Nairobi, March 15 -- Carolyne Kendi is a brand builder, an Afro-optimist career nomad and a lover of life. The chief marketing officer at Absa Bank Kenya is currently surfing a giant wave of freedom in life and career.

For more than 20 years, Kendi has built and positioned different brands in a highly mobile career straddling different industries.

She has worked at Diageo, East African Breweries Limited (EABL), at Safaricom PLC for five years, and for two stints at Unilever.

Kendi who studied marketing at the University of Nairobi and strategic management at the United States International University says that branding in the age of social media is a different ball game.

''The theory of marketing and its practicality is different now....