From Nairobi to Sundance

The world has changed drastically since I last posted about events I attended during Climate Week in NYC in September 2024, from marching with youth activists at the Friday for the Future event across the Brooklyn Bridge to attending events such as HATCH NYC, Conscious Festival, PVBLIC Foundation, Peaceboat, Blue Planet Alliance and Transformative Impact Summit. 

Soon after I was invited to travel to Kenya by Align with Africa and collaborate with indigenous women from the Maasai and Kamba tribes to help expand the reach and customer base of their beautiful arts and crafts so they may gain tools and knowledge to increase their income and better provide for their children. In the two weeks I was in Kenya, we worked 12+ hour days as we met with collaborators and co-creators in the lush Rift Valley and other regions in Kenya. Guided by a talented jewelry designer Esther Mwangi, we visited artisans in rural areas of Machakos and walked through the Kibera slums to meet crafts men and women, jewelry and leather goods suppliers.

During the trip I re-connected with my dear friend Agnes Leina of Il’Laramatak Community Concerns as she returned to Nairobi, fresh from attending COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Agnes has been instrumental in fighting female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage in Kenya for over 30 years and is a heroine I’ve admired since we met in NYC at a Commission on the Status of Women dinner event at Eve Ensler’s home in 2019 where I learned about her incredible work. Agnes’s Il’Laramatak (Caretaker) funds the education and upbringing of girls rescued from child marriage and also provides employment and training to former genital cutters so they can continue to make a living with a program called “Cut the Garment, Not the Girl.” I visited Agnes in February 2020 and started a documentary “Kajiado Girls” on her incredible work and generosity providing for over 250 girls she has rescued in the past 30 years. In order to be in Nairobi after Agnes returned from COP29, I extended my trip for meetings and wound up having my Thanksgiving dinner alone at Nairobi Airport, eating fish and chips, as I waited to board my 10 hour flight back to New York City to be with my son and family for the holidays. I wound up spending my birthday alone in my son’s guest room in Philadelphia, recovering from a bug I caught and exhaustion but made it to be with family for Christmas.

In January 2025 I was invited back to Nairobi and launched a pilot program collaborating with Agnes’ women and girls in Kajiado. We co-designed scarves with Maasai fabric, jewelry made with semi-precious stones of amethyst, hematite, jade and lapis lazuli I carried with me from New York City, and also leather bags with beading done by the talented women in Agnes’ community. In February 2020, during my first visit to Kajiado, a bright 15-year-old girl Alice, took asked me aside and asked me if I can help rescue her sister, who is about to turn 12, the age girls from her village get married off. Agnes has taught the girls on the importance of education and acquiring skills so that they can get work and support themselves. The cost of rescuing a girl is $20 and education for a year in middle schools is $200, including school uniforms, a mattress, and room and board, I asked the Alice if she could make jewelry for me so I sell them with the proceeds going towards rescuing her sister. I happened to have a box of beads I brought from NYC with me and I handed them to Alice. The following morning at 5 AM, I received a call from Agnes to tell me that the girls have woken her up. They stayed up all night making necklaces and bracelets and they have finished them. They asked “When can we rescue Alice’s sister and bring her to Kajiado?” Once I was back in the US was able to tap into two WhatsApp groups I belonged to, one of Summit Series, and another with Kinnernet Venice attendees. I was able to sell the jewelry and send money to Agnes where she immediately activated the rescue of Alice’s sister before she was cut and married off in exchange for cows and goats. 

While I was in Nairobi, which is where the United Nations HQ in Africa is located, President Trump was inaugurated on January 20th and one of his first actions as head of state was gut USAID that provided billions in funding to African organizations to alleviate poverty, provide food security, healthcare, education and democratic governance. You could immediately sense the tension and concern in Nairobi when this happened that reverberated across the African continent. To date 10,000 USAID jobs have been cut and fund disbursements by the organization has stopped. 

From Kenya, I flew directly to Park City Utah on January 23rd to speak at 2050 House on the topic of “Marketing and Storytelling for the UN SDGs and Impact” and we had a pop-up booth with some of the products we co-created with the Maasai women of Kajiado. Kwasi Asare curated such a fascinating group of inspiring speakers who are making a difference. While at Sundance I reconnected with my former boss Ashley Heather who co-founded a biohacking company Lumati and I got to experience some of their offerings and even received an NAD infusion.