Erin Geiger: 0:11

All right, welcome Amina Muhammad, oh my gosh, to the clover podcast, FYI. This is episode number one of this new show. So yeah, super excited to launch this new venture, which really focuses on women in leadership and just really making, you know, an impact within their world, whether or not it's within their community or it goes global. Just really wanted to spotlight really strong women that are making a difference, especially now, in the day and age that we find ourselves in. So welcome again. You know, from you founded cameras for girls. I'm so excited to hear more about this organization, which kind of leads us to our intro. One of my favorite things is to hear someone's origin story. I always love to hear like how they came, to be, how they came, you know, where they came from and how they got to where they are now. And I know cameras for girls is like, a huge part of that story. So if you wouldn't mind and indulge me and kind of let me know, you know, yeah, how did you, how did you start? What made you you? How did you get to where we are today?

Unknown: 1:17

Thank you so much for inviting me onto your new podcast, clover and for making me your first guest, that's amazing. Thank you. So cameras for girls is really a passion project. My family and I came to Canada as refugees in 1972 from Uganda. I grew up in Canada, but always wondered, what was life like on the other side of the world. And after and during a an amazing career in the film and television industry, where I expanded upon my photography skills and passion storytelling filmmaking, I had the opportunity to go back to Uganda to do a documentary. I was a recipient of the first hot dogs fellowship. And they were, what story do you want to tell? And I was like, wow, this is my opportunity to go back, rediscover my roots, and also tell the story of the expulsion and the people who had come back to claim their properties. So here I was in Uganda, as in my like, early 30s, and I expected the poverty, but it was debilitating. But what was more painful to see was meeting young women who were denied an education because either their families could not afford it, or they just did not see the value of educating a young girl over their sons, and they were headed for a life of, you know, getting married at the age of 14. The age of 14, I don't know if you what you remember what you were doing, but I was in grade nine, partying it up and having a great life. And the the, you know, inequities really hurt and really shocked me and really bothered me, but I didn't know how to marry my life as a filmmaker, photographer into what would eventually become cameras for girls, until I left that world after 15 incredible years, and I went into the financial sector. Huge difference, but my mom was a creative and a seamstress. And so that's how I entered film and television as a in wardrobe. And my dad was an accountant, or is an accountant, and so I had both sides of the brain, and I was making amazing money. I was, you know, in all intents and purposes, living the life, but inside, there was something lacking. That transformative experience of traveling back to Uganda was always in my heart, but I just, you know, it took me a long time. So here I was working in finances and mortgage broker, and I woke up in the middle of the night August 2017 and I said to my husband, I know what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I'm going back to Uganda and I'm going to teach photography to young women. And he's like, yeah, good luck with that. And he went back to sleep. And a year later, I was in Uganda for our first test workshop. And six years later, we are ready to launch into our fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth cohort for year long programs with 60 young women starting March. So yeah, it's been a long journey, but it's been incredible.

Erin Geiger: 4:27

So I'm fascinated by every step of this story, and I love your husband's response, like, yeah, okay,

Unknown: 4:35

exactly because I'm the crazy girl who always comes up with crazy ideas.

Erin Geiger: 4:41

How so there's so many of us who have these ideas, right? Like, you know, we're inspired. We want to make a difference. We had this experience that really impacted us, and we want to do something about it. How did you actually take action? That's a big deal, right? So you're in Canada at the time. Yeah. Uh, working in finance, and I'm still in Canada. Yep, you have a family, if it has, you know. So how did you? How did you, you know, for, for our listeners here who were like, Okay, I have this fire in my belly, and it is telling me to do X. I don't know the first place to start. You know exactly. How did you? How did you take those first steps?

