Omanii Abdullah: Owner
Omanii Abdullah was born in the city of Syracuse, N.Y. He graduated from Corcoran High School, and then completed a Radio Broadcasting Certificate in New York City. Mr. Abdullah obtained his B.A. in Religion and Philosophy at Lane College, a historically black college, in Jackson, Tennessee. In 1974, Omanii completed a M.A. in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Beginning his teaching career in African American Studies at Benedict College (Columbia, South Carolina), Mr. Abdullah subsequently taught at Tougaloo College (Jackson, Mississippi), Shaw University (Raleigh, North Carolina), and King Abdul-Aziz University in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. In 1988, he returned to Syracuse, New York and received tenure as a Professor at Morrisville State College until he retired in 2005. He has also been an adjunct Professor at Syracuse University since 1990, and continues in that role today. Additionally, in the fall of 2007 Mr. Abdullah became an Adjunct Professor at Onondaga Community College. Omanii's Lemonade Heaven was opened by Mr. Abdullah in January of 2006. He first became interested in cooking after taking a home economics course in high school. He later worked at various restaurants and during college was a cook at a halfway house. Mr. Abdullah also runs a hot dog stand during the summer months and has a booth in the Pan-African Village at the N.Y. State Fair. Mr. Abdullah has also published three books of poetry and a book of drama.
Antonio Corderro (Tony): Day Manager
Tony Corderro was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and moved to the United States at age of four. He lived in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx where he attended school and worked doing maintenance on commercial properties. He joined the PCI Company as part of their maintenance personnel where he did everything from buff and wax floors to maintain structural portions of buildings. Tony moved to Syracuse, N.Y. two years ago and decided to apply for a couple of cooking jobs, since he enjoyed cooking so much. While in Syracuse, Tony worked at the Flaming Grill on Salina St., Deb's restaurant on Salina St., and Sabatino's restaurant. In the spring of 2007, Tony was approached by an employee of Omanii's Lemonade Heaven and offered a job, which he took. He has been working there ever since. Tony worked for about five months before taking on managerial duties at Omanii's and now acts as the day manager of the restaurant. He enjoys that he gets to cook all day, since this is one of his greatest passions. Even when he goes home he continues to cook for his family and enjoys every minute of it. Tony plans to stay in Syracuse and continue to raise his family where the children can have a house and a yard to play in.
Emanuel Flowers: Night Manager
Emanuel Flowers was born in Chicago and came to Syracuse at the age of five. In 1995, Emanuel joined the Army Reserves as a Food Service Specialist and Dietetic Aid. From 1997 until 1998 he worked as a cook at Good Eats, Olive Garden and the Crowne Plaza in Mississippi. Emanuel entered active duty for the Army in 1998 and was released in 2000. Mr. Flowers then joined the Veterans Affairs Medical Center as a food service worker and also worked at the Radisson Plaza as a banquet cook. Throughout these years, Emanuel has taken over 70 semester hours in Business Administration and Food Services Administration at Onondaga Community College. Emanuel has been a father for 14 years and although he loves to cook, he loves his kids and wife even more.