Alex Rezida

Kenya: A generation that defines itself Internationally acclaimed visual artist Angélica Dass has spent her career asking one deceptively simple question: who gets to define us? Across thousands of portraits, she kept seeing the same quiet tension between who a person truly is and who the world assumes them to be — and she came to believe a photograph can either fix a label onto someone or lift every label away. Her mission with TECNO's 100 Portraits of Becoming is to hand that power back to the person in front of the lens. I believe everyone has the opportunity to define themselves — on their own terms, with dignity, free of labels.  — Angélica Dass In Kenya, she met people from all walks of life who had already done exactly that. In the stories of Alex, Alexander and Jelimo, we discover individuals who refused to accept the story the world had written for them, and defined their own instead. Alex Mutua Muli — The one who stayed Alex, 39, grew up among the fruit trees of Lower Eastern Kenya — the smell of blossoming fruit trees is still his favourite thing in the world. But that abundance carried a quiet cruelty. "When I was 14, I watched my neighbour cut down his whole mango orchard, because he couldn't find a market," he remembers. Year after year, good fruit rotted while middlemen set the prices and the families who grew everything had no say.  Alex Mutua Muli, co-founder and CEO, Goshen Fruit Exporters Limited. Among the first from his community to reach university, Alex was handed the same script as everyone: study hard, get to the city, and never look back. But if everyone capable of change left, no one would be left to fix what was broken — so he came home, convinced the land had never been the problem. It simply needed someone to build a market that could last. That conviction became a business. Alex turned surplus fruit into dried produce that keeps and travels — so a harvest earns its worth instead of rotting at the roadside. Today, Alex's agribusiness provides a resilient and sustainable livelihood for smallholder farmers. "My neighbours no longer have to leave home to find a future. The future is here," he said. His hope reaches further — an Africa where farming is not what children escape, but what they aspire to. Alex defined himself by staying when everyone said leave, and in doing so, redefined the worth of home itself. In Alex's portrait, I see the lives and connections people build around the places they call home. — Angélica Dass Alexander Odhiambo — The one who created his own door When Alexander, 36, graduated in computer science from the University of Nairobi, he was certain the world would come looking for him. It didn't. Instead, he found the job market's door closed — and behind him, a whole generation of Kenyan graduates knocking on the same one. His first job paid nothing for six months, yet he kept writing software, sensing he was building for a future no one had promised him.  Alexander Odhiambo, co-founder and CEO, Solutech Limited. Alexander's instinct traced back to boyhood, when he made his own toys from scraps rather than go without. So when no employer would open a door, he and four friends built their own company, Solutech, from a tiny Nairobi office. Even though he couldn't even afford rent in the early months, he held himself and his team together by his philosophy: once you are born, you either win or win. The hardest obstacle was never the code; it was trust. Solutech builds route-to-market software that gives businesses the sales intelligence they need to make decisions — the kind of system they had never imagined buying from a Kenyan startup versus a global name. So Alexander did what he had done as a school scout commander and basketball captain: he rallied people and won trust: one client at a time. That belief compounded. The company he bootstrapped now powers the sales operations of major brands across Africa — indirectly creating employment opportunities.

Kenya: A generation that defines itself Internationally acclaimed visual artist Angélica Dass has spent her career asking one deceptively simple question: who gets to define us? Across thousands of portraits, she kept seeing the same quiet tension between who a person truly is and who the world assumes them to be — and she came to believe a photograph can either fix a label onto someone or lift every label away. Her mission with TECNO's 100 Portraits of Becoming is to hand that power back to the person in front of the lens. I believe everyone has the opportunity to define themselves — on their own terms, with dignity, free of labels.  — Angélica Dass In Kenya, she met people from all walks of life who had already done exactly that. In the stories of Alex, Alexander and Jelimo, we discover individuals who refused to accept the story the world had written for them, and defined their own instead. Alex Mutua Muli — The one who stayed Alex, 39, grew up among the fruit trees of Lower Eastern Kenya — the smell of blossoming fruit trees is still his favourite thing in the world. But that abundance carried a quiet cruelty. "When I was 14, I watched my neighbour cut down his whole mango orchard, because he couldn't find a market," he remembers. Year after year, good fruit rotted while middlemen set the prices and the families who grew everything had no say.  Alex Mutua Muli, co-founder and CEO, Goshen Fruit Exporters Limited. Among the first from his community to reach university, Alex was handed the same script as everyone: study hard, get to the city, and never look back. But if everyone capable of change left, no one would be left to fix what was broken — so he came home, convinced the land had never been the problem. It simply needed someone to build a market that could last. That conviction became a business. Alex turned surplus fruit into dried produce that keeps and travels — so a harvest earns its worth instead of rotting at the roadside. Today, Alex's agribusiness provides a resilient and sustainable livelihood for smallholder farmers. "My neighbours no longer have to leave home to find a future. The future is here," he said. His hope reaches further — an Africa where farming is not what children escape, but what they aspire to. Alex defined himself by staying when everyone said leave, and in doing so, redefined the worth of home itself. In Alex's portrait, I see the lives and connections people build around the places they call home. — Angélica Dass

"At times, to be silent is to lie," a famous declaration by the Spanish philosopher and writer Miguel de Unamuno.

It's okay to have heavy days. You don't have to be strong all the time.Let yourself feel — that's how you heal and understand yourself. It's self-care, not weakness.Be gentle with yourself today. Every feeling has a message, and hard days do pass.

Release what weighs on your heart. In the space left behind, clarity blooms, peace settles, and grace finds its way in.

Happy Father’s Day. “The strength of a society is built not only in its institutions, but also in the values imparted by fathers.”

Dreams without effort die in silence. Get up and DO.

Depletion of emotional and mental energy exhaust us. When we hold specific expectations of those around us are we often get tired. Accept individuals for who they are, acknowledge their imperfections . Challenge yourself . Identify at least one admirable quality in every person.

To be happy, you must eliminate two things. The fear of a bad future and the memory of a bad past.” SENECA

Tough situations can cloud our thoughts . Reacting from this restless state makes even simple decisions feel burdensome. But, every challenge holds a solution. Achieving calm is a step towards clarity. A quiet mind helps us reflect, and tap into our inner wisdom and get answers

A Los Angeles jury has handed down an unprecedented win for a young woman who sued Meta and Google over her childhood addiction to social media