Community Showcase: Muturi Njeri

Luis Malbas  
Hello, everybody, welcome to the training learning and development community. Thanks for joining us. Today we have another member showcase and very excited for this one, we have a member of the trading learning and development community, Missouri and Jetty joining us and I loved going through and kind of researching who you were seeing that I saw that YouTube video which I posted on the on the cover of this of this particular member showcase. And I'm so excited to be able to ask you about that what that whole thing was about. And also just even your, what you do now, it's like you're not just a learning experience. Designer, you do some other different things. So we've got about 30 minutes, I've got a bunch of questions to ask you. And are you ready for this?

Muturi Njeri  
I hope I am. Well, thank you so much for having me. I've been watching this Crowdcast and listening to the podcast over the last year. So it's quite an honor to be on it. Finally, Oh,

Luis Malbas  
I love I love the fact that you're joining us. I want to say part of the reason why I make these, these these do these interviews and kind of create these member showcases is because I want other people to understand like what learning experience designers like you matory do and what they're like, and whether or not this is kind of the career for you or the path that you want to take. So yeah, since you've been listening for the last year, you're probably on the right track. And it's great to have you here just to know that, that now you're legitimately a part of the community, because now you're a part of the showcase series. So let me start asking you some questions. What where did you start with learning and development? How did you how did you start on your path for this career?

Muturi Njeri  
Um, I mean, it's a bit of an interesting story, because I didn't know about the field a couple of months before I go into the field. And when I graduated, I, I went to work for, for a bank, right in Kenya, where I'm from, I studied in the US, then I came back to Kenya and I started working for a bank, the bank also has a foundation. So I started with the foundation side, in the they have an education project. So I was part of that educational project. And then I went to work for the bank. And then I thought like, the work that I was doing wasn't really a great feet. And so I wanted to move into education, right, I once felt like I had a passion for education. And so I started applying for jobs in in different education companies here in Kenya. And one of the companies that I applied to was a network of schools called Nova pioneer. And it's a network of schools here in Kenya, at the time, they were just in Canada called Nova academies. balita, they joined with other natural law schools called Nova pioneer, and they were doing educational difference. So they were very keen on active learning, peer based learning, project based learning. And a lot of these concepts, there was somewhat new, but because I had so land in a lot of different systems of education in Kenya, in South Africa, in the US, I had seen, you know, how education could be done differently. And so that was something I was very eager to bring back. And so, I, I applied for a role in marketing, because, you know, I had been working as a as a writer at the bank. And so I thought I could, I could do more storytelling at school. And, you know, in the process of interviewing, they told me, you know, we think you are a good fit for the organization, but we don't think you do very well in the marketing team. But there's a team that we have called the learning design team, which is in charge of curating and building the curriculum for the for the school, and we think you'd be a better fit for them. And so, they told me more about the team or the team that I was acquired. intrigued, right? Because they really sold it to me was that, you know, now, we, we have this team that's like a team of, of nerds who sort of figure out how to creatively make learning interesting for our learners. Right. And I thought that's, that's quite fascinating. That's, that's really something I'd want to I'd want to try. And so I, I joined that team. So that was, that was in 2017 by bout five, five years back. And yeah, so I joined the team as a designer for high school curriculum in the humanities. So I designed lesson plans for English, history, geography. And I really enjoyed it, right? Because it was, it was almost like, every time there is a puzzle, you got to figure out like, how, how do you, for instance, make learning high school history interesting and relevant, right? For teenagers, right. And I found it really fascinating, right. And so I've been I've been in the field ever since.

Luis Malbas  
That's great. I guess the way I look at it is, they probably realized that you were too good for the marketing team. And so that's why they decided to push you over to the learning side. So congratulations on that. That's great to hear. Um, so your, what's your favorite part about? About being in in a learning experience designer? Is there anything in particular that you really love about it? Um, I think

Muturi Njeri  
the thing about it is that you have to have that love for learning, you must really enjoy the process of, of learning and be curious, right. And so every time, you're sort of confronted with something new, right? That new area of knowledge, you need to sort of dive into that new people to talk to and interact with subject matter experts in different fields. And so that for me, like that research process, that process of learning, is really fascinating for me. And, you know, then when they move to sort of the ideation phase, where I get this, Bob, like moments of, you know, I can present this concept this way, and it's going to be interesting, or I can build a gauging activity or exercise around this. And it's going to stick more, or it's going to draw people in more, right. I think that's, that's, that's the thing I enjoy most about it.

Luis Malbas  
That's great. So what kind of projects are you working on? Now? Is there anything you can tell us about?