Unknown: 5:21

So, while I was doing my documentary, I became very good friends with my fixer. A fixer is somebody who arranges everything for you in an international place, and we had kept in touch, and he was a journalist, but when I came up with this idea, I said, I'm going to go up to the northern part of Uganda and work with young women and boys who were victims of Joseph Kony, they had turned into child soldiers. The challenge being there was no electricity, no Internet, and if I gave somebody a camera, they were going to sell it for food, though, I was like, my idea is done. But then my friend said to me, no, no, no, no, you need to come and teach girls who are trying to be journalists like me. I'm like, why would they want my help? Like a Canadian expat, Ugandan, he said, because a girl is told that she needs a camera and needs to know how to use it. But a guy is not. He can get the job walking off the street. She has to go and get educated. She has to go and get a degree. She has to have that set that and I was like, bingo. So then I started working my way backwards. I was, What's my goal? It's not just to teach photography and storytelling. It is to get them jobs in male dominated media spaces. Now, male dominated media spaces were not a term I was using at the time, but it became known that that's what it is. It's male dominated. And so I put my goal out there to get them jobs. But how am I going to do that? Then I worked my way back for it, to build the curriculum. I had two sides of the people that I was talking to, the believers who kept on saying, Amina, you can do this. Here's 20 bucks. Here's my use camera, here's whatever. And the other people who kept on saying, You're crazy, you can't do this. It's never going to work. And in order to lead my vision, I had to believe, first of all in what I wanted to do. And I had to pull out the call and get over myself and just put it out say, I want to do this crazy thing. Who's with me, and I collected 15 small point and shoots ice. I cashed out my savings because I still had money from when I was working film and television and finances against my husband's wishes. And I paid for everything, and I went with just a hope and a prayer that this was going to work out, and it did. And we asked for favors. We partnered with the mercury university, because in order for this to make it a real thing, it couldn't just be an international girl with a dream to make a difference, and it had to be with real partnerships. So I started putting those things into place over the year, and I flew to Uganda, and we did it, and I came home and I was like, There's something here. Let's start building. So first I started with a test to see is this even something that's wanted. And we had huge, huge demand, but not enough resources to meet that demand. So I knew that there was something there. And then we built a formal program and applied for charity status, which took us two years to get. But in the meantime, we just kept on going back. And then, of course, covid hit, right, and I had to ebb and flow again, but it's constantly looking at what is your vision, what's your mission, always keeping that in your heart and in your top of mind, and ignoring the haters and the naysayers and just doing what you need to do to make it a reality. And sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't, but you did it, right? That's the big thing. You did it. The other thing I'd like to point out is that the back of my head, because we had that history in Uganda of colonialism, because we were Indians that were wealthy, you know, basically, the Africans had suffered at our hands and the British I did not want to go in like any other charity, or NGO or NP and say, This is what you need. It was always, what do you need to succeed? And I'm still asking those questions, like, six years, seven years later, what do you need to succeed? And let me bring it to your let me build it with you, because you cannot do an international program and ignore the needs of your community.

Erin Geiger: 9:46

No, that's, that's huge, and that was going to be one of my my next, sorry, I go on tangents. But not to mention that, right, when you were talking, I was like, yes, because how, how welcome were you? You know, when you first came in. Yeah, I'm assuming it wasn't

Unknown: 10:01

like, oh yeah, like mazungu. I still get hit with mazungu, which means foreigner, until I tell them our history, and there's still that barrier to getting to know them. But as soon as I break the ice and I show them that I have their best interests at heart, these girls keep coming back and back. It's a year long program, but I've still got girls coming back for support or to show me what they've done with our the work we've put in since 2019 or 2018 and I keep in touch with them and say, Where are you now? Do you still need help? Do you need mentoring that set you up with a mentor? Because they you can't, you can't put out a program, but people through your program, they Goodbye, good luck, and expect that there's going to be success. There's not. You have to constantly be hitting them back and back and back and asking them, what do they need? Because they don't know what they don't need, until they're stuck, and you have to keep on opening up that door. So that's, I think that's why we're so successful, because it's community at the forefront, at the heart of this, more than our vision and mission and our goals, the numbers and all that impact we want to reach. It's them who has to lead this and tell me what they need so I can deliver,

Erin Geiger: 11:21

yeah? And I imagine, in addition to the girls, you know, being like, Yes, this is what we want, the government being like, okay, you know, we're allowing you to do this,

Unknown: 11:32

also, we're not registered yet, so we're flying under the radar still, right? We're registering this year. Yeah, we are known for what we're doing. But we haven't had anybody say, come to us and say, except for the men in some communities who attack me and say, Why are you doing this only for men? And I'm like, if you have to ask that question, then you really don't understand what gender equality means. And so it becomes that constant conversation of, why can't you include men? I'm like, because open up your eyes. Men have all the opportunities women don't, including the lack of education or ability to get one. So it's it becomes very difficult in those instances, but you have to stick to your to your guns, and just keep on forging ahead.

