Chinoye Akunne says she had always known that her purpose was to save lives. The only thing she probably didn’t know was how she was going to do this.
Today, she is fulfilling this purpose with her personal care company ILERA Apothecary. The company utilizes mostly organic materials, educates on health with relation to the skin and focuses on reducing the environmental impact of the cosmetic industry. Brilliant. Together with her sister, she runs this company.
Coincidentally, Chinoye has been mixing products since she was in the fourth grade. According to her, “I put eggs in my hair after reading about its great deep conditioning properties. Unfortunately, I did not read the part about rinsing with cold water. I rinsed with hot water and the eggs ended up cooking in my hair. It was gross. That day, I learned valuable lessons in following instructions, properties of a chemical reaction and trying again. Practices like this lead me to create hair products in grad school such as styling gel and almond hair milk, eventually developing into ILERA Apothecary.”
We at Leading Ladies Africa are inspired and wish Chinoye the very best.
