Adenah Note about escaping war torn country. Today, she’s the owner of four IHOP franchises and founder of four restaurants of her own, including three locations of fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant Cornbread and her newest dining venture, Urban Vegan. Adenah opened her first IHOP in Irvington Township, New Jersey at the age of 27, making her one of the youngest IHOP franchisees in the country. Today, Adenah is the second largest employer in Irvington Township. Adenah’s grandmother showed her how to overcome adversity to succeed and taught her the value of working hard every day. Supporting her community is important to Adenah. She believes that housing is a right and owns and operates affordable housing developments in several communities. During the early days of the pandemic, Adenah opened her restaurant’s doors to help feed kids who were missing out on school lunches while schools were shut down. Quotes “People talk about luck all the time. Oftentimes I am the underdog. People always look at me and say, “She can’t do this. She’s not capable.” It’s those doubts that fuel me.” (Adenah) “I think we have a stigma with underdogs that it’s a bad thing. I would rather be an underdog than a leader. Being an underdog keeps you looking ahead, being a leader makes you look back. You always have to be looking over your shoulder as a leader and looking to see who’s coming up on you.” (Joseph) “If I can be more successful, I can give back more (to my communities). I believe that we as a community have to take care of each other. When you have the opportunity to give, just do it.” (Adenah) “I learned from an early age (while starting at McDonald’s) that the customer is always right. Another thing I learned was systems. There is a system for everything. So I knew when I started my businesses, we had to have a system.” (Adenah) “I started in the restaurant space through franchising. Franchising allows someone to come into a system that’s already been tested and join that partnership.” (Adenah) “During the pandemic, we were told to ‘support local’ but I reminded people that the McDonald’s down the street is also local. It’s owned by a local family and they hire local people. Support them, too.” (Joseph) “If you’re persistent, you will get it. And if you’re consistent, you will keep it.” (Adenah) Transcript 00:00.00 vigorbranding Hey everyone this morning I have the distinct pleasure of talking with my friend Adina Byo she is the founder at her own companies of which there are many. We're going to unpack all of them and all the efforts that Adena has been doing over the years before we jump in adna say hello and give a little bit of backstory. 00:18.60 adenah Hi Joseph my good new friend I just met with his beautiful new baby. Ah, my name is Adina Bio I am founder and Ceo of Adina Bio and companies and all that means is that we own 8 restaurants we own. 00:23.90 vigorbranding Um. 00:34.28 adenah Urban vegans we own four ihopbs we own 3 corn bread which is our own signature restaurants by the way as except for I have I wouldn't take credit for that. We have real estate in affordable housing. Um I believe fundamentally believe housing is a right. 00:45.61 vigorbranding Um. 00:53.71 adenah And I'm here as um as a conduit if I was to really say my purpose on this earth as a conit and I'm just grateful to be here with Joseph and just kind of get to know you a little bit that's all. 01:08.96 vigorbranding That's wonderful. Yeah, so you scratch the surface. Um, you're aware of many hats from entrepreneur to restaurant owner landlord developer franchisee. Um, you have a very ah. Notable portfolio of real estate. Um, you're self-described as a onewoman economic engine for the township of Irvington which is in New Jersey correct yep great so ah to say that you're busy. 01:31.65 adenah Yeah, yes, yes. 01:39.14 vigorbranding Pretty much an understateme