Muturi Njeri  
Yeah, sure, sure. Um, so currently, I'm working with this organization called the room, which is part of a group called the African Leadership Group. And as an organization, our way, our main goal is to connect young Africans to dignified employment at skill. We are pretty young organization. And as you can imagine, you know, connecting people to jobs is a hard thing to do. Right. And it's even harder to do it, you know, in the African context. And in the midst of a pandemic. Right, right. Yeah. So we've been trying to design and iterate different models of doing this. And so one of the main things that we're working on right now is one month, bootcamp to equip young leaders who are looking for jobs, like the skills and the mindset, and the tools that they need to learn their first jobs. Right. So this involves, you know, helping them better understand and expand the awareness of the different career possibilities, right. So like, for me, you know, learning design wasn't really something that I had in my purview, you know, when I was in, in compass, or like when I graduated, right, and so I think just expanding people's mindsets about what's possible, what's out there, right. And then giving them an inside scoop of what employers are looking for and how to tailor their messaging in their resumes or in the elevator pitches or in their interviews to match what employers are looking for, you know, giving them Tips on how to network, right how to build connections with potential employers and potential contacts, you know, whether this be virtually like, you know, what we're doing right now, with a C training, learning and development community or in person, right? They're like, career fairs or events where they can connect with people. Right? So I'm part of a team that's, that's designing that and sort of designing the, the community experience that goes with it. Right. It's, it's a hybrid experience. So most of it happens about online through a learning management system, and then you've got a community platform, you probably know discord. Right. So this is like this high power slack system. So building the community experience around that, and also, we have some in person sessions as well, and some synchronous sessions as also just figuring out what's the best way to, to mix all of that together and build a great experience and make sure that no, people coming out of that one month have are really like prepared to go in and, you know, engage with employers, and put their best foot forward as they as they look for jobs.

Luis Malbas  
When did you start working on on this particular project? Did it start during the pandemic, or was it before the pandemic, ah,

Muturi Njeri  
this particular project started during the pandemic, even though there are a couple of other projects that we've done in the Africa Leadership Group, which are also geared towards a similar goal. So for instance, this software engineering program that we we started with, in collaboration with Nash called Whole button, it's a tough month online. Program. And so I was in charge, I didn't design the curriculum itself, but I was in charge of like designing the community experience and the onboarding, and sort of the ecosystem that helped the participants make the most out of their curriculum. Wow. So all of them?

Luis Malbas  
Did the so the pandemic must have really changed how you have to do things. I mean, yeah, did you move pretty much fully to remote? And what has been the hardest part about it? You think? Um, yeah,

Muturi Njeri  
I mean, for me, it completely, you know, change things, because, as I told you, I mean, I started with working for high school, in person, design team, right. And then, when I moved to the African Leadership Group, our programs primary, you know, even primarily, like, almost 100%, in person, right? I joined the African group in December in October of 2019. So the next six months, we were designing in person programs, right. And then the pandemic hits, and we have to put the in person programs on hold, right, we, we can we can hold that the sessions in person, the team can go to the office, we actually had to close down the office and work remotely. And now we had to take a step back and start figuring out how do we how do we move to an online mode of learning? Yeah, it was quite, it was quite difficult, because like, we couldn't just take what you were doing and replicate online. We tried a bit, but it wasn't working as well. And also, like, for me, I had to learn a lot more about how to design for online experiences. And I think it was it was just it was a period of growth for me as a designer, because I spent a lot more time reading, you know, getting into the, the theories finding more people who are doing digital learning and experimenting with different different online learning tools, right and so from I think it's almost sort of as as a designer has to pick the period in my career when I've learned and grown the most, I'll definitely pick the last two years during the pandemic. Wow,

Luis Malbas  
wow. That's great that I mean, it's really, really interesting to hear about that. You mean, you saw that shift, and then you had to really adjust for what was happening in the world. And that that is a major change. That's, that's pretty incredible. I'd also like to hear about, I mean, from what I got reading your LinkedIn profile and kind of doing some research on your background, you'd love to write your writer. Yeah, talk about that a little bit, can you tell me a little bit more about about who you are as writer, what what you write about what you know, like, just, just tell me about that.

