In the last 10 years, every year V4A recognizes and celebrates individuals and organizations who stand out in impacting immigrant families in the St. Louis region.
Here is the list of the Award recipients for 2021 V44 Award recipients and their bios.
Keynote Speaker
Arrey Obenson, President & CEO international Institute
Born on April 22, 1971 in Cameroon, Arrey Obenson is a lawyer and graduate of Washington University in Saint Louis where he obtained a Master’s in law (LLM) in 2005. He previously obtained a law degree from University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 1992 and was admitted to the Cameroon Bar Association in December 1999.
Obenson currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and partner of Transformunity, a consulting firm that provides services in strategy development, movement building, advocacy, and strategic events. Prior to his current position, Obenson served as Chief Administrative Officer or Secretary-General of a global nonprofit organization spanning over 120 countries and engaging hundreds of thousands of young people known as Junior Chamber International (JCI).
Obenson has been involved in organizational leadership for fifteen-plus years and played a significant in role in developing and implementing a strategy that has been transformational for JCI.
Obenson has also served on multiple boards of directors, including the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, the International Chamber of Commerce / World Chambers Federation, and is founder of I Am Cameroon, a movement that inspires, educates, and engages Cameroonians to accept and assume responsibility for the development of Cameroon.
Obenson is an active citizen who focuses on solving problems by engaging actors from all sectors of society—businesses, governments, and civil society—to identify their opportunities and develop strategies to achieve growth. Obenson is a motivating and engaging speaker who is frequently invited to speak to audiences of varying sizes across the world. He has spoken and engaged audiences in nearly one hundred countries.
Community Advocate- Wakili Award
Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo
Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, MPH, is the Director of Health for the City of St. Louis. Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis received her medical degree from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and a Master’s in Public Health Degree from Case Western Reserve University. She completed her internal medicine residency at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. She was a Clinical Instructor at Washington University School Medicine for two years and an Associate Program Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases fellowship program. She was also in the leadership of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity at the WUSM where she wrote a policy dedicated to addressing patient bias against faculty, trainees and staff with an accompanying toolkit and curriculum for the residency program.
Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis’s career passions include community engagement, the care of people living with HIV and the impact of COVID-19 infection in marginalized populations. She was the co-PI (principal investigator) for a study comparing the impacts of COVID-19 on HIV between St. Louis, Missouri and Sao, Paulo, Brazil. She was also the clinical co-lead for a regional COVID-19 Population Prevalence grant where she brought her expertise in Infectious Diseases and roots in the community to write protocols for the management of COVID-19 positive individuals, design a program to provide wrap-around services to those in need and manage a workforce around this clinical response effort.
Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis is now a national and international medical contributor on COVID-19 with a particular focus on marginalized populations, and has been featured in outlets such as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and Newsweek, among others. She is also an Associate Editor for Disparities and Competent Care for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
Betsy Cohen
Betsy had an extensive corporate career in marketing at an international consumer goods company. She is a graduate of Wellesley
College and the Harvard Business School. She is on the advisory board for the St. Louis University Chaifetz School of Business and
on the Cortex Innovation Community committee for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was recognized as a Most Influential Businesswoman by the St. Louis
Business Journal and as a Woman Business Leader by the YWCA. In 2021, she was recognized by the National Conference for
Community and Justice of Metro St. Louis for promoting respect among diverse communities. St Louis Mosaic Project
V4A Immigrant Entrepreneur Award
Zellipah Githui- Gitzell 
FairTrade International
Zellipah Githui was born and raised in Kenya. She migrated to the United States in 1998 to pursue higher education. She obtained her MBA at Missouri State University and has an extensive background in Food Science. She is currently employed at Bayer Crop Science.
Zellipah is passionate about mentoring immigrant families and is immensely committed to their success in adapting to the American systems. Based on her own experiences, she is uniquely qualified to offer hands-on support and guidance on navigating a new culture while still maintaining a connection to one’s ethnic core values.
As a seasoned entrepreneur, Zellipah specializes in import and export trade. She is President of Gitzell FairTrade International where she works with artisans in Africa to source authentic, hand-made items while practicing Fair Trade principles. Zellipah is also the founder of Project Goldfinger, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the lives of rural women in Kenya.
