What is your name, and what do you do?
My name is Nwenna Kai, and I am a Revolutionary Health Expert. I teach people how to eat healthier and live healthier with a plant-based natural and holistic diet and lifestyle. I coach, I consult, I lecture, I write books, I create e-products, I teach teleseminars, etc. My ultimate vision is to teach and educate from a TV show platform.
What is your educational and professional background?
I have a B.A. in French and film production from Howard University. I have an MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. That's my institutionalized educational background. My on-the-job training came from opening up my restaurant Taste of the Goddess Cafe in Los Angeles. I ran it for four years. It was the best educational, spiritual, personal, and professional experience that I could have created for myself. It was an organic raw vegan restaurant. I did it with my own start-up cash, my own recipes, and my passion and drive for teaching others about health and wellness. I also self-published my first book, The Goddess of Raw Foods. My real education comes from living. I have taught myself how to thrive in business. That's an education that no 100K MBA education can
As an authority on holistic lifestyle, you have a book titled The Goddess of Raw Foods. What can readers expect from your book, how will it benefit them, and where can they buy it?
Readers can expect simple to gourmet raw vegan recipes that stemmed from my restaurant, my catering company, and my years of experimenting with food. There are also tips in there about food preparation, how to set up your kitchen for a plant-based diet and lifestyle, and lots of nutritional information about food. They can purchase it at www.amazon.com and/or my website at www.nwennakai.com. They will learn that eating healthier is easier than what they may think.
You also have another book coming out soon called What's Really Eating Us? Black women & weight. Both of your books are about eating healthy, but how does this book cater especially to black women? Where can readers buy it?
What's Really Eating Us? Black women & weight is a much different book than the first book. It is not available for purchase as of yet. What I found through my coaching and consulting business is that most of my clients were black women who wanted to lose weight, and they have struggled with weight practically all their lives. I come from a metaphysical perspective when it comes to any disease or illness of the mind and body, so what I found was that the weight issue and challenges couldn't just be solved with food and lifestyle choices. It has to be solved at a much deeper level. So the book addresses food issues, DNA, racial discrimination, the influence of overweight black women in the media, our family tribal agreements (you know the one about my grandmother is overweight, my mother is overweight, my aunties are overweight, so that must mean that I am going to be overweight), the issue of food desserts in urban mostly black communities (i.e. Detroit), and economics of course. Most people think eating healthier is expensive. Absolutely not true.
The book is a beginning to a nationwide conversation about obesity among black women. Right now over 70% of black women are overweight. That's a real problem because obesity leads to so many other diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. So if we have a large population of black women overweight and obese, how does this affect our community? How does this affect our children? Women are the first teachers of the children, so if we can't figure out how to properly nourish our bodies and take care of ourselves, then where does that leave our children, our families, and our future. So the obesity issue is a byproduct of something much deeper that is resonating with our racial group. This is what the book addresses.
In 2007 you were awarded the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneurial Scholarship sponsored by Women Impacting Public Policy. How did you win this award?
Great question! I used the Law of Attraction to win this award. No kidding. One of my clients encouraged me to apply for the scholarship. I was hesitant because I was like "Why would Elizabeth Dole Young give money to a black woman in Los Angeles with an organic raw vegan restaurant?". It was my good friend from Howard University and attorney at the time, Adia May, who encouraged me to apply anyway. Then, I made it to the finalist selection, and the organization flies you to DC to make a speech and meet the women of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). At the time, I was struggling with my restaurant, not just financially but I didn't want to run a restaurant anymore. I was just tired and burnt out. So while I was on the plane flying to DC, I remember I kept telling myself that this award was mine no matter what. I just had that thought in my head - that I wasn't coming home without that award being mine. And so I just saw myself in my head winning. That's how I won this award.
Then when it came time to the speech, I just showed up for myself and authentically spoke from my heart what was there. What was there and present for me was how much being an entrepreneur was the thing that breathed life into me since I was little. I can't remember too much of my speech because I actually got choked up while delivering it, but I started it with saying that my dream was to just teach the world about eating healthier, and that's my service to the world as an entrepreneur. I just want people to be healthy; that's it. That's all I got AOL Black Voices.
You speak openly about your entrepreneurial trials and errors. What is the best piece of advice you would offer to other entrepreneurs?
I got two pieces of advice.
1) Stay in the game. I remember I saw Russell Simmons speak in LA once, and he said to the audience that the only difference between him and the other guy was that the other guy quit. Many of us quit on each other, and we definitely quit on ourselves and our dreams. I had many reasons to quit and get out of the game. And there were days that I did quit, but then there were days that I had to slap myself out of it and get back on track and remember what I was made of.
2) Consistently educate and invest in yourself. I just hired a coach and she's great. She's expensive but this is how entrepreneurs think and do. We are in a BIG, BIG game so we have to play BIG. Being an entrepreneur is so much more than the business and keeping your books tight and marketing your business. It's really about you and your personal and spiritual journey. So take classes, humble yourself, and learn from experts in your field and not in your field. Also, humble yourself and take advice from your customers. That's a big lesson for me. Take everything in. I got some golden advice from watching Iyanla Vanzant on Oprah Winfrey just recently. I've learned to make myself into a sponge and soak up everything.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with our AOL Black Voices audience?
I'm always working on projects, but my next vision that I'm developing is Food is Our Medicine. I want to develop 1000 entrepreneurs by the year 2020 to create green sustainable businesses that will thus create jobs and newer economies. Whether it's building community co-ops or community gardens, catering companies, vegan product lines, organic food delivery businesses, starting restaurants, working with public policy, when it comes to the food industry, etc., I want to develop leaders in this green economy.
And......The revolution starts at the dinner table!
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the bookBlack American Money To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To suggest a subject for a Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.