LINDA RILEY
Rural Communities CommitteeLynda 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 Cheptech from West Pokot. In October 2017 Lynda joined the GGBC trip to Kenya. During this trip Lynda met Margaret and Monica at a tea for new GGBC college graduates. Lynda has kept in touch with both girls and treated them to a weekend of sightseeing in Nairobi on a future trip. While in West Pokot Lynda met four girls, Rebecca, Scolar, Scholastica and Sheila, who did not have sponsors and Lynda agreed to sponsor all of them for a university education. Lynda found mentors for these four girls among her friends. In early 2018 Lynda decided to sponsor two Starehe graduates, Mercy and Laurette, and two girls from West Pokot, Judith and Felystus. Lynda found more mentors for these girls among her friends. In June 2018 Lynda returned to Kenya with her 22-year-old daughter, Annie, who had recently graduated from university and took nine girls to Lake Nakuru to see the animals, spend a night in a hotel and do a workshop on integrity. Lynda has since added two more girls, Sarah, a Starehe graduate, and Mercy, a current Starehe student. Lynda is still actively recruiting new sponsors and mentors for GGBC girls. She has grown to love her girls and is deeply passionate about empowerment and education for girls.