Zellipah was recently appointed to serve in the Fair-Trade Federation’s Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She lives in St. Louis, MO with her husband and son and as a licensed realtor enjoys real estate training, volunteering, travelling and socializing with friends.
Congratulations Zellipah!
V4A Ambassador Award- Balozi Award
TONY WANJIKU
Tony Wanjiku is Chief executive officer at Harmony care LLC which is a home health care agency in St Louis Missouri. He is responsible for providing strategic, financial and operational leadership for the company.
Tony has been actively involved in V4A programs including kids chess club, youth mentorship program, Business startups, V4A special events, and Balozi Club membership. He also leads a group of immigrant fathers hosting different father and son activities to help build strong relationships.
His personal mission is to inspire people to become the best version of themselves . Tony enjoys traveling, reading books, and watching documentaries.
He resides in St Louis Missouri with his wife Lilian and three kids (Stephanie, Mark, and Winnie).
Congratulations Tony!
Community Service Award
Midwest BankCenter
Midwest BankCentre has been St. Louis’ premier community bank since 1906. We Bank Our Values by investing capital profitably in our whole community and reinvesting customers’ local deposits locally. When you bank with us, you Bank Your Values® because your mortgage, line of credit or business loan has real returns within the community. Each dollar deposited with us circulates throughout the regional economy 6x, on average. As we help local families and businesses prosper, they lift their friends, neighbors and customers so that everyone can DREAM BIG and RISE TOGETHER.
Our success is being noticed. In addition to multiple awards from Small Business Monthly Magazine and others, in 2019 we were one of only eight banks nationally to be honored as Community Commitment Award winners by the American Bankers Association. This award, in the area of Community and Economic Development, reflects our commitment to diversity and empowering our most economically challenged communities to rise alongside our most affluent communities. In 2021 we were honored to be awarded a Top Workplace in St. Louis by The Post Dispatch.
Congratulations Midwest Bankcentre
Hispanic Leaders Group
Antonio “Tony” Maldonado
Antonio (Tony) Maldonado was born April 20, 1948, in New York City, NY to Puerto Rican parents. He attended Inter-American University in Puerto Rico where he studied Business Administration with his G.I. Benefits. In 2010, he received a Minority Business Certificate from Dartmouth University in New Hampshire. In 1983, the Maldonado family moved to the St. Louis area and has been a resident of Florissant, MO, where he located his flooring business (until his retirement) and became highly involved in his community.
Tony retired in 2012 and remains very involved in our greater St. Louis region as a community leader of several not-for-profit organizations. Since January 2020, Tony has joined multiple “complete count” committees in our region to increase census participation in the “hard to count minority communities”. Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, Tony was called to action to serve as a community stakeholder for St. Louis County. Under his leadership, over 300,000 masks and personal protective equipment (PPE’s) were distributed. He is the current Chair of the Hispanic Leaders Group of Greater St. Louis; Member of the First City of Florissant Police “Civilian Review Board”; Member 2021 St. Louis County Stakeholders Committee for vaccine hesitancy uptake; Tony’s contributions have been acknowledged by many communities’ awards, including:
2006- Hispanic Company of the year-HCC
2009- Hispanic Company of the year-HCC
2014- Hispanic Chamber “Member of the year”.
2015- Hispanic Leaders Group Anthony B Ramírez “Esperanza Award”
2017 – Puerto Rican Society “First Torch Bearer Award”
2019 – Emerson YMCA “Community Hero of ExcellenceAward”
2020 – Hispanic Chamber of Commerce “Lifetime Achievement Award”.
Besides his community service, he enjoys many hobbies and activities such as: Babysitting the grandkids, golf, fishing, boxing, and photography along with his love for acting, dancing, and singing in choirs and musicals.
IAN KARANJA –Hazelwood West High School
Ian is a first generation immigrant, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 2011. Even though Ian has been in the United State of America for over a decade he still misses home and the rich culture of the vibrant Nairobi. Ian declares that being part of Vitendo has helped him grow both professionally and mentally. He added that because of V4A he was able to not only tour DC but also got the opportunity to meet the ambassador of Kenya – and for that, he is forever grateful and he would also be an advocate about all the amazing things that V4A is doing in the community. Ian is also actively involved in his high school where he plays varsity soccer and also plays for New Dimension soccer team.
