CityStep Spotlight: Alumni Maddy Landon and Michelle Mboya

Meet Maddy Landon and Michelle Mboya, the instigators of CityStep Yale!

In 2015, Maddy approached Michelle, both college seniors, with the idea to start CityStep Yale after the CityStep Harvard and CityStep Penn models. “I didn’t say, ‘Let me think about it,’ or ‘I’ll get back to you later.’ That just wasn’t our friendship. I trusted her,” said Michelle. Also interested in youth mentorship, Michelle and her sister founded G.I.R.L. to mentor and provide educational opportunities to girls in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa.

In starting CityStep Yale, the two hit the ground running, with constant support from Carey Landon, Maddy’s sister and current co-Director of CityStep Penn, as well as from founder Sabrina Peck. “When looking to start a company, we were looking for people who were going to be committed and exude that CityStep energy. People who feel confident in themselves and can create a space where kids feel confident in themselves,” said Maddy. “It was totally diverse,” added Michelle. “We wanted students to be able to see themselves in the people they interact with, to see groups of people that are different working together and having fun,” continued Maddy.

That first year, 15 teachers went into three schools. “We tried to make classroom the focus of what people were spending time on,” said Maddy, “We had some awesome teachers with the ability to read how the kids were responding to certain activities, and adapt and improvise according to that.” According to Michelle, the two biggest challenges were building initial trust with students and partner schools, as well as funding. “Our teachers were so excited that they pretty much footed the costs.”

The two left CityStep in good and capable hands when they graduated. Maddy is now working for Summit Public Schools, “working on those challenges that seem insurmountable but are so important when we think about equity and what we want an American public education to provide to every student.” Michelle recently finished a yearlong fellowship, writing a screenplay that ties back to issues of higher education in the US and Kenya in 1960.

We are so excited to see the seed that Maddy and Michelle planted grow. In the words of Michelle, "Every school should have CityStep."