Outside the Familiar
Catherine Burnett ’89 found her calling in conservation, impact investing, and education
BY KATE DUNLOP
Zebras dozed on the dirt runway as the two-seater plane from Nairobi descended toward Lewa Wilderness at the foot of Mount Kenya. In the co-pilot’s seat, Catherine Burnett ’89 watched the pilot circle repeatedly to clear the wildlife before landing. Below stretched the savannah, where elephants, rhinos, and giraffes grazed and browsed — a world far removed from Burnett’s career in digital consumer product marketing in New York City, where she had increasingly felt called to pursue work more aligned with her values.
In 2000, after saving enough money to take a year off, she volunteered at the then-young Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What began as a one-week stay became a two-year role that included operations and marketing work, as well as leading horseback safaris.
During that time, Burnett learned Swahili, became the first woman licensed as a professional safari guide in Kenya, and led community outreach initiatives, including well-digging projects, school meal programs, and small business development efforts. She also co-launched Lewa’s first marketing campaign in Europe to broaden tourism revenue.
Living in Africa deepened Burnett’s sense of direction and connection across cultures. “Living outside the familiar, you are more open to seeing goodness in people,” she says. “It helps you focus on what really matters, such as human kindness and connection.”
The Princeton English major realized she needed stronger business skills to advance her work, so Burnett earned an MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a focus on sustainable enterprise strategy. She then returned to Kenya to work on projects aimed at improving public health and helping rural farmers gain access to sustainable irrigation. When she was invited to a rural church to share a prayer, she recited the St. Paul’s School Prayer because it is, as she says, “always on the tip of my tongue.” Eventually, Burnett returned to the U.S. to be closer to family and pursue a broader vision for social impact.
“Back at home, I wanted to figure out how to bring social, financial, and environmental resources together to help disenfranchised people realize their potential and to protect the natural world,” she says.
For the past 20 years, Burnett has advised family offices, foundations, and businesses on philanthropy and impact investing, helping them align their values with measurable social and environmental results. Her work has included helping launch a homelessness initiative that reduced chronic homelessness in one city by 98% and co-launching an investment facility that supported racially equitable community development and environmental sustainability projects across the U.S.
“There’s a false dichotomy between investing in alignment with your values and maximizing returns,” she says. “Returns are not just financial.”
Burnett finds working with families particularly gratifying because “aligning wealth with values can unite multiple generations around a shared vision for impact, often deepening family engagement and directing more resources toward social and environmental good.”
More recently, Burnett has devoted increasing time to another calling: teaching. After becoming certified in English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction with her partner, she taught in Thailand, worked with immigrants and refugees in North Carolina, and spent a year teaching at a public elementary school in rural Spain. Now back in the U.S., she continues both her impact advisory work and teaching ESL to refugees in her community.
Looking back, Burnett sees a consistent thread running through her life and career. “My purpose from the start has been to help people and the natural world flourish,” she says.
Her advice to younger generations: “Life is going to work out — but not at all how you think it will. Things are much more extraordinary and much more difficult than you can imagine, and there’s beauty and learning in all of it.”