She is currently working as a Program Manager with the Global Give Back Circle working in the University and College program. She is very passionate about International development  and empowerment of women and girls. Through The Global Give Back Circle, she has been able to work to empower young girls, a job she enjoys very much.

25 years of entrepreneurial experience, on a global basis, in change management and business development, and a desire to give back to society enables Linda to transfer commercially successful applications from the private sector to bring structure and sustainability to a critical social intervention; the empowerment of the world’s disadvantaged girls so that they can gain employment, live independent lives and give back too. Linda has a BS from Drexel University and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Diane is the Program Manager overseeing the implementation team on the ground, communication management, and mentor base management for the Global Give Back Circle Programs. Prior to joining the Global Give Back Circle, Diane spent over 25 years in the private sector. She held progressive leadership roles in Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Program Management, and Program Development within leading IT organizations. Diane has been a mentor to girls in West Pokot since 2014, where she was introduced to the mentorship program through a business relationship with Margo Day, VP US Education at Microsoft.

Diane has a passion for bringing hope to those impacted by poverty and other life challenges. She volunteers with Hope of Life International, mentoring and providing humanitarian aid in Guatemala and is also a volunteer coach with Hope for the Family, assisting families in her community who are dealing with the addictive behaviors of a loved one. Diane is passionate about bringing hope, education, and empowerment to the next generation of girls and young women through the Global Give Back Circle.

Lidemta is a Programming Specialist overseeing the implementation of the Global Give Back Circle – Girls Guiding Government Program – in Kenya and Rwanda in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Women in Public Service Project. She’s also spearheading the implementation of the Global Give Back Circle-Mastercard Foundation Scholar’s Platform in partnership with Arizona State University.
In 2006, she was selected as one of the first ten beneficiaries of the Global Give Back Circle program. Lidemta went on to serve in several leadership roles and was later elected as the first President of the program’s Governing Council.
Her previous work experience as an agronomist at Amiran Kenya Ltd, and as an intern at Danziger Ltd (Israel), the African Wildlife Foundation and the Kenya Community Development Foundation helped her further her leadership skills.
Lidemta holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Land Resource Planning and Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), and a post-graduate diploma certificate from AgroStudies (Israel). She is passionate about poverty eradication, women, and youth empowerment. When she is not working, Lidemta loves to travel and network.

In 2006, Naom joined the first ten beneficiaries and pioneers of the Global Give Back Circle.
Today, her unique qualifications and advanced IT knowledge make her an excellent leader and team member.
Naom has held several leadership roles, both within the organization and at her university, including Secretary-General for the Environmental Health Students’ Association, Contributor and Editor for the Circle’s Mentoring Tips Newsletter and Chief Editor for Moi University’s magazine. She served as a Deputy Principal at a mid-level college before joining the Global Give Back Circle team.
Since 2008, Naom has had personal Give Back commitments geared towards enhancing the health status of youth and those in low-income communities. She is the Founder of the Kweza Health Initiative, a community-based organization (CBO) that seeks to promote the health of people in her community, particularly those living in abject poverty. In addition to running the CBO, during her free time, she reads, blogs, plays Ukulele and mentors the youth.

Her commitment has educated hundreds of people on health issues and treated hundreds of jigger-infested persons. In 2013, Naom was awarded a scholarship to pursue a field practicum and intensive research program with Boston University for her efforts.
Naom holds a Bachelor’s degree from Moi University, School of Public Health and pursuing her Master of Business Administration – Strategic Management at the Kenya Methodist University.

Asmahan graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. During university, she interned as an Assistant Project Manager at Mindgem Concept, an IT company. She was also part of the environment-conservation team, ‘A Deeper Look into the Eco-System (ADE)’. After she graduated from the University of Nairobi, Asmahan was employed as a Program Assistant with the Global Give Back Circle in Kenya. She then worked as a consultant with the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) in East Africa; her duties were to design, plan, organize and manage the Mentorship and Advisory Program currently implemented by the initiative. At present, Asmahan is leading the Global Give Back Circle team in India as a Programming Specialist, where she is implementing the mentorship program in partnership with the Magic Bus India Foundation.

