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Jessica Posner

Jessica Posner is a social entrepreneur and activist. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) and CEO of Girl Effect.

Life and education

Posner was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in a Jewish family. She studied political theater work abroad at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In 2007, she met Kenny Odede and they worked together on Shining Hope for Communities,[1][2] an organization that aims to improve gender equality and reduce poverty by providing education programs, community forums, health clinics, working toilets, and sources of clean water.[3][4][5]

She returned to Denver at the end of the school semester in 2007 and helped Kenny escape the political violence in Kibera. He attended Wesleyan University on a full scholarship until it was safe for them to return to Kenya.[6]

In 2009, Posner was acting co-founder and CEO of SHOFCO and the Kibera School for Girls was opened.[7]

In 2015, Posner and Odede published the autobiography "Find Me Unafraid" about their life together in the slums.[8][9][6] The book was runner up for that Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2016 for the category nonfiction.[10]

Posner became CEO of Girl Effect in 2019, a non-governmental organization that aims to improve girls' health, education, and livelihoods by connecting them to information and resources across Africa and Asia.[11][12]

On October 10, 2019, she launched Chhaa Jaa (Go Forth and Shine), a youth program for girls in India, with the goal of empowering young girls through digital media.[13]

Awards and honors

Posner received the "VH1 2010 Do Something Grand Award" for Top world-changer 25 and Under for her work in opening Kibera's first free school for girls.[7][14]

Personal life

Posner married Kenny Odede in 2012.[6] They have 3 children.[15][16]

Publications

  • Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum.[14]

References

  1. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (29 September 2011). "Opinion | Just Look at What You Did!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  2. ^ Silver, Marc (29 August 2018). "Whatever Happened To ... The Street Kid Whose Life Was Saved By Kindness". NPR. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  3. ^ "Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum by Kennedy Odede, Jessica Posner". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  4. ^ "On finding love and building hope in a Kenyan slum - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  5. ^ Wesangula, Daniel (6 October 2016). "Can Africa's first aerial water network beat the cartels' sky high prices?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  6. ^ a b c "How a Jewish Woman and a Kenyan Man Are Trying To Save the World Together". The Forward. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  7. ^ a b "From Denver to Kibera: How one woman helped rewrite the future for girls". Daily Nation. 26 December 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  8. ^ "Soulful Reads: The Book Excerpt You Need to Read Today". Oprah.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  9. ^ FIND ME UNAFRAID | Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Shelf Awareness for Wednesday, October 12, 2016". www.shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  11. ^ "Bowled over by Jessica Posner Odede". @theweek. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  12. ^ "'Teenage girls will be the next wave online —this is a huge untapped opportunity for growth'". The Times of India. 15 February 2020. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  13. ^ "Girl Effect's new initiative Chaa Jaa aims to empower adolescent girls through digital media: Jessica Posner Odede". The Times of India. 10 October 2019. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  14. ^ a b Odede, Kennedy; Posner, Jessica (26 July 2016). Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-229286-5.
  15. ^ "PROFILE: Kennedy Odede became a street kid at age 10, now he's fighting poverty in the slums". Citizen Digital. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  16. ^ Holder, Bill. "Light by Which to Dream | Middlebury". www.middlebury.edu. Retrieved 2 June 2026.

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