I know we told you that the member spotlight series was over, but surprise! Our S4V family has recently expanded, and we are so excited to introduce to you our newest team members. Today, you will be getting to know Lisa Juma, one of our dedicated Project Managers.

Lisa is currently 21 years old, and she is a fourth-year student at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology. She will be graduating in December with a Bachelors in Actuarial Science (#girlboss!), after which she is excited to pursue a career in risk management that makes her excited to wake up each morning and do work that is impactful to society. At school, her favorite subject has been mathematics, as she loves the way it challenges her mind. Lisa is also a member of the Rotaract chapter at her university, which is how she initially met Victor. This past summer, after Victor informed her about School for a Village, Lisa felt inspired by the organization’s mission. Lisa too is passionate about improving access to quality STEM education, so she is so excited to be part of a team of like-minded individuals striving towards achieving this goal.

Lisa comes from a small, close-knit family of four, and she has one older sister. Outside of school and her academic interests, she loves watching K-dramas and listening to K-pop music. In particular, she enjoys watching romantic comedies and action movies. If she could choose any fictional character she resonates with most, it would have to be Yoon Se-ri, one of the main characters in the South Korean TV series Crash Landing on You. Among her favorite K-pop groups are Blackpink, BTS, and EXO. In addition to listening to music, Lisa also thoroughly enjoys singing. In primary school, she would always entertain her classmates with her singing, even performing at class assemblies. In high school, she began to experience doubts about her abilities, falling away from her passion for singing because she didn’t think her voice was good enough. However, this year, Lisa is proud of the self-growth she has experienced and the confidence she has regained. After reconnecting with singing, Lisa has discovered that her voice is better than she previously gave herself credit for. She has even shared some recordings of herself singing to her best friend. In the future, we at S4V hope Lisa shares her talent with us, as we know that she is incredible!

Not only does Lisa love singing, but she also loved being the left marker for her drill team in high school. Through her position as a marker, she was able to control the direction of how the team moved and worked together. At her school, she became somewhat of a legend for being a phenomenal marcher. Whenever someone needed an example of how to do a drill, they were always told, “See Lisa Juma! See Lisa Juma!” Through Lisa’s hard work and commitment to her team, she was able to help her school’s drill team win a silver medal. To have that community and camaraderie with her teammates was one of the best feelings. At Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Lisa was able to find a new community through immersing herself in the Rotaract chapter. After joining Rotaract in December 2019, Lisa was soon elected to be the club’s Community Service Director. One of her proudest accomplishments was forming an entire committee and developing a project to help out a rescue center in Kenya. After months of designing, implementing, and forming partnerships, Lisa’s project came to fruition in February. Through the project that she led, she raised funds for a generator to help a local community access the clean water they need for their farms and to perform daily activities such as washing.

Recently, Lisa also had the opportunity to intern at the Kenyan branch of American International Group (AIG), an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. As an AIG intern, she worked in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) division, helping to outsource individuals and small businesses for insurance. Not only was it cool to apply what she learned in the classroom to the real-world setting, but at AIG, she was able to meet her supervisor and role model, Eva. Eva is the Senior Manager for the SME Department. On top of being inspired by Eva’s professional career trajectory, Lisa appreciated how Eva mentored her with patience and kindness. She hopes that one day, she too can serve as a compassionate and dedicated mentor for young women entering the world of risk management.

As Lisa forges ahead and continues to accomplish great things both in her professional and personal life, she reminds herself of a few mantras to live by. First, whenever she feels sad or overwhelmed by the challenges she faces, Lisa tells herself to “stop for a moment and smile, because life is too short to cry.” This line comes from one of her favorite songs, “Mystic Word” by O.WHEN. Lisa also tries to “seize the day,” having the goal of ending each day proud of what she was able to achieve. The final quote that Lisa lives by is “Laugh heartily, love truly, and never regret any moment that you spend true to yourself.” Even though I have only known Lisa for a short amount of time, I can say with 100% confidence that her “true self” is a self worth knowing.