Proven Not Perfect
Proven Not Perfect
Art, Ancestry, And A Bold Pivot Conversation with Serial Entrepreneur Nkenge Adams
A phone call, a building rehab, and a question: do you want these? That’s how 90 African artifacts—masks, ritual pieces, and carved figures—arrived and changed the path of serial entrepreneur Nkenge Adams. What could have been a quick sale became a long bet on community, culture, and the living artists who shape both. We walk through the decision to steward rather than liquidate, the ancestry research that linked the collection to Cameroon and Nigeria, and the practical steps that turned private objects into public learning through exhibitions, grants, and youth programs.
We dig into the felt and measured power of art. Beyond beauty, art delivers health: stress reduction, better mood regulation, richer social ties, and stronger cognitive engagement. That’s why we designed hands-on experiences where kids become junior curators—choosing materials, writing labels, presenting their work, and touring gallery storage to see how shows come to life. When children witness their names on a placard and their ideas in a frame, something shifts. Confidence grows. Curiosity takes root. And the gallery becomes a place they can claim.
We also talk investment—NFTs and tokens versus the irreplaceable presence of objects—and why fair pay for living artists is overdue. Institutions are starting to fund community curation and stipends, and we share how those models can scale. The conversation moves from personal pivot to public value: art as a vehicle for wellness, identity, and memory, and as a catalyst for the next cultural renaissance. Want to see the work, host an exhibition, or bring a youth program to your city? Visit nKengeGallery.com and connect with Kenge Adams on LinkedIn. If this story moved you, follow, share with a friend who loves art, and leave a review to help others find the show.
Drive, Ambition, Doing, Leading, Creating... all good until we forget about our own self-care. This Village of All-Stars pays it forward with transparency about misses and celebration in winning. We cover many topics and keep it 100. We are Proven Not Perfect™️
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I'd love to hear what you think!
Kenji Adams. It's so good to have you on the Proven Not Perfect um community podcast show, whatever you want to call it. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I've known you for a long time, lady.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, over 20 at least.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Amazing to say that because I think when we met, we literally had babies. Now we have grown people.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. They're literally like grown. Like I have a yes. They're grown. Whole people.
SPEAKER_01:People that people that need to now start, you know, re paying us back that return on investment. So I have a yes, I'm ready. I haven't ready to see that.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I am ready to see those. I'm ready to catch the mercy and get my my ROI on my kids. So what was that?
SPEAKER_01:I'm with you. And so that is a great introduction to the conversation that I'm excited about us having today. This is all about getting the return on investment. Um, in an area that I've yet to talk to anyone at this level about before. Um, so certainly arts has been a part of other people's story, but I was kind of thinking, who can I have in the Proven Not Perfect Podcast environment to help us kind of unpack some of the thinking around the importance of art, what it means for our life, um, in so many ways, the more that I'm studying, I realize the impact of art is so much more than trivial. And I think I might book myself a trip to the local art museum this weekend just because I am truly believing the hype. So Kenji, the reason um that uh so so let's kind of just start with when I say art means to me, dot dot dot, how would you follow the dots? What does art mean to you?
SPEAKER_00:And it's funny because um I don't always consider myself an artist. I mean when I met you, both of us were in the business world and you know, all that kind of thing. But for me, art just um has opened up so many doors, and it just feels like being your true self. So if I had to put it into like one or two words, I would just be freedom, self-expression, and joy. And um, those are just some of the words I would use, and also discovery because there's so many things that I'm learning. Like I'm going back, I think I mentioned when we talked earlier, um, that I'm going back to school and getting another master's in actually art history. So I'm actually now studying the history of art and and what it means to be, you know, an artist. And it goes way back, you know, 10th century across, you know, different areas, across, you know, Chinese and different other kinds of you know, countries, continents, and just understanding what those um a little bit more about what it meant to them and why they created the art that they did. And then for me, it's just more of a self-expression on and a deeper understanding of me as a person and how I relate to some of these these pieces.
SPEAKER_01:What I love about what you just said is the agency that goes along with the pivot. Because to your point, starting off in a lane that's purely um business oriented, not art business, but business itself. Um, and I believe more in the IT tech realm for you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and the project manager, yeah, for 20 years and application developments. Like that's I mean, there is creativity in the design of the software, you know, software, the screens, the user experience that all is also artistic, but I think in my day-to-day, it was mostly about project, you know, getting a dime, deadlines, budgets. That's kind of the world I lived in.
SPEAKER_01:So you've ratcheted it up. So when you when you decided to make this pivotal shift from the project management, software application, day-to-day, tell me a little bit about what was calling you into this, or or rather inviting you, because I think in your story, something pretty pivotal happened in your legacy, quite frankly, to invite you into to this space even more. Can you share that with us?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So when I was actually gifted a lot of these pieces that were from Africa, which is a whole nother probably podcast on that. No, it's not.
SPEAKER_01:No, girl, this is a conversation because we need to know who you are and why you why you have the impact that you do. So yeah, so no, definitely tell us about that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so um I was doing consulting, you know, in the business world, and uh partner that I had worked with, like a organization in my school, I didn't come into and acquired lots of artifacts when they're rehabbing a building that they just bought. And they came across all of these artifacts, and they asked me basically, did I did I want them? And I thought it'd be a couple of things, you know, a couple of masks, a couple statues, but it was it was over 90 pieces of African art.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Um, you know, uh, masks, um, a lot of it was spiritual masks. Um, so I've been on this pursuit of just trying to understand where these came from, who owned these, what do they mean, um, letting people who wouldn't normally have access to see it. I've done my own journey. I've done my own not only ancestry DNA, I did my own African heritage DNA to understand my own African heritage and what that meant, and what tribes on my maternal side am I connected to, which tied to Cameroon and tribes in Cameroon as well as Nigeria, and found that a lot of the pieces I had are from Cameroon or from Nigeria.
SPEAKER_01:So when art imitates life, like in all seriousness, when I asked you what it called you, did it invite you? There is such um such a bigger spiritual element to what you just said. So I I I just can't gloss over this because the story is one that I think will inspire others. Here you are going about your day and your way, doing the consulting business that you operate. And you find yourself in a situation where a client offers to gift you this art vault. And you then respectfully give a yes and took the assignment to start understanding it, and then you find out it connects to your own personal heritage. I'm serious, that's that's like mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I feel like it was and divine, and it and it's funny because you know, a lot of us have journeys and twists and turns, and then we wonder, why did that experience happen? Why did I do this? So it was my training as a project manager who sees projects, who analyzes things, who builds relationships, who you know, looks for you know opportunities to you know engage with others. I was like, you know, there's there's two paths, you know, one is oh, sell it, retire, pay off all your kids' student loans, whatever. Or it's kind of like, you know, what do you have? How does it represent you and the community? So I took the community route, which, you know, was a little interesting route. But over the past, it's been about a little over a year, I've been able to do two exhibitions where I've been able to kind of um work with uh University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee art African art professor to actually curate. I curated about 27 pieces of what I have and been able to showcase them in community um basically for free as part of a grant that I was luckily able to get. I was able to teach three cohorts of students um over the summer, including College for Kids, where we taught what we learned about a piece, we learned a little bit about the history and had their kids dive into their own history, their own ancestry. Because I had a diverse group of kids from different, you know, backgrounds, and they could tell a little bit about their own story too, and we could talk about how these masks were used for celebrations and what are some of the celebrations that they use in order to drill the camaraderie amongst the kids. So I've had a really, really incredible journey and experiences that I don't think I would have had had I you know kept going down the same business track. And just like a week ago, I was meeting at the field museum in Chicago with the African art curator who's overseeing the new exhibition that they're building in a field museum and seeing behind the scenes and talking about potential opportunities. So just things that I I get to do now in spaces that I get to go to that I don't think I would have been able to do, you know, a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_01:All because I actually think two things, and I wonder if I wonder if you've unpacked this even personally yourself. The first thing is that you were courageous and bold to not take the easy route. Easy route for a whole lot of people would pay off debt, set up kids, or honor this as a unique asset. You chose the harder of the two. That's the first thing. The second thing is you chose to be a good steward of it for the greater good. And you know, launching these programs and these initiatives that inspire other kids, other people to understand their own core, their own lineage, their own legacies. Um the cultural expression is amazing. Those are two big, big things. Have you have you stopped to think about that? Or is it are you just full flow?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, I mean that about it because the first thing, like, you know, you call your parents and I'm talking to my dad, and I'm like, Dad, I got all these things, and some of them have been appraised for a bit. Yeah, and he was like, sell it, you know, like like hands down, sell it, you know, which I think in the long run, I mean the short run, yes, because I've had museums want to, you know, want them. I've had, you know, art dealers, you know, ask me several times to consign or sell it. So I, you know, I've had individuals wanting to buy pieces. So, you know, not to say I'll never ever do anything like that, but I think the return in the long run, because I am it's still an investment. So I still can do exhibitions, I can still do programming, I can still utilize this access, um, you know, to do other things too. So it's not like it's just not doing anything for me. So it's a vehicle to other things, it's just a little bit different um pathway to get there.
