Felister is that lecturer we all wish we had. Holding seminars and meetings with undergraduate students to discuss their career choices, professional growth as well as life situations, she has always had a strong interest in nurturing young talents through mentoring.
This strong, nurturing spirit started when she was quite young. Felister was only five years old when her father passed away, says her profile on the AWARD website. Her mother, barely managing with a tiny pension and the limited harvest from the family’s small farm in the Makueni Hills of eastern Kenya, recognized her only daughter’s potential. “We were very poor, and hunger was a well-known phenomenon in our family,” says Nzuve. “The rains are unreliable in our area, and we did not use appropriate agricultural practices.”
Felister is that lecturer we all wish we had. Holding seminars and meetings with undergraduate students to discuss their career choices, professional growth as well as life situations, she has always had a strong interest in nurturing young talents through mentoring.
This strong, nurturing spirit started when she was quite young. Felister was only five years old when her father passed away, says her profile on the AWARD website. Her mother, barely managing with a tiny pension and the limited harvest from the family’s small farm in the Makueni Hills of eastern Kenya, recognized her only daughter’s potential. “We were very poor, and hunger was a well-known phenomenon in our family,” says Nzuve. “The rains are unreliable in our area, and we did not use appropriate agricultural practices.”
To come up with solutions to the many challenges farmers face in maintaining their farm productivity, Felister decided to study agriculture at the University of Nairobi. She’s worked her way up through the ranks and is well on her way to achieve her dream of becoming a leading professor in plant breeding.
Through her research at the University of Nairobi, Felister aims to increase bread wheat productivity by breeding strains of wheat that are resistant to stem rust – a significant disease affecting cereal crops that can literally wipe out fields.
Position | Plant Breeder and Biotechnologist, University of Nairobi |
Country | Kenya |
Education | PhD in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology from Makerere University MSc. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Nairobi |
Mentee |
She has also developed a blog that she hopes students and graduates will use to share their ideas on how agriculture can be transformed into rewarding careers. She also uses it to publish her research findings thus helping disseminate her research findings to a wider audience.
In 2011, Felister was awarded an African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellowship where she increased her professional network, published more and in highly regarded journals.
In her role with YPARD, Felister is looking forward to practicing her mentoring skills out of the academic environment and intends to use every opportunity to positively influence her mentee and others she will interact with.
As a young professional herself, she looks forward to a vibrant agricultural sector, which will contribute to sustainable food security in Kenya.