About Us

OUR STORY

FIT graduate, Women’s Campaign International Global Ambassador to Ethiopia and Board Member of Ethiopia Healthcare Network, Tamara founded Studio Samuel Girls Academy following the international adoption of her son, Samuel.

She saw firsthand that safe options were stripped from a girl when she is born into poverty and is denied an education. Her goal was to create a 'teach a woman to fish' platform which would result in opportunity and safe options, steering girls away from the all too common pathways of child marriage, trafficking, and child labor, which deny them education and voice.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT STUDIO SAMUEL

Studio Samuel opened its training center doors to the first class of 25 girls in January 2015 after being granted an NGO license by the Charities and Societies Agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Studio Samuel’s mission is to create pathways for girls to reach their potential through education and employable skills with Training for Tomorrow, the organization’s trademarked life skills program.

TODAY | A CONTINUUM

Today, Training for Tomorrow has reached over 25,000 girls (9-18 years old) in Ethiopia. Classes are held after school and on weekends and impacts young Ethiopian women through mentoring, counseling, self-defense training, occupational training, healthcare and more. Studio Samuel graduates are enrolling in college, mentoring peers and using their voice for change in their communities.

Studio Samuel's Computer Lab and Sewing Lab (from Training for Tomorrow) were accredited as a college, launching the Studio Samuel College of Design & Technology which opened in October 2019 to 50 young women (18-24 years old).

We learned students' caregivers kept them out of school to work when the caregiver was unemployed. From this, we launched a microlending program for the caregivers (24+ years old) and have reached 201 women as of 2021.