Having joined Toastmasters in July 2019, I am completing and celebrating the conclusion of 7 years of a practical masterclass in leadership. My journey as the Division A Director (2025-2026) can be described with three words: Learning, Leading and Legacy. I gained significant lessons on the strategic functions of the Division and how this contributes to the District’s mission "to support new clubs and existing clubs to achieve excellence".

While serving as the Club President (2020/21) and Vice President Education (2023/24), I did not have the opportunity of understanding and navigating the club chartering processes. Serving as Division Director (2025/26), I got the golden opportunity to constructively contribute to the District’s mission.

I served at the Club Mentor for Mutual Expressions Club, a corporate club charted by Old Mutual. This role plunged me into the depth of supporting the club to lay a foundation for success while guiding the members on the new Toastmasters journey. I used the experience that I had gained while serving as the Area Director during the year 2024-2025 where I invested most of my time in mentoring new members of existing clubs that were under my responsibility. I had completed the Mentors Pathway program that provided me with the experience, tools and resources. I have also been working as a co-sponsor with Area 4 Director Emily Manjeru to sponsor a new corporate club the name PowerTalk Toastmasters Club at Davies & Shirtliff. The club is at an advanced stage of chartering and is expected to be on the dashboard anytime before June 30th, 2026. I also supported Area 2 Director Catherine Nyambura and Area 1 Director Rose Odundo in staging demonstration meetings for potential clubs at Ze-Re and Equity Bank.

My second lesson was on leading an effective team. I had the responsibility of constituting the Division Council of 13 members to provide support and oversight the delivery of the Division Directors responsibilities. Thirdly, I gained lifelong lessons on building a leadership legacy.

My top 3 responsibilities were ensuring that the Club Officer Trainings were conducted to equip and prepare the newly elected club officer to understand and excel in their roles, convening the Leadership Excellence Summit (LES) as one of the Division’s club growth flagship projects and conducting the Division Contest & Conference.

It has been an opportunity of a lifetime leading a team of dedicated leaders toward the achievement of President’s Distinguished status for Division A aka Division Amazing, Audacious and Awesome.

As a Division, our overall goal to attain President's Distinguished Status by June 30, 2026. This required at least 55% of the Division's club base (23) to be distinguished, that is a total of 13 clubs and register at least a net club growth of two (2) clubs. Our success strategy was anchored on the following three pillars:

• Membership - Retain and attract new members through recruiting new members and chartering new clubs.
• Mentorship - Support member learning (educational goals) leadership development and club growth through mentorship and coaching.
• Motivation - Maintain members high morale through building healthy relationships & networks for personal & professional growth leading to monetization of skills and competencies acquired in TM in elevating individual member’s powerful & impactful brands for success in their professional careers & personal calling.

Division A was the 1st Division to attain Distinguished status by April 10, 2026 and went further to become President’s distinguished by May 15, 2026- one and half months before the end of the Toastmasters year. This is attributed to the great leadership of the Area Directors, Club Presidents and the Division Council. I would like to highlight the performance of Area 3 and Area 5 under the leadership of Area Director Rayhab Gachnago and Area Director Gladwell Mwiti that chartered 2 clubs (Mutual Expressions on Dec. 19, 2025 and Kasarani on Jan. 1st 2026 respectively. These were the perfect end of year/Christmas and New Year’s gifts.

The Leadership Excellence Summit was successfully held on Nov. 29th at the Strathmore Business Schools under the theme: Highroad Leadership. The Summit challenged leaders to strive to lead from the high road that is rarely traveled by ensuring their strive for transformation rather than mere transaction. The Summit attracted over 70 participants.

The Division A Contest and Conference was held on April 11. 2026 at the Strathmore Business School under the theme: Curating Your Leadership Legacy that attracted over 150 participants.

The Division also successfully collaborated with Division A to host 2 Joint Club Officers Training on July 13, 2025 and January 31, 2026.

A typical Toastmasters year is short and super busy with many activities at the Club, Area and Division & District level. This leads to multiple challenges that are experienced by the members and leaders alike.

Member and leader fatigue sets in very soon into the year that quickly erodes motivation. To ensure that the team remained motivated, I delegated the key responsibilities to various team members and supported the team to ensure that we achieved our goals. Since appreciation to TM Elishibah Msengeti for running with the two COT2 and TM Josephine Osumo for leading on Club Growth initiatives.

Managing competing priorities while remaining focused on the big picture. I created a position of Strategy Execution to provide strategic advisory and keep the District focused on the big picture. I wish to sincerely appreciate TM Sidney Ng’ethe who delivered on the role with precision and kept me in check to ensure that I remain focused on the big picture.

