One-on-one with Ndidiamaka “Didi” Okpareke

Soon after Ndidiamaka “Didi” Okpareke opened her Rio Rancho compounding pharmacy in 2017, she discovered there was more to the business than preparing medicine for a client’s particular health needs.

It turned out there was a lot of driving around — three hours every day — to spread the word and drum up business.

“I would put a note on the door, 'Out Marketing from 12 to 3. Please come back,'” Okpareke says. “I would just drive — Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Bernalilllo, Santa Fe, Los Alamos … looking for customers, marketing to providers, anyone that had connections. I remember once I ended up in this place in the middle of nowhere, and thought, ‘What if I die out here?’”

Five years later, Olive Tree is getting ready to move from its current location at 1920 Westside SE into a $2 million building that broke ground in July. The new location, at 1713 Wellspring SE, is twice the size and will allow more room for patient consultations and expanded products and services, including Okpareke’s skin care line.

Olive Tree sells no pre-made, commercial drugs, but instead puts together specialized capsules, troches or small tablets, pills, ointments, gels and creams to meet a particular client’s condition. For example, if someone is allergic to an ingredient, Olive Tree will make it without that substance or will find a substitute.

“Every ailment is unique,” she says. “That’s why we tailor prescriptions to meet the needs of every client.”

And her clients are not just the human kind. She has treated everything from household pets to large birds, such as a raven and an owl.

“A lot of pets can’t or refuse to take pills, so we can give it to them in flavored suspensions,” she says. “Compounding pharmacists are super essential to our health care system — people or animals.”

What prompted you to shift from hospital and retail pharmacy to opening a compounding business?

“It was because of my experience. I felt like, ‘I can’t do this.’ The environment was just not a place where it felt like I would thrive. I didn’t like the bright lights, I didn’t like the way the phones rang. And nothing is customized. So everyone gets the same thing, even though every person is different.”

What are you proud of, in terms of clients you have helped?

“There’s a lot. One is de-prescribing. That’s something that isn’t really talked about. A lot of people have this idea that I need something, I need a product. We, as health care providers and pharmacists, we have to remember that it is very OK to let your patients know you shouldn’t take all five of those medications. You don’t need them. I remember a lady dumped out her entire (stash of) over-the-counter supplements and said, ‘Can you help me?’ She would see something on Instagram and purchase it. And I (said), ‘Just stop taking it all. Describe what is going on.’ Based on what she told me, I made a recommendation for a prescription medication. We made it. She’s been taking it, and she is doing phenomenal.”

How did you get into compounding?

“This is interesting. Only people who know me really well know that … pharmacy is not really my passion, but I love business. I love creating something and watching that thing grow and become bigger.”

So why did you pursue a career in pharmacy rather than business?

“All of us first-generation Nigerian-Americans were just bred to believe we can only be doctors, engineers, lawyers. That’s the only thing. And it’s like, ‘You don’t want to go to med school? OK, then, you have to be a pharmacist.’”

Did you ever get discouraged?

“After I opened, I didn’t have a lot of customers. And then people were saying, ‘She doesn’t know what she's doing.’ I had someone come here and tell me, ‘You should just file for bankruptcy. This is not working.’ That was the hardest time, but that lit a fire. I was just like, this has to work. There was no Plan B, there was no backup plan. I refused to go back and work in a hospital. So I worked harder.”

How did you turn things around?

“I called all my friends, all of them, and I made them purchase something. I said, ‘You need this vitamin.’ I called other pharmacists that I used to work with. I made everyone purchase something so I could make the money I needed to pay my (bills.) And from there, the pharmacy took off. You know that saying, you just build it and they will come? Well, that might be true for Chick-fil-A, but not for here. Here, you have to get the people in your door. People associate your brand and your business with you, your face. So when people started seeing me (knock on their door), they would say, “OK, I'll stop by — even if they just bought one or two items.”

Do you have any hobbies?

“I travel a lot. I have made a decision to invest as much of my tourism as possible in Africa. Those are always my primary destinations, but there’s no place like Nigeria in the world. I didn’t grow up there, but whenever I go, it’s just home, knowing that this is my grandfather’s house.”

What are your goals?

“I like skin care. I launched the skin care line in 2020. I want to get more into that. I think it’s just really cool to offer skin care for black and brown skin. When I go to Nigeria, I see the amount of skin bleaching with chemicals in creams and lotions and all these things to lighten your skin. It’s very dangerous. You don’t know where they come from. My products offer clean and refreshing formulas to promote the natural beauty, glow and youthfulness of skin.”

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“My mom housed me … while I was building. Before I started this, I went through a divorce and went through a lengthy battle for our three children, and that was really, really hard. But during that period, she was just a source of encouragement. I remember the day she saw my electric mortar and pestle machine. The first time I used it, I recorded a video and sent it to her. When I got home, she said, ‘When I saw that thing, whatever it is, when I saw it start moving up and down, (I realized), ‘Oh, my daughter has made it.’ And I’m thinking, ‘I ain’t got no money, what do you mean I’ve made it?’ But she had that vision. The best advice overall, is just do it and keep going.”