Dr. Vee Kativhu

I took my mom out for dinner today at The Shard. It’s her first time visiting me since I moved to London ❤️ and she absolutely loved it. I love seeing her soooo happy, relaxed and spoiling her. She works toooooo hard 🥺🥳❤️

Follow me on Instagram to see a video of our day - https://lnkd.in/dbqgrct

Throwback to my at home Oxford graduation; the fact that my mom put this together for me immediately after I’d finished my exams WITHOUT even knowing if I’d passed or failed melts my heart. 🥺

She was just so happy I’d even finished and had tried my best. It’s something I really adore about her, she never puts pressure on me, ever.

My best is always good enough for her. & every achievement counts. She’s never told me what grades she expects or what schools I should attend etc. She just lets me be me & let’s me fly but is ready to catch me if I fall 🎈 🤍 I feel so lucky to have her. 🎈

My proudest moment to date 😭🇿🇼Rest In Peace Daddy! Today we finally got to give you a proper grave stone and for that my heart is full of joy 💛

Today (16/4/2022) is my dad’s death day anniversary and I am so happy we got to spend it with him and putting flowers down in our home village with his siblings!! -

This is definitely my PROUDEST moment to date. When I came back in 2018 I saw my dad’s grave for the first time in my life and it was not looking good! It didn’t have a proper stone and it broke my heart. I vowed that next time I’d come home. I’d team up with my sister to fix it for him and give him something pretty! And I’m so proud of what we did! -

Rest well my angel! 22 years since heaven gained an angel and I lost a parent 😭💛💛💛💛💛💛

So happy to have spent time on our village today! The place he was born and raised with his sisters! And my cousins. Ahhh what a moment 💐☀️

Guess who spent NINE HOURS of her time today recording the first 70 pages of her AUDIOBOOK!!?!? This girl did!!
Yep yep yep finally CONFIRMED ‘Empowered’ is also going to be available in audiobook! (Wtf wtf wtf wtf)

(70 done about 190 left to go 📚😂) https://lnkd.in/dbqgrct

I cried in the toilets today because I can’t believe my dreams are literally coming true before my eyes and there’s 2 only months left until I give birth to this book that I’ve guarding with my life 😭💫💡 December 2nd we party 📚🐧 📖

We’re doing the actual cover reveal next week (will confirm the date on my stories) - but can tell you it’s BEAUTIFUL ☀️

Argggg I just can’t. Believe it. December 2nd. She gets born.

Uni Updates📍GUYS, I DID IT 📚🥳! I got my first PhD assignment grade back and I was over the moon 🌙- I got 48/50 for my first attempt at a 6 page PhD assignment!

It’s a big deal to me because my biggest worry coming into this PhD was “what if I simply can’t keep up, what if I fall behind etc” - so for me to start seeing my grades and to see my hours of hard work studying etc pay off is so cool! - just to know I’m on the right tracks💐. (This was genuinely the first moment I felt like, woah - I think I can actually do this and will be fine!)

💐some random Uni updates💐
1. I received some beautiful yellow flowers with the sweetest note 💛

2. My first PhD assignment grade! So proud

3. I went on my first hike!! We hiked for 2 hours & 30 minutes. And I saw just how beautiful southern California is!

4. I gave my first presentation in class !! Was so nervous hahaha but it went well!

5. Hanging out with my gorgeous girl Yara @yarashahidi 🌙Sleepover crew style ! We can never JUST go to dinner. I always end up sleeping over! This was the morning after 💛

6. I was invited as a guest speaker to another PhD class to speak about international girls education policy as they had a paper due on it! HOW CRAZY!

7. My never ending homework list. Read, read and read some more.

8. I finally feel like a YouTuber again! We’re back to regular uploads and the PhD series is my fave!

9. Me at the Sunday Farmers Market, I’m becoming a Californian girl right before our eyes.

10. Me 95% of the time these days. Baggy clothes, at a desk and doing PhD things 📍🫠💐🌍🌍.

I’M GOING TO CHICAGO!! 😭🇺🇸🎉. GUYS! I’m SOO excited to be getting FLOWN OUT to Chicago 🇺🇸 today! to go & speak at the Michelle Obama Tennis Center in Chicago at her old high school in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX 😭🙏🏽

(Follow me on Instagram to experience the journey with meeeee https://lnkd.in/dnRRNgav - )

(a groundbreaking gender equality law that was put in place 50 year’s ago to fight against exclusion from sport based on sex & gender; part of the Education Amendments)

I’m HONOURED to even have my name mentioned in rooms like these!!- I’ll be presenting things about girls Education, interviewing athletes & hosting panels!!!!!

