My Experience in Mastering The Art of Networking

In my early twenties, I thought networking meant finding new friends to hang out with, but overtime I’ve realized it entails more than sipping cocktails and exchanging business cards with people. Mastering the art of networking is a crucial skill in building successful careers. After high school, I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time on my hands. After years of burning the midnight oil, the ecstasy of being eighteen combined with the exhilaration of freedom almost overwhelmed me.

The flurry of activities in my bucket list that I thought I could spend a lifetime achieving was soon ticked off. The euphoria abated and boredom roped in. During this period of constant monotony and an annoying flatness in my life, HEART-TALK KENYA was born. As one of its founding members, HTK was an ideal platform that provided a safe and fun environment for young ladies to link up and share their fears and insecurities, as well as future desires. It proved to be a great source of ideas, advice and inspiration.

We began with eleven members only and within a year we had over a hundred members. HTK laid the very foundation and launching pad from which I started to build strong relationships. As a young girl in her early twenties, wading through the murky waters of life was challenging and confusing, but HTK gave me the psycho-social support that helped survive and thrive.

Later, I joined League of Young Professionals (LYP) that offered instrumental support in my development and career progression. As a scholar, I was an office bearer for distinct organizations such as Project Management Students Association. I thoroughly enjoyed maintaining excellent rapport and open channels of communication with students and lectures alike. As a volunteer with Dell Social Innovation (DSI), which aimed to improve the life of street families through provision of food, clothing and sanitary ware, I learnt a great deal about aspects of humility, sharing and human dignity.

Today I volunteer with Centre for African Volunteers. CAV aims to drive change in matters leadership, democracy and citizen participation in good governance. This year I have pledged my birthday to support Vitabu Vyetu, an NGO that strives to improve the literacy skills of children from the urban slums. I consider volunteerism as a Pay-It Forward act, because I am a beneficiary of benevolent organizations such World Vision and Youth Sponsorship Program since my childhood. Overall, I credit these networking opportunities for building my character and fuelling my hunger to succeed.

To be part of the Chevening community means ample job opportunities, broader and deeper knowledge and improved capacity to innovate. However, nothing beats the chance of forming friendships with global citizens. If granted this opportunity to pursue my Masters in the UK, I will identify people with shared common interests, I will build bigger and deeper connections from the Chevening community, so that we can we can continue to feed and nurture the next generation of young, visionary women and men.