written by Stacey Lindsay

Agatha Achindu embodies unparalleled power, kindness, ambition, humility, drive, intellect, and joy. The self-described "wellness architect," who founded the lifestyle and nutrition coaching consultancy Life Unprocessed™, emigrated from Cameroon, West Africa, where she grew up on an organic farm. 

Agatha has taken her passion for fresh foods and used it as a driver to become a renowned voice in the global wellness world. Her efforts have proven vast and successful: Before Life Unprocessed, she founded Yummy Spoonfuls, the first organic baby food line to gain national distribution in the United States. Media outlets, from People Magazine to CNN to TODAY, have shed light on her business acumen. 

Yet despite her incredible accomplishments, Agatha has faced the unthinkable. Below, she shares a snippet from her early days as the founder of Yummy Spoonfuls. As much as she's fought for and won her success, she's navigated microaggressions and racism. We hope that sharing her words sheds light on our collective need to continue fighting against evil bias and for women's unstoppable drive toward their goals, just as Agatha exemplifies. 

“Until I got on CNN, which was around 2011, and when people really started to know who was behind the brand, I never said—not once—that I was the founder. People would walk up to me and ask, 'Are you the salesperson?' It is sad, but it is our reality: It was because I was Black. 

I remember contacting Babies' R Us; they wanted me to come in and teach a class. I called a friend of mine, who is British, to go with me and be the face. There I was, in the back, making the baby food, and she was talking about it in the front. 

For so long, people—even people I have personally helped—couldn't believe that somebody like me could come up with an idea like this and make this kind of money in America. It's just the truth. 

The reality is changing, but not as fast as I want it to, because people still come up to me and ask, 'Are you the salesperson?' I can tell you how many times somebody has come up to me and asked, 'Are you the founder?' They don't ask that. It is what it is. But this has served me well because people gave me honest feedback, thinking I was the salesperson.

But that was painful. Knowing that I was doing something so good and that I was changing so many lives, but I still had to hide. “

As told to Nada Jones for The Liberty Road Podcast. To learn more about Agatha, visit agathaachindu.com. 

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