Leadership at the Fire: From the Market to the Movement

Some leadership lessons aren’t taught in boardrooms.
They are learned standing barefoot by a fire, turning the same pot for hours.
Or kneeling at a market stall, haggling with grace and grit.
Or waking before dawn to stretch one small harvest into a feast big enough for everyone.

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In Ghana, there’s a woman whose story many still don't know.
Dedei Ashikishan.
A flour merchant. A financier. A revolutionary.

Without her, Ghana’s independence might have taken a very different path.

Today, you can find her face on our 50 pesewa coin.
But her legacy?
It’s alive in every woman who builds markets, movements, and meals.

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In my own work—especially in the kitchen—we carry that same spirit forward.

Leadership here looks like:

• A chef reimagining a sauce because the market didn’t have onions that day.

• A chocolatier tweaking a formula to work with a new harvest batch.

• A server reading the needs of a room better than any script ever could.

It isn’t leadership by hierarchy.
It’s leadership by resilience.
By creativity.
By care.

And it’s women, holding the fire steady.

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Dedei didn’t just sell flour.
She moved history.

And every day, African women do the same—at the stove, in the field, on the floor of parliament.

Not just sustaining life.
But designing it.

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This week, I honor the legacy of women like Dedei—and the countless women whose names we may never know, but whose leadership shapes every flavor, every feast, every future.

➡ For reflections on African foodways, sustainability, and the future of flavor, explore the full archive.

#TheWorkOfBuilding #LeadershipAtTheFire #NewAfricanCuisine #CulinaryCustodians #SelassieAtadika