Congratulations Ian!
Alain Kagarama
Alain Kagarama was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He moved to Rwanda in 1996 after the 1994 Genocide and became a Citizen of Rwanda. Alain and his wife Alice met in Kigali and got married in 2007. They moved to the United States as Immigrants in 2008 and live here in Saint Louis South County since then for 13 Years. They became U.S. Citizen in 2017. They have 4 beautiful children: Jessica, Amael, Aela and Ayann. Alain has two master’s degrees: The first one, in Information Communication Technology (ICT) Engineering from the National University of Rwanda and the second, in Control Systems Engineering from Washington University of Saint Louis where he graduated in May 2019. Before moving to the United States, Alain has worked for Rwandatel Telecomm, one of the leading Telecommunication Company in Africa and now Alain is working for Equifax Workforce Solutions, as Technical Product Analyst Consultant. Alain is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vitendo For Africa and is also The President of ABUNGURANA Family, a Community coming from the Great Lake Region from East-Africa in Africa. The Community migrated to United States and ABUNGURANA Headquarter is here in Saint Louis.
Congratulations Alain
Kenya Embassy Washington DC
Kenya Embassy in DC through the great leadership of H.E Ambassador Lazarus Amayo has done a great job connecting and serving Kenyans in Diaspora. Kenya embassy has made great progress in improving service delivery to Kenyans in Diaspora. Last month over 11,000 e-visas were processed. That is the highest number compared to all other Kenya Embassies.
The Kenya Consulate in Los Angeles has been approved by the Government to process the new generation ePassports. The embassy provides regular updates on travel requirements, processing of evisa, and emergency travel. This includes helping many stranded Kenyans in the last minutes who miss out on meeting the requirements.
Amb. Lazarus Amayo hold regular virtual town hall meetings with the Kenyan Diaspora living in the US. In the past these meetings has attracted over 500 participants and discussed a wide range of issues including progress made in the Kenya-USA Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations and emerging investment opportunities in Kenya. They also engaged the Diaspora on Consular services offered by the Kenya Embassy in Washington DC and Consulates in LA and New York.
Kenya embassy has led great negotiations with the US government in the fight against the pandemic. The US government has donated a total of over 8 Million doses of vaccines (Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and Pfizer vaccines to the people of Kenya.
To complement the vaccine donation, the United States has invested $4.9 million to support the vaccine rollout in Kenya through projects aimed at increasing demand for vaccines, health worker training, project monitoring, strengthening supply chain and cold storage capacity, and monitoring adverse effects.
Humanitarian Award –Shujaa Award
DR CHRISTOPHER PRATER- Washington University School of Medicine
Chris Prater is an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. He is a primary care physician with a focus on refugee and immigrant health, and currently sees patients at Affinia Healthcare. He completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Christiana Care Health System in Delaware in 2014, and later earned a Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Since completing his training, he has worked in community health centers, delivering primary care to a largely foreign-born population. In addition to his clinical interest in community health, he serves as the tuberculosis physician for the City of St. Louis Department of Health. His research interest includes community-engaged research and health disparities in maternal and child health. He has been honoured to have worked with Geoffrey Soyiantet and Vitendo 4 Africa for the past 3 years
STEPHANIE NJERI- John Hopkins University
Stephanie is a long time-member of the V4A mentees program. She went through all V4A programs from Elementary, middle school, high school and now in College. She participated in many of the educational field trips and Saturday events. When in high school she led a weekly ACT prep group and youth leadership forums. Most notably, she was the project manager for the 2021 Kenya Mission trip that raised over $10,000 to build classrooms and provide school supplies for students in Kenya.
Last year when schools closed and went virtual due to a pandemic, many immigrant parents were experiencing challenges balancing between work and assisting their kids with homework. This was because of language barriers and many not being familiar with the American education system. Stephanie led a group of four high school students to launch an online Zoom tutoring program for 3rd grade to 8th grade helping them with homework assistance, math coaching and reading. More than 87% of the participants indicated improved performance in their school work.
