Catherine Omanyo is the director and founder of Imprezza Academy. After the death of her father at age 14, Catherine refused early marriage in order to stay in school, regardless of her lacking basic needs. Despite all odds, she graduated with honors and went to University. Today Catherine maintains her focus on defending the vulnerable in society regardless of her situation.

During her university years, Catherine found success as a fashion designer and began dressing Kenyan celebrities and politicians. She used the funds to rent a small room in the slum of Riruta-Kawangware, where she began teaching classes to the idle young people that lived there. As attendance grew, she officially registered the school as Imprezza Academy. Kenya’s 2007 political and humanitarian crisis forced the school out of the slum and into it’s current location in Busia County, where it continues it’s original mission – to defend and provide education to the most vulnerable in society.

In addition to running the school, today Catherine Omanyo publicly advocates for the 2/3 gender rule in Kenya by being the secretary general for the Women Candidates’ Network. She became the Secretary General for the National Youth Forum inciting youths to become part of the solution in Kenya’s political quagmire. In 2010, she was among the few youth leaders who attended the International Visitor Leadership Program in the United States in 2011. She was elected the Secretary General for AFC Leopards Football Club in 2010 promoting youth employment and defending the players’ welfare from 2011 to 2012.

Pastor Daron is a graduate of Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He served at the prayer and healing center where he witnessed spectacular demonstrations of the power of God. He now works with his wife, Catherine Omanyo, in Kenya to transform the lives of the youth in Busia County offering quality education, basic healthcare, housing, clothing, and nutritious meals.

Pastor Daron’s experience working in a fraud analysis unit and his studies within the criminal justice system helps him to teach students how to be straight forward good citizens providing corrective measures where need be. Pastor Daron guides and counsels students from difficult situations to become part of the solution for the community.

Kate sold heavy industrial equipment to foundries and steel mills in the Midwest, before it became “the Rust Belt,” and worked for ten years with W. Edwards Deming. She co-wrote Beyond IBM with Lou Mobley, founder of IBM’s Executive School. She was a founding member of YEO, the Young Entrepreneur’s Organization, where her mentor was Ray Hickok, founder of YPO and creator of peer-support/mentor groups. She founded several companies, including CWO: Cold War’s Over, which imported Russian military uniforms after the end of the Cold War. Kate is also a proud patent-holder, having invented a product, written and prosecuted the patent, and sold the invention on QVC. She taught at the Fordham Graduate School of Business for 15 years, and was Entrepreneur Fellow for the undergrads, and every class she taught was a mini-Venture Launch Collaboration.

Kate’s vision for SPIRITed learning has become an integral cornerstone for the demonstrative curriculum being implemented on campus.

Janet Yang is a retired registered nurse who graduated with an associates degree in nursing and worked full time while completing a Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Bradley University. She won the Sigma Theta Tau June Snow Award as the highest ranking registered nursing student. She spent her career first caring for cardiac patients and finishing in the emergency department. After retiring, she assisted in the business of running Midwest Emergency Care Associates, her husbands corporation. She has raised 3 children and was primary caregiver for her father who suffered from Lewy Body Dementia. She continues to care for her mother.

Janet’s passion for health and nutrition provides the essential services for the students attending the school as well as the local community to maintain optimal health.

Lisa is currently a start up executive and advisor with demonstrated experience in emerging technologies across the Media, Healthcare, and Telecom sectors. She served as SVP and founding member at Blippar, an augmented reality and AI company, while also held management roles at Thomson Reuters, Accenture, ESPN, and Amazon within various strategy and business development divisions.

Lisa holds an BBA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and an MBA from London Business School.

She is also an avid traveler, having a goal to visit 100 countries in her lifetime.