Dr Mercy Maina is a career guidance and education specialist with over 25 years of experience and the founding Head of Standards, Guidelines and Ethics at the Career Development Association of Kenya (CDAK), where she architected Kenya's first national professional standards framework for career guidance, now governing members across all 47 counties. An ILO-trained Job Search Club Master Trainer, she has led career guidance and employment services programmes for marginalised and refugee-affected youth under the ILO and DanChurchAid across rural and fragile contexts in Kenya. She co-developed the KNQA Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development, the first qualification of its kind in Eastern Africa, and has reached over 500,000 students across 2,000+ schools in 35 counties. Dr Maina holds a PhD in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) from Africa International University and has eight peer-reviewed publications in career guidance and youth employment.