Stephanie Njeri is a first-year student at Johns Hopkins University studying international relations. At school, she is involved with the African Students Association, the International Studies Leadership Council, and the Foreign Affairs Symposium
Stephanie is inspired by her family and community to make a difference in any way she can.
Congratulations Stephanie!
Youth Empowerment Award- Wezesha Award
Fred Maboneza is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Formerly Zaire) where
he completed his High School education. He came to the United States as a refugee of war in 2001. Originally relocated to Chicago, IL, he moved to St. Louis in 2008. He
married Jennifer in 2009 and they have since had three wonderful children, David,
Jeremiah and Danielle. Since 2012, Fred has focused his time and energy in providing
meaningful, organized grassroots soccer opportunities to immigrant and urban youth in
the St. Louis Metropolitan area. His nonprofit organization, Umoja St. Louis Soccer
strives to break down barriers for urban and minority youth who wish to participate in
organized soccer, increase minority representation of coaches and referees by
providing referee and coaching trainings to urban youth and young adults, and to develop a pathway for underrepresented youth to participate in advanced training
opportunities that would otherwise be unattainable. Additionally, Umoja St. Louis Soccer has a mission to promote a soccer fan movement to support High School, College and
Professional soccer teams by assisting urban soccer fans to integrate the St. Louis
Congratulations Umoja!
ST LOUIS CHESS CLUB
The Saint Louis Chess Club, a 501(c)(3) educational organization, is widely recognized as the premier chess facility in the country and one of the best in the world.
This 6,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art chess center features a world-class tournament playing hall, classroom, library and casual play area. STL Chess Club more than just a community center. They take a multi-level approach to promoting the game of chess:
The Scholastic Outreach Initiative spreads the educational benefits of chess to thousands of students in hundreds of schools and community centers across the greater Saint Louis area, primarily through afterschool programming.
It is a member-based community center where players of all skill levels and abilities, from beginner to expert, attend their free classes, participate in tournaments, attend lectures, take private lessons and more.
STL CHESS club promote chess at the top levels by hosting all of the major U.S. Championship events and matches between the world’s top players.
STL Chess club opened its doors in July of 2008, and since that time Saint Louis has become widely recognized as the emerging chess center of the country. Membership to the club starts at just $10/month, and they currently have more than 1,000 active members. They are open seven days a week for casual play, and they also offer free classes and lectures, weekly tournaments, private lessons, merchandise discounts and more.
Jeremy Compton is the Scholastic Coordinator for the Saint Louis Chess Club. He has been playing chess since he was four years old and has taught chess professionally for five years accumulating thousands of hours of teaching experience in classrooms working with students of all backgrounds and abilities.
Congratulations St Louis Chess!
BDPA ST LOUIS
For more than 40 years, Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) has enabled the upward mobility of African Americans and other minorities in the Information Technology (IT) and STEM fields. Through its 30+ local community chapters in major cities across the United States, BDPA has been at the forefront of promoting the minority agenda within the IT profession since 1975. BDPA has been a leader and pioneer in technology and STEM training for IT professionals and High School students since 1986.
Our National High School Computer Competition (HSCC) program which is a hands-on training program, has introduced tens of thousands of high school students to coding and application development while also presenting opportunities for students to obtain college scholarships due to the generosity of our sponsors and partners. Because of BDPA’s focus on students and professional members alike, we continue to support and lead the upward success of our members “from the classroom to the boardroom”.
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
Rebeccca graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of science and technology in Ghana 1990 with B pharmacy.
She got licensed in Ghana as a pharmacist and worked for about a year.
Rebecca got registered in the USA in 2004 and has worked in the hospital setting, long term care pharmacy and retail pharmacies.
Rebecca is the owner of Dellwood pharmacy based in Ferguson. During the pandimicc Rebecca teamed up with local organizations and community leaders to educate and create awareness about COVID-19 and vaccines in the African Community. She has been at the forefront to provide vaccine and health access in the underserved Africcan population.
Her cultural competence background has helped African clients build trust in the vaccine and other health treatments.