Rose is a Programming Specialist for the Global Give Back Circle – Kenya. She started out as an intern in 2016, helping with workshop creation and facilitation then later became a program management consultant in the program. Three years with the Global Give Back Circle, and Rose has worked with nearly all the programs. In 2017, she spent six months in West Pokot working with the Girls of vision program and overseeing the implementation of the 21st century ICT skills program. She has worked with the Girls guiding Government as a program assistant and is currently in charge of Kibera Girls Soccer academy and Asumbi High school mentorship programs. Rose enjoys problem-solving and working out solutions to difficult and challenging situations.
Rose studied Informatics (Information and statistics) at the University of Eldoret where she graduated with first-class honors. She has worked as an ICT specialist with various organizations before and at the Global Give Back circle she has discovered her love for community development and girl child empowerment.

Reginah manages communications for Global Give Back Circle, including social media management, coordinating the Newsletters production and mentor monologues, photography, video and the Website. She is a proud alumnus and beneficiary of the Global Give Back circle and holds a degree in Tourism and Travel Management from the Technical University of Kenya. She has also completed a certificate program in Photography and Cinematography at the Versatile School of photography and is very passionate about telling change stories using her skills in writing, Film, and photography. Apart from her work with the Global Give Back Circle, Reginah is passionate about Giving to the less fortunate. She works with five others in a Give Back Commitment Project called the Discover Me Initiative, which started while her group was still part of the Global Give Back Circle program. From her personal experience as a beneficiary of the Global Give Back circle, Reginah is passionate about gender equality and women and youth empowerment.

Abigael is currently, a Program Assistant and helps with the implementation of the Global Give Back Circle – Girls of Vision program in West Pokot, Kenya, where over 500 girls have been rescued from forced early marriage and FGM. Abigael works closely with the program managers in charge of, St Elizabeth Secondary School, Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, Asumbi Girls, and The Kenya Community Development Foundation.  Her role is to help foster a good relationship between mentors and mentees and provide an update on the different programs.  She passionate about women’s empowerment and working towards achieving equality. She graduated from Mount Kenya University, where she earned a Diploma in Business Administration.

Adriana is a passionate volunteer, who brings several years of social work education and experience to the Global Give Back Circle. She has lived in Kenya for the past 10 years and is currently involved in a number of organizations, including Heshima Kenya, where she is a board member. In addition, Adriana has helped establish the KPMG Family for Literacy programme in East Africa, where she is in the process of helping roll out mobile libraries to serve disadvantaged children. She is an avid marathon runner.

Catherine coordinates Governance activities of the Board of Directors and Organization Development function at the Secretariat. She is also the officer in charge of the Education scholarship and Girl Child programme at KCDF.
Catherine holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, a BA Degree in Business Studies from Kenyatta University and a Higher Diploma in Human Resource. She has been with KCDF since its inception.

Sarah Henry is the Executive Director of the Global Center for Gender Equality.  As Executive Director, Sarah is at the forefront in building out a Global Center for Gender Equality focused on addressing root causes of inequality throughout the world, currently partnering with development projects deeply connected to work in Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and beyond.

Prior to assuming the Director role, Sarah served the Center as a Program Director, developing a portfolio on Gender Equality primarily with the development of a Lancet Series on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health. Since 2013, she has been seconded to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a thought partner to advance thinking around how to strategically and intentionally incorporate a gender equality perspective across the foundation. Sarah has more than 15 years of experience working in global health with a focus on maternal, newborn, and child health.

Sarah previously worked at Global Partnerships as the Director of Health Services responsible for building and managing a portfolio of initiatives in Latin America to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) and cooperative partners build on their credit delivery channels to provide essential health services with fully sustainable, scalable business models. Sarah also served as the Executive Director and Dominican Republic Country Director at World Connect, a Boston-based NGO dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women and children.

Dr. Nancy Onyango is the Director of the Office of Internal Audit at the International Monetary Fund. She has 30 years’ experience in IT audit & consulting, risk management, internal audit, corporate governance, systems, and process assurance. Nancy also previously worked with PwC in the UK, Europe, Asia, and East Africa, and with E&Y as the Governance, Risk and Compliance Africa leader. Nancy is also a Gender Leadership specialist.

