Fashion and Style

It's wonderful what one can find while stumbling aimlessly around Facebook. On one such day, I came across the "Pink Ladoo Project", and the name had me instantly intrigued. So the natural next step was to investigate what this project was all about - and I instantly fell in love with the idea. The South Asian culture, whether in South Asia or abroad as many of us are, still had lots of gender-biased traditions that permeate far and wide. I'm thankful everyday that I grew up in a family where my being a female was celebrated, not treated as something to be ashamed of. I know of many South Asian women my age who are still expected to aspire to marriage and childbearing as their highest goals. Yes, you may have done all these wonderful things - but when are you getting married? I recently started working at McKinsey, and remember running into someone at a (South Asian) wedding soon after this happened. They were very happy for and proud of me, and said as much, but soon...

I first met Vava at the Sankalp Forum in Nairobi, a little over a month ago. We were at one of the sessions, a 'service provider speed dating session', designed to put entrepreneurs together with service providers. I was there as a service provider, and she as an entrepreneur. While we spoke for no more than 5 minutes, I was impressed by her, and wanted to know more. I heard great things about her from others too. Naturally, I spoke to her about the YWSE (Nairobi) network, and thought that it'd be great to have her as a speaker. Little did I know how soon this was to happen! This past Monday (the 4th of April), was our monthly "How She Does It" YWSE dinner. Despite the rain and awful Nairobi traffic, Vava showed up, and managed to captivate her audience very easily! Vava Angwenyi, Founder of Vava Coffee Vava aims to make bold and badass (her own words) decisions in all that she does- a phrase that quickly caught on and proved to be quite inspirational to the rest ...

Last year, I talked about my own journey of stepping (or breaking) out of the box , so to speak. It definitely hasn't been easy, but I'm grateful for all that I'm learning. Being in a society that may not value creativity as much as I'd like hasn't been very easy, but I'm fortunate enough to have the support of the people around me: family, friends, mentors and even strangers. However, there are many others who aren't so lucky. There are certain fields which certain types of people are not allowed to break into, certain careers which some people just aren't 'allowed' to do, and countless boundaries that people keep imposing on others. Just think about the stereotypes we associate with stay-at-home dads. If a woman was to make the choice to put her career on hold to raise children, she would be praised. The same decision, when taken by a man, is often ridiculed. He isn't given support by the people around him, including friends and family.  A ...

Muthoni and I at the 'How She Does It' dinner Those of you who know anything about Sewanee know that it has an abundance of empowering people to connect with, and networking events galore! I can't even begin to count the amount of times I sat down with a group of amazing men and women and had meaningful conversations about anything and everything. Since coming back to Kenya, I've definitely missed the ease of access to people I could have such conversations and connections with. This is why, when a friend of mine suggested I attend a dinner and a talk that was part of a monthly series hosted by a nonprofit organisation in the area, I jumped at the chance. Connecting with fantastic, motivating women AND a great guest speaker? Of course I went! (And took my sister with me too.) I had a wonderful time, and definitely plan on going back. Luckily for me, I was seated right next to the guest of honour, Muthoni Gathecha (psychologist, motivational speaker, actress and presente...

As a woman who lives in an urban society in the 21st century, I am constantly being bombarded by messages from media and advertising and even the people around me. Many of these messages encourage me to look better, be healthier, dress better; but how many of them encourage me to do it for myself?  As much as women have progressed recently, the sad thing is that in the society we live in, we are still seen as objects who should look pretty for the sake of other people. This may be changing in other places, but it is very much the case in Nairobi. What women wear and how they look are constantly being judged and criticised and held to ridiculous standards that we aren't allowed to dictate ourselves. I remember hearing the tale of a woman who got married and was made to shower, dress up in Indian traditional clothes and make-up EVERY single morning by the time she was at the breakfast table; whereas her in-laws did not adhere to these standards.  Unfortunately, many of us are at...