Climbing mountains when she was eight months pregnant, despite objections from everyone around her, was one of her most daring experiences. All she needed was an assurance from her doctor that she would be alright - and she went along with the 'go happy party' to climb the Zimbabwe ruins.
Setting goals and striving to achieve them has been her lifeline since her humble beginnings as a management trainee with the Bata Shoe Company in Limuru from 1990 to 1994.
When 35-year-old Pauline graduated with a Bachelor of Education degree in business administration from Kenyatta University in 1989, she worked briefly with Kenya Breweries and Price Waterhouse Coopers before moving to Bata. She quickly rose up the ranks to head the management training.
In 1994, Pauline joined the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation-sponsored project for the East and Southern Africa Leather Association as a programme officer specialising in footwear.
Defying all norms yet again, Pauline had presented herself for the interview for the UN job with her two-weeks-old baby.
"I had no househelp then and there was no way I was going to leave my baby at home alone. I did what I had to do," she says.
She was then taken to Thika where she was shown a factory - an empty factory that had to be operational - pronto!
Still in a daze, she asked those accompanying her: "Where are the rest of the people?" And as soon as she asked this question, she realised what the challenge and task ahead of her was. She had to recruit people, write proposals and make plans to have the place running.
The job gave Pauline plenty of exposure. She traversed the East and Central African region marketing the project and establishing a training programme in leather processing. This won her an award in 1995 for the best run project in Africa.
For her exemplary achievement, she was offered a chance to relocate to the UNIDO headquarters in Vienna, Austria, as a programme officer. Pauline was in a turmoil whether to take the job offer or not. "It was a very attractive offer only that I wanted more. Something told me this was not exactly what I wanted," she says chuckling.
Her family and friends thought she was out of her mind not to take the job, but Pauline had other ideas. The glamour and hype of e-marketing was all around and it sounded really fascinating to her.
Going through a hectic programme
She requested her director to keep her job offer for another two years until she was through with her MBA at the University of Nairobi where she was enrolled for an evening programme. "The hours were crazy," Pauline admits. She went to work eight hours a day and then attended class in the evening from 5 to 8.30 pm. "By the time I got home, I would be exhausted, but that was only the beginning."
Many times she had to sit up all night revising for an exam or writing her term papers. "The next day I would walk into the office and everyone would think I was going to collapse on my desk," she say.
Her husband, Julius Mbaya, an Information Technology expert at a Nairobi bank, was very understanding and stood by her. Their two children Ivy and Michelle aged 10 and seven, go to Kianda School.
Just before she finished her MBA, Pauline enrolled for yet another six-month course in Information Technology at the Institute of Advanced Technology. She juggled both colleges for six months until she completed her MBA, specialising in strategic management and international business. By the time she was finishing her course in Mid-2000, her contract with UNIDO had expired and she was seeking new avenues in IT. She got it at the African Lakes Technologies, formerly Electrade, where she is the general manager in charge of e-business operations in Kenya.
"This is a very dynamic and challenging job which I am very much involved in, and I enjoy it very much," she says. The firm aims at easing business transactions for both clients and the companies, financial solutions can also be shared across banks and corporate organisations.
"In Zimbabwe where ALT started, supermarket communication through the system to clients is doing very well and has over 400 corporate subscribers," she says. African Lakes Technologies has also gone to great lengths to educate the public on e-marketing by holding monthly training.
Pauline was born to a middle-class family. Her father worked at an insurance firm while her mother was a secretary. Both have since retired and are farmers in Nyahururu. The first born in a family of nine children, she went to Madaraka Primary School, Thika, before joining St Anne's, Lioki, for her 'O' levels. She then went to Ngandu Girls' High for her 'A' levels.
During her free time, Pauline likes reading or taking her family out.