Nancy has a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA). She is also a certified public accountant, IT audit, risk, governance, and information systems control practitioner. Her doctoral dissertation was on the “Perceived Barriers Faced by Women in Ascending to CEO Positions in Kenyan Corporations”

Nancy is a Board member of Fairtrade America. She was previously a Board member of Fairtrade Africa and Fairtrade International Board (Finance Committee) She was the Chair of the Finance & HR Committee of FTA. She also sat on the Boards of KCB Group, KCB Kenya, and Cytonn Investments Limited. She was also the first female President of ISACA Kenya Chapter and a Board member. She is a Global Give Back Circle mentor, and a mother of 3 sons.

Laura Ahto relocated in 2018 to the US after 23 years living and working internationally.
She is a Managing Director at BNY Mellon and COO of the firm’s Asset Servicing Business. She has previously held roles as President, CEO and Member of the Board of BNY Mellon’s Brussels, Belgium headquartered European bank, and as COO of Investment Services German-speaking and CEE region, based in Frankfurt, Germany. Laura has also, through her career, held leadership positions at Baring Asset Management, PIMCO Europe, Deutsche Bank, and Bankers Trust Company, in London and the APAC region.
Laura has been involved with the Global Give Back Circle since its founding, as a mentor to two girls- now young women- in Kenya. She has served as a Board member of the Junior League of London and is a member of PowerWomen Network. Laura has long been an advocate for gender diversity in business and supporting the development of women professionals and on the importance of inclusion as well as diversity. She has been recognized twice by Financial News as one of the100 most influential Women in Finance and appointed to the Cranfield 100 “Women to Watch” list.
Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Ursinus College and a Masters of Business Administration from Cornell University.

John is a Philadelphia-based retired Ernst & Young Partner with over 38 years of leadership, people management, strategy and planning, and client service. During his career, John served as the Leader for the Mid-Atlantic Advisory Services group, Mid-Atlantic Area Managing Partner of Assurance Advisory Business Services, Mid-Atlantic Area Leader of the Real Estate Group, Advisory People Leader for Ernst & Young’s East Central Region, in addition to serving in the National Office in a business development capacity.
For more than 20 years, John served as a coordinating partner for numerous clients in a wide range of industries in both the private and public sector.
He started his career as an Intern with Ernst & Ernst in 1975 and was admitted to the Ernst & Young partnership in 1989. In June 2013, John retired. John is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Sports Congress and also on the Accounting Advisory Board for The Pennsylvania State University.

Christina Sass is Co-founder and President of Andela. Before Andela, Christina built education and employment programs in China, Gaza and the West Bank, Kenya, and Nigeria. Christina also directed the Program department of the Clinton Global Initiative and advised the President and CEO of The Mastercard Foundation, a 9 Billion dollar global foundation working to advance youth learning and financial inclusion for youth in Africa.
Christina also serves on the Advisory Council of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and as an education topic expert for the Clinton Global Initiative University annual meeting. Christina’s work has been mentioned by Forbes, CNN, The New Yorker, NBC, and WIRED. She was named as a 2014 New York Business Journal “Women of Influence,” a 2015 Business Insider “23 most innovative and inspiring women in New York City Tech” and 2015 the University of Georgia “40 Under 40” Alumni.
Christina has a BA in Ancient Philosophy from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) and an MA in International Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School from Tufts University.

Rahul Brahmbhatt is an entrepreneurial fundraising executive with nearly 20 years of diverse cross-sector experience that brings an innovative perspective to leadership teams and key strategic decisions. He has served in senior-level roles at early-stage growth organizations in both the public and social sectors. Rahul has raised nearly $15m for education and gender equality programs in the US, India, China, and Kenya. He has a technical background in sectors from process engineering to energy and non-profit background in international education.

