Opeola Bukola is an optimizer. The Nigerian-born founder and Principal of Lillo – a consulting firm specializing in operations and organizational development – has a long history with emerging organizations, brands, and business ecosystems.
Her operations career blossomed as she spun her brand as a digital marketer and startup community organizer into a municipal consulting role with Gainesville Florida’s design-focused “Department of Doing.” Her next stop was the global stage, as she took on a programming role facilitating remote experiences for digital nomads. This whirlwind of airports and co-working spaces took her bounding through a new country each month to introduce budding nomads to the growing lifestyle and community.
As she returned stateside, a newfound agility in hand, Opeola’s world got flip-turned upside down as she moved to and fell in love with the city of Philadelphia. She made stops at Techstars, as the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator Program Manager and at Backstage Capital, as their Philadelphia Accelerator Director and an Investment Associate in Strategic Initiatives, acquiring an abundant interest in and understanding of the Venture Capital and startup funding ecosystems.
Opeola’s adept communication skills and advocacy in the diversity and inclusion space have led her toward entrepreneurial support and public speaking engagements in the US and abroad. Her penchant for community, background in branding, and operations savvy soon converged in her involvement as the early-stage Facilitator of Philadelphia’s Global Identity Partnership, a public-private partnership aimed to manage a unified brand identity for the nation’s 6th largest city.
As 2020 brought a new role into her sights – Director of the Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange, a “grasstops” program at a corporate non-profit – the COVID-19 pandemic brought its own work: unlearning corporate elitism. After a year in the fold, Opeola’s thirst for grassroots community-centered work thankfully won, and she returned to work as Lillo’s full-time Principal, taking on a new spate of small to mid-sized business clients.
Today, Opeola is focused squarely on providing entrepreneurial support and change management services for businesses of all sizes, and growing her capacity. She has a particular interest in solutions that center independent workers, and has been enjoying learning about Cooperative Business Models, Real Estate, and Entertainment Production.
When she’s not working or being quippy (and, often, while she is), Opeola enjoys making good food, better friends, and excellent puns.
Enneagram: 6 – The Loyalist, 9 – The Peacemaker
Myers Briggs: ENFJ – The Protagonist
StrengthsQuest (CliftonStrengths): Input, Analytical, Ideation, Strategic, Learner
Zodiac: Capricorn