Regina Williams launching 'Blessed Struggles' in Casablanca, Morroco
About Me
Regina Williams – Author of Blessed Struggles.
Blessed struggles is my autobiography: My Journey from Extreme Poverty in Kenya to Professional and Political Success in Great Britain.
I am Regina Williams, a motivational speaker, FGM survivor, and the first Black Kenyan woman elected to public office in London. My story begins in the red hills of Kisii, Kenya, winds through the streets of Rabat and Casablanca, and leads to London, where I arrived pregnant, penniless, and holding nothing but a dream.
Inspired by the Swahili saying “maisha ni kupambana” (life is a struggle), Regina’s autobiography Blessed Struggles is a powerful account of how one woman turned silence into strength, poverty into purpose, and hardship into history. From walking barefoot on muddy roads in rural Kenya to becoming a voice on global stages — it is a journey of resilience, grit, and personal transformation.
“I arrived in the UK with only $50, no family, and a baby on the way — but I carried a dream bigger than my fear.”
“Education was my escape. Speaking is now my weapon.”
“From sleeping on a cold floor in Kenya to standing on global stages — this is what resilience looks like.”
In 1997, I was the only woman in an MSc course in Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering, and Knowledge Acquisition at Middlesex University — a lone Black woman in a class of nine. It was a bold act of courage. A quiet rewriting of boundaries. That moment, too, was history.
In April 2024, I created history again. Blessed Struggles ranked #3 in Amazon’s Top 100 British Political Autobiographies, standing beside Sir Winston Churchill. But this was more than a personal milestone — it was a victory for Kenya, for Britain, and indeed for East African and global history.
“I didn’t have food — but I turned hunger into fuel for success. I studied relentlessly until my education was globally recognised, and now I use my voice — a global voice — to remind the world I existed, and I mattered.”
But this is only a glimpse.
The full story — of surviving Female Genital Mutilation, of battling loneliness, racism, and cultural silence, of being overlooked and underestimated — lives inside Blessed Struggles. My journey is guided by what I now call Regina’s Framework of Resilience: a mindset built on belief, perseverance, dignity, and purpose.
Today, I use my voice to ignite others — power girls, single mothers, immigrants, students, and dreamers across the world. I stand for girls’ education, freedom from cultural oppression, and the strength of women who refuse to be silenced.
“I was not born to break. I was born to rise.”
Project Management Awards
Project Management Awards
MOR Management of Risk
MSP Managing Successful Programmes
Prince2 Practitioner
Microsoft Certification
Professional
Technology specialist
IT Professional
Political Awards
London award
Academic Achievements
MSc information and knowledge engineering (artificial intelligence)
BSc Information System and Information systems
1998
Community leader
With Minister for Communities Beverley Hughes when I was a community leader. An awesome picture of two beautiful ladies. I was on course to improve the life of ordinary people in the community, and we made it after that 10-year initiative.
1998
Community Representative
With Hilary Armstrong, the Minister for Local Government, at the 1998 Labour Party Conference in Brighton, where I represented my community. We believed in a good life for all. Our joy can be seen in our relaxed arms. It was announced that £54 million would be granted for regeneration of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) area in Plaistow and West Ham. This was after tireless work that included many meetings and walkabouts identifying issues and collecting evidence to enable us to make our case to the central government.
The NDC funded capital projects included, among others, knocking down tower blocks and building new homes, improving schools, reducing crime and creating resources centers for the youth.
2000
MP Dianne Abbott and the late local MP Tony Banks
With MP Dianne Abbott and the late local MP Tony Banks, who was later elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Stratford. Abbott rose to become Shadow Home Secretary (2016 to 2020) under the leadership of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Abbott and Banks helped raise my profile for the campaign of 2000.
2006
House of Commons
With Tony Banks and Tessa Jowell. Jowell, also since deceased, who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for the Cabinet Office between 2001-2007. I visited the House of Commons soon after it was announced that Stratford, where I had been a councilor from 2006 to 2010, would host the 2012 London Olympics.
2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
I welcomed Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Newham Town Hall in June 2009 and took him around to greet local people. There was a big crowd cheering him. It was beautiful and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I shook hands with the Prime Minister. I had never dreamed of such a thing, but it happened. This, to me, was big time. Primetime coverage on Sky News TV and in the local and national newspapers gave me confidence and self-belief. MP Harriet Harman (extreme left) served in several cabinet and shadow cabinet positions during the premierships of Tony Blair and Brown. Behind me is my ward councillor colleague, Richard Crawford
