Helene Njenga

Director of Education and Development

Helene Thompson-Njenga is the Director of Education and Development and is a core member of Third Act Development. Elected to the Mount Vernon school district board of trustees in 2022, trustee Njenga serves on the audit committee, education committee, safety and security committee,  special  education committee, and is the Chairperson of the Policy Committee among her many duties. 

Trustee Njenga comes from a family with a long history of community advocacy and activism. When she began serving on the board of education, she was already a commissioner for the planning board for the City of Mount Vernon for five years. As a school board trustee, she values the opportunity to create and develop policies that can support students in the district.  She has a strong working relationship with the other trustees and believes their differences help her to appreciate different perspectives. While each trustee has their own specialization which is very valuable, their common ground is to make the right decision for students and the safety of staff and personnel. 

Helene is a former student of Mount Vernon High School and attended Keystone University for Architecture. She also majored in Art History at A&T University, North Carolina and later went on to train as a phlebotomist and became a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) at Sanford Brown Institute in White Plains. She draws on all her past academic achievements, experience, and relationships to bring back vocational programs to the district that can support all students. Her goal is to give students a place where they are excited to go every day regardless of what their plans may be. When students want to go to school, they will feel safer, improve their reading and writing skills, and better prepare for their future.

Helene also has an extensive background in real estate. She’s well-versed in property management, real estate sales, and property staging. She worked with the Greater Metro Realty Group, LLC as a realtor and assisted the owner by staging units for sale. For ten years she managed a multi-unit residential property and provided support services to the residents. 

In 2016 she began a home-based business venture, Eusi Bathtime & Skin Care Products, LLC. She also shares ownership of Njenga’s Koffee, a philanthropic café that supports communities in Kenya, and Sea Grapes Catering Company, with her husband, Wilson Njenga who is the Executive Chef. Helene managed all these responsibilities while also being a loving wife, mother, and devoted grandmother.