Ghanaian dancehall artiste Kaakie has reached a new professional milestone after earning a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree and launching a mental health practice in the United States.
The musician, born Grace Kaki Awo Ocansey, is now professionally known as Dr Grace Aidoo, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC. Her latest achievement marks a return to healthcare, the field she pursued before becoming a familiar name in Ghana’s music industry.
A Doctor of Nursing Practice is a doctoral-level nursing qualification. It is distinct from a medical degree such as an MD and focuses on advanced nursing practice, leadership and patient care.
Kaakie’s new venture, Kaylora Holistic Wellness & Recovery, is based in the United States and provides psychiatric and therapeutic services. The practice’s services include psychiatric evaluations, medication management, psychotherapy and care relating to conditions such as anxiety, depression and ADHD.
The practice also lists services covering trauma and PTSD, bipolar disorder, couples’ therapy and child and adolescent psychiatric care, alongside telehealth services.
In presenting her approach to care, Kaakie has emphasised treating patients as individuals and considering their wider experiences rather than focusing only on symptoms or a diagnosis.
Her latest achievement did not come from an entirely new career path. Healthcare was part of her life before music brought her national recognition.
Kaakie studied nursing and midwifery at the University of Ghana before her music career took off. She gained wider public attention after participating in the television music competition *Stars of the Future*, where she finished fifth.
She later worked with producer JMJ and joined Xtra Large Music, becoming one of the notable female voices in Ghana’s dancehall scene during the early 2010s.
Songs such as “Ewoo”, “Too Much”, “Toffee Pon Tongue” and “Zuuchia” helped establish her music career. She also won Best New Artiste of the Year and Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year at the 2013 Ghana Music Awards.
But music did not completely sever her connection with healthcare.
In a 2014 interview with Graphic Showbiz, Kaakie spoke about the challenge of balancing music with her work as a registered general nurse.
Her focus gradually shifted back towards healthcare after she stepped away from the music spotlight. She earned a master’s degree from Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom in 2019.
In 2020, she told Joy FM that her interest in contributing to healthcare, particularly maternal health, had grown stronger than her desire to continue pursuing music.
Her subsequent studies took her into mental health. In 2025, she announced that she had completed a Master of Science in Nursing with a specialisation in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner studies at Walden University.
The DNP now represents another step in that progression, taking her nursing education to the doctoral level.
Professional profiles identify Aidoo as a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner in the United States, while Kaylora Holistic Wellness & Recovery serves as the platform for her current mental-health practice.
Her journey has moved from nursing and midwifery training, through a successful music career, and back into specialised healthcare.
