Heels to henhouse

After signing off from her 9-to-5 job on week days, Nekeisha Graham, sometimes dressed in her stilettos, heads to her chicken coop in St Andrew to check on her birds and ensure that her budding business continues to thrive.

“Before COVID hit, I was a 9-to-5 person. I was doing my 9-to-5 job … [but now] I get up every day knowing that I have my birds, knowing that they are here, and I have to be here for them, so I motivate myself on a daily basis to just get up, knowing that I have it [livestock farming] and just do it,” Graham said.

Graham, owner of Niki’s Yolk, admits that when the concept of earning a living from agriculture was introduced to her as a child, she scoffed at the idea. However, after becoming an adult, and being confronted with life’s responsibilities, agriculture, for the St Ann native, has become the proverbial stone that the builder refused.

“This dream started in 2021 [in St Ann] when I started doing my master’s degree in human resources at The University of the West Indies and COVID hit, so I decided to take a break,” Graham told The Sunday Gleaner during an interview on Friday.

Invested my school fee

“I invested my school fee into this business, and I have no regrets because my business is growing,” said Graham, who has a bachelor’s degree in tourism and holds down a job in the education sector.

The small egg farmer said she was employed at the time when she launched Niki’s Yolk but yearned for an increase in her income. And after seeing her peers earn extra cash from livestock farming, she decided to enter the egg-farming business. She began with 700 layers in native St Ann and was even involved in the laying of building blocks to construct the chicken coop. She remained in the Garden Parish for the next two years before migrating to Kingston with her daughters.

Early this year, a friend allowed her to establish a chicken coop farm near his property. Now, she spends her evenings after her 9-to-5 job at the coop, often in heels, feeding her layers, cleaning the coop, and collecting eggs.

As an entrepreneur, Graham admits that business has its ups and downs. When she once had crates of unsold eggs, she turned to TikTok, which boosted her sales and motivated other women across the island to start their own businesses or find additional income streams.

Graham is driven by her two daughters, Richelle and Nekealah, age nine and six. “On weekends, they help me pick up the eggs. They motivate me, and every day they remind me of our farm responsibilities,” she shared.

Women often reach out to Graham on TikTok for advice on starting and managing a business. She takes time to respond, offering guidance and support. Her engaging posts on TikTok have garnered her 127,000 followers, many inspired by her determination and unique approach to farming. She believes in finding a niche in business, and for her, it’s her corporate attire in her chicken coop that has contributed to the curiosity about her business. Her videos in heels, while working on the farm, draw followers and create a unique image in the farming community. Although she receives both positive and negative feedback, the support and inspiration from her followers outweigh the negativity.

‘How do you do it?

“I’m just motivated by that. As also, the women in society, they are looking to me as well. I’ve had a lot of women reached out to me on TikTok and just ask me, ‘How do you do it? How do you continue to do it on a daily basis?’ ‘Can you help me?’ I have people asking me to help them or to guide them as to how to start the business, and I do take time out to answer those direct messages when people ask me. The females especially,” she said.

On July 3, Graham had plans to travel outside of the island, but given the threat posed by Hurricane Beryl, she decided to stay put and safeguard her investment. She has posted videos on social media highlighting the extent to which she was preparing her farm to not fall apart during the storm.

Despite the demanding nature of her work, Graham is passionate about her business and is not afraid to get her hands dirty.

“I’m here at the farm every single day. I leave work, [and] instead of going home, I head straight to my businessplace, and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. When I say every day, I mean seven days a week. I do a 9-to-5, but once work is done, I’m on the farm, getting my eggs, feeding my birds, cleaning my water pans, just about everything that we do on the farm. I get my hands involved, and I get my hands dirty doing it,” Graham said.

She continued: “I’m not afraid to get my heels dirty. I’m not afraid to get dust or feathers or whatever it is on my clothes because they’re taken off and washed at the end of each day,” she said.

Looking ahead, she aims to expand her business beyond the Corporate Area to other parishes within five years. She encourages aspiring farmers, especially women, to seek guidance from entities such as the Rural Agricultural Development Authority about how to establish and grow their business. She said the hardest part of the journey is making the first step.

“You just need to get up. You just need to start. That’s all you need to do, and you’ll get it done,” she said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com