A Chat With Cynthia Untamed

I am Cynthia Nyongesa, a 24-year-old Kenyan youth advocate.

About three years ago, I discovered my love for Communication and empowering the youth through story-telling. At this point, I was pursuing a Law Degree. The comforting factor was that a lot of my coursework an advocacy-related angle – for example, Media and Law, Human Rights and more. However, the nudge to work with young people was persistent from within. I wanted to change the narrative about communities and the things I was seeing while working with the youth.

Later, I began to reach out to youth-oriented initiatives and programs seeking their support in mentoring the youth knew. I would make cold pitches to organisations and CEOs on Twitter or via email. This went unanswered 99.9% of the time but one day, Equity Group Foundation responded.

I was called for a meeting to pitch my work with the youth and later given the opportunity to be a volunteer in the Foundation’s Wings to Fly Scholarship Program. My role was to mentor the young scholars under the program. Being a young person, this was something I could easily relate to. I was 19 years old at the time. Through this opportunity I told stories that propelled me to my next opportunities.

One time, when skimming through Instagram, I saw a post from a friend requesting her followers to check out her blog. I became curious about blogging, and when I realized that it could be a great avenue of channeling stories about the youth, I decided I would start blogging. A friend helped me set up the blog in 2016.

Later that year, I was invited to write about infrastructural development during the State House Summit on Infrastructure. First time in State House: Big moment for me! I kept going, improving my craft and here I am today as a youth advocate in UNICEF Kenya playing a key Youth Communications, Advocacy, and Partnerships role.  Through the two years I have worked here, I have been encouraged by how I am able to put my talent into more constructive use and reach a wider audience.

I still work towards inspiring young people to start their own programs by featuring established and influential leaders for inspiration. I have featured:  

Gina Din, Strategic Communication and Public Relations Mogul; Sylvia Muturi, Founder of  Deafine through which she empowers the deaf; Kamal Budhabhatti, CEO of Craft Silicon; Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya; Sitawa Namwalie, an award winning Kenyan poet, playwright, writer and performer. When the youth see that I can reach these successful individuals they see that it is possible.

I am also deeply inspired by the outcomes of the powerful stories I get to tell. I once interviewed a young man who was at the time the only one in his village to get university education through the Equity Wings to Fly Scholarship program. In his free time, he tuition the children on their school work to improve their grades. Someone saw the story and donated papers so he was able to set up his first exam.

I also featured the story of a young lady advocating for end of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Garissa. I guided her through submitting her essay to the World Bank Blog4Dev Competition in 2018. She won and shared her experience on a bigger platform in Washington DC.

Cynthia Untamed: How did you come about this title?

It took me nearly 6 months to come up with this title. I was previously blogging about my own experiences and my audience did not consume it as I intended based on the kind of questions they asked – some even questioned if it was my experience. I wanted the blog to be mine but reflect the voices of the youth. In addition, our generation does not want to see boring things so I wanted a catchy name. I came across untamed on Google and it resonated with the narrative I wanted to push: Determined, resilient and not limited by either experiences or challenges. I believe this title and what it brings on board creates diversity and to a great extent, an enabling environment for sustainable opportunities for the youth.

When was the last time you had a moment of self-doubt how did you get back up?

I am currently also the Youth Ambassador for Generation Unlimited in Kenya. When I was appointed, I started asking myself if I was right person for this grand advisory role: If I had the right skills and if I should even take up the role. I confided in some friends who encouraged me to go for it because there is no telling where it would lead.

I was recovering from a previous low moment I had about three years ago when I applied for the World Bank Blog4Dev Competition and did not win. I was so disappointed, hurt and felt like a failure. However, through this experience, I have met people who have mentored and encouraged me out of the frustration. Others extended new opportunities to me which allowed me to shift focus to what lay ahead of me. For example, despite not winning World Bank’s Blog4Dev Competition, I occasionally get called upon to be a part of youth-oriented World Bank events. When I meet people who believe in me, I am motivated to keep going and give my best. I have seen that every time I give my best, the repercussive events yield good results.

There is a 23-year old who looks at you, your social profile and admires your path. What 5 things would you tell them:

• Put God first. God will guide us but He will not walk around holding our hand. He will do it through people. Even the mentors I have, I have never approached anyone. They approach me but you always have to pray that God brings the right opportunities to you.
• Challenge yourself to do something new. I studied Law but now working in Communications without the academic background has not been easy. I saved money for a photography workshop in Rwanda where I conducted a story project in a remote area in Kigali, where they did not speak English yet successfully learnt the skill.
• Learn to celebrate others and be genuinely happy for them. You do not know what someone has been through before they reached where they are so just appreciate the people ahead of you.
• Encourage others. I have found myself in situations where I would never have gotten through on my own. People helped me out and not by giving me money, they just held my hand. Encourage the people behind you and try to understand where they’re coming from.
• Find reasons to be happy. Choose to be in positive spaces. When I see a skills event relevant to my interests, I show up. Life does not always present bright days but we should find joy anyway.

What is the one achievement you’re most proud of?

Cynthia Untamed. It is who I am and what I want to achieve – enabling young people to have their voice heard.

Pen and paper in front of you: Jot the one aspiration that you hope to attain yet scares you out of your wits. My ultimate goal is to be a Brand Ambassador for an initiative that seeks to change the life of the youth in Africa. I would also love to have a TV show of my own. I also look to advancing my career in advocacy so that I am able to talk to people and transform lives through story-telling at a global level.