Nelly Cheboi grew up in Mogotio, Kenya, and earned a full scholarship to Augustana College in Illinois, where she studied computer science while working campus jobs to fund a school back home. She co-founded TechLit Africa with Tyler Cinnamon in 2018 to redistribute recycled technology and build computer labs in rural Kenyan schools, work that earned her the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year award and a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.