SPEAKER_01:So you probably know all about this, but I've been doing some research on the benefits of art. And, you know, for so long, I've been a student of the art, right? Studying, um, studying dance and and doing so for many, many years, and then encouraging my children um to leverage art um performance as well. And one of one of my kids um just took that to the next level on her own. But I do understand the impact that it has to bring celebration and joy. But as I started to do the research, there's science out there, longitudinal studies that have been done right now that say the impact of a healthy art life on our life can be the difference of 14 years, adding healthy years to your life. In fact, the study speaks to it decreases stress when you have a regular participation with art. It helps you to m regulate your mood, it increases social engagement, it increases cognitive stimulation, it increases a physical activation. It literally moves you. Girl, when I read that, I was like, what? Like no days when I need to go to the gym?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I do feel I like I do feel like now. I mean, you haven't seen me with like braids and like red glasses. It's like, what is this? So it's just like I think it, I do, I think overall feel better. Like I think it's um, yeah, and it's it's like you're saying an artist. Like you don't do art obviously for the money, you do it because it makes you feel good. You do it for the passion, you do it how it engages others. And when I have classes and like and I was I'm fortunate to have um a relative of mine is uh a black artist for Marvel Comics who illustrated one of my pieces, and the kids take an illustration of one of my artifacts and they learn about it, but then they use the template that we use, like a drawing, and come up with their own expression for themselves. And sometimes we use um watercolor or move or we use pencils. We talked about nature where I brought in sticks and leaves, and kids can be creative. And then what I do is I teach them how um to become little junior curators. So they learn about medium, they learn about you know what materials did they use, the process they used, and then I let them actually become artists where they get to showcase their work. So when I did a week-long class last summer at UWM, I partnered with uh Mathis Gallery, which is the gallery within the art history um department building. And the kids had their own exhibition where they got to dress up like artists, whatever that looked like. And we gave them all their own little pedestal and all the kids, and they had a little tag with their name and the name of their piece and the materials they use, and they got to showcase their art for the professors and their parents and other kids, and have a little mini reception at the end. So it was something that the kids could feel good about, and they also worked on you know, grouping things that are dissimilar. They worked on their presentation skills, so there's all the there's a bunch of skills that were learned kind of through play by using art. And so that was something that was really, really interesting that had not been done on campus before, where the kids actually had a chance to be, you know, little mini exhibitors and actually tour gallery. We did a behind-the-scenes tour of a gallery. So, kids, depending on your interests, because kids have different interests. Some kids like to be attract, some kids like to be behind. So I thought by letting the kids see the behind the scenes, how gallery works, also how to draw, they got to be creative and do the curation piece. Then maybe kids could find a place that would appeal to them, that they want to, you know, spark something in them that could do something else going forward. So that's why I kind of like to do it a couple different ways so kids can kind of feel get in where they get in, you know, fit in. And some kids were really big on history. Some kids weren't really big on trying, but they love the historical part, or they love the nature part, or they love the presentation part. So that's just something that I try to give vehicle for people to.
SPEAKER_01:That's a good point because I think with so much defunding um in some of our educational programs in schools, um, there's a new opportunity for systems and structures to come into place that don't lose these fundamental core offerings for the kids, right? Because if I'm sitting here acknowledging all the studied, proven health effects of art in your life holistically as an adult, then what would that mean for the next generation to establish that as a norm? One thing I can say as a mom of three, maybe it means they put down the digital social media just for a moment, right? And and certainly the same things for us. What do you what do you think about some of the shifts that are happening right now that will come to make art more prominent, um, maybe even as an investor, right? So um, you know, with with crypto and and and digital um Bitcoin and and things of the like, um, there are NFTs, there are all sorts of new creative ways to consider if you know, expounding upon your investment philosophy. Um do you do you see that there are gonna be any particular trends that emerge? Do you think it will be of cultural relevance? Are we in a cultural season? Um, do you think that um maybe just in true art fashion it could it's gonna just resonate with the heartbeat of what's going on now? Like I'd love to get just your free thinking on, you know, how do how do we think about investing in art um for the future?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think one thing is I know like with the tokens and all that, I think at the end of the day, I think people like to physically have things. Maybe that's just me. I'm just more old school, but I would I mean, I think it's one thing to see it on your phone, or it's one thing to see it, whatever. But I I really think having a piece of art actually and seeing it, yeah, it actually means a lot um more. One thing that I've learned when I've been um just kind of going through this journey and actually working with artists and and you know, different people who are in this art industry is that a lot of times people don't value your work till you're super old or gone even. And so one thing I would love to see, which I don't know how to solve for this, is really supporting those young artists now.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So they don't have to wait. Because a lot of times what I've seen or what people have said is that you can have an artist who's great.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But unfortunately, people wait until they're 80 and then they buy it, and then the family doesn't recognize how great they are when they pass. All of that great art goes to somebody else who makes way.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:I think about you know, like nobody bought anything as artists I core. So I just think investing in artists and and paying them for their work. Yes. And and you know, and like I'm working with a couple of places, and one place in Madison is is looking at building a new space for, you know, just community, a cultural center. And I met with the woman who's kind of in charge of all of that program, and they actually have you know a pretty nice stipend for the artists to come and curate the space. So I think just you know, paying artists, seeing what their value, and then you look at the history of artists, a lot of artists captured things um in that time period. Like a lot of it was like socially, you know, um, you know, voice type of in their art and a way to rebel against the things that were going on in their government or around in their society. So we may see more of that, but I think in general, I think if people would invest in artists now, or at least if you have invite them to exhibit, you know, don't try to shortchange them. And then I know it's it's so hard to see what's valued and what's not, it's kind of up to the person, but I just hate to see older, especially older minority artists suffer and not make any money until they pass or until they're really old to even enjoy and be appreciated.
