Episode 2: Jollof Rice and Burger Celebrations with Sumorwuo Zaza, CEO & Co-Founder at Nicklpass
Send us a text What if the meal you grew up with is what gets you through the hardest parts of building a company? In this episode of Founders Fridge, host Heidi Knoblauch sits down with Sumorwuo Zaza, co-founder of nicklpass, to explore how childhood meals and family traditions can shape the way founders lead and persevere. Zaza grew up in a Liberian household where “food is medicine.” Meals weren’t just for eating—they were preparation. Rice, protein, and greens fueled long days of learning...
What if the meal you grew up with is what gets you through the hardest parts of building a company?
In this episode of Founders Fridge, host Heidi Knoblauch sits down with Sumorwuo Zaza, co-founder of nicklpass, to explore how childhood meals and family traditions can shape the way founders lead and persevere.
Zaza grew up in a Liberian household where “food is medicine.” Meals weren’t just for eating—they were preparation. Rice, protein, and greens fueled long days of learning and work, while Friday night burgers and once-in-a-while pizza became symbols of celebration and progress.
Today, as Zaza builds Nicklpass—a B2B platform that gives professionals single sign-on access to hundreds of premium news and data sources—he still leans on those lessons. When things are going well, it is a burger. When things are tough, he goes back to basics: rice, spinach, and focus.
This conversation explores the connection between food, culture, and entrepreneurship—and how the rituals we learn early in life can carry us through the hardest moments of building something new.
Listen to hear:
- How Nicklpass evolved from a blockchain micropayments startup to a patented SaaS platform
- Why food and leadership are more connected than we think
- The meaning of “food is medicine” in Zaza’s life and work
- What is really in his fridge
Subscribe to Founders Fridge for more conversations about the meals that feed founders—and the habits that hold everything together.
#FoundersFridge #Nicklpass #Entrepreneurship #StartupStories #Leadership #FoodIsMedicine #LiberianFood
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From shucking oysters to talking food with the founders. From quick snacks to the big contracts. Hi everyone, my name's Heidi Nlock and I'm the host of Founders Fridge. Founders Fridge is a podcast where we talk to founders about what they eat while they're building their company. On today's episode, we have Zaza, co-founder of Nickel Pass. Zaza is based in Philadelphia and we talk about Jolola rice, burger fries, and special occasion pizza. Let's hear what's in Zaza's fridge.
Sumorwuo Zaza
Co-Founder & CEO
Sumorwuo Zaza is the CEO of NICKLpass, a Philadelphia-based venture aiming to improve the relationships between media companies and their subscribers. Prior to co-founding Nickl, Zaza worked as the director of the international division at The Huffington Post. Sumorwuo was a Regional Manager at PublicStuff, a public policy startup based in New York City, where he focused on helping local governments in the Northeast implement cloud-based civic engagement tools. Prior to joining PublicStuff, he was a Management Consultant at Booz & Company under the Financial Services practice. His background includes real estate development, urban planning, and business attraction for his hometown Newark, NJ. Sumorwuo is also on the Young Leadership Board of New Jersey Needs You, a nonprofit organization that prepares first-generation college students for career success. Sumorwuo graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Government and a Secondary in Economics. He played football under head coach Tim Murphy and ran Veritas Financial Group, the largest pre-professional student organization on campus. While at Harvard, he co-founded Brick City Alumni Group, a community organization that brings back successful Newark natives to help high school students navigate the college application process.
