GERTUDE KARIUKI BIOGRAPHY
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”-Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Mentorship has been the back bone of my identity since time immemorial. At the tender age of 15 and 16, I mentored a class of eighth grade leavers who successfully transitioned into high schools. On high school completion in 2012, I worked with a group of 15 high school leavers for a year and together, we birthed self-help projects such as carpet sewing and play production which put some change in our pockets. My love for acting put me in theater plays and in becoming a talent for AMTC, a Christian based talent agency in the U.S. I intend to use Miss Kenya USA as a platform to connect with trusted mentors in the community to positively steer Kenyan teens living in the U.S into living holistic lives and transitioning them into being efficacious members of the society. With these mentors, we’ll: teach them how to succeed academically, make them knowledgeable of their Kenyan roots (through teaching them how to make Kenyan food & speak the Swahili language), connect them with other positive teens around them with whom they’ll form lifelong friendships which in the long run will alleviate depression, negative peer pressure, loneliness and suicide.
My love for volunteering has enabled me work with the following organizations: Teenagers Plus CBO (Program assistant in 2013,and now a financial sponsor) , Compassion International (I sponsor one child in Bulgaria),Kent Hope Women’s shelter and Christian Faith center (kid’s coach). I am Gertrude Kariuki, 23 years young from Washington state, pursuing a BA in Art, Media & Culture at the University of Washington-Tacoma.
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Gertrude Kariuki (Miss Kenya U.S.A 2018 Contetstant)