Hi, I’m Stella Njogo.
I help organizations get clear on what future they are building
I’m a senior communications leader with a superpower for creating strategic clarity.For more than 12 years, I’ve helped organizations find the compelling idea they can own and use to build trust, influence, and revenue.My perspective is shaped by a rare career trajectory.I began my career in private-sector marketing and advertising, where I learned how powerful brands are built and how ideas move people.Thereafter, I developed deep expertise in strategic communications within the development and impact sector, helping organizations translate complex research, policy, and technical work into narratives that resonate with communities, decision-makers, funders, and partners.I’m also a creative with award-winning work. This means I bring both imagination and analytical rigor to strategy. I see connections across sectors, audiences, and ideas, then turn them into clear, distinctive strategies that people can understand and act on.
"*Stella has the ability to create structure and strategy and bring creativity in a way that makes it look effortless, even in the absence of structure and clarity."
Chief External Affairs, Tiko Health
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS · BRAND STRATEGY . MARKETING
Turn complex work into clarity, trust and influence in African markets.
| 12+ years | TED · UNGA · Skoll | 40 + | $2M Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years in strategic communications and marketing | Work presented on major Global platforms | African markets aligned through pan-African messaging | Direct funding influenced through positioning |
-What collaborators say-
"Stella has the uncanny ability to translate. She interprets what youth on the ground need, gaining fresh insights, while simultaneously translating those insights for internal teams who make program decisions, leadership who determine priorities, and funders who need to understand the importance of the work.
She communicates across different seniority levels and cultural complexities with an ease that is unmatched."
-Chairman Shujaaz Inc-
My strength is entering complex or ambiguous situations, identifying what matters most, and creating the clarity that helps leadership teams move forward.I work directly with senior leadership to:
• Sharpen their positioning
• Translate technical work for new audiences
• Build stronger narratives
• Strengthen thought leadership
About Stella
I help organisations make important work easier to understand, trust and act on.
I am a strategic communications, influence, and Africa partnerships leader with more than 12 years of experience helping organizations clarify their value, translate complex ideas, and build the relationships required to move people and institutions.My work sits at the intersection of strategy, research, marketing and communication.Call on me when you need to sharpen your brand, position an unfamiliar idea, create a new category, or design a go-to-market strategy grounded in strong communication and marketing.My role is to create clarity.I help leaders identify what matters most, decide what they should be known for, and build narratives that funders, partners, policymakers, communities, and internal teams can understand and act on.
My approachI combine four disciplines in my work.1. Strategic clarity and positioningI help organizations define the problem, sharpen their proposition, understand priority audiences and decide what they should become known for.2. Research to influenceI turn technical evidence and program insight into clear arguments, reports, films, platforms and dissemination strategies that can shape decisions.3. Culture-led communicationI use cultural intelligence, audience insight and creative strategy to make messages more credible, memorable and locally relevant.4. Ecosystem and partnerships developmentI help organisations build networks of leaders, experts, creators, communities, funders and institutions that can carry their ideas into different rooms.
Why culture matters in my workAlongside my communications career, I have maintained a creative practice as a writer, artist, podcaster and cultural commentator.I have produced award-winning audio work, participated in an art-for-social-change residency in Italy and explored music, performance, installation and digital storytelling.This creative practice is not separate from my strategic work.It strengthens it.It gives me a deeper understanding of symbolism, emotion, identity, beauty, memory and the way people make meaning.That matters because people rarely change their minds or behaviour because they have received more information.They respond when communication feels credible, human and connected to how they already understand the world.This is especially important in health, food, youth and behaviour-change work, where technical accuracy alone is rarely enough.
What I am building nowToday, my work spans three connected areas.1. Executive and regional leadershipI am exploring senior Africa roles across strategic communications, external affairs, partnerships and regional representation.2. Communications AdvisoryThrough Strategy Shepherds, I work with social-impact oorganizations & leaders to build Africa-focused influence strategy and skills as a competitive advantage in the age of AI.3. Writing, speaking and intellectual propertyI am developing original frameworks and public thinking around professional legibility, research-to-influence, cultural intelligence, the creator economy and Africa’s digital future.My long-term goal is to build a body of work that helps oorganizationsand leaders navigate complexity with greater clarity, cultural awareness and strategic confidence.
