There are professionals who build careers. Then there are those who build legacies. Iquo Ukoh, at 70, belongs to the latter category, a woman whose journey from university graduate to corporate pioneer to cultural custodian reads like a masterclass in reinvention, resilience and relentless pursuit of excellence.

Early Foundations and Corporate Entry

She entered Nestlé Nigeria as a young woman with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a brief stint as a dietetic intern at Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

When she walked into that boardroom, she carried the aspirations of every woman who had been told leadership was not her place. She proved them wrong, not with words but with performance that could not be ignored.

Breaking Barriers and Rising Through the Ranks

Her rise through the ranks was methodical. First female marketing manager at executive management level. First woman on the board of directors. Each step deliberate, each achievement earned through competence that demanded recognition. She worked across Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, building her reputation as a marketing strategist who understood consumers, markets and the delicate art of turning insights into action.

Reinvention After Retirement

When she retired in 2013, many expected her to fade into the comfortable obscurity that often follows distinguished corporate careers. Ukoh had other plans. She traded the boardroom for the kitchen, but she brought the same discipline, the same strategic thinking, the same commitment to excellence.

Preserving Culture Through Food

In 2013, she launched 1Q Food Platter, a blog that became her platform for celebrating Nigerian cuisine with the kind of attention to detail that corporate life had trained into her. Her photographs elevated local dishes. Her recipes preserved traditions. Her writing connected generations.

Documenting Heritage in Print

Ten years later came Memories on a Platter: My Journey with Nigerian Food, a cookbook that is equal parts recipe collection, cultural archive and personal memoir. She documented over 130 recipes, wrote 22 stories, incorporated pidgin English and proper Nigerian languages, and created something that transcends cooking.

She built a bridge between past and present, between Nigeria and its diaspora, between grandmother’s kitchen and modern tables around the world.

Industry Recognition and Boardroom Influence

The honors accumulated. Fellow of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria. Member of the American Marketing Association. First Vice President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria.

In March 2025, Presco Plc appointed her as Independent Non-Executive Director, recognizing that her decades of marketing and strategic expertise could transform how the agricultural sector thinks about its markets.

Marketing EDGE and the Pathfinder Honour

Marketing EDGE understood her value early. In 2022, they inducted her into their Hall of Fame as Marketing Pathfinder, a title that captured both her pioneering spirit and her role in clearing the way for those who followed.

The recognition was not just about what she achieved but about how she achieved it, with integrity, with grace, with a commitment to lifting others as she climbed.

Setting Standards for the Industry

When the Nigerian Marketing Awards needed someone to chair their Awards Decision Council, they chose Ukoh. The appointment spoke to her standing in the industry, her reputation for fairness, her eye for genuine excellence. She now shapes the standards by which her profession measures itself, a responsibility she carries with the seriousness it deserves.

A Philosophy of Excellence

At the Women in Marketing and Communications Conference and Awards 2025, she delivered the keynote address on In Pursuit of Excellence. The theme could have been her autobiography.

Every phase of her life has been marked by that pursuit, whether developing marketing strategies in corporate suites or perfecting recipes in her kitchen or mentoring the next generation of female professionals.

Embracing New Creative Frontiers

Her versatility continues to surprise. When filmmaker Toyosi Akerele Ogunsiji, her mentee, asked her to appear in the Nollywood film Makemation, Ukoh agreed.

She took on her first acting role at an age when many would consider new challenges too risky. Her cameo demonstrated what those who know her already understood: she remains curious, engaged, willing to step outside comfort zones.

Continuing Impact Across Platforms

As CEO of Entod Marketing Ltd, she continues providing marketing solutions across West Africa. Through The 1Q Food Platter Show podcast, she reaches audiences hungry for her knowledge of food, nutrition and Nigerian culinary heritage. Her influence spans platforms, generations and sectors.

Giving Flowers While She Can Still Smell Them

Marketing EDGE gave her flowers while she could still smell them, recognizing her as a woman who shaped integrated marketing communications in Nigeria not through self promotion but through consistent excellence.

They celebrated a pathfinder whose legacy lives in every woman who now occupies spaces once closed to her, every professional who saw her example and believed excellence could overcome barriers, every young marketer who learned that competence, character and commitment still matter.

A Life That Redefined Possibility

At 70, Ukoh embodies what happens when talent meets opportunity, when preparation meets moment, when excellence becomes habit. She is the dietitian who became an executive.

The corporate leader who became a cultural custodian. The marketing professional who became an industry standard bearer. The mentor whose adopted daughters and mentees carry her lessons into their own careers.

Doors Opened, Standards Set

She opened doors that had remained locked. She set standards that still guide the profession. She proved that one woman’s determination to excel could change what an entire generation believed was possible.

A Living Legacy

The industry continues to celebrate her because her story is their story, her victories their victories, her legacy their foundation. Marketing EDGE understood this when they honored her, recognizing that some contributions cannot be measured in campaigns or budgets but in lives changed, paths cleared, possibilities expanded.

Excellence as a Lifelong Journey

Iquo Ukoh at 70 remains what she has always been: a professional of uncompromising standards, a pioneer who never stopped pushing boundaries, a mentor generous with her wisdom, a cultural preservationist passionate about her heritage, and a living reminder that excellence is not a destination but a journey.

The Pathfinder at 70

The first. The pathfinder. The standard. The queen of Nigerian marketing communications who wore her crown with dignity and used her platform to lift others.

At 70, she is still teaching, still building, still showing what a life dedicated to excellence looks like. And the flowers keep coming, deserved recognition for a woman who never sought glory but earned it anyway, one principled decision at a time.