Nkem Oghedo ’04
Nkem has always loved cooking and has enjoyed watching cooking shows on the Food Network since she was a child. She noticed that there was a clear lack of representation for people of color and women on these shows. As a woman of Nigerian descent and a daughter of immigrants, Nkem has appreciated the food of fellow people of color with cuisines engaged in rich flavor and spice.
Nkem Oghedo’s mission is to amplify the voices of marginalized groups, specifically Black people and women. She has had an urge to showcase Black people and women thriving since she entered college. This passion to fight against injustice for minorities was rooted from her own experiences as an African woman. Nkem says that she noticed a gap of equality from elementary school to graduate school. At Harvard Business School, she was confronted with the gut-wrenching truth that her voice did not carry the same weight as her fellow classmates who were wealthy white males. Nkem has dedicated her life’s work to shedding light on Black and female expression by creating a platform that celebrates Black and female expression through food.
Alongside her full-time job as Chief of Staff at Care/of, an online vitamin and supplement company, Nkem is the founder of Adá Supper Club. Nkem’s vision of bringing light to overlooked minorities began to come alive in December of 2019 when Adá Supper Club initially launched. Nkem has always loved cooking and has enjoyed watching cooking shows on the Food Network since she was a child. She noticed that there was a clear lack of representation for people of color and women on these shows. As a woman of Nigerian descent and a daughter of immigrants, Nkem has appreciated the food of fellow people of color with cuisines engaged in rich flavor and spice. Nkem wanted to home in on these culinary styles to showcase authentic cooking from various ethnic backgrounds that are often overlooked. Initially, the supper club idea launched with the intention of creating in-person events popping up at restaurants around the city. Faced with the restrictions brought on by Covid-19, the club adapted to a different format—Adá’s culinary events got put in a box for in-home dining. The Supper Club has featured numerous acclaimed chefs, including Chef Anya Peters of Kit An’ Kin, Chef Brittney “Stikxz” Williams and Chef Carla Fears; they explore themes such as the duality of daughterhood and Haitian Voodoo Tapas on Halloween.
Nkem’s passion for equity and equality seeps into her work at Care/of, where she is not only responsible for board meetings, planning, goal setting and cross functional communication meetings, but she also has helped to develop diversity, equity and inclusion training. Nkem is drawn to the company’s strong emphasis on honesty, quality and sustainability because, she says, vitamins have a much shorter history than pharma and rely more on anecdotal evidence, leaving room for bad players in the industry. Nkem describes herself as somewhat of a “company therapist” as she manages the company’s advocacy, mentorship, sponsorships and neutrality.
Nkem’s passion for equity and equality seeps into her work at Care/of, where she is not only responsible for board meetings, planning, goal setting and cross functional communication meetings, but she also has helped to develop diversity, equity and inclusion training. Nkem is drawn to the company’s strong emphasis on honesty, quality and sustainability because, she says, vitamins have a much shorter history than pharma and rely more on anecdotal evidence, leaving room for bad players in the industry. Nkem describes herself as somewhat of a “company therapist” as she manages the company’s advocacy, mentorship, sponsorships and neutrality.
Nkem reminisces about her time at Grace, from Kindergarten to eighth grade, as thought-provoking, insightful and extremely educational. She touches on the intimate qualities of the school: the faculty, the students, and the countless relationships she formed. Nkem spoke in admiration of her teachers and called Mrs. Cooper (Assistant to the Head and Liaison to Families of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds) the “the mother of Grace.” After graduating from eighth grade at Grace in 2004, Nkem attended Andover Academy, continuing a family tradition of boarding school; both her mother and older brother Nnamdi attended boarding school. Nkem pursued her passion in science as she went on to study chemical engineering at Yale, a passion she traces back to eighth grade as a thirteen-year-old in Mr. Diveki’s class; she has always loved problem solving. Nkem also had a passion for entrepreneurship, a quality she says she gets from her mother, and went on to receive a master’s in business administration at Harvard University.
Nkem reflects on her time at Harvard as a time of deep thinking and big takeaways as her future’s focus began to take shape. Harvard Business School’s method of teaching is strictly based on the case method, meaning there are no lectures. Students are put in the role of people who are faced with difficult situations, forcing them to speak and rationalize with each other. Nkem says, “this method forced me to develop my own voice and made me communicate even when I was uncomfortable.” It was here, in a predominantly white-male institution, where she says she began to flourish and find her voice. In addition, Nkem claimed that her work at Harvard provided a foundation for problem-solving techniques: breaking things down and strategically balancing all the elements. Nkem continues to apply these lessons to her work now.
Nkem graduated from Yale knowing that she wanted to do something for the benefit of Black people and women. “I knew that if I did anything, I needed to do this. But, I had no idea what that would look like.” After graduating from Harvard Business School, she went into strategy consulting, a move to establish financial security. For Nkem, consulting work provided a poor work to life balance, so she shifted course and moved to her position at Care/of.
Nkem has balanced the launch of her new business with a full-time job along with the common struggle of COVID-19 fatigue. We asked Nkem how she manages this and she says, “It’s all about advance planning and being ahead of things. I try to set boundaries for myself as well as attempt to prioritize what is most important.” Nkem explains that part of this responsibility branched from being the eldest daughter in an African family, which has taught her abundant responsibility. She often took on the role of a parent of some sort; she says, “I grew up that way, I had a lot of independence.” Nkem has carried this older sibling mentality for the entirety of her career, and it is no coincidence that her passion project reflects this idea: “Adá” means ‘first daughter’ in Igbo. Nkem has always put a strong emphasis on family and it’s apparent that relationships continue to play a big part in whatever work she does. Whether it is maintaining neutrality and mentorship at Care/of or creating a space for women like herself, Nkem creates familial and personal relationships wherever she goes.
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Grace Church School is a co-educational independent school in downtown Manhattan, New York City providing instruction for nearly 800 students in Junior Kindergarten through Grade 12.
