PEOPLE: Ory Okolloh

Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She currently holds the position of Policy Manager for Africa with Google. In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo. When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh helped create Ushahidi, a website that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps. Okolloh blogs as Kenyan Pundit , which was featured on Global Voices Online. She also works as a legal consultant for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank in the past.

Okolloh was born into a relatively poor family. She has said that her parents sent her to a private elementary school that they could "barely afford." She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005.

A regular speaker on citizen journalism, technology in Africa, and the role of young people in activism, Okolloh has spoken at conferences like TED, World Economic Forum, Poptech, CGI, Techonomy, Mobile Web Africa, and the Monaco Media Forum. On December 23, 2010, Okolloh announced on her personal blog, KenyanPundit.com, that she will be stepping down as Ushahidi's Executive Director to become Google's Policy Manager in Africa. In the new role, she'll be working with government leaders to drive the development of the Internet in Africa.

sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ory_Okolloh

www.fastcompany.com/women-in-tech/2011/advocates/ory-okolloh