Some leaders make noise. Others make moves. Dr. Toyin Ajayi? She does both—but with the kind of quiet power that speaks volumes.
Before the Forbes talks, billion-dollar valuations, and Health tech headlines, Toyin was just a Nigerian-American girl deeply aware of inequality. Her father, a physician, worked on the frontlines of the AIDS epidemic in Nairobi, Kenya. That early exposure to healthcare in crisis didn’t scare her. It planted something—an awareness that medicine without mission is never enough.
She went on to study at Stanford University, earned her medical degree at King’s College London, and completed her residency at Boston Medical Center, where she worked with underserved communities. But even with the white coat and the degrees, Toyin realized something had to change.
Healthcare in the U.S. was built for some—but not all. And the people being left behind? They looked like her patients. They looked like her community. So she decided to do something radical: reimagine healthcare from the inside out.
How Cityblock Was Born
In 2017, Toyin teamed up with her co-founders, including tech executive Iyah Romm, to launch Cityblock Health, a startup backed by Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. The goal? To use technology and compassion to rebuild care for low-income and vulnerable populations.
Most startups chase convenience. Toyin chased equity. Most founders design for the privileged. Toyin and her team designed for real people, in real neighborhoods—people who often face barriers not just to medicine, but to transportation, housing, food, and mental health support.
Cityblock combines digital health tools with old-school community care—think nurses doing home visits, care teams that treat the whole person, and a tech platform that tracks not just prescriptions, but life circumstances. The results? Better outcomes, lower costs, and people who feel seen.
By 2024, Cityblock had raised over $800 million in funding, reached a valuation of nearly $6 billion, and expanded across several U.S. cities—all while serving Medicaid and Medicare patients, a demographic most venture-backed companies overlook.
The Leader That Is Dr Ajayi
The numbers of Cityblock, as jaw-dropping as they are, aren’t what inspire us most.
It’s her grace. Her clarity. The way she talks about equity not as a buzzword, but as a design principle. The way she didn’t wait for permission to lead—she just did. She stepped up as CEO of Cityblock when her co-founder stepped down, and she did it without compromising the heart of the mission.
For Black women, Toyin Ajayi is more than a leader. She’s a mirror. She reminds us that we don’t have to tone down or toughen up to make waves. We can lead with softness, with soul, and still shake up entire industries. Her presence at the top table isn’t just representation; it’s a revolution.
And for the rest of us? She’s a beautiful reminder that your work can be both powerful and tender. That the best kind of leadership often looks like service. That the world changes when someone dares to do things differently, and refuses to forget the people who are usually forgotten.
So here’s to Dr. Toyin Ajayi: physician, CEO, purpose-pusher, and our kind of billionaire. She reminds us that success can be a quiet storm; forceful, yet purposeful.