Muturi Njeri  
Thank you, um, I see myself as both a designer and as a writer. And I think my writing influences a lot of how I how I approach design. But writing is a passion I've had for the longest time, and it really got sharpened when I went to this school called the Africa Leadership Academy in South Africa, when I was around 1617. And this was like, the first time I had an opportunity to take a creative writing class, and choose whatever I wanted to write about. And so I've already been up, like growing up was pretty quiet, child. And so writing for me became a way to find and express myself. And so I've been doing mostly nonfiction writing. Throughout, you know, my college years, actually, when I was in college, we started writing blogging projects, was called the African youth journals, brought together a couple of friends that had gone to high school, and I was going to college with when I was in the US. And we started telling our stories, basically, and trying to, like challenge stereotypes about white men to to be African and to be young, and the dreams that we had, and some of the opinions and ideas that we had. And it was a great platform. We published like 100 articles in about two years. Wow. Yeah. But we struggled to keep it going. So after a while, like two, two and a half years, we had to shut it down. But it was a great learning experience for me. And you know, since then, I've been involved in blog blog writing blog posts. also did some some ghost writing. Have you ever Yeah, yeah, I do this some ghost writing. For in my first job, actually, at the bank. I did some ghost writing for that. Yeah. And I even had a satirical blog. Which was like, a clone of the onion.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. That sounds creative. That sounds creative.

Muturi Njeri  
Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. Maybe I can, like 2015 2016. Maybe I can find the links and share with you. A lot of fun writing does.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, totally. I'd love to see it. I really would. Um, so tell me like, what, how is there anything in particular that inspires your work as a, as a learning professional? And then also, is there anything that inspires you, as a writer to? Um,

Muturi Njeri  
I think the thing that inspires me the most is knowing that I'm doing meaningful work, and work that will matter to people and have an impact on them, whether it's the training and design work, which enables people to gain skills and, you know, change their mindsets and really empower them to to achieve the best versions of themselves. Right. And that's, that's, that's a powerful thing. And I also read that we do the writing, right? When someone connects with my writing and speaks to them, it resonates with them, makes them feel sin. That's really powerful. And he really pushes me to keep going. Yeah, and then someone who really inspires me is Maya Angelou and I read a lot of poetry. She's got a couple of amazing quotes, I have one that I keep above my desk, which says, You can't use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have, right? I mean,

Luis Malbas  
that's a great one.

Muturi Njeri  
It's a great one. It's a good one, especially for the moment having that, you know, writers and designers blocked?

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, that's inspiring me right now. I love it, I'm gonna have to look that one up and hang it up on my desk, because that's a that's a really, really good one. So how do you how do you stay on top of your professional development? What do you do to keep learning and to keep growing as a, as a learning professional? And even as a writer? Is there anything that you do that you could? That that you can tell us about?

Muturi Njeri  
Um, I mean, I think for me, I always stay curious. I, like there's always new areas I don't know about. So like, there's a question that you had asked, you know, what, what did I wish I knew at the beginning of like, when I joined the profession, and there are a lot of things that I'm finding out, like, you know, for instance, there are some new learning and development adjustment fields like UX, user experience, research, user experience, writing, service design. And these are all areas where, you know, I'll read some blog posts or read books about them, or maybe take a short online course about them and find them really fascinating, right? So I think, just trying to stay curious, and both sort of maintaining that curiosity, but also, sometimes it can feel overwhelming. I feel like there's a sea of knowledge out there. And like, I don't know, if I'll ever really feel confident in knowing that I, I'm a very strong in all of this. So just staying grounded, but also staying curious and trying to learn as much as possible.

Luis Malbas  
That's great. So primarily, are you the resources that you go to or online and, and that's what you sort of use as your as your as your tool to stay on top of things?

Muturi Njeri  
Yeah, online. I read read books as well. I'm always on the lookout for, like recommendations. Or like great books. I actually, I read a lot about a lot of learning design and planning development, both the last year they also some great, some great article, newsletters that have signed up on to have a read over the weekends.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, yeah, I love newsletters, I actually try to sign up for them. And if I don't like them, I just unsubscribe. But mostly, you know, the i That's where I get a lot of my stuff from is actually from newsletters, and not just for you know, for not just instructional design or elearning or you know, anything like that. I sign up for some great UX newsletters, some great marketing newsletters, I get all kinds of good stuff. Technical, it's good to just sort of get a little bit of everything. And then I always find something valuable throughout the week. So So that's newsletters are a good one. Yeah, yeah. So matory, what other kinds of jobs have you worked?

Muturi Njeri  
Um, I've done a lot of different types of jobs. I was a bank receptionist when I was like, 17, which was quite fascinating, because, I mean, everyone gets murdered, like, the event, you know, like, it's crazy. Awesome. They see and if they know I can, it's your fault. That mobile bike is not your forte. Yeah, I was interesting. Um, and then, when I was in college, I had this job where I dusted and arranged books on the library shelves. Just, it was quite interesting, but it wasn't the most interesting so I would like have my headphones on and listen to music and podcasts. And I had no job store then were like the IT team. So like fixing computers and gadgets for students, and like everyone comes to you and they're freaking out. Somebody will show up, you haven't backed up the essence and I'm working on the whole night. And they come up to you. And they're like, Oh, my computer crashed. Me. So it was I six jobs. And then of course, like ghost writing, and I've done college counseling as well. So helping to like their college, tuition, essays, their cities and all that. Yeah. And then, but primarily, most of my work has been in, in learning and development, learning design service design. Yeah. Yeah.

