Ghana

Gladys Opoku was born in Ghana where she learned to cook from her grandma and aunties. “Since I came out of my mom’s belly, I was cooking,” Gladys reflects. As a little girl, when her mom was done cooking, Gladys would run off with an empty tomato can, pick vegetables from the garden, start a little fire and cook her own dishes in the can. By age nine she was cooking meals for her large extended family.

Today, Gladys owns Yen Kitchen an Atlanta-based catering company serving Ghanian and Geechee Gullah cuisines.She also cooks for private clients, many of whom have special dietary and health needs.