Gikeno Maina was born and raised in Kenya. After completing a B.A. in Literature and History at the University of Nairobi, she worked with the Department of Tourism promoting tourism to Kenya in Africa and Europe then was posted to New York as the Assistant Director of Tourism/ Vice Consul General.

Gikeno did her MS in Elementary Education at the School of Education at the City College of C.U.N.Y., joined the first cohort of NYC Teaching Fellows and started teaching in 2000.

Gikeno has lived in Inwood with her family for the past eighteen years and enjoys hiking the trails of Isham and Fort Tyron Parks.