Stella Njogo's portfolio
Over 12+ years of my career, I have led or shaped communications and influence work presented through platforms including TED Countdown, the United Nations General Assembly, COP, Skoll and Women Deliver.Scroll to read some of the work I am most proud of.
Selected work
Five examples of complexity turned into influence.
01) Executive Health Communications
Tiko — Shaping a Multi-Year Adolescent Health Fundraising Narrative
Tiko needed to convert the attention generated by major Audacious Project funding into a differentiated long-term campaign direction.I advised the Chief External Affairs Officer on strategic messaging, diagnosed narrative gaps and developed a direction grounded in girls’ dignity, agency and lived experience. I also created modular messaging and amplification toolkits for internal teams and external partners across six African markets.Outcome: The direction influenced executive and board-level deliberations and was briefed to an external agency for development.
02) Research to Funding
Young & Kenyan — Seven Years of Evidence into One Clear Argument
Shujaaz Inc held seven years of research and more than 13,000 interviews with young Kenyans. The challenge was to turn that evidence into a narrative that funders, policymakers and programme leaders could understand and act on.I led the branding, editorial strategy, creative translation and dissemination of the research platform.Outcome: The work helped establish Shujaaz as a trusted authority and influenced the securing of more than US$2 million for long-term gender norms programming.
03) Global Strategic Engagement
TED Countdown — From Blank Page to Global Influence Platform
I led Shujaaz Inc.’s TED Countdown engagement from inception through execution, including research framing, editorial direction, the Unseen Heroes report and film, dissemination, event co-design and organisational representation.I also co-designed the Youth Climate Lab, spoke on a panel and prepared another team representative for the global platform.Outcome: The film premiered at TED Countdown, later travelled to COP30 and helped build a repeat institutional relationship with TED.
04) Coalition Strategy
Young & Kenyan — Seven Years of Data, One Clear Argument
As Shujaaz’s principal representative within the Food Culture Alliance Kenya, I helped shape coalition strategy, partner capacity and a culture-led approach to food and nutrition communication.Outcome: Greater strategic alignment across media, nutrition, research, civil society and policy actors, alongside contribution to an upgraded global Food Culture Framework.
05) Research to Policy Dialogue
Reclaiming Tomorrow — Translating Youth Insight into Institutional Action
I led storytelling and communications strategy for a politically sensitive youth futures project, producing the research report, film and microsite shared through UN partners.I also helped design policy and knowledge-sharing forums involving government, civil society, funders and private-sector actors.Outcome: The work travelled through UNGA and continued to inform youth programming, funding and policy conversations.
Work With Me
Strategic communications that move money, trust and opportunity.
I work with senior leaders, founders and mission-driven organisations to sharpen their positioning, clarify their narratives and turn communications into a vehicle for influence, funding and strategic growth.My strongest work happens at the leadership level when an organisation is entering a new phase, preparing for a funding moment, repositioning its work, attracting new partners, or trying to make complex work easier for the right people to understand and support.I bring a marketing-trained, ROI-driven approach to communications. The goal is never just visibility. The goal is qualified attention, stronger trust, better rooms, better partners and clearer pathways to revenue or funding.
Services
1. Influence Strategy
I help leaders and organisations become known, trusted and understood for the work that matters most. This includes founder and executive positioning, organisational narratives, stakeholder messaging and thought leadership strategy.2. Fundraising and Donor Communications
I create narratives, campaigns and communications assets that help organisations communicate their value clearly to funders, donors and strategic partners.3. Organisational Positioning
I help organisations clarify who they are, what they stand for, why their work matters now, and how to communicate that with authority across internal and external audiences.4. Strategic Campaigns
I design communications campaigns that support fundraising, partnership-building, public engagement, programme visibility and organisational growth.5. Digital Communications
I help organisations translate complex or technical work into clear digital content that builds trust, attracts the right attention and supports measurable goals.
