Vivian Onano ’14 speaks on “The Power of a Dream” TODAY
Carthage alumna Vivian Onano will speak on “The Power of a Dream” at 5 p.m on Wednesday, Feb. 17, in the Campbell Student Union Auditorium.
Vivian is a women and girls’ advocate and youth leader who was born and raised in rural Kenya. Her arduous upbringing has forged her strong commitment to education, to women, and to leadership. Vivian has a deep interest in re-defining Africa’s growth and development. A Moremi fellow, she is recognized as one the top 25 emerging women leaders with the courage to lead change on the African continent.
Vivian graduated from Carthage in 2014 and currently is the Community and Partnerships Manager at Africa 2.0 Foundation. She is a youth advisor to the UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group, Women Deliver Young Leader, and a global youth advocate for the Mara Mentor Program.
She has held various leadership positions including serving as a congressional district leader for ONE Campaign in Wisconsin, a campus advocate for the United Nations Association-USA, and a Half the Sky Movement community ambassador. She is also the education spokesperson for Moremi Africa, a global youth ambassador for A World At School, and a 2014 Change Maker Fellow with the Nantucket Project.
Vivian has a diverse background working with a variety of organizations including the MasterCard Foundation, where she served as an external reviewer for their scholarship program in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a blogger for Huffington Post, she uses her oral and written communication skills in service of her passion providing holistic and innovative approaches to solving community problems. Vivian actively advocates for women and girls’ issues and youth entrepreneurship in Africa.
She is a respected speaker who often speaks on global education, finding one’s passion and purpose, gender equality, youth entrepreneurship/empowerment, and international development. She has presented at the United Nations General Assembly, Nexus Global Youth Summit, and the Clinton Global Initiative, among others. She also served as a United Nations Youth Representative and was profiled as one of the 70 outstanding leaders of United Nations Association-USA. Intel featured Vivian as a Girl Rising hero.