Luis Malbas  
So it sounds like you've done you know, you've been focused on a lot of service throughout your career. That's great. It makes sense that you're, you know, in this field now. So before I wrap things up, I do want to hear about this award that you got, what was that the video? Is that from South Africa? Is that where you were? Or where was that? Oh,

Muturi Njeri  
no, that was that was in Edinburgh? Oh, okay. Yeah, um, I, I did my masters in Edinburgh at the University of Edinburgh. And I was quite privileged to get a scholarship to do my masters. I was MasterCard, foundation scholar. Wow. Yeah. And is, there are wide, I got it. Towards the end of my time there. It's, it's essentially this award that the president of the university awards to several people, they'll pick a few people who have been nominated, or the have heard, or they know that they're doing, they're doing things in the community that are exemplary, or that reflects the values of the university. And so it came as a surprise, I saw something that I knew about before, before I had a go, I was awarded, and it wasn't something that I was gunning for anything like that. And I just got an email one day, and he told me, you know, you've, you've been awarded this, this prize, it was quite a privilege, because I think I was in I was in Edinburgh for a year. And I, you know, I'm not the kind of person who's like out there trying to, you know, gain the limelight much. By I think a lot of the things that I did while on the background contribution. So for instance, I was helping the undergraduate students to a lot of them in the program who are from African countries, and may not have gotten used to like academic writing. So I was like, helping them get used to that, and you know, editing their work. I was doing a lot of photography. I was doing some some writing as well about my experiences. And I think it was all of those things that contributed to me winning the award.

Luis Malbas  
Wow, it's, I mean, I was really impressed with that it the video was really nice. You know, it's, it's seen, so kind of extravagant, like, there you were.

Muturi Njeri  
It was, it was it was, it was amazing, because, like, it's this really wonderful hall and like, the architectures like very high ceiling with, like the dorms and aspires and it's, like 1000 people in there because they give they give me the award at ODU. They call it like the point when, when new students come into and then matriculate, they have like a ceremony at the beginning of the year. So they gave me their word during that ceremony. So everyone like every, a lot of like, the new students were there and it was filled. I was just for COVID. So it was as magnificent as it could be. I also got through like I got, I got to visit the the the palace, the palace in Edinburgh and how I have a dino we we the Princess Princess. And she's like, Queen Elizabeth. Daughter. So yeah, that was pretty cool.

Luis Malbas  
It's cool. Wow, look at. That's amazing. That's amazing. All right, last question. And then and, and we'll wrap it up. So maturity, which, if you weren't a learning professional, what do you think you'd be?

Muturi Njeri  
A couple of things. Almost like Yeah, right. So a journalist, but also maybe a therapist, a coach, or a farmer. Yeah. I like farming. I do farming on the side as well. So maybe I could be doing that more food. That was. Yeah,

Luis Malbas  
that is great. Wow. material. It's been an honor having you on I think I'm pretty sure. Let's see. And you're in Kenya right now?

Muturi Njeri  
Yes, I'm in Kenya, Nairobi.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, I think I think that this is the first broadcast we've had from anybody from from that continent. So congratulations. It's great to have you. And if you you know, if, if I, you know, we're really honored to have you at the party as part of the training, learning and development community. Don't be a stranger, if you ever need help, any questions, anything like that, you know, make sure you jump into the slack group or you can email me anything. I'm sure that there are lots of people that would be happy to help you with the things that you're doing, which sound incredible, and you are an amazing human being. And I really appreciate that. You taking the time and being a part of being one of the members of our group. So thanks for doing this.

Muturi Njeri  
Thank you. This was amazing. I'm gonna share it with people in my team. I think they're gonna enjoy it. I had a good time. Thanks for having me.

Luis Malbas  
Thanks for let me edit it first. I got to edit the beginning first and then

Muturi Njeri  
everyone is ready. Yeah. Okay. podcast. Yeah, it'll

Luis Malbas  
be on a podcast. I'll have it out.

Muturi Njeri  
How soon with a podcast y'all.

Luis Malbas  
Probably this weekend like usually on Saturday or Sunday.

Muturi Njeri  
Cool. Cool. That's exciting.

Luis Malbas  
Alright, but to a Thank you and thanks, everybody. We got a few people in already. So have a great day and we'll see everyone next time. Bye bye

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