working on projects for heavy machinery companies such as Caterpillar.

When that company went through layoffs, Siddiqui secured a contract position with Schneider Electric doing similar work. That led to a position in a rotational program with Schneider Electric, where she spent a year in France, Germany and Austria moving through positions in different product operations areas. Following that training, the company offered her a role in product management and marketing.

“They chose me for that position because I had both the technical background and the business aptitude,” Siddiqui says.

She spent the next three years working with everyone from the sales team to engineers  — and she loved it. But she still had the itch to try new things.

The next several years saw her take a position in software development, which she ultimately decided wasn’t dynamic enough for her, and then return to Schneider, where she happily remained until ABB called to talk about a global marketing position.

Even she says with a laugh, “when an opportunity comes along, I say to myself … why shouldn’t I?”

Of course, she took the chance, but by that time she and her husband had 1-year-old twins and Siddiqui was ready to do something entrepreneurial.

Creative Endeavors

The idea for 1eatz came from her own experience as a busy mom. She and her husband were both working. They made sure the kids were eating well, but struggled to find time to take care of themselves and prepare healthy meals at home.

Siddiqui started putting ingredients together to microwave with an egg in the mornings for quick meal prep. As she realized the idea might be something consumers would buy, Siddiqui began the process of developing a consumer product  — from testing the recipes to package design, she did it all.

What began with e-commerce and farmers market sales is now a thriving business with products in 244 Food Lion stores across three states.

As she was preparing 1eatz to enter Food Lion stores, the idea for Get 2 Know Raleigh was born. Siddiqui slowed down her e-commerce business to focus on Food Lion but had idle time as she waited on her product to launch in stores. 

She partnered with another small business owner to create Pop-Up Carolinas. They worked with the City of Raleigh to launch a free movie and food truck events series at Moore Square on the first Friday of each month, calling it “First Friday Market & Movie Night.” The idea was to create a free community space and provide a platform for small businesses to connect with their customers. Vendors came to sell goods, and she met more and more small business owners.

“At the time, I was doing my own website, my own marketing,” Siddiqui says. “A lot of these people didn’t know how to  — or know that they should.”

She launched Get 2 Know Raleigh as a social media platform to shine a light on the people behind these small businesses. She has 25,000+ followers on Instagram today, and Get 2 Know Raleigh has become an umbrella company to house both her digital platform and the free community events.

While Siddiqui’s path is unconventional, the common thread is her willingness to seize an opportunity.

To say she’s come a long way is an understatement. Siddiqui, who are of Pakistani descent, only moved to the United States when she was a junior in high school and she spoke very little English at the time. She selected NC State because her family lived in Raleigh and she didn’t want to be too far away.

Siddiqui admits she could have made more of her time at the university outside the classroom by joining student organizations or other opportunities. She split most of her time between school work and a part-time job.

Yet, she appreciates all that she did gain in her time there. “The education I got there prepared me for what was to come  — I was ready to go in any direction.”

Today, Siddiqui is paying it forward and sharing what she’s learned along her winding path as a member of the advisory board for the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and on the City of Raleigh’s Environmental Advisory Board.

Her advice to today’s student echoes everything she’s done over the years. 

“Don’t limit yourself,” Siddiqui says. “We can do whatever comes our way.”