Culture Strategist for A Digital Society
Helping organisations, founders and policymakers understand culture as infrastructure
Senior leader with 11+ years of helping organizations speak to culture, not just audiences.I’ve led narrative architecture, strategic communications, partnership design, and youth insight work across climate, governance, digital policy, food systems, and social impact in Africa and the Global South.I’m the founder of Culture Signals Lab, where my team and I scale social innovation by enriching digital culture, policy, and developing Africa’s next generation of culture leaders.My throughline: strengthening public trust, digital resilience and cultural understanding so that good ideas can thrive.
Meet Stella Njogo
Strategist and
Culture Innovator
Culture determines whether ideas succeed or fail.
My work helps organisations, founders and policymakers understand culture as infrastructure, the underlying system of identity, meaning, behaviour and narrative that shapes how people move through the world.I call this work Culture Leadership:- the practice of using culture and digital insight to shift behaviour, build trust and strengthen society.For the past decade, I’ve worked across Kenya’s & Africa's most important social innovation spaces, spanning climate and food systems, to digital culture, youth development, and media.
Proven Impact
At Shujaaz Inc, a two-time Emmy-Award-winning youth behaviour change media organisation in East Africa, I helped lead:
- The Unseen Heroes climate storytelling film and report (TED Countdown) for climate funders and policymakers
- The Young & Kenyan microsite report with 7 years of insights on Kenyans Genz and policy recommendations
- Youth ecosystem convenings and exchange program across Kenya and the Global South
- Narrative strategy for youth impact programs
- Behaviour change storytelling in multiple sectors
- Coalition and Partnerships building with climate & food systems organizationsThrough my studio, Culture Signals, my team and I scale social innovation by enriching digital culture, collaboration 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.
My highlight as an artist for social change was a month-long residency in Italy in 2022. 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
✔ Culture Leadership TalksHigh-impact talks and sessions on culture, digital society & policy.They include subtopics like personal branding and influence for leaders, 5Cs of cultural leadership, youth behaviour & culture, trust-building, influence and narrative power.
✔ Brand & Influence Development 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
✔ Digital Communications Production ServicesFor leaders and organisations needing consistent, strategic visibility:
- Executive ghostwriting
- LinkedIn & article writing
- Newsletter creation
- Social media content production
- Narrative and messaging systems
General Inquiries
Let’s build culture as infrastracure for development.
Get in touch for any inquiry or request for collaboration.
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.