Kellen Msseemmaa • Founder & Executive Director

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With unwavering dedication, Kellen is breaking barriers and shaping a brighter future for generations to come. She founded Empowered Girls to provide mentorship opportunities for young women and improve educational outcomes.

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And it all stems from her own story
Raised in western Uganda, Kellen Msseemmaa emerged as a guiding light from a family of six siblings. Her mother's sacrifice, pausing her own education due to pregnancy during secondary school, deeply imprinted Kellen with the value of education as the gateway to realizing one's aspirations.

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Jadilina Michael  • Program Admin 

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Jadilina is an Empowered Girls alumni, an accountant by profession, has training in project planning and management, training in mentorship and an experience in working with the girls. Having gone through the program, she wishes every girl to get the same information that she got. Jadilina testifies that Empowered Girls gave her the tools and skills that made her withstand the many challenges that she faced in her education journeys and still faces now.

She inspires and motivates girls with passion, love and kindness. This draws many girls to her and makes them easily confide in her.

Brenda Julius  

• Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning Officer.

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Brenda is an Empowered Girls alumni, with her bachelor's degree of Science in Business Information Systems, training in monitoring and Evaluation, guidance and counseling, Brenda brings a deeper meaning and understanding to the work of Empowered Girls. She is very creative and comes up with systems, structures, databases, and research that help us to capture the impact of our work and keeps us on a straight line. We are so proud to have her on the team.

Joram Isack  • Finance 

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Joram is an accountant by profession. A Maasai by tribe . He comes from one of the Maasai communities where Empowered Girls work. Joram has a desire to see his community members with a positive attitude towards education and positive cultural practices where girls are given an opportunity to thrive in all aspects of life.

He is responsible, accountable and articulate in his work and we are proud to have him on the team.

Aron William • Communications

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As an educator, I have a great ambition to work with youth. My life experiences make me want to teach, inspire, and guide them to grow in a way they can face all their challenges, win them, and eventually to form a very good and beautiful community.  I studied high school in Arusha at a school where there was an Empowered Girls program, joined military training in 2016, and finished my degree in education in 2019 from Kampala International University.

I developed a passion for photography and now I use photography and videography to amplify  girls' voices in my community.

Being behind the camera gives me first hand information and VIP access to the girls lives giving me a deeper meaning about girls challenges and barriers to succeeding in life. This has pushed me to be part of the solution to these challenges. I am so proud to be part of the Empowered Girls team.

Maria Madeha  • Mentor

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Maria holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Dar es Salaam, job readiness training and online safety training.  She is also a Kisa scholar (currently GLAMI) an organization that empowered her with life skills and a passion for youth and women empowerment.

As an economist with an enthusiastic commitment to empowering girls in rural areas, she dreams of fostering economic independence among women and bridging the gender gap in economics to both girls and women through mentorship training.

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Maria is driven by the curiosity of working in the community and guiding girls to complete their academic journey and reach their full potential and that is what is making her happy to be a mentor at Empowered Girls and we are so proud to have her on the team.

Lightness Makuza • Mentor 

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I am a Tanzanian and the second-born of four children raised in a family with love as the pillar of our home. I am a  graduate from Mzumbe University with a Bachelor Degree of Human Resource Management.

I am an empowered woman who was once an Empowered Girl. The journey through Empowered Girls left me confident, resilient and I can say successful and because of that, as a way of giving back to my community, I want to help Empowered Girls members and other youth to walk the same path and live their dreams.

 

I have a dream of one day becoming a great leader in my country who will bring positive change. I have a vision of a world where everyone has a growth mindset and lives a better life.

I am excited to be part of this wonderful Empowered Girls mentoring team because I know what it means to be an empowered girl and the benefit it comes with.

Penina Sandi  • Mentor

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Penina holds a bachelor’s degree in Gender and development, she is a Glami alumni formally KISA an organisation that empowered her to unleash her full potential and the desire to see other girls do the same.

Penina is a Maasai by tribe and has witnessed girls in her community get married off at an early age,  not given priority to an education and those who are, don’t go far.

She wants to see girls overcome the challenges and barriers that prevent them from attaining an education like unwanted pregnancy, poverty and climate change become resilient and win with dignity.

 

She is driven by the desire to empower girls to define their purpose and pursue it with confidence and conviction. We are so proud to have her on our team.

Dina Msuya • Mentor 

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Dina holds a bachelor’s degree of arts in literature and training in nonviolent communication and mentorship. Dina loves enlightening the community about the challenges that girls face in the society and amplifying girls' voices through her writing.

Dina  is a passionate advocate for girls empowerment. Through empathy, understanding, and the power of representation, Dina provides a guiding light for the girls she mentors, empowering them to embrace their identities and pursue their dreams with confidence and determination.

 

With a background in literature, Dina understands the transformative power of storytelling and uses it as a tool for change in her mentorship endeavors. Hence the girls feel seen, valued, and inspired to reach their full potential. We are so proud to have Dina on our team.

Neema S Mbise • Mentor 

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Neema holds a bachelor's degree in Law, a training in Micro computer application and mentorship training.

Neema was a UN sustainable development champion in 2017, went to Rwanda for the AIESEC exchange programs and projects in 2018. Neema has successfully developed and implemented projects in marginalized communities.

She has a desire to see gender justice and equality in the community. Her experience and expertise make her a good advocate for the marginalised girls in the society.

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She is passionate about seeing girls and women standing in their power, enjoying their rights, being the people they want to be and who God created them to be.

We are so proud to have her on the team.

Oliver Augustino Mekasi • Mentor 

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Oliver holds a bachelor’s degree in Gender and community development, training in guidance and counselling, non-violent communication and certificate in childhood education. 
Her experience and training empowers her to understand the challenges and needs of the girls that she works with and serve them accordingly. 
Oliver sees working with girls as a source of boundless inspiration to her. She strongly believes in the power of mentorship to inspire confidence, courage and resilience in young minds. Oliver has a passion to amplify girl’s voices and see them reach their dreams and aspirations in life. We are so proud to have her on the team.

Happiness Maakay • Mentor 

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Happiness holds a bachelor’s degree in procurement and logistics management and a training in nonviolent communication.

Happiness is a Maasai by tribe and comes from a community where girls are denied their right to education, have no voice, no power to make decisions and she has watched many of her friends be forced to get married at a very early age, get pregnant and live a life of suffering that they did not choose for themselves.

All these things make her sad, she wants to be part of the solution and this has driven her to give back to her community through the mentoring program at Empowered Girls. She wants to see many girls in her community living their dreams like she is and joining efforts to bring the positive change and development they want to see in their society and country.

Deborah Mwakyusa • Supporting staff 

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Deborah holds a diploma in Early childhood education.
As a girl she struggled to get her education, she faced a lot of challenges but was finally able to make it. Deborah has a desire to see girls living their dreams.
She is hardworking, accountable and responsible and we are so happy to have her on our team.