Helping brands and institutions make people feel seen in an age of machines and declining trust
Kehinde Bademosi (Dr. Kenny B) is a storytelling strategist and empathy researcher. He advises brands, health institutions, tech companies, and public systems on how to make their messages resonate with ‘real’ humans and stakeholders. Kenny has lived and worked in Africa, the United States, and Europe.
Empathy-driven branding in an age of declining trust
Kehinde's work sits at the intersection of storytelling, design thinking, and public health. He founded Orange Academy — Africa's first school of Integrated Brand Experience — and convenes Humans in Conversation (HuCon), a global storytelling lab and Spotify series investigating how institutions communicate with the human body.
Penta Brighter Future Award - The BFA
Where science meets society
A global initiative that honors champions working to improve health outcomes for pregnant individuals and children affected by infectious diseases worldwide. The award recognizes the vital role of local, community-led work in advancing maternal and child health and in making science accessible and equitable at the grassroots level.
Penta is one of the world's leading scientific organizations dedicated to pediatric infectious disease research, advancing prevention and care across pregnancy, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.
HuCon - Humans in Conversation
Where cities pause, listen, and design with empathy?
HuCon — Humans in Conversation — is a global movement that creates intimate, guided listening tables in cities worldwide. Each table begins with one question about well-being that truly matters to the people in the room and creates the conditions for genuine empathy.
Participants share honest, often anonymous stories about how they're really doing. Everything is audio-recorded and published on the HuCon Spotify archive — a living document of urban well-being and human experience.
HuCon is a global storytelling lab that helps us foster well-being through empathy in our cities and institutions in an era when authentic human data matters more than ever.
HuCon has been held in Rome, Pittsburgh, Lagos, Valdosta, and Milan. Madrid, Barcelona, and Cape Town are in view.
Client Reviews
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kehinde both as a program partner and workshop participant. In both cases, Kehinde’s instruction was engaging, intuitive, and produced great results in a very short window of time. He helped my organization improve how we tell our brand story, which gave me new insights into our work. He made a potentially difficult challenge pretty simple, effective, and fun. I’d hire him again in a heartbeat!
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— Andy Cook Executive Director MADE IN BALTIMORE
“Kehinde and I worked together in 2009 on a USAID/ AI.COM project to stop the epidemic of Avian Influenza in Nigeria. I was the Senior Communications Consultant for AI.COMM on the project, and Kehinde was the Creative Director on the communications agency side, FCB, Lagos.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with Kehinde and came to know him as someone who brought insights and innovation to the team. Kehinde led the creative team that delivered the campaign materials for the major countries in West Africa. ”
— Maurice Ocquaye Senior SBCC Consultant/CEO
“Thanks for presenting, I heard great things. One design team told me their nonprofit participant had a complete transformation after your workshop. He came back able to articulate his story much better and suddenly seemed to understand how to work with a designer. A great testament to your work! ”
— Maya Kosok, DesignFest Coordinator, Maryland Institute College of Art
“Kenny was introduced to me by one of my sales managers. He said he was attending Orange Academy - a brand building school in Lagos, and he met a teacher named Kenny who happens to be the owner too. He assures me that I Would be dazzled by Kenny’s creative prowess.
We met, and I was dazzled indeed. We have also created several creative campaigns that have helped our brands significantly. One of our brands, So Klin Detergent, became the Number One Brand by Nielsen ratings.
I would say Kenny is a creative wizard. I can never forget what he always told me
The client gives the logic, and Orange Academy (he meant him) provides the magic!
And behold, it always came out that way. I simply provided the business sense of our campaign, and he interpreted it and created the consumer-friendly sense of it.
Kenny is one of the best creative minds in my work life. I miss him so much, Miss working with him.
- Oliver Terante, Head Sales and Marketing, Eko Supreme