Humans of Duke Sanford - Humans of Duke Sanford

Growing up, I had to look after my younger siblings. The pressure of being the "example," while difficult, taught me a lot about myself and how I wanted to impact the world. This led me to work for an exciting school network in and that focuses on developing #Africa’s next generation of leaders and innovators. Those 5 years in education were the happiest years of my life. Seeing life from my students’ perspective gave me a sense of purpose: helping to make their life, and mine, much more meaningful. My work drove me to put my students and their families first; I once climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, alongside other colleagues, to raise $30,000 for my students and later completed my first ever marathon, to bring the school community together.

Those experiences taught me to look at everything from an impact lens. At the end of the day, if we are not knowing better, being better, and doing better, then what’s the point? This lens directed me to pursue the MPP at Duke and later complement it with an MBA. My current focus is on social innovation and entrepreneurship from an international development lens. I want my education to facilitate my goal of using business as a force for good in society. Post-graduation, I want to work in impact investing, playing my part in allocating capital to talented entrepreneurs and organizations with big and bold solutions catered to addressing our society’s toughest challenges.

As someone who values community, being able to find “my people” within such a short time at Sanford is something I will never take for granted. I recognize with each passing day that belonging is such a fundamental human need and I'm committed to making sure that those around me continue to feel at home. I am proud of how we are all growing together and holding each other’s hands firmly. We will be much better as future policymakers and as people, the more we draw towards each other!

Rob Omondi, Nairobi, Kenya All this month, our stories are focused on Sanford's Black population in honor of

Growing up, I had to look after my younger siblings. The pressure of being the “example,” while difficult, taught me a lot about myself and how I wanted to impact the world. This led me to work for an exciting school network in #Kenya and #SouthAfrica that focuses on developing #Africa’s next generation of leaders and innovators. Those 5 years in education were the happiest years of my life. Seeing life from my students’ perspective gave me a sense of purpose: helping to make their life, and mine, much more meaningful. My work drove me to put my students and their families first; I once climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, alongside other colleagues, to raise $30,000 for my students and later completed my first ever marathon, to bring the school community together.

Those experiences taught me to look at everything from an impact lens. At the end of the day, if we are not knowing better, being better, and doing better, then what’s the point? This lens directed me to pursue the MPP at Duke and later complement it with an MBA. My current focus is on social innovation and entrepreneurship from an international development lens. I want my education to facilitate my goal of using business as a force for good in society. Post-graduation, I want to work in impact investing, playing my part in allocating capital to talented entrepreneurs and organizations with big and bold solutions catered to addressing our society’s toughest challenges.

As someone who values community, being able to find “my people” within such a short time at Sanford is something I will never take for granted. I recognize with each passing day that belonging is such a fundamental human need and I’m committed to making sure that those around me continue to feel at home. I am proud of how we are all growing together and holding each other’s hands firmly. We will be much better as future policymakers and as people, the more we draw towards each other!

Rob Omondi, Nairobi, Kenya #HumansofDukeSanford #MPP #MBA All this month, our stories are focused on Sanford’s Black population in honor of #BlackHistoryMonth