Erin Geiger: 12:19

And you're dealing with young girls. So I'm assuming it's the families as well, right? That you have to get buy in, you know,

Unknown: 12:25

support. In our application, we ask them, Do you have family support? Do you have does your Do your parents understand what this program is all about? And do they say yes or no? Because we had an instance two years ago where a girl finished our four day workshop and then the father said, Okay, that's it. You got the camera now you can quit. And I said, Sorry, it doesn't work that way. What is the hold up? Well, he won't pay for me to go to learn any of the other things, like the digital marketing training or the filmmaking or the editing. And I said, Fine, I'll pay for you as long as you continue. And she did, and she eventually showed her father why this was so important to her having a career rather than get married, right? So it's also educating the community about why this is so important to move the needle forward for gender equality and for women's rights, to have employment, to have opportunities that their sons or their brothers or whatever have, yeah, or their fathers, right? So, yeah,

Erin Geiger: 13:27

it's incredible. I mean, so really, what you're dealing with is the stakes are pretty high, like you're coming in this environment that, you know, it's like you're coming in from the outside, sort of, you know,

Unknown: 13:41

I'm still out. I'm still an outsider. Exactly. Yep,

Erin Geiger: 13:45

you're, you're kind of pushing against societal norms, like you're, you're doing and so like I'm, I'm assuming, but

Unknown: 13:53

still respecting them, but still respecting them. Because I cannot come in, and this is what I see as many nonprofits or outsiders do, is they ignore social norms or social or cultural practices and say, you want my help, you got to do this and this? Well, no, no, no, no, no, that doesn't work. It's a it's a fail, a recipe for failure in the end, because you haven't serviced, you haven't given her what she needs to succeed, and yet you've insulted, if it's a good word, the community and their culture and their understanding of how they live, and try to change it to your norms, which doesn't work. So I never wanted to do that. Never have done that. And I'm always asking my girls to educate me on the right way to portray them. So when we tell their stories, I go back to them and say, can I tell it this way, is there anything that's missing? Is there anything that you want me to remove? Because it's all about ethical storytelling, at the end of the day,

Erin Geiger: 14:48

that's that's a really good thing to highlight. You know that it is the respect. It is not bulldozing in with like, Oh, I know your story. I know how this goes. You. Know this is what we should do, and I can imagine that's really one of the big reasons how you've gotten the program so far. I would imagine,

Unknown: 15:09

yes, because we're in Uganda, we're in Tanzania, our goal is seven African countries to impact 30,000 women between all of our programs by 2030 and the reason we're being able to do this is building those vital on the ground partnerships that see not only the ability for these girls to learn photography, but ethical storytelling. Ethical storytelling goes back to harnessing the power of community to tell their own stories, vital business skills like building their resume and their lead their LinkedIn profiles and teaching them how to use it to network for opportunities, and then mentoring, right? All of these things combine, and now we're looking at the changing landscape of Okay, so we can say 80% of our girls are getting work, but then they might be getting work and mail in these media houses, but they're also put at risk for sexual harassment. I don't want to necessarily go down there, but what we look at is the changing landscape, the challenges of them finding work, what they what happens to them? So now we're building podcasting into our program, which then gives them ability to use their voice in a safe way, in the comfort of their own home, and get their voices out there to to the world, to tell them what life is like for them, or to tell share their stories in a different way. So we're always asking them, what is it that you are lacking that we can bring to the ecosystem so you can learn with so next year, when we do our programming, it will be either they enter the podcast stream or they enter the photography stream. Everything is is bound by ethical storytelling and mentoring and all the other stuff. But now they're learning in the way they want to be portrayed out there in the world. Instead of me saying, No, you want to be a podcaster, learn photography, it'll still serve you well, no, it won't. So it's, it's building your programs around their needs, rather than your programs around what you think their needs are vastly different. And the approach does not work in in the latter, yeah,