Supporting the Area Directors who had the heaviest responsibility. They held the responsibility of ensuring that Club are adequately supported to ensure they attain their DCPs and aim for the highest distinction as early as possible. As a certified leadership and team coach, I adopted the Leader as Coach approach by ensuring i coached my Area Directors toward achieving growth and success as in their personal leadership journeys as Toastmasters and supporting their clubs to success. 4 out of 5 Areas attained Distinguished Status as follows (Area 3 and 5- President’s Distinguished Area) and Area 1 and 4 (Distinguished Areas) respectively. The Area Directors also made significant process through chartering clubs and mentoring new clubs, hosting demonstration meetings, attaining Toastmasters Leadership Certification (Area Director Rayhab Gachango, Area Director Gladwell Mwiti and Area Director Rose Odundo).

Consistency compounds - Remain committed to your why and what rather than when of leadership. Keep doing the little things that must be done right despite not seeing their significance right away. Eventually, this compounds to the results desired.

Leadership is like constructing a building. Begin with the structural plan, invest heavily in the foundation that is rarely seen but will keep holding the building.

"Legacy is the epitome of leadership—there is no success without a successor. One of the key responsibilities of a leader is to raise other leaders as part of their legacy."

Legacy is the epitome of leadership - There is no success without a successor. One of the key responsibilities of a leader is to raise other leaders as part of their legacy.

The most critical tools and resources are the people (your team) and the system (software) are the relationships you build with your people. It is only thereafter that the strategic tools such as the success plans and technical tools like dashboards make sense.

As leaders strive to see before and see more - John C. Maxwell.

Set and cast your vision with clarity, remain focused and committed to the mission and model the right values that will help you in achieving success.

Mobilize a strong team with complementary skills and delegate effectively while supporting and motivating your team.

Avoid being distracted by insignificant things that may throw you off your direction.

After a three-year non-stop leadership dash serving as Diplospeak Toastmasters Club Vice President Education-VPE (2023/24), Area 6 Director (2024/25) and Division A Director (2025/26), I now shift my attention and focus on attaining the coveted Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) accolade.

Having relocated for work in Arusha, Tanzania, the seat of the East African Community (EAC), and realized that there is no in-person Toastmasters Club in the “The Geneva of East Africa,” I have initiated a process of mobilizing a team of Toastmasters across the District to support the chartering of a Club in Arusha that targets the Arusha Community and a multitude of professionals from all the globe that are working for various international organizations with offices in Arusha.

I also intend to continue mentoring Toastmasters members and supporting clubs across the District towards excellence. My focus will be on preparing potential members to serve as effective club sponsors, mentors and coaches as they work towards their DTM journeys.

During the year 2025/26, I was privileged to have had all 23 clubs in Division A being domiciled in Nairobi. I initiated a collaboration with Division B Director, DTM Maximilla Keitany, whose Division was quite complex based on the fact that some clubs were based in Nairobi and Kenya’s upcountry regions. In the interest of better serving the members irrespective of their Divisional alignment, we successfully co-hosted the 2 Club Officer’s Training that were held at the Standard Chartered Bank Headquarters in Nairobi. This was a real and practical partnership that saw us pooling resources and co-sharing the budget. Due to the co-sharing, we were able to highly subsidize the registration fee for COT2 held on January 31, 2026.

The Division published a Newsletter dubbed Division A Digest in August 2025 under the leadership of TM Faith Ego who served as the Chief Editor. The magazine profiled the Divisions Success Plan founded on the Division’s Trifecta- Membership, Mentorship, Motivation & Monetization as our contribution to the District’s Theme of Unleashing Potential: Building Legacy and Becoming a Model of Excellence.

I had an accountability partner serving as the Strategy Execution lead. I noticed the extraordinary talent and skill of TM Sidney Ngethe as the Charter President of the Runda Elite Toastmasters Club. After several discussions with TM Sidney, who was fairly new Toastmasters, I incorporated him into the Division Council and served as my Strategic Advisor and sounding board for ideas to deliver on the Division’s Success Plan.

I was also supported by a dedicated team of Admin & Finance Manager TM June Keriri, Public Relations and Communication Team composed of TM Wamuyu Mathenge, Caroline Maundu and Traicy Mamou who took the lead as PR leads for various projects.

I am also indebted to my Senior Advisory Team of TM Syria Rama and DTM Derrick Mandela for their guidance and moral support.

Inspiring members to be intentional in generating a return on investment from the experience gained within Toastmasters to advance their professional careers as employees or entrepreneurs by monetizing their leadership and communication skills amassed with Toastmasters. This is aligned to what the Harvard Business Review asserts- the number one criteria for advancement and promotion for professionals is the ability to communicate effectively.