Margo is the retired Vice President of U.S. Education for Microsoft Corp. She was responsible for the U.S. Education strategy and sales to K–12 and higher education customers across the U.S. Through partnerships, programs, and technology, Microsoft plays a significant role in helping institutions and educators transform learning that makes a real impact on educational outcomes and helps students realize their full potential.
Margo has more than 31 years of experience in high-technology and has held a number of exec roles at Microsoft over the past 14 years. She was a 2014 Circle of Excellence, Platinum Club Founders award winner, 2006 Microsoft Most Inspirational Woman award winner, and in 2012 was nominated for the Anita Borg Women of Vision Social Impact Award.
Making a difference in people’s lives is important to Margo. She has been deeply involved in funding the building of secondary schools for vulnerable girls in Kenya. She took a one-year leave of absence from Microsoft to focus her energies on raising funds and awareness for World Vision’s Kenya Child Protection and Education Project. This project is positively affecting 17,000 children in four areas across the Rift Valley.
Margo is the former national co-chair for the World Vision National Leadership Council for Child Protection, Board of Advisors President for the Renton/Skyway Boys & Girls Club and past founding board member of SeeYourImpact.org.

Robert is the CEO and Founder of Resorts Online, an Internet-based company that specializes in the marketing of luxury resorts all over the world. Prior to launching Resorts Online in 1995, he was CEO of a NYC-based real estate business. His duties for the Global Give Back Circle include financial account management and fundraising. Robert is a graduate of New York University.

Richa is a Mentor Manager at Magic Bus India Foundation. She manages the coordination of mentors and mentees, develops and facilitates mentees training and communication structure. She has done her MBA in Human Resources and a Masters in Psychology. She has 8 years of work experience in Program Management and implementation. She has worked with an organization such as Sun Foundation India as project assistance, CHETNA as a consultant and Udayan Care, New Delhi as Project Coordinator.

Lynda has had fifteen years’ worth of experience in sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry before she became a stay at home mother of three children. During this time Lynda was active in organizations in Baltimore to improve the lives of poor women and their children such as the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle, Baltimore Public Schools, Baltimore Catholic Schools and her neighborhood association. Lynda has a BA in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

In early 2017 Lynda began sponsoring and mentoring Leah Chepkech from West Pokot. In October 2017 Lynda joined the Global Give Back Circle trip to Kenya in October 2017. This trip allowed her to meet Monica and Margaret, Starehe girls’ High School graduates, who she decided to add on to her mentees. Lynda has since then taken on four more girls, Rebecca, Scholastica, Scolar and Sheila, who she is currently sponsoring through their tertiary education. She has been actively looking for mentors for girls in the Global Give Back Circle and has been able to find four mentors who also are sponsoring the education for four at-risk girls. In June 2018 Lynda returned to Kenya with her 22-year-old daughter, Annie, who had just graduated from university and took nine of the girls to Lake Nakuru to see the animals and do a workshop on the importance of integrity. Lynda is still actively recruiting new sponsors and mentors for GGBC girls. She has grown to love her girls and is very passionate about empowerment and education for girls.

Heidi is a Senior Content PM on the Microsoft’s Bing Editorial Team, where she coordinates the “Moments in Time” program, international trending news, and the Bing-MSN content partnership. She is also a volunteer for the Global Give Back Circle where she gives her time, by contributing to and editing the monthly newsletters and Mentor Monologues. Heidi graduated with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Iowa State University, and has been writing and editing her entire career. Along the way she has worked as a features writer, magazine editor, book editor, and freelance travel writer, which took her to dozens of countries, from Russia to Cyprus, South Africa to Brazil. She is a mentor to a university student in the program, and she looks forward to the day she can add Kenya to her list of destinations, where she can meet her mentee and see firsthand all the wonderful transformational Global Give Back Circle programs she reads about each month.

Angela is a Technical Business Program Manager at Microsoft Corporation. She has been with the company for over 13 years. She is also a Commissioner for the Port of Edmonds in Washington state – an elected public office.

As an active volunteer, Angela has advocated on behalf of the disabled community – a cause that holds a special place in her heart due to her experience with her son, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. She has volunteered on the Parent Advisory Committee for the Deaf/Blind Project at the Washington State Sensory Disability Services, in the Life Skills Program at a local high school, and worked special projects for Specially Designed Education Services. She has also worked to promote domestic violence education for women in her community, by volunteering at the Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County as a Volunteer Legal Advocate. Additionally, Angela has been a Global Give Back Circle mentor for over 7 years and has helped recruit dozens of mentors for the program.