I’ve always been a huge supporter of girls and women playing sports and having the opportunity to be anything they want through access to opportunities!! - so buzzing to see

13 year old Vee wouldn’t believe that the same mouth that was getting her told off for talking a lot at school 😂😂 is now the veeh same one getting her flown around the world!!

P.s I can definitely say I’m an International Public Speaker nowwww right?🎉🎉.
After speaking in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cambodia this year & now Chicago?? I’m claiming it!

MY OLDER SISTER Fadzai K. JUST FOUND OUT SHE’s GOING TO GRADUATE & HAS JUST QUALIFIED AS A CHILDREN’s SOCIAL WORKER!!✅🎓🥂 👩🏾‍🎓 📚 congratulations to my older and prettier sister Fadzie for passing her degree with FLYING COLOURS! My sister is going to be a social worker ya’ll after 2 long years !!
One thing about the Kativhu girls, they love an education 🥂🥳🥳🥳🥳.

Safe to say I’m a proud little sister & I feel HONOURED to look like someone so smart and pretty!! 🥂 to my mom for giving birth to my best friend. !!

In her own words…… “GUYSSS, I’M OFFICIALLY TWO *DEGREES* HOTTER 🎓!! After 2 years of studying, I completed my Masters Degree last month & the exam & dissertation results are FINALLY in….. i PASSEDDDD ✅ ! I will soon be walking across that stage and GRADUATING !! 😭🥂👩🏽‍🎓. If you know me then you’ll know how much this means to me. It has been a very hectic journey lol, but it’s the growth for me 😍.

I still can’t believe I did it! But then again how can I lose with God by my side? (Psalm 46:5 🥹🤍).

I am so proud of myself! Cheers to this new chapter & my new career. I am officially a Social Worker, I am now a professional babe, wow. Won’t be do it?! 👩🏽‍🎓🥳.

PSA: I will be celebrating & popping champagne for the rest of the year cos I deserve it 🥂🤍” #education #growth #love #career

Allow me to re-introduce myself, 👩🏾‍🦱 hi! my name is Varaidzo Felistus Kativhu - but everyone calls me Vee

✍🏾I am 25 years old & I’m 5ft2

📚 I am full-time Girls’ Education Activist and Young Leader for all things youth empowerment!

🍋 I am the Founder and Director of my non-profit organisation Empowered By Vee where I volunteer my time to provide resources to make higher education more accessible for students who feel unsupported and underrepresented.

🎥 for work I am a full time YouTuber where I create helpful videos about studying for over 260,000 people. & I collaborate with brands on partnerships through the platform.

📍I also work part time as a Global Youth Engagement Lead at UWS, formerly known as United World Schools

👩🏾‍🎓 I am a 2x graduate from Oxford University, bachelors degree. and a Masters of Education from Harvard University.

🇺🇳 I am currently a Young Leader at the United Nations for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 2022-2024.

🤝🏾I also sit on the Advisory Board for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation where we advocate and advice on mental health initiatives for young people around the world.

🏆 As recognition for my efforts to bridge the gap of inequality in education, I have been named a 2x Diana Award and Diana Legacy Award Recipient by Prince Harry and Prince William.

🇬🇧 a United Kingdom Rare Rising Star by executive members of British parliament,

📍and A Diversity Champion by the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.

📚 I recently published a self-help book “EMPOWERED” Live your life with passion and purpose’, a practical and motivational self-help book for young people.

❤️ In my spare time I enjoy volunteering and fundraising for education-focused charities.
I am currently an active ambassador forCAMFED and GirlUp Zimbabwe.

💭 In the near future, I will pursue a Ph.D. in Education Leadership and work alongside other change makers to address the pressing issue of the 130 million girls who are currently out of school.

🍕 ohhh and I LOVEEEEE pizza & travelling the world 🌍!!

I MET THE ONE & ONLYYY MICHELLE OBAMA 😭😭. Best day ever! 🎊 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE QUEEN! My biggest inspiration, Mrs Michelle Obama! ….. Meeting you in real life was one the HIGHLIGHTS of my LIFE & I will never stop talking about it to anyone who’ll listen!!!! Thank you for encouraging me to follow my dreams!