Erin Geiger: 17:19

and I can imagine that varies region to region, country to country, you know? And you apply to educate Absolutely,

Unknown: 17:24

and you have to, I have to educate my difference. Even though it's East Africa, I have to educate my the difference between going from Uganda to Tanzania, right? And that's all through education and and talking to people and learning about it and and not assuming, yeah,

Erin Geiger: 17:40

when you decided, Okay, I did the test. This is feasible. This is viable. We're going to go forward with this. I know you know you were saying at the beginning you had donations of cameras and everything, like, how did you figure out, like, funding especially, to keep this going to expand into

Unknown: 18:00

it's still like it's challenging, but what I've done is I have said, Okay, I am lacking this. So then I go and find a partner who either subsidize or volunteer that part. So for our podcasting, we're building a four episode podcast with a CBC podcaster, and she's greatly reduced our her rate that four episodes will live on our Online Learning Hub, so we'll be able to reuse, reuse, reuse that now as part of the agreement, I don't share that outside of our Online Learning Hub. It's just for the students who come through us. But imagine what one piece of recorded, paid content can do for hundreds and 1000s of girls. And then we take them from there, from the learnings, to help them with a with a, you know, a microphone if they need it, over, over a camera. We start them with the resources that they can't afford, because cameras, a microphone, whatever it is is a gender based barrier to employment or moving their path forward. You and I can afford a Amazon microphone. They can't afford even that. So by giving them that tool that now propels them into the, you know, the ether out there, where anybody can hear them and understand it's a game changer. So we, when I looked at fundraising, you know, I'm constantly writing grants, or we won an amazing award last year that's really propelling us forward for the 60 that we're going to do with Estee Lauder, have to give them a shout out. But it's always reaching out to convince funders that even though I'm one woman led with a bunch of volunteers, I can actually do this shit, because I can show it. I can show that, right? But it's also thinking outside the box. So we do a lot of in kind donations. We ask people, Hey, do you have kids? Cameras, smartphones, computers, lighting equipment, whatever, equipment sitting and collecting dust, send it to us. We send you a tax receipt. We sell your stuff, and we buy the cameras from that like it offsets the cost of the cameras or the microphone that we're going to be buying. So just this past year, I raised 20,000 doing that right, which is a huge offset of the camera equipment would be normally like 40,000 50,000 depending on how many cameras we're buying in a year. So you always have to be we. I have to be scrappy with Every Dollar, and I have to be really strategic. But the more we get out there, the more like I'm trying to find the money now to hire a full time fundraiser or a fractional fundraiser that can take off my plate. They know what they're doing, and they can go and find me the money instead of me trying to wear 10,000 different hats and burn out the end of the day, because burnout isn't in this industry is huge. Yeah, I

Erin Geiger: 21:02

can imagine. And that, yeah, between that, between the burnout, and then earlier you had mentioned, like, listen, even to do something like this, you have to have the right mindset. That's it. And I'm huge on that. It's not just like, Okay, here's the logistics. You know, I came up with a strategy. This is how I'm going, you know, it's like, is how I'm going to execute on it, you know? And it's like, no, no. A lot of it comes from here. It comes from our mind. And you and like, yeah, and it's very easy to get, you know, trapped in, you know, all the things that you're the naysayers, and it still

Unknown: 21:36

happens, yeah, I get like, I don't, there's not one day when it's hard when I don't get up and say, oh shit, I'm gonna quit this. This is not working, yeah, because it's so hard, yeah. But then I get an email from a girl who told tells me a story that I finished my training with you in 2019 and or 2020 2021, after 2022, after covid, and that camera that you gave me, was able to leverage borrowing or getting five other cameras, and I went back to my village and I taught 15 younger girls, and now I'm helping them to find work, cuz it's a ripple, right? So they get in, they get empowered. I hate the word empowered, empowered, because they are have the power within I just need to open up that door to their potential. And once you do, man, they're off and running, and they're showing other girls what's possible. They're alleviating those girls from falling into a trap of poverty, lack of education, or getting married at age 14 because their family's demanding they show them what's possible out there. Just have to open up the door, just one, one girl, right? It can change a whole family, a community. I mean, it's just, it's incredible.

