Valery Atieno

Valery Atieno Otieno is passionate about using the power of digital culture for social transformation. She holds a BA in History from Pomona College, California and is a graduate of the African Leadership Academy. In her previous roles at African Women Development Fund USA, Google and She Leads Africa, Valery worked at the intersection of technology and social justice advocacy to promote gender equality online. As a cultural worker, she has created online platforms such as Afrikan Digitz to provide critical discourse around structures of power. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford. Her research explores the role of social media in transforming the representation and constitution of what it means to be African. Creatively she is inspired by the desire to produce combative works that challenge the status quo. As a content curator, she has an eye for aesthetics and a unique transnational perspective garnered from her years of living in cosmopolitan cities such as Nairobi, Johannesburg, Los Angeles and London. Long term, Valery aims to become a voice for change and a cultural entrepreneur using technology platforms to amplify African voices globally.