I am so so so inspired by the work you do to champion girls education at your organisation Girls Opportunity Alliance , a deep passion of mine. And I hope one day to work together on that mission of reducing the number of girls out of the classroom. You’ve inspired my work at Empowered By Vee more than you know.

Been on the BBC 100 women list with YOUUUU was so so special to me.

Happy happy birthdayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! And thank you for inspiring girls like me to dedicate our lives to lifting each other up! 🌎 and to realising that it’s okay to not be perfect as we’re constantly Becoming!!

I will forever be a fangirl! 💐☁️ #happybirthdaymichelle #michelleobama

Ahh what is LIFE?! I am so proud to share that I’ve been recognised by BRITISH VOGUE, theee British Vogue as one of their FORCES FOR CHANGE for 2024 😭💫📝✨🙌🏾 whattttt??? omg. Life is CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY! 😭💫

Thank you SO MUCH to theeeeeee British Vogue for sharing me as one of your Forces For Change 2024 in your SEPTEMBER ISSUE! 🤯 as in I’m inside the SEPTEMBER issue of VOGUE!!!! Out now in stores all over 💫😭

I had to go and buy two copies. One for me and one for my kids because WHATTTTTT???? Howwww?!

Like huh?! How is this real life?!

😭omg TWO MAJOR UPDATES from today from
My time in Zimbabwe ! 🇿🇼
1. I am so proud to share that I’ll be financially supporting the education of two incredible primary school level girls for the whole of 2025!! I’ll be covering their tuition fees and making sure they have what they need. These two girls will be getting reintegrated into education; they fell behind because of finances and traumatic life circumstances and are now far behind their age grade mates but will surely catch up. Thank you to the Center for Total Transformation and Girl Up Zimbabwe for helping us identify these two girls and for doing the work that you are!

2. I managed to run an empowerment and confidence workshop for primary school girls in SHONA, not English! They couldn’t speak English so it was Shona or nothing, I normally mix Shona and English but today I did it 🎉🎉🎉
I didn’t know I was able to do that! So I’m so proud.

Look at this 😭 You guys are actually reading MY BOOK, that I wrote!?! 😭 nothing makes me happier!

And guess what besties? we have MOREEEE U.K. signed copies of my book available to buy on my website!!
https://lnkd.in/dsK-G_pz


(Shipping signed copies to UK only! but regular copies can be found on Amazon and shipped to whoever you are - check the links in my bio or on my website )

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who’s been getting a copy and all your wonderful reviews. This makes me SOOOOO happy.

This book a labour of LOVE and is still my baby! I love it so much!

If you’ve read it please let me know what you think and if you haven’t …. Bestie WHAT are you waiting forrrrrrrrrr!!

AHH!! Guess who’s been invited by OXFORD UNIVERSITYYYY to be the ASTROPHORIA PLENARY SPEAKER for 2024 for next week💭🎉✨✨🙌🏾 ahhh!! This is crazy!! & I’m so so excited!! University of Oxford

In their own wordsssssssssssss
“We are delighted that Vee Kativhu is able to join us to deliver the ceremony plenary speech. Vee is an Education Activist and Empowerment YouTuber as well as an alumna of the University of Oxford who took part in the LMH Foundation Year programme”

I can’t believe this. A PRESIDENTIAL INVITE FROM THE PRESIDENT & THE UNITED NATIONS?? Guyssss look at the line up of the only confirmed speakers. My goodness. No pressure ey 😅 . Also I’ll be the closing speaker. SCARYYYYYY. 🎉💫

🇺🇳 I’m off to New York today and I’ll be giving one of the most important speeches of my work at the UN this week as a Young Leader of the Sustainable Development Goals selected by the Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth
🇺🇸🗽.

🌏 I’m super excited to contribute to the intergenerational dialogues that will be taking place and hope to see multisectoral collaboration take place that has youth at the heart of discussions as we navigate our way through this summit, which should really be called The Summit of OUR Future, the future that youth will inherit. UNICEF Innovation

only 17% of the SDG’s are on track and we have less than 6 years left until 2030. This is simply not good enough.

Things need to change and fast! A lot of young people have the ideas, the plans and the commitment to help but we need our governments and world leaders to stop, listen and be brave enough to do the right things. We can’t only do what we have always done and expect different results.

I can’t wait to go and share a piece of my mind. But I’d lying if I said i wasn’t nervous.

#youthspeaker #youngleader #unitednations

Missing my best-friend today! My twin! My mom!
Love you mom! 🤍💛 you’re the best to ever do it! You’ve made unimaginable sacrifices as a widow and a single mom and everything we do is to make you proud! 🎐🌍!! : my mission now in life is to give you all your flowers, take you around the world, pamper you with love and just let you enjoy the fruits of your labour!!

