Lives Radio Show With Stuart Chittenden

In my conversation with chef and entrepreneur, Nina Sodji, we talk about her innovative take on traditional west African cuisine at https://okraafricangrill.com/ (Okra African Grill), her business ups and downs, and her passion for food and community. Nina Sodji first immigrated to America in 1994 with a business visa, hailing from Togo, a west Africa nation. She began her career as a nurse who had a growing passion for cooking. Nina ran with her heart, opened an African grocery market in Omaha in 2004, and later added a restaurant and was successful until the 2008 Great Recession. She went on to achieve a culinary degree from Metropolitan Community College, and a bachelor’s in business management from Bellevue University. It was at MCC Nina that noticed the foods she grew up enjoying in Togo were derived from lots of cultures: French, Spanish, German, Indian and neighboring African countries. The flavors she grew up loving were a result of her country's complicated history of colonialization, invasion, and p