SPEAKER_01:Well, even young ones. So when you were talking, I thought of Andy Warhol and right. Uh I mean, his art right now is still toiling around, you know, the world. So much of it, I think, is owned by one gentleman in Dallas at this point, where you know, you're talking significant value on that art where this young man lost his life early. Um I also think though, and and I I know that that this isn't necessarily enough time to solve for, but kind of as you said, thinking about the solution, the problem solution, right? Is the the artist is producing now. Art is yielding a value to the beholder now. So how do you connect in a free market capitalist society the fact that the artist has done commendable work and the value is visible and seen by the beholder, right? And so it feels to me as a finance person like straight math of you know understanding the cost and understanding that exponential value that's received now. And then if you go back to that study and you say the intangibles that go along with art in our lives, around our lives, you can't put a price tag around mood regulation. You can't put a price tag around cognitive stimulation, right? And so if we take all of those things and layer them in, I think that would be rather, rather interesting. Well, look, um there's more for us to talk about because I really want to think um think together with you about the cultural components of art. Um I think about the Renaissance moments in history where art has just come forward as quite frankly the catalyst for change, the catalyst for connection. Um I would love to spend some time just kind of unpacking some of the historical impacts that arts and culture and society is known to have had, right? And it helps that you're the professor right now in the school because you know you're a good professor. I'm a student, I'm a school student. I've already promoted you to the next level. That's how that works. Like, I'm not there yet. I'm still on the journey. My proven not perfect crew of all-stars, y'all know. I I promote my people, right? I promote my people. I ride and my people ride for me, and and I'm so grateful for that. Um, Kenji, look, um, I think this is amazing that you're able to share just what comes with the, I'm gonna say the selflessness when you are, when you f when any of us, and and this happens to be a conversation about around art, but in general, there's a selflessness and a kindness that's required for us to reap all of the abundance that's available for us. And because you chose to see two options in a door, and you chose the selfless one, the kind one, I just believe you chose the abundant door, right? And I'm so proud of you, and I can't wait to talk more with you about the impact of art around the world. But if folks want to see your art and experience some of your early work, where can they find you on socials or internet? Tell us how to find you.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So I have a website, it's in Kenji, n K E N G E gallery.com. And I'm also on LinkedIn at Kenji, which is K-E-N-G-E Adams, and um our gallery in Kenji Addams is also on LinkedIn as well. So you can check us out there.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. And then next question because somebody's gonna ask when they see something and they behold it and they fall in love, are your pieces for sale or not at the moment?
SPEAKER_00:No, still no, not for the moment. So right now, what I'm doing is I'm open for exhibitions, I'm open for talks, I'm open for discussing childhood and um youth programming. Those are the type of, and I can bring my pieces and share there. Yes, but right now it's still a private collection as of now. So we're gonna set the date.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I am um shortly going to be launching a series in-person live, uh, partnered with a pretty special um uh location here in South Florida, and love to have you and your pieces and to create space for um the the mirroring of exhibition and conversation. So are you up for that? Putting you on the sure. Absolutely. See, I told y'all is my crew.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Excellent. Okay, well, thank you so much. Have a wonderful, wonderful rest of the day. And uh, I just can't wait till all the for all the things that are on their way to come. All right. Blessed you and the family.