Okay now it’s time to get back to writing this essay because I know you’ve practicing how loud you’ll cheer when I walk across that stage as Dr Vee 📍🫢🥳🥳🥳🥳 #graduationnumber3pending Loveness Kativhu

GUESS WHO’S IN THE FRIENDS REUNION SPECIAL 🥳!! - What a time to be alive! @friends (check it out on SkyOne or NOWTV or HBO)

I was absolutely OBSESSED with watching Friends while at university, it got me through my essay crisis moments 😂 & now I get to be in THE reunion episode next to my best friend @malala ❤️ (grateful to get to experience things like this with you sister, thank you!)

someone pinch me ASAP because how is this real life? #friends #friendsreunion

(LOOKING FOR ADVICE): Getting accepted into Harvard University to study International Education Policy was the best feeling in the world. I want to become an international agent of change and can’t wait to sit in a classroom with other future leaders and learn how to change the world through education.

However, I sadly did not receive a scholarship with my offer (and I can’t apply for anymore as many of them have now closed and will only open at the end of the year for 2021 intake)
I’ve tried my best and exhausted all of my options of raising money, but I am no where near where I need to be.

I was wondering if anyone might possibly know of any scholarship programs still open, or know of anyone who might be able to help? Or anywhere I can source funding or private sponsors etc.

My deadline to raise the funds for tuition and living costs is May 22nd and I’m starting to panic😂.

I sadly can’t defer my course as they are changing the course modules for next year, therefore failure to raise the funds means giving up my offer to study there.

(I know this is terrible timing to ask for help considering we’re going through a global health crisis, but I’m not sure who else to ask for advice)

Please share or let me know if you know anyone I can reach out to.
#Harvard #iep #hgse

I’m smiling but NOTHING IS FUNNY!!!! 🚨 ‼️ —- today is the start of EXAMS & FINALS WEEEK here in California at PhD land 😫😭 I have 8 days left until my part 1 of my big Qual exams and I am STRESSED!!! Big papers due this week and big exams coming.

So dear friends and family if you don’t hear from me or I’m bad at replies etc. THATS WHYYYYYY

Ahhh send help. Send love. Send coffee. Send money. Send pizza. Send something. I dunno

Gone but never forgotten! Happy fathers’ day to my guardian Angel 👑🌎 and I hope you continue to rest in peace. ☁️

You are the missing piece in my heart! & I’ll forever wish for just 5 more minutes with you! Just 5 🥺😭

I wish you could see what we’ve become Dad!

Happy Father’s Day!! And I hope we do nothing but make you smile.

Love, your girls!! Vee & Fadz

Happy New Year to you my incredible LinkedIn friends ! ✨🌍; LET’s PLAY A MOTIVATIONAL GAME! comment below one of your new year’s resolutions and how it’s going so far & the person who comments after you will reply to you with a motivating line to help you keep going!

So basically you have to comment TWICE- once with your own resolution, and once as a reply to the person before you. Let’s spread some Monday motivational spirit in our networks & keep each other going for this new year!! ✨✨✨💛💛💛💛 LET’s gooooooooo

#newbeginning2022 #newyear!

Twirling outside the United Nations India HQ in the PRETTIEST dress after a meeting sharing why Empowerment NEEDS to be part of the GLOBAL curriculum with members of UNESCO, UNICEF, Girl Up & the G20 because life is about balance. 🌸 🌺 🌹

But Genuine question, how PRETTYYYY is this dress Omg. Can we give a MOMENT for this dress ?! 😭 I was literally at the United Nations in India yesterday giving a mini Empowerment workshop taster in front of members of UNICEF India, UNFPA India, UNESCO, Girl Up, Y20 & G20 Team and in the middle of the meeting I was like “but do you see my dress?? Don’t I just look like an empowerment academic fairy” and it’s safe to say they all nodded in agreement.

Ahahahah!! Taking up space looks like this friends. Showing up in spaces as yourself and owning it!! - I’m not sure I’ll ever go these thing in a dark suit. It’s just not meeeee.

Alas. Thank you @stylemechar for styling me in a way that allows me to both deliver very very serious global matters at global stages while also sprinkling some joy through my outfits & colours.

I truly did feel like a fairy @stylemechar You just GET meeee!🌎🖤🧚🏾‍♀️.