Ory Okolloh, a lawyer, entrepreneur and activist is making Kenya and Africa proud. The Co-Founder and Executive Director for Ushahidi recently announced her exit, on her blog, from Ushahidi to join Google as a Policy Manager for Africa. Ladybrille Magazine salutes this brilliant woman. Please visit Ladybrille Magazine interview with Ushahidi here. Also read Okolloh’s biography and listen to her story on how she became an activist.
Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo (Swahili: “Patriot”). The site sought to increase government accountability by systematically recording bills, speeches, MPs, standing orders, etc. When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh helped create Ushahidi (Swahili: “testimony”), a website that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps. The technology has since been adapted for other purposes (including monitoring elections and tracking pharmaceutical availability) and used in a number of other countries. Okolloh also has a personal blog, Kenyan Pundit, which was featured on Global Voices Online. She also works as a legal consultant for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank in the past.
Okolloh was born into a relatively poor family. She has said that her parents sent her to a private elementary school that they could “barely afford,” which “set the foundation for what ended up being my career.” She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005. Her father died of AIDS in 1999. Okolloh lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her partner and two children.”
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
