Rita Igbinoba

I would say I actually attribute my success to family and being dedicated. At the end of the day, everything I've accomplished in my life so far is just God, and just being dedicated, right? If I never put in the work, I would never achieve it. I just feel like it's just God and family, and just me doing the work.

I would say just take the risk and do it. I knew for a fact since undergrad that I wanted to be in the food industry, but I was just scared because statistically, 1% or 2% of every restaurant that opens a year closes down. So I went into school, got a degree, got a job right after, just so I don't fail, and because I wanted to have something to fall back on. But you should just do it. At the end of the day, you also have to be realistic with yourself. Right now, I have a lot of experience in my resume, and God forbid the new chapter of my life doesn't work out, there's always something to fall back on. If it's something that you want to do, you should always expand your horizons. You don't have to restrict yourself to one thing, because there's always something at the end of it all. But you should always remember who you are and what you want to do. You shouldn't deviate so much that you don't get to come back to what you want to do with your life.

I would say the biggest challenge that I've seen, based on my research so far, is how a lot of businesses get shut down quickly because they don't have an ideal understanding of their customer base or how to organize the people that they are catering to. This is one of the main reasons I went to school to get a degree in business, because it makes sense to understand who you're dealing with and how you're dealing with them before you go into the business fully. As for opportunities, I focus on Afro-fusion and Nigerian fusion dishes, and there haven't been a lot of those out here. I live in New York, and there haven't been a lot of those, and I feel like the world is kind of ready for that, to actually see how it's going to change the industry. It's going to be different, a different take, and I think people right now are really open-minded to what's being offered, as long as it makes sense and it's affordable, because the economy is expensive for everyone. If it reminds them of something and it's cheap, or it's affordable, they're ready for this.

I would say my values that are most important to me are giving back, being honest, and being truthful. I would definitely say treating everyone equally. I don't really care where you're from, your gender, how you speak, because obviously I speak with an accent. I just think treating everyone with love is really important, making everyone feel at home, that everyone belongs there, because no one is superior in any space. It doesn't matter how much degrees you have or how beautiful you look, it really doesn't matter at the end of the day, because I believe a child could have an idea that would change the world, compared to an adult in the room.