Erin Geiger: 22:52

So it's almost like reminding yourself that it's not about you,

Unknown: 22:57

right? Oh no. I love to take my whole self out of the like the equation, right? I actually cringe when my social media girl shares the videos about me unless it's a rant, which I'm getting better at doing, because you can't come and partner with us and then want to pay our girls nothing. No, I'm there to get them jobs fair pay jobs, not work them out for free or farm them out for free. So, you know, it's you have to walk the talk yeah the whole way through,

Erin Geiger: 23:29

exactly yeah. And I think that's part of the mindset work as well. Because I think we just get so caught in with our own internal dialog, you know, of like, and it's just like, if you kind of break yourself, like you were saying, if I see an email about how this ripple effect of change, you know, and it's like, is there anything else that you do to, kind of, like, keep your mind aligned to your the mission that you set out to do? Because I can imagine, because with what you're doing, you have so many layers of complexity. It's like, it's tough for a woman, regardless, you know. But here you are, you know, going to this other country, you know, and like, and it's, you know, so it's like, is there anything that you do? It doesn't even have to be formal. It doesn't have to be like, Oh, I meditate, you know, it just like that, you kind of like, that keeps your head on right, and keeps your kind of, you know, having one foot in front

Unknown: 24:22

of the other. Yeah, I am part of the Vital Voices community. So Vital Voices is a leadership community that I joined in, 2023 2020 early, yeah, 2023 and through that, I was invited to become a leadership summit participant, which happened in Washington last March. So out of 300 women, I was chosen as one of 50 and the only Canadian, which was phenomenal, which brought me into the Estee Lauder thing. But what I do is every month or. The other month, I get together with other leaders, other non profit founders, or founders even in a for profit space, just to bounce off of each other. Share our stresses, share our struggles, support each other, but we have a whatsapp community. I'm off of fake book on purpose. I got harassed because women founders seem to find themselves harassed for no reason. And I was like, What the hell am I doing here? It's not even moving the needle forward. So I find the safe spaces to hang out on social media and the rest of it, i i forget and that that means that I'm not reaching those people for possible donations. So be it. But my mental health has to come for us, because if my mental health struggles like then I off put that onto my family and my students and the whole thing. And it's, you know, it's just a downward spiral. So, and then I got into art, and I get, you know, more into my photography. And when I have time which I don't have enough of reading a lot and learning, I'm an avid like reader and learner. I just lifelong learner about anything and everything. And just learning to say no has become something that I've had to really practice. You know, you network with people, and everybody wants to meet like but is it really making a difference, or is it they're trying to sell you something, unfortunately, so I'm being very intentional with my time, because then I can get things done and feel good about it and walk away from my desk at the end of the day instead of going to bed stressed that I didn't get shit done. So I think it's as a founder and executive director and a fundraiser and a marketer and all these hats that you have to wear when you're starting out, you really have to find your purpose and your meaning within life, not just in the work that you do, and I used to only find it in the work that I do, which brought me to burnout. So, right? Yep, and I'm so I love gathering and helping other women to figure out what is holding them back. Yeah,

Erin Geiger: 27:12

I know. And that's part of the reason why I even started this podcast as well, you know. So we're so aligned there, and I'm glad you mentioned your mental wellness, right? You know, because that's so that's everything. That's the foundation, yeah, of it all, really, and it's something that we need to talk about more, you know, think it's becoming less, yeah, can't

Unknown: 27:33

be a stigma. No, it's not a stigma anymore, right? It is in certain countries, unfortunately, right? But what we've done at cameras for girls is we don't work in a silo, so part of this job brings awareness that our students struggle with mental health. Why shouldn't they struggle with mental health, if they're in Africa over our mental health in North America, why should we take precedence to talking about it? So we partnered because it's not in our mandate, it's not in our budget. We partnered, or I partnered, with two incredible human beings who are offering their mental health coaching for free. Wow. And so we're right now running two back to back of three sessions each for 19 girls in Africa who have indicated suicide ideation, which comes from the challenges of working in these male dominated spaces. Either they're not paid, or pays with held unless they, you know, sleep with their bosses and all this other garbage that you don't come into being and no knowledge when you start this. But like I told somebody else today, you cannot work in a silo. You cannot say, Oh, well, that's we can't touch that. We can't go there. No, no. You better go there. Because if you're taking responsibility to do all this other work, you better make sure that they're sound and okay and stable in order to carry on the hard work that they're going to be doing. So I you know, and I'll have people say, Well, why are you taking this on? You got enough on your plate. Cuz that's what I have to do. If I'm going to call myself a leader, that's what I have to do. I have to be responsible, not just to the organization, to the mission, the vision. I've been responsible to each one of those girls who enters our ecosystem,

Erin Geiger: 29:21

right? I mean, Leadership isn't about cherry picking what you know.