Wanjira has over twenty-one years of experience in the ICT sector with exposure to the utilization of Information Technology in managing businesses efficiently and profitably. She is passionate about the utilization of technology to change and impact lives and has over five years of experience in the management and execution of end to end Corporate Social Responsibility programs at Microsoft. Wanjira is a graduate of the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

Rose Musau is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Preferred Personnel Africa, a leading Human Resource firm in Nairobi, Kenya. She’s a seasoned headhunter with over 17 years of experience in the industry, an Executive Coach and a passionate enthusiast for inspiring and empowering people to greater heights. Through her organization she has also been involved in Corporate Social Responsibility activities and have contributed towards various projects, such as supporting children displaced as a result of post election violence.

Ms. Musau also formed Preferred Guza Foundation, an initiative with an objective to enable under privileged children to gain access to financial support for their high school and university education. Rose is an avid golfer and sits on several boards.

Dr. Helen Gichohi serves as the Managing Director for the Equity Group Foundation, bringing extensive strategic leadership experience from the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), where she served as Director of the African Heartlands Program and Vice President for Program before being appointed President.

Dr. Gichohi was named a Catto Fellow by the Aspen Institute, is the recipient of many awards, including: the Charlotte Wyman Trust’s Women in Conservation Program, the Order of Great Warrior and the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear awarded by the Kenyan President and recently the 2012 Giai Environmental Award for the WIFTs Foundation International Visionary Awards. She has been serving as a member of Equity Bank Board of Directors for several years, and until recently, served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Kenya Wildlife Service. Dr. Gichohi holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Leicester, an MSc in Biology of Conservation and a BSc in Zoology from the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University respectively.

Mary is a Clinton Scholar, who studied Business Finance at the American University in Dubai, a prestigious scholarship, which was awarded to her during the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

There, Mary represented the Global Give Back Circle in the Opening Plenary Session with a choral poem on ‘Giving Back.’

As the former President of the Student Body at AUD — the first African women to ever hold this position – she is proof-positive that investing in girls pays off.

She was an invited speaker at the Women2Women Conference in Boston and was one of 100 young leaders (out of 6,000 applicants) selected to receive a full scholarship to attend the Women Deliver Conference in Kuala Lumpur. Mary was appointed as an Ambassador for Women Deliver’s World Contraception Day Ambassador’s Project and completed a Master’s degree in Business Administration on a full scholarship at the AUD in 2016.

Today, Mary is speaking all over the world on girls’ education issues. Most recently, she was in Copenhagen for the 2016 Women Deliver conference focused on the health, rights and well-being of girls and women, and in Lebanon conducting focus groups and interviews with girls at refugee camps across the country.

Erin strives to live a give back life. A 2010 accounting graduate of the University of Washington, Erin’s numerous volunteer activities and summer internships landed her the position of Staffing Consultant on the University Recruiting Team at Microsoft, where she transversed the country recruiting future Microsoft employees. Erin also served as the Program Manager for the Microsoft High School Internship Program. She moved into industry staffing with the Microsoft Advertising team where she served as an internal consultant, recruiter, and college hire and development lead for her client groups. After time as an HR Manager, she moved into Security engineering recruiting, then executive level hiring, and eventually to Google doing leadership engineering recruiting. Her passion for improving young people’s lives was reflected in her leadership in recruiting Microsoft employees as mentors to girls in the Global Give Back Circle. Constantly meeting new people and pushing the limits in her ability to expand her impact within Microsoft, Google, and her global community, Erin brings youthful energy and personal and professional knowledge of what girls need to succeed from the West Coast of the U.S. to East Africa. She is married with a new baby boy and a big sweet puppy.

