Born in the slums of Kenya, Cynthia Coredo faced adversity in her youth, but was driven by her determination to empower others. Following graduation from secondary school, she began working as a volunteer tutor with Boxgirls Kenya, a startup organization created to engage women and girls from marginalized areas in boxing programs and equip them with the leadership skills and confidence needed to create positive social change. One year later, Cynthia joined full-time as the program manager to support the underfunded organization, which has since reached more than one thousand girls and young women around Nairobi through the sport of boxing. “I learned that being somebody that can instill something positive into somebody else’s life is so much greater than any other success,” Cynthia says. “My goal is to invest in girls and young women in our community to stand and be role models.”

In 2016, Cynthia launched her own NGO, Footsteps, to provide leadership and entrepreneurial skills for at-risk females in slum communities. Due to her contributions to the economic empowerment of girls and women in Kenya, Cynthia received an award from The International Alliance of Women and has served as a motivational speaker for the UNESCO World Youth Forum on Sport, Culture and Peace.