Joke Adedeji: a career of creativity, drive, authenticity and kindness

From art to architectural design, entrepreneurship to consultancy, sales to Salesforce… some might call these pivots, but for Joke Adedeji they are all part of life’s grand scheme and speak to fundamental truths in her character. She embraces the new, sees challenges as chances and is always a helper. And these qualities truly shine through in her role as Salesforce Adoption and Enablement Lead for our Digital Printing & Solutions (DP&S) Global Commercial Operation.

“At the end of the day,” she says, “you tend to gravitate more towards your unique self, your inner self – who you are with your friends and family.” When you speak with Joke, you feel this authenticity and, in turn, like you are in safe hands. This, and her clear sense of delight whenever she encounters new people or opportunities, makes her career path seem entirely natural and intentional, even though she has travelled the world, changed careers, been both employed and her own boss.

Her adult life began, somewhat surprisingly, in the infamous desert city of Las Vegas, after her parents relocated there from Nigeria when she was fifteen. According to her mother, Joke was the kind of child who everyone wanted to be friends with and, even today, she is the person her friends and family come to when they need a calming presence. It’s entirely at odds with the stereotype of the artistic temperament, but there is no doubt that she is deeply creative and desperately wanted to study art at university. “I told my parents, and they were like, ‘No way! You'll be a starving artist!’”

The compromise was a degree in architectural design at the University of Nevada, which led her to an internship that really left its mark. “The owner of the firm gave me so much autonomy,” she remembers. “I put together drawings and joined brainstorms. It planted the idea that, actually, I could do this by myself. I could build a company.” It spurred her to take the huge leap to the University of Maryland (“straight from the West Coast to the East Coast, far away from my family”), where she completed her master’s in architecture and met her British husband. Soon the pair set off to start their married life – and family – in the UK.

Now, being a first-time parent, thousands of kilometres from your own relatives, sounds daunting and certainly not the ideal time to start a new business. But you can probably guess where we’re going here. “When you're the creative, family and friends come to you for favours,” she laughs. “So, I decided to turn design work into a business. And it meshed well with my life. We had a new baby daughter, and I needed to be more flexible.”

A baby boy quickly followed, and Joke continued designing for clients while holding hugely popular paper crafting workshops in her daughter’s school. Until, very naturally, the time came to return to an office environment. But, of course, she naturally gravitated towards worlds where paper reigns. First working for royal-appointed stationers, The Wren Press and then to British paper creator, GF Smith, where she worked as a consultant for the south east of England. This was where her heart, creativity, love of learning and career aspirations would find their perfect intersection.

“In 2019, we got Salesforce [a tool for managing customer relationships, sales, and business operations] in GF Smith and I saw the importance of getting onboard with this change quickly. So, I started learning and was immediately taken. I remember thinking, ‘wow, this is good.’ The pandemic gave Joke both time and space to dive deep into the software, learning as much as she possibly could. Towards the end of the year, “that entrepreneurial itch started again” and she accepted voluntary redundancy, so she could be a freelance consultant.

However, right alongside that enterprising spirit was, and is, Joke’s desire to enrich the lives of others – particularly in Nigeria, her birth country, which holds deep cultural and familial significance for her. So, when a role presented itself at Canon, it felt like destiny, because not only would it continue her long career with companies for which creativity is everything, but the Canon Young People Programme absolutely resonated with her calling as one of life’s helpers. “I thought, this is a golden moment.”

In her role here, Joke’s strengths and values are perfect. She offers support to our Salesforce teams across EMEA, tailoring how she works with her many stakeholders to their specific needs and learning styles. She is valued for her clear-headed, approachable and reassuring demeanour as much as her expert knowledge. Plus, she has plenty of opportunities to support initiatives which drive meaningful change at both a local and global level, such as our Stemettes Innovation Challenge and the Young People Programme, which will have an increasing presence in Nigeria.

“Because, for me, it's always been about paper, design, print and creative,” she says. “And I'm at my happiest when I'm with lots of people, helping them to do something.” This applies equally to her home life as it does work, where she’s thrilled to see the same creative spirit flow through her children, nieces and nephews, bringing her a real sense of joy and hope for the future. “I believe you need to have a childlike heart to be successful,” she adds. “To be giving and help as many people as you can. The most important thing, I think, is to leave that legacy. And Canon is enabling me to do that through my role”.

Find out more about careers at Canon.