Hope is the Chief Executive Office of ZEP-RE, a Regional Reinsurance Company headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with offices across Africa. Hope is passionate about girls education as a sure way to empowerment and supports vulnerable girls in Kenya and Rwanda. She is a Global Give Back Circle mentor and a supporter of Gashora Girls in Rwanda. She herself grew up in Uganda as a refugee. Hope is a Lawyer and holds an MBA from IMD International, Switzerland. Her career in Insurance/Reinsurance Management spans over two decades.

Wilkista is the Business Development Coordinator at SolarGen Technologies Limited. Among other leadership roles, Wilkista also serves as the Starehe Girls’ Centre Alumni Coordinator and the co-founder & coordinator for the Kakenya Centre for Excellence (KCE) Mentorship Program.

As one of the longest-serving beneficiaries in the program, and former Program Manager, Wilkista brought her knowledge to the implementation of the Global Give Back Circle – Girls Guiding Government – in Kenya and Rwanda, in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Women in Public Service Project.    She also spearheaded the implementation of a sustainable energy project at her former high school – Starehe Girls’ Centre, which won the 9th Zayed Future Energy Prize, in the Global high schools’ category.

As an Ambassador to the program, Wilkista has also represented the ‘Circle’ at several international conferences, including the International Women2Women conference in Boston, Massachusetts, which brought together girls from around the globe in an initiative to foster harmony and peace in the world, and the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, where she delivered a special statement on the solidarity of women and girls displaced by conflict.

Wilkista has an undergraduate degree in Meteorology from the University of Nairobi and a master’s degree in Energy from the University of Auckland, Summa Cum Laude. She has also previously worked with African Solar Designs Ltd with projects in Eastern and Southern Africa, and is currently an active member of the Association of Energy Professionals in Eastern Africa (AEPEA). Wilkista is passionate about renewable energy, which she demonstrates in her studies, work and Give Back Commitments.

Marjorie has been a champion of girls’ and women’s leadership for the last decade. As COO of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW), an association that develops women leaders, Margie created events, programs and resources attracting nearly 2,000 young professional women to the organization. From CEW Margie went on to lead Marketing for the Girl Scouts USA. In addition to managing Greylock Associates, an LLC focused on corporate partnerships, Margie oversees all mentoring activities in the Circle. She is a graduate of Williams College and Kellogg School of Management.

In 2006, Edna was among the first ten beneficiaries and pioneers of the Global Give Back Circle. Today, Edna has over five years of experience working in international development across Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region (UN, USAID, EU/ECHO).

Edna has worked with the ‘Circle’ as the Partnership and Relationships Coordinator for Private Sector in Kenya. She was instrumental in the organization of the Educate ‘HER’ Parade in Kenya, which brought together over 2,000 participants and raised scholarships for 327 rescue girls to go to university. She also worked as a consultant in the design and implementation of the Mentorship program for the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center – East Africa, where she is also an alumnus. In 2018, she was a consultant in ideation and proposal for the winner of ‘Youth Power-Young Women Transform Prize’ in Kenya – ‘Mashinani Hub’.

Her passion for women’s education and empowerment saw her register a Give Back Commitment for Reproductive Health and run it for two years while at university. Presently, Edna is a mentor in the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Community Platform Mentoring Program, at Kakenya Centre of excellence, and at Starehe Girls Centre. Edna is keen to utilize her competencies, networks and platforms to promote giving back and the empowerment of women and girls.

Edna completed her Master’s degree in Cooperation and Development from the University of Pavia, Italy, and earned her Bachelor’s degree from Kenyatta University in Kenya.

Ashley Chapman has been a proud mentor and fundraiser for Global Give Back Circle for over four years. Her background includes more than 15 years of experience leading global communications campaigns in the public and private sectors, and serving as a speechwriter for leaders in government, business and NGOs. She is particularly passionate about women’s empowerment issues globally, whether it’s through creating communications and development strategies for Women’s Refugee Commission, writing speeches about economic empowerment issues for former Avon CEO Andrea Jung, or climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money to help women in the Democratic Republic of Congo receive critical medical care. Most recently she oversaw employee engagement, volunteering and corporate social responsibility programs at Ralph Lauren. She has written for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor, and has a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in French and English literature from Colgate University.

