Dates

• Existence: 1983 -

Parallel Names

• Wangui-Verry, Jackline

Biography

Jackline “Jackie” Mwangi Wangui grew up in Nairobi, Kenya as a part of a large Kikuyu-speaking family. Her mother was the oldest of 13 children and was regarded as a leader by her close-knit extended family. Wangui remembered spending so much time with her cousins that they seemed more like siblings. Although she felt that the Kenya of her childhood did not support women’s rights and education, Wangui benefitted from advanced schooling. She gained fluency in English and Swahili in addition to Kikuyu and began attending college for computer science at 18. At 22, with her mother’s encouragement, Jackie Wangui immigrated to the United States where she began attending Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After graduating with a degree in liberal arts in 2008, she returned to school for nursing and eventually earned a master’s in nursing from Mount Mercy University. Wangui embarked on a career at the University of Iowa where she rose to the rank of Assistant Director, Clinical Research Unit in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. She continued to live in Iowa where she raised two daughters, Madison, and Estella.

Places

• Kenya (Place of Birth)
• United States (Residence)

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: