Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, Belmont, California

Born and raised in Kenya, Wanjiru moved to the United States at the age of 14. After completing High School in Denver, Colorado and earning a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Whitman College she moved to the University of Minnesota. There Wanjiru earned a Masters degree in Political Science and is in the final stages of her Ph.D. also in Political Science. She is the founder and executive director and when not working for Akili Dada, she is writing her dissertation on the impact of ethnic politics on the struggle for women’s rights in Kenya. Her dissertation is supported with grants from ICGC/MacArthur and the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the University of San Francisco among others.

For Wanjiru, Akili Dada is the realization of her vision for an organization that makes possible for other young women the educational opportunities she has been so fortunate to experience. She is driven to make the resources that are so plentiful in the U.S. available to deserving young women in Africa and to empower the women on the continent so that they can take their proper place at the decision-making table.

She brings to the organization a passionate commitment to women’s empowerment informed by extensive travel, work, research, and life experiences with women’s movements across Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda and much of Southern Africa.

Wanjiru and her husband Isaac make their home in Belmont, California with frequent travel to Kenya. In her free time she enjoys entertaining guests at their home, sewing, making jewelry, home improvement projects and watching T.V. She is also actively involved in her church at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Mountain View, California.

Source: Akili Dada