25 years of entrepreneurial experience, on a global basis, in change management and business development, and a desire to give back to society, enables Linda to transfer commercially successful applications from the private sector to bring structure and sustainability to a critical social intervention; the empowerment of the world’s disadvantaged girls so that they can gain employment, live independent lives and give back too. Linda has a BS from Drexel University and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Judy has served as the School Coordinator at Starehe Girls’ Centre in Kenya since 2011. As a teacher at Starehe Girls’ Centre, she is passionate about education, particularly the empowerment of the girl child. Judy empowers girls through her role as a teacher and as Assitant Coordinator for the President’s Award Scheme, which brings together youth in Kenya and develops and delivers quality experiential activities that impart positive life skills. Through the program, youth participate in activities like hiking and voluntary activities at hospitals and children’s homes under her guidance. Judy holds a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Kenyatta University. As the School Coordinator at Starehe Girls’ Centre, she ensures communication between mentors and mentees runs smoothly. She is responsible for facilitating letter exchanges between mentor and mentee, keeping a log of all letters, and provides monthly reports to the Global Give Back Circle. She ensures the privacy of beneficiaries and mentors is upheld at all times and helps with the coordination of weekend workshops too.

Marie serves as the School Coordinator at Gashora Girls Academy. In this role, she ensures communication between mentors and mentees runs smoothly. Marie is responsible for facilitating letter exchanges between mentor and mentee, keeping a log of all letters, and for providing monthly reports to the Global Give Back Circle. She ensures the privacy of beneficiaries and mentors is upheld at all times and helps with the coordination of weekend workshops too. Marie is currently a student at the University of Rwanda, where she is earning her degree in Public Health. She enjoys giving back and has served as a UN volunteer under the Ministry of Youth and ICT, as well as a Peace Corp volunteer. She loves children and likes seeing them succeed.

Rita is a seasoned business analyst having worked for the Big 4 and financial services firms where she’s guided the development & implementation of large-scale global technology initiatives. Born & raised in the New York City area, she attended Maria Regina High School (MRHS) and Iona College. At MRHS, an all-girls Catholic high school, students are taught in a holistic environment to foster intellectual potential and inspire lifelong community involvement. Appreciating how this approach benefitted herself & her fellow alumni, it was a natural fit to become involved with the Global Give Back Circle (GGBC).

Rita became involved with GGBC in 2014 when she signed on to become a mentor. She went to Kenya in 2015 to meet her mentee, participate in the first Educate Her Parade in Nairobi, and attend a GGBC graduation ceremony. The experience of seeing first-hand how these hundreds of girls were benefitting from their mentoring relationships inspired her to become more involved by recruiting new mentors & providing support to the leadership team. Rita is also an avid volunteer in her local community and is a passionate supporter of the St. Bernard Project (SBP), an award-winning disaster-recovery organization, where she’s collaborated with them on skills-based & hands-on volunteering opportunities.

Rose is Citibank’s Operations Head for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rose joined Citi in 1985 and has since worked in various positions within the company. In 2007, she was appointed Senior Country Operations Officer, Kenya, and Head of Operations and Technology for the East Africa sub-cluster. In this role, Rose was responsible for comprising planning and execution of the Operations & Technology Strategy, as well as leading Product Operations and Infrastructure support. She managed a team of 140 staff across four countries.

Prior to Citi, Rose served as the Senior Country Operations Officer in Johannesburg, South Africa. Earlier in her career, she held positions such as SBOO-South Africa,‪ SCOO – Uganda & Senegal and other various roles in Product Operations.

Rose received a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi in 1985.

Claris has served at Kibera Girls’ Soccer Academy as a senior teacher and counselor since 2008. She is very passionate about changing the life of the girl child through education and hands-on training. She holds a degree in Bachelor of Education and Counseling from Kenya Methodist University. As the school coordinator at Kibera Girls’ Soccer Academy, she ensures communication between mentors and mentees runs smoothly. She is responsible for facilitating letter exchanges between mentors and mentees, keeping a log of letters, helping in organizing the monthly workshops in school for the girls, and providing monthly report to the Global Give Back Circle.