On the 15th of August, 2022, I got a call from my daddy letting me know that my mother had passed away.
My mother was Africa’s first female inland marine captain — a pioneer in every sense of the word. She stepped away from her career on the water to help build education systems (a primary school and a secondary school) that my father and sister continue to uphold today.
For more than 20 years, she battled chronic illness (arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes); but with her illness came an interesting kind of privilege: she got the chance to live with urgency, building each day like time was borrowed, precious, sacred.
We got to love her, with the precise kind of urgency, too.
That urgency became my compass.
In the 7 years since founding the Ntha Foundation in 2018, we have, in partnership with international development agencies and schools across Africa trained over 10,000 learners across 20+ African countries, reached over 500,000 people through digital campaigns, launched our e-learning platform digitalskillsforafrica.com, and created real pathways for creatives, innovators, and entrepreneurs to thrive.
And yet — it never felt like we had truly started. Not until now.
This summer, after a year and a half of incorporating, and thanks to the incredible team at Archer Hotel — my home during my internship with Xbox — we hosted our first-ever U.S. Gala.
We did it. We launched the Ntha Foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States.
We gathered in Redmond, Washington — the very city where I’ve spent my summer as a Business Development MBA Intern at Microsoft, learning from some of the brightest minds in gaming, technology, and innovation.
And perhaps that’s what made this moment so special.
Because I didn’t just bring my story with me — I brought the mission, the movement, the vision. I came with why.
Every conversation I’ve had with my mentor at Xbox, Miguel, this summer — whether about career moves, ideas, or legacy — always circled back to the same core question:
What is the impact?
And that question stayed in my mind as I planned this gala over a very brief stint of 6 weeks.
We were fundraising for the construction of the Kwathu Innovation & Creative Centre (KICC) — a permanent home for our work in Mangochi, Malawi. A space where young people can gather, create, learn, and dream together. A place where stories like mine aren’t the exception — but the norm.
I stand here in Redmond, with the ability to do incredible work, because someone once gave me a chance.
Because my mother built systems.
Because the U.N. Women Country rep offered me an internship in 2018.
Because my former manager, Ana Rosa Soares hired me from Malawi to New York.
Because mentors like Leonardo Barros Barreto, Miguel Vicente and Agnes Kim kept me grounded.
Because I do deeply believe that talent is everywhere — but opportunity is not.
This work — this mission — it matters. And this summer, we didn’t just celebrate where we’ve been.
We (re)started.
And now, we build. With purpose. With urgency. And with the clearest sense of why I’ve ever had.
Thank you to everyone who showed up, gave, cheered us on, or simply believed. This moment was made possible because of you.
To the next 7 years. To the million(s) more learners we’ll reach together.
my deepest possible love,
Ntha
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