Get to know us.

KUPATIA's team is made up of three hard-working girls, and their mentor, all three hailing from the greater Los Angeles, CA. area, and and Roz originating from the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Each individual contributes unique ideas and views which make up the wonderful thing that is KUPATIA. Read on to find out what inspires them!

Eavan Burke

President 

Eavan started this company when she was 16 years old, with the help of her younger sister and her friend. She currently attends Marymount High School and lives in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, a polar opposite of the world belonging to those she aims to help. She chose to involve herself with bettering the lives of the young women working the tea plantations in Kenya because she feels that every woman deserves the chance to achieve all that she can in this world, a luxury that a huge majority of the Kenyan girls simply aren't afforded. Through this organization she hopes to create new opportunities that these women have been deprived of for so long and if all goes right, be a catalyst in facilitating change in their lives. Also, Eavan enjoys sipping a hot cup of green tea while she researches new and exciting ways to help KUPATIA grow and flourish.  

Siobhan Burke

Vice President

Fourteen year old Siobhan Burke attends Marymount High School and resides in the South Bay area of Los Angeles with her sister and family. She is using her experience of witnessing first-hand in Nairobi the harsh reality that most of the world is currently facing: extreme poverty. Because so many of the women working in the tea plantations are as young as Siobhan, herself, she wants to do everything in her power to give them at least a small portion of the opportunities that she has been given in her own life. One of her goals is to provide the Kenyan girls with the chance to receive a proper education so that in the future they will be able to possibly create their own businesses so that they aren't forced to turn to the harsh labor conditions of the tea plantations. In addition to working on new ideas for KUPATIA, Siobhan can often be found wandering the outdoors, gulping down a glass of chamomile tea.

Ella Son

Secretary/Treasuer

Redondo Union High School student, Ella, is a cofounder and treasurer of KUPATIA. While she regularly gives her time, working in various local charities serving the less fortunate, she always considered the possibility of making a bigger impact in some of the poorest parts of the world.  When she came across the idea of helping the tea plantation workers from the Burke sisters, she became inspired by the idea of affording these children the chance at an education and thereby a better life for them and their families.  Realizing how very little can help make such big differences in these girls’ lives, she jumped at the chance to join the cause.  An animal lover and a vegetarian for all the right reasons, she enjoys spending time with her 2 poochies and making delicious vegan treats. 

Rosslyn Njuguna

Chairman

While growing up in Kenya, Rosslyn would often visit the rural villages where she and her brothers and sister helped her parents and grandparents work the family’s modest farms, harvesting tea leaves.  Through the sacrifice of her family and so many people in the community, Rosslyn was able to come to the US.  She studied at Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts, and over the years did her best to give back to her Kenyan community.  In doing so, she has helped educate some of her extended relatives to help better their lives and donated to various organizations with similar goals.  Many still do not have enough food to eat, are unable to clothe themselves or receive basic needs such as clean water. Rosslyn well knows that the needs are many and the challenges are endless, but all it takes is one step and the tides begin to move. It has been Rosslyn’s ultimate dream to bridge the gap between the world she was born and the country that took her in with open arms by helping give back and change a life as her family and community did for her. As her mother always preached, to leave a place better than you found it, through the gifted girls at KUPATIA Rosslyn is confident that the amazing KUPATIA girls will do just that.    

Rosslyn now lives in Long Beach, CA.