Storefront of The Oma Shop , a coffee shop in Harlem

I recently sat down with Lizzy Okpo, native New Yorker, and the owner of The Oma, Shop | Coffee + Home, located in Harlem on Amsterdam near 145th. Lizzy shares with me how her love and appreciation for architecture, interior design, and community allowed her to create a space that is more than a coffee shop.

Dominek: Oma means beautiful in Igbo, which is your Nigerian family's native language. Tell what you want patrons to experience when they walk into your business?

Lizzy: The Oma, Shop is a Coffee + Home shop in the heart of Sugar Hill Harlem. The Oma, means The Beautiful in Igbo (Native language of Nigeria) it’s an ode to bringing beauty into my community. We deserve to have beauty around us, without having to travel far from home. I’ve realized that I would leave my community and venture off downtown or even to Brooklyn for a nice experience, whether it be shopping, eating, or even a museum excursion. I wanted to change the narrative and be part of carving something beautiful for the community I’m from, and for my people. As a native New Yorker, I felt responsible for taking back our community by creating a small black business. Me snarling at gentrification and doing nothing about it wasn’t going to work for me anymore.

Lizzy Okpo | Owner of The Oma Shop
Image Credit : The Oma Shop

Dominek: Tell us what inspired you to open a coffee shop in Harlem and how you select the different products and brands featured in your shop?

Lizzy: In respect, to my design background and a large respect to architecture and interior design, I found the need to make the coffee shop a visually pleasing space that doesn’t convey the typical industrial stylized setting but more like a Moroccan or even Mexico living-room oasis. I created a co-located space where people can enjoy a beverage and be inspired by home goods, beauty, apothecary. The intent was to provide beauty in all aspects, and have the premise be The Oma, private-label goods in all the above categories as well as POC, women-owned, LBGTQ vendors. Terra-Tory is a vendor in our shop and fellow black women-owned New Yorker who makes all her beautiful soaps from food. By far the best soap I’ve ever used.

Dominek: You own The Oma Shop and William Okpo, a women’s fashion brand. Can you share the most challenging part of being a business owner?

Lizzy: The most challenging sleepless part of owning a business is finding the proper help. If only I could quadruple myself. Having to constantly blow out fires, tackle every error/issue that may appear is definitely a huge problem, and being a mom adds to the list of never-ending problem-solving.

Dominek: What is your favorite form of self-care when you aren’t at the coffee shop or working on your fashion brand?

Lizzy: I have The Oma,Home, in Catskills New York which has been a project in the works for over three years. In the midst of the build-out I’ve built a steam room-a last-minute addition to the house, but by far the best idea I’ve had. This steam room has been the medicine to my agony. At the end of the week I spend the weekend at The Oma, Home in the steam room, steaming, singing, and dancing.

Dominek: What is your go-to order at The Oma Shop?

Lizzy: THE OMA,ROSE milk drink is the drink to enjoy. If you haven’t had it I truly encourage you to try it. It’s our staple drink for the shop. It’s a purple color, our mascot color, but most importantly it’s Rose powder from Anima Mundi a wonderful herbalist. Rose powder acts as a stress relief, anxiety relief calming aid, a hint of lavender, and your choice of steamed milk and this creates our beautiful Oma,Rose. This drink is especially a great choice for anyone who isn’t looking to have caffeine and just wants to relax and have a soothing drink.

Dominek: What is next for The Oma Shop?

Lizzy: The future for The Oma,Shop is to expand in the private label collection. Dabbling into shoppable furniture, linens, apothecary all designed and created by me.