Creator of The Levers of Value
Transition Brand & Communications Director for Development Organisations
Culture determines which ideas succeed or fail.
I help organisations redesign their positioning, build resilient communication systems, and unlock cultural value so they can attract partners, secure hybrid funding, and strengthen their legitimacy in public and policy spaces.Today’s development landscape is shifting.
Grant funding is tightening, partnerships are diversifying, public trust is fragile, and policy influence increasingly depends on narrative power, not just evidence.My signature framework, The Levers of Value™, integrates structural value (credibility) and cultural value (resonance) to help organisations become credible, investable, and policy-ready in a digital age.I’m also the founder of Culture Signals Lab, a social innovation lab where my team and I teach culture leadership; how to build public trust and healthy digital societies.My throughline: strengthening public trust, digital resilience and cultural understanding so that good ideas can thrive.
Meet Stella Njogo
A Different Kind of Comms Leader for a Different Kind of Future
I’m a strategic communications and cultural leadership specialist with 12 years of experience shaping narrative, public trust, and digital engagement across Africa’s impact sector.My work sits at the intersection of:
- Development & social impact
- Digital behaviour & youth culture
- Climate & food systems
- Narrative strategy & culture change
- Public trust & policy legitimacyAcross these experiences, one truth became clear:Organisations succeed not just because they deliver value, but because they can signal value to partners, funders, the public, and policymakers.This insight led me to create The Levers of Value™, a framework that helps organisations strengthen both their structural and cultural value so they can compete, connect, and contribute at a higher level, including in policy and public-interest ecosystems.I now work as a Transition Brand & Communications Director, supporting organisations through periods of transition by redesigning their positioning, narratives, systems, and strategic assets.If your organisation is evolving and needs leadership that understands cultural, digital, market, and policy dynamics, I can help.
Proven Impact- Led communications and strategic partnerships for Shujaaz Inc., a two-time Emmy Award-winning youth behaviour change media organisation in East Africa.
- Contributed to African climate storytelling with TED Countdown by leading the strategy and production of strategic comms assets.
- Supported pan-African entrepreneurship training and transition to a hybrid funding model at AWEC, a US-based and Rockefeller Foundation-funded non-profit serving African women entrepreneurs.
- Partnered with coalitions advancing cultural and systems change across the continent.Through my studio, Culture Signals, my team and I scale social innovation by culture leadership training and programs that develop Africa’s next generation of culture leaders.
Art Career
As a storyteller and artist at heart, I have built an art practise as commentary on the power of digital culture.
In 2018, I won a DMA award in Kenya for an experimental podcast on archiving thoughts on modern life that I started as a personal audio diary.
In 2022, I was invited to a month-long residency in Italy to share knowledge and conduct research on art for social change. It was part of the EU-funded ArtXchange program where I collaborated with other African artists to host an open studio session about art for social change.
My approach and Signature Framework:
The Culture Compass™I designed the Culture Compass to map culture into three interconnected spheres that help build inclusive brands, programs and technologies.
All three spheres have to be present and work together to create inclusion. They include:1. Institutional / Legacy Systems – catering to our formal structures, governance, and historical knowledge.
2. Communal / Collective Systems – honouring our shared values, collective memory, and social bonds.
3. Individual Agency Systems – enabling our personal identities, stories, and ability to act.When all three are integrated, we build futures where people, technology, and systems thrive together.
Services I offer
✔ The Levers of Value™ Diagnostic
A 90-minute leadership assessment that evaluates your organisation’s Structural Value (credibility) and Cultural Value (resonance) across 12 dimensions. including readiness for hybrid funding, strategic partnerships, and policy legitimacy.
Output: A 3–5 page leadership memo.
✔ Transition Brand & Communications Director (12–24 months)
A time-bound fractional executive role where I lead:
- Organisational repositioning
- Narrative and value proposition design
- Asset architecture (pitch decks, website logic, case studies)
- Communications systems design
- Cultural value integration (5Cs)
- Public trust & policy legitimacy support
- Capability transfer and clean exit
✔ Thought Partnership for LeadersStrategic advisory for CEOs, founders, and impact leaders navigating narrative, governance, public trust, or policy communications challenges.
✔ Personal Branding and Influence for Leaders (SokoShapers™)A program I designed under Culture Signals Lab to help leaders:
- Clarify their leadership identity
- Build a strong digital presence
- Communicate their mission with clarity
- Create a community around their workAvailable as:
- SokoShapers Cohort
- 1:1 Executive SokoShaper
- Corporate SokoShaper for senior teams
✔ Talks & Workshops
Topics include:
- The Levers of Value™
- Cultural Leadership in Policy & Public-Interest Systems
- Narrative Legitimacy in the Digital Age
- Marketing as Infrastructure
- Building Trust in Hybrid Funding Environments
Let’s Begin a Strategic ConversationWhether your organisation is entering a period of transition, exploring hybrid funding, strengthening public trust, or seeking clearer strategic positioning, I’d love to help you think it through.I work with leaders who are ready to:
- Reposition their organisation for a changing landscape
- Build communications systems that actually support strategy
- Strengthen cultural and structural value
- Increase partnership, investment, and policy legitimacyIf that’s you, please reach out using the form below or email me directly.This is not a sales call, it’s a strategic conversation.
Together, we’ll explore where your organisation is, what’s shifting, and whether The Levers of Value™ framework can support your next phase.
artist profile
Stella Njogo is a multidisciplinary artist working across writing, sound, and media.
Her practice explores the intersections of culture, identity, and collective memory, often through experimental formats that move between the digital and the analog.Selected Projects2016 – 2018 | Creative Blogging
Initiated a body of writing on pop and digital culture through a Medium publication, which has since evolved into Culture Signals Lab.2018 | Kalongolongo Life
Developed an exploratory podcast named after the Kenyan childhood role-play game. The audio diary series, composed of 5–10 minute episodes, was awarded Best Use of Podcast at the 2018 DMA Awards in Kenya.2022 | Santuri Music Producer Programme
Selected for Santuri’s music production programme, producing an original soundscape presented at the cohort showcase.
Listen to it here.
2022 | ArtXchange Residency, Italy
The residency was about knowledge exchange and exploring art as a tool for social change.
I produced an installation (I am Not an Actor) -pictured below, that highlighted how we change when we engage in digital spaces. An accidentally intentional self-evolution in the internet culture.
It featured the installation, a silent film on loop(Silence on Set), and a live performance piece at the Open Studio Day with other African artists.
2024 – Present | Cultural Blogging
Resumed publishing cultural essays on Medium, reflecting on the role of Kenyan Gen Z movements in shaping civic and cultural discourse.2025 | Digital Creator
Developing a YouTube-based review show examining how media shapes culture through contemporary African perspectives.Artistic StatementThrough her work, Stella Njogo investigates how culture is lived, contested, and re-imagined in everyday life.
Her practice aims to document emerging shifts while proposing new modes of storytelling across platforms and generations.