Lifestyle & Culture News
Going from UN expert to a life off the grid
By Darius Osborne
Gisele Kamanou traded in her cell phone for a produce stand and her job at the United Nations to do what she really wants: educate the public about her alternative approach to food and lifestyle.
“I refrain from advertising myself because of the modern processes it involves … So many constructs and rules imposed by a society in which I choose not to assimilate,” she said.
About a year ago, Cameroon-born Kamanou began setting up shop every week near the corner of East 14th Street and Union Square. There, she imparts her brand of wisdom to anyone who may lend an ear. Giselle’s Extended Garden is what she’s named her outdoor display of organically grown vegetables, teas and medicinal oils.
After 30 years as a U.N. statistician, using numbers to illustrate an array of social, political and economic issues, Kamanou wearied of that work. She left the United Nations in 2022. Disconnecting from that job and other parts of what had been her world, she decided to live mainly on food she grows and to enlarge her mind with the books she reads.
“She began four years ago and fully committed to the project, despite its slow burn at the start,” said Sydney Djotita, the daughter Kamanou bore in 2002, three years after she moved to New York.
“I remember,” added recent Northwestern University grad Djotita, “helping her ship products back to Cameroon, helping to educate our community. But, after a while, that wasn’t sustainable for her time-wise or economically.”
After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Cameroon’s University of Yaounde, Kamanou went on to earn a master’s in applied mathematics from the University of Paris at Dauphine and a doctorate in biostatistics from the University of California at Berkeley. As a full-timer at the United Nations, starting in her 20s, she’d worked on global poverty and defining what it means to have or not have material wealth. She authored or co-authored several studies on social and economic issues worldwide, including ones published by Columbia University and referenced by public health researchers at NYU.
These days, her holistic approach to living includes using a process designed to remove excess air and gasses from plants to promote healthier digestion.
“Scientifically, air isn’t always beneficial,” she said, adding that her point of view should be taken with a ” grain of salt.” ,
“Additionally,” she continued, “to grasp this process you need to understand the role of quantum science in food functions.”
Said her daughter: “Over the past couple of years my mother has had a lot of time to re-center her values with her time left on earth. She wants to spend that time sharing knowledge with the world.”