Her passion is preventive care medicine as well as good management of chronic diseases. visit Dellwood pharmacy
MERCY HOSPITAL
Mercy, one of the largest Catholic health systems in the United States, provides care and community outreach programs across the St. Louis metro area based on regular community health needs assessments and community benefit planning. Through these assessments, the most pressing health issues impacting the most marginalized are identified. Access to care, including reducing barriers to health care and addressing social determinants of health, are addressed with the help of its physician-governed provider group, Mercy Clinic, which offers primary care, specialty care and urgent care services, its five hospitals in the St. Louis region and community partner organizations providing resources to aid in the social needs of the community.
Most familiar to many is Mercy Hospital St. Louis, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services five-star hospital. It’s the second-largest hospital in metropolitan St. Louis and one of the nation’s largest Catholic hospitals. The hospital provides critical health services, including the region’s only burn center, St. Louis County’s only Level I trauma center and children’s hospital – Mercy Children’s Hospital – with a Level III (highest) neonatal intensive care unit and a pediatric intensive care unit. In addition, it offers the only heart and vascular hospital in the region and comprehensive cancer services. Recognized for maternity care, more mothers choose to give birth at Mercy than at any other hospital in Missouri. Mercy’s four other hospitals in the St. Louis region include Mercy Hospital Jefferson, Mercy Hospital Lincoln, Mercy Hospital South and Mercy Hospital Washington.
Congratulations Mercy!
Diversity and Inclusion Award:
FOCUS ST LOUIS
Yemi Akande-Bartsch is President & CEO of FOCUS St. Louis, providing direction and oversight for the region’s premier leadership organization and delivery of its six leadership programs and numerous citizen engagement initiatives. Recognized as an accomplished, innovative, and visionary leader specializing in implementing strategic plans and organizational development, Akande-Bartsch has led FOCUS St. Louis since 2014 and also serves as Director of the acclaimed Leadership St. Louis program. She joined the organization in 2012 as VP of Leadership and Alumni Programs and Director, Diversity Leadership Fellowship.
Akande-Bartsch spent 10 years of her career in the Cleveland, Ohio, area prior to relocating to St. Louis. She held senior leadership roles with Cleveland Leadership Center, including as Senior Director of Civic Education, Director of the Civic Leadership Institute, and Director of the Cleveland Executive Fellowship. With a passion to educate and mentor young people, Akande-Bartsch has held key teaching positions at several universities including John Carroll University, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University. Additional experience includes Associate Director of Recruitment for IES, a premier international education organization. She also served as host of a radio show, “Making the Case” on WJCU in Cleveland.
As a leader in the community, Akande-Bartsch serves as a Board Member of The Sheldon Arts Foundation, St. Louis Regional Chamber, and Downtown St. Louis, as well as Board Chair, Subdistrict Commission of Missouri Botanical Garden. She is also a member of the Association of Leadership Programs, Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, St. Louis Forum, and Urban Land Institute Advisory Committee. Akande-Bartsch was honored as a Diverse Business Leader by St. Louis Business Journal in 2019, as Female Executive of the Year from Queen’s Ministry in 2018 and received the Most Influential Business Award from the St. Louis Business Journal in 2017, and Who’s Who in Diversity in 2016.
Congratulations FOCUS ST LOUIS!
Emerging Leaders Award
SALLY GACHERU- St Louis Univesity
Sally Gacheru, is a third-year undergraduate student at Saint Louis University.
She was born and raised in Gathiga, a small village in Kenya where education was valued as the sole aspiration for a better future. She moved to the United States in 2014 with her family in pursuit of better education and the “American dream” in the presumed land of opportunities.
She is currently majoring in Health Sciences on the Pre-medicine track with aspirations of becoming a cardiologist in the future. This year Sally was featured in SLU Billiken’s first-generation stories here (https://www.slu.edu/news/social/first-generation-stories.php) At SLU, she is currently the vice president of the Minority Association of Pre Health Students (MAPS) chapter, the vice president of the African Student Association, and Co-Leader of Intervarsity.
Sally has worked with Vitendo4Africa for about seven years now. She has voluntered in various programs and assisted as an office assistant. This year she was part of the Vitendo research team for the APHA conference that studied “Covid-19 risk factors and the impact of a community organization within the St. Louis African immigrant population”.
Congratulations Sally!
