Join Samantha Musyoka-Katia virtually from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday for From CNA to CEO; An Adventure to Kenya, a discussion detailing NIU alum Musyoka-Katia’s professional career.

The discussion will be hosted by Sherrill Morris, chair and associate professor of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders at NIU. This will be the second discussion in the alumni speaker series this fall that the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee has featured.

Musyoka-Katia graduated from NIU with a bachelor’s in communicative disorders in 2013. She started work as a certified nursing aide and became the chief executive officer of Entepesi Kenya, a non-governmental organization that helps provide health care to the citizens of Kenya.

“After graduation, Samantha worked as a teacher’s aide in the Sycamore, Illinois school district and as a certified nurse’s aide,” said Morris.

Morris also said that while working as a teacher’s aide and as a CNA, Musyoka-Katia became very interested in working and living abroad, so she searched for opportunities to do so in Africa. This interest helped her in her journey of becoming CEO of Entepesi Kenya, which helps provide health care and education for those living in the Kajiado County of Kenya.

“EK believes that quality and affordable health should be available for everyone regardless of their location and economic status. EK works with like-minded individuals or institutions to increase access to health care,” according to the Entepesi Kenya website

One of the main reasons Musyoka-Katia founded Entepesi Kenya was because of the poor health care and the lack of doctors and nurses in Kajiado County.

“The doctor to population ratio in Kajiado County is 1:26,094. While there are more nurses, with a ratio of 1:1,068, this is not enough to provide adequate health care across the lifespan for the citizens of the region,” Morris said.

In order to increase the amount of services available to the Kaijado County population, Entepesi Kenya partnered with university training programs and hosts. They also help train pre-professionals with their clinical skills.

The Zoom meeting can be joined at 4 p.m. Friday, with the meeting ID being 647 277 8279 and the passcode being 706168.