Yemisi Awosan
Founder & Owner
Egunsifoods, LLC
New York, NY USA
“Don’t be afraid to jump in.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationYemisi Awosan
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
I grew up in Nigeria and was raised with an appreciation for food, built around helping my mother in the kitchen, and always seeing food at the center of our celebrations and gatherings.
When I went to college in the U.S., I started learning how to cook our traditional Nigerian dishes myself to share with my friends.
I started out as a pre-med major to please my parents but didn't enjoy it at all—I decided to take a semester off for a fashion buying internship in New York, which I was much more passionate about.
After my internship, I finished college as an apparel marketing major.
After graduating from college, I got a job as an allocation analyst and then worked my way up to becoming a buyer—this is how I gained the understanding of what it takes to run a business.
In my free time, I really enjoyed bringing people together, cooking for them, and sharing my culture—I realized that this is what I should build my brand around.
I worked in fashion buying for another decade—all while dreaming of starting my business—before I actually started researching how to get my food into stores and out to consumers.
After a lot of research and hard work, I founded my company Egunsifoods, which produces ready-to-eat food derived from West African dishes.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Founder & Owner
I own a food company that produces ready-to-eat West African dishes.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Food
Entrepreneurship
Accomplishing Goals
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Take business, finance, and marketing courses to help you understand the basics of how to actually run a business. You don't necessarily need to go to a university for this because there are a lot of online courses and community college classes that can help.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Parents:
"You should become a doctor. That's how you'll have a successful life."