Unknown: 29:26

Yeah, exactly. Leadership comes with all its ugly parts and great parts, right? You can't just ignore the ugly and celebrate the good.

Erin Geiger: 29:34

Yeah. Well, is there? So for the women listening, what piece of advice would you give them who you know they want to embark on this new initiative or take the next step in their career? You know what? What piece of advice would you would you give to these women?

Unknown: 29:53

Listen to your heart. Most of all, listen to your heart, because it is calling you. Listen to your gut. Your. Heart, your your intuition, whatever you're going to call it, it is telling you where you need to be for the rest of your life. It's going to be uncomfortable, it's going to be hard. But reach out to people who believe in what you're doing. Ignore those people who are telling you you're crazy. If I'd listen to those people, and there were so many of them who told me I was stupid, I was crazy. I was never going to get this off the ground. I'd still be sitting here thinking about it 10 years later, wondering, oh, maybe I should have just do it. It might fail but fail upward. Always fail upward, because you're going to learn something through that, and you're going to find maybe another path to follow, but don't. Don't stop because of fear. Don't let fear hold you back. Just do it. Yeah, try it, right? And if you need a bump up, reach out to me. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what to do. I love it. And you mentioned Vital

Erin Geiger: 30:56

Voices there that seems just like such an incredible communities. I'd love to learn more about them. And in addition, or

Unknown: 31:04

I actually posted your offering in the in the Vital Voices network, so you might get some calls. Perfect. Yep, that's so perfect. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Was started by Hillary Clinton in the 1970s and she wanted to start a program where women, of course, in the 70s, right? The women were told, Hey, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, right? And she wanted to show women her their potential. It's now run by Elise Nelson and her group of women, and it's just it's a safe community. They teach you leadership skills, but then they open up the door to so many other opportunities, and without them, I don't think I'd be where I am even further today. So I just Yeah, it's amazing.

Erin Geiger: 31:47

That's incredible. I'm going to definitely check them out. Is there any other kind of resource that you would want to highlight that has kind of helped you in your your

Unknown: 31:57

leadership, absolutely, if you're in the nonprofit it, no, I didn't. If you're sorry, if you're in the nonprofit space, I would highly recommend you check out the nonprofit hive.com it's a Canadian run platform. You sign up for free, and once a week, you sign up for your time slot on Thursday, and Tasha, who runs this, arranges half an hour curated chats for you with another non profit professional around the world. So I've met people in Africa, I've met people in South America, I've met people in Canada, US, no matter. And it's incredible half an hour and you get to know these people, and you don't know where your next partnership or where your next friendship or where your next support person is going to come from, because you're all fighting the good fight, and if, also, if you're in the nonprofit space, I would highly suggest you listen to a podcast called we are for good. They also have a community, and this Thursday, they do it quarterly. It's called Impact uprising, and what they're trying to do is change the conversation around non profit leadership and how hard it is because there's so much burnout in the non profit space, and give you a safe space to come and talk about the you know, the challenges. And they also have it themed. So definitely check them out as well. And there are so many, so I could go on and on, but definitely those three are, are the biggest communities that I hang out in and find support. And these are, you know, we are for good and nonprofit hive. Of course, men and women open to Vital Voices, just women from over 68 countries are in there, and it's for for profits or non profits, who are trying, women who are trying to grow their initiative or their leadership in whatever they're doing. So I've met women who are fighting for gender based violence, for period poverty, or who have podcasts they're trying to grow, or who are like me. You know, internationals working in this so it doesn't matter where you come from. It's a safe space to talk about and get support for what you're doing. So and learn

