“I had no idea about the lack of diversity in San Francisco before I got here. It’s said to be one of the most diverse cities in the world, but it’s diverse for white people, I’m sorry to say, that’s the truth. You will see people of every gender identity here but to actually see a group of brown-skinned people in this city is like a unicorn sighting to me.” Simileoluwa Adebajo
Simileoluwa Adebajo is a 23 year old Nigerian Chef. She quit her job as a Financial Analyst to start San Francisco’s first Nigerian restaurant. While this might seem like a huge feat and is infact a huge feat, what many do not know is that Simileoluwa had started her culinary business way before her tweet went viral
According to San Francisco Chronicles ”Adebajo had spent the better part of a year in relative obscurity running a pop-up restaurant.” Speaking on the reception the tweet has garnered she said: “It was absolutely crazy. I didn’t think the reaction would be like that, I’m still trying to process everything.”
Speaking about Eko Kitchen, her brother- Seun Adebajo said “It’s a huge leap of faith, that I’m sure will come good. Eko Kitchen SF! San Fran isn’t ready!”
Her friend Oreoluwa Peters said: ”It takes guts and self belief to do so and I believe in her.”
Speaking further on the switch from Twitch to running her own food company, Simileoluwa said: “The truth is, I’m a good financial analyst. I can do a three-year projection for you right now and draw up charts and graphs and strategic recommendations, but I haven’t been happy, I was spending eight hours a day staring at a spreadsheet. I realized plating just one plate of food gave me more satisfaction than eight hours of being a financial analyst could ever give me.”
Eko Kitchen will be officially opened on May 3, 2019. She announced this on Twitter.
A good number of publications have written about her and her great work.
Did this inspire you? It totally should.
Way to go Simi! We are so proud of you.