CHRISTINA VIVIT
Dr. Christina Vivit, PT, DPT serves as a clinician, researcher, coach, and consultant based in the Greater Los Angeles area. She is also a proud SLU graduate. As an action-driven leader and daughter of Philippine immigrants, she strives to elevate education, livelihood, and opportunities for immigrants in the US. She is the owner of Empowered Comm[you]nity, LLC, a home where self-care meets community care, along with being the creator and podcast host of BIPOC Rising. She has served on Vitendo4Africa’s Board of Directors for over 3 years and is honored to receive the Emerging Leaders Award with an abundance of gratitude for her Vitendo4Africa family!
Congratulations Christina!
IGHO EKAKITIE
Igho Ekakitie was born in a small town called Sapele in Delta State, Nigeria. He currently attends Webster University where he his doing his Masters in International Relations and Project Management. Igho is a lover of life, a believer in equality under the law, and a strong advocate for Human rights, all attributes he learned from his parent. Leadership to him means servant-ship. He is National Council member of United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNAUSA) and sits on the board of United Nations Association STL. He is the founder of the iggo with IGHO Street to School Initiative and host of the igo with IGHO podcast that provides a platform for international students to own their journey and share their experiences. He hopes to continue to create a difference in people’s lives here in St. Louis and across the world.
Congratulations Igho
Mentor of the Year Award
DR MUTHONI MSANGALI
Dr. Muthoni Musangali is an Associate Professor in Webster’s Department of Professional Counseling.
Dr. Muthoni Musangali is an Associate Professor in Webster’s Department of Professional Counseling.
Muthoni Musangali is an Associate professor in the Department of Professional Counseling at Webster University. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Board Certified TeleMental Health Counselor.
Muthoni is passionate about mental health and promoting awareness about this subject within the African diaspora community in the Saint Louis region and beyond. She is a frequent guest speaker at events for youth and immigrant parents where she seeks to promote conversations about mental health and how to navigate life as an immigrant. Of particular interest to her is how to bridge the gap between first generation African American children and immigrant parents. Muthoni is a counselor and mentor to many, lending an ear and her professional expertise to parents and children alike who might be struggling with a mental health issue, parenting, relationship, or general life concerns.
Dr. Muthoni, as she is popularly known among the Kenyan community, has worked with youth groups in various church communities here, most notably starting and leading the Keepers, a group for high school age students at Christ Covenant Church. With a donation of volleyballs from Webster University Women’s volleyball coach, Muthoni got the Keepers youth group active in volleyball for a year preceding COVID. She introduced the game of volleyball to a group of Kenyan women, using it as a metaphor for lessons in facing and overcoming life’s challenges while also engaging them in physical exercise. It did not last very long but she has not given up the dream.
Dr. Muthoni is currently leading an effort at Webster University, partnering with St. Louis County Department of Public Health and other local organizations such as BIAS and Casa da Salud, to treat mental health issues in persons from underserved communities, including refugees and immigrants.
Muthoni is generous with her time. She rarely turns down an opportunity to be of help, believing in the words of Paul Wellstone, the late senator from Minnesota, that ‘we all do better when we all do better.
Dr Muthoni has been volunteering with V4A to create awareness about mental health in the African Immigrant Community. She leads a conversation between African Immigrants youth and their parents to bridge the gap brought about by cultural practises and beliefs. For the last four years she has spent hundreds of hours mentoring young immigrant youths and encouraging them to pursue their dreams. She also created a platform where many young girls can go for advice or counseling.
Muthoni is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), the Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES), and the Association for Assessment in Counseling (AACE). She is a National Certified Counselor and a Licensed Professional Counselor. Dr. Musangali is the Principal Investigator for the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Grant that was awarded to Webster’s Department of Professional Counseling by the US Department of Health and Human Services (2021-2025). She has co-authored book chapters and articles related to counseling on an international level. She earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Central Florida. She holds a MA in Counseling from Heidelberg College and a B.Ed. (Arts) from Kenyatta University, Kenya.
Dr Muthoni has been volunteering with V4A to create awareness about mental health in the African Immigrant Community. She leads a conversation between African Immigrants youth and their parents to bridge the gap brought about by cultural practises and beliefs. For the last four years she has spent hundreds of hours mentoring young immigrant youths and encouraging them to pursue their dreams. She also created a platform where many young girls can go for advice or counseling.
Congratulations Dr Muthoni!