Erin Geiger: 34:13

that's incredible. I'll have to, I'll get the links from you. Yeah, I will, I will definitely share that with you. Yeah, that'd be great. And I'll put them in the show notes for this episode, for sure. I know we have to wrap it up. I could talk to you for hours, but as I think about what you've already built, and I'm so excited to just be on the sidelines and watch as you even grow it even further, it's amazing. What is the legacy that you want to leave? You know, as you kind of grow in your own, in yourself, as a as a leader,

Unknown: 34:50

I'm 56 right now, so I know I won't be able to do this for the rest of my life, at least traveling to Africa, and I'm building my succession plan, even though I've been doing this for. Six years and right? Because you have to think, but I want to leave this in a in the hands of our young women. So what we did in 2024 is build the train the trainer program. We train five former students to step into my shoes as trainers. Paid trainers. They're going to lead the four cohorts starting this March. So they went through a six month training in advanced photography, ethical storytelling, leadership skills and public speaking with Toastmaster. Because you can be a student, but it's vastly different to be a student to a trainer and step into those confident shoes of being able to lead African other African women. So that's our whole succession. Is that I want cameras for girls to one day be a space where other African women are teaching other African women that is sustainable impacts, and I will step aside to watch from the sidelines, or be there as the CO trainer or whatever, but watching them lead and you know, and and be empowered to lead other women to have the ability to tell their story. That's That's my legacy. That's what I want to create and leave behind. And I want somebody to a girl who comes through our program to tell other girls that I went through cameras for girls, and when I entered, here's where I was, and when I finished, here's where here and the vast difference that it made, that's what I hope that we have, and we're getting that so we have 80% success rate in Our graduates finding paid work in male dominated media spaces. So we're getting there.

Erin Geiger: 36:44

Oh my gosh, just like the vision that you have for the generational growth. You know, even at the

Unknown: 36:50

outs, yeah, yeah, you have to. And every country I want to initiate the same. So Uganda has been the longest running program since 2018 and Tanzania since November 2023 so we still have a lot of growth to go there before we run that program. But eventually every country will go through the same and so we're still hoping that we can launch Kenya later this year, but definitely 2026 and we'll do South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Ethiopia. So, yeah.

Erin Geiger: 37:22

So I know everyone listening to this is like, like, how do I how do I get involved? How do I help? So, where, where can people find you online, if they and then, you know, to connect with you, yeah, and then also, if they want to help or they want to support, what are ways that they can do that?

Unknown: 37:38

Okay, great. So you can find me at cameras for girls.org or you can find me on LinkedIn under Amina Mohammed, or you can follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at cameras for girls. Ways of supporting if you have electronics that are sitting idle and you don't need them, cameras, smartphones, computers, whatever it is, as long as it's working, send them to us. We'll give you a tax receipt if you're in Canada, if you're abroad and you still want to send it, that's incredible, because you will still learn about how that was put to work. And then we are trying to build our monthly donor program, even starting as low as $10 a month, really helps us move the needle, because that helps us build capacity funding, right so that we can pay for our ongoing needs. Not to pay me, it's to pay for marketing, and you know the fundraising support, and you know the girls that we need to support on an ongoing basis, because sometimes they have to quit the job, because we've taught them to say no against sexual harassment, and we pay for their rent. So all of these things are so vital to helping us do the back end stuff so we could do the front end so I'll share all of those links with you so you can

Erin Geiger: 38:53

share them. Please do and I will include those in the show notes as well. Thank you so much, Amina, thank you for being on the show and taking the time out of your incredibly busy and important schedule. Might I add? I'm honored that you took the time today. Really, I am so honored as well. I think you're gonna ask me one more question that I was really looking for. Oh,

Unknown: 39:13

my God, music. Yes,

Erin Geiger: 39:15

i How could I forget? So I asked this from everybody, if you could only listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, that's it. Just one. Who would

Unknown: 39:27

it be? Yep, Prince. Prince and Prince the war. I love it.

Erin Geiger: 39:33

How incredible. I just want to give you a high five and a hug right now. How incredible is

Unknown: 39:37

Prince. Thank you so much for the time to tell my story. I appreciate it. Amina, i.