In 2014, Catherine took a gap year that decentered her positively. She went to work for NIKE Foundation’s CSR project in Beaverton, Oregon, in the US as a grant trainee manager. It was her official exit from active litigation to the boardrooms of pro-girl organisations. This was one year after graduating with a law degree from the University of London and working at one of Kenya’s most renowned law firms.
“My friends, peers, and family thought I had lost it. I quit a firm that many people wanted to work for,” she says.
She is a born lawyer and feminist. “As a lastborn, I was always advocating for myself and my interests, naturally, everyone in the family predicted that I would make a good lawyer,” she says, “the fiery spirits of my two grandmothers run through my blood and is the source of her inspiration. “My grandmothers walked so I could run. I owe a part of my success to them.”
Catherine is not one to shy away from taking space in leadership and decision-making—a large portion of her life has been about that.
"My grandmothers walked so I could run. I owe a part of my success to them."
Promoting equal rights for women and girls has been at the core of her purpose in life, which is to break down structures that benefit others more and professionally, to decolonise funding.
She oversees programmes in East and South Africa as well as Latin America. Her rise to lead a global outfit is a result of sheer grit, resilience, and determination.
Her path has not always been paved with gold. Her first baptism by fire was when she was tasked with setting up offices in Nairobi and Guatemala in her current posting.
“That season of my life taught me that one can be successful in very many things,” she says, “to set up an office in a foreign country calls for one to understand its laws. My advocate training was an added advantage.”
Catherine journals everything and keeps a gratitude jar that she opens at the end of each year to remind her of her highs and lows. When it comes to her mental health and grounding, her family is her most trusted insurance.
Seeing young people acquire the agency to lead and participate in all sectors is her current obsession. “It is inspiring to see all these young people rise to positions of influence worldwide, and especially women. It is what I tell girls whenever I talk to them, that they can be successful in whatever field they choose,” Catherine says.
Her biggest life lesson is from her favourite pastime—reading—”You can read and avoid the mistakes that others have made.”
– By Ndugu Abisai
