Derrick Johnson
Home of Chicken and Waffles
Oakland, CA USA
"Stay focused and don’t let anyone talk you out of your dreams."
Career Roadmap
Derrick's work combines: Entrepreneurship, Food, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Business Administration and Management
Fisk University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I was born and raised in Oakland, California.
2.
When I went to college, my first goal was to become a dentist, but I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me as I gained more experience.
3.
I decided to look into business instead—I got an internship at IBM during my junior and senior years, which helped to solidify my interest in business.
4.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fisk University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee.
5.
While the corporate experience at IBM was valuable, I realized that I would rather work for myself than a corporation.
6.
My father is one of the original founders of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and my cousins had a franchise in Oakland—I became an investor when they wanted to reopen the restaurant.
7.
I ended up completing the remodel and rehabilitation, and then took over as lead—I’ve been running the restaurant now for over 20 years.
