Soliat Bada is not always a professional chef. She started out as a member of CEO Dancers, a trio of female dancers who shot to stardom after reaching the semi finals at Britain's Got Talent 2013.
As a part of CEO Dancers, Soliat has worked with numerous singers such as Rihanna, Drake, Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage and many more.
Following the group's disintegration, Soliat moved to Lagos, Nigeria two years ago, where she traded in her dancing shoes for an apron. "I've always cooked, you know," she told Globetrotter when we sat down with her. "I was taught to cook by my mother and my sister. I went into it professionally, and properly, and exclusively when my dance group kinda disintegrated. And I thought, like, I needed something to focus on, I needed something that I could be creative in. And cooking was just an easy transition for me, because it was something I was always doing, anyway."
Soliat then founded her own catering company, Nula's Kitchen, whose name is a tribute to her mother (Nura) and sister (Lara). More recently, she has opened a chicken wing joint, named Byrd, and became the host to a cooking show, Off the Menu with Soliat Bada, where she gets to share recipes and cooking methods, while showcasing her quirky humor and personality.
Soliat may have already realized some of her dreams, but she is now on a mission to achieve a new one, which is to commercialize and globalize Nigerian food. "A lot of people don't really know about [Nigerian food]. You know the basic things like the Jollof rice, which is also incredible, but there's so much more! So much more to learn, so much more to showcase," she said. "In London, Indian food is probably the number one takeaway cuisine. So I would like Nigerian food to be on that level."
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