My communications work has helped organisations engage alumni networks, run effective giving campaigns, position research for decision-makers, attract calls for proposals, and support major funding opportunities, including a $2 million Gates Foundation round.I also bring a dignity-led approach to storytelling. I work especially well with organisations serving young people and communities whose stories must be handled with care. The people at the centre of the work are never reduced to campaign material. Their humanity comes first.Bring me in when you need communications to do more than explain what you do.Bring me in when you need communications to build influence, attract the right attention and move you closer to your next strategic opportunity.
Book me to speak
Africa-rooted insight for leaders building relevant, resilient and influential organisations.
I speak about what it takes for organisations, leaders and professionals to remain valuable in fast-changing markets.My talks sit at the intersection of strategic communications, audience intelligence, culture, digital transformation and organisational influence.I bring more than 12 years of experience working across media, public health, youth engagement, food systems, philanthropy and the digital economy.My approach combines sharp audience mapping, cultural insight and practical strategy to help organisations understand how people are changing, and how their products, messages and institutions must evolve in response.I am particularly interested in the question:How do organisations build relevance, trust and impact across African markets without losing sight of the people they are trying to serve?My speaking is designed for leadership teams, conferences, media organisations, foundations, development institutions, technology companies, universities and professional communities.
Selected speaking and facilitation experience
1. Nation Media GroupAdvised the technology team on how media products can evolve from traditional formats into more engaging, habit-forming and commercially sustainable digital experiences.The session drew lessons from global media houses that have successfully shifted towards profitable digital products, while considering the realities of African audiences and markets.2. TED Countdown Youth Climate PanelSpoke about how young people can apply their existing skills to the climate opportunity, particularly through digital tools, creative industries, storytelling and cultural influence.The discussion positioned young people not only as beneficiaries of climate action, but as creators, workers, communicators and innovators within the emerging green economy.3. Youth Policy and Knowledge-Sharing ForumsLed and facilitated conversations involving stakeholders from government, civil society, philanthropy and the private sector on how institutions can improve youth engagement.The sessions used audience insight and youth research to help participants move from generic participation models towards more segmented, locally grounded and actionable engagement strategies.4. WordPress Community ConveningDelivered a session on becoming vital rather than viral.The talk explored how professionals, creators and organisations can build online brands based on usefulness, distinct value and long-term relevance instead of chasing trends, reach and temporary visibility.5. Research, Strategy and Stakeholder ConveningsI have designed and facilitated workshops, panels and policy conversations that translate complex research into practical discussion and action.My facilitation style is structured, energetic and audience-aware. I help groups identify the central question, surface different perspectives and move from broad conversation towards clear priorities.
FormatsI am available for:• Keynotes
• Panels and fireside conversations
• Executive briefings
• Leadership workshops
• Strategy sessions
• Policy and knowledge-sharing forums
• Conference moderation
• Facilitated stakeholder conversations
• University and professional-development sessionsSessions can be customised for executive teams, public audiences, professional communities or cross-sector groups.
Stella Njogo Advisory
Strategic communications and influence advisory for complex African markets.
Stella Njogo Advisory helps technical, research-led and social-impact organisations communicate complex work, strengthen their position and build influence across Africa.We work with senior leaders, foundations, health organisations, food and nutrition initiatives, research institutions, global programmes and digital-economy actors whose work is valuable but often difficult to explain beyond specialist circles.
Our work spans four areas
01
Strategic positioningOrganisational narratives, programme positioning, audience strategy, fundraising propositions and messaging architecture.
02
Research to influenceTurning reports, data and technical evidence into compelling arguments, creative formats, decision tools and dissemination strategies.
03
Executive and institutional influenceThought leadership, founder and executive positioning, global-stage preparation and communications for moments of organisational significance.
04
Africa partnerships and influence ecosystemsMulti-market communications, stakeholder strategy, creator and expert partnerships, coalition engagement and culturally grounded influence.Based in Nairobi. Working across Africa and globally.
Let’s work on something that matters.Contact me if your organisation is:• Entering a new strategic or funding phase
• Preparing to launch major research
• Struggling to communicate complex work
• Expanding or repositioning across African markets
• Building an executive thought-leadership platform
• Looking for a senior Africa communications or partnerships leader
• Planning a conference, leadership session or strategic convening
For project enquiries and collaboration proposalsEmail: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/njogostella
Based in Nairobi, Kenya
Working across Africa and globally