How to Turn Vision into Impact with Amina Mohamed of Cameras For Girls

In this very first episode of Clover, I chat with Amina Mohamed, founder of Cameras For Girls, an organization using photography and storytelling to help young women in Africa break into male-dominated media spaces.

Amina’s story begins with her family’s journey as refugees from Uganda to Canada, a career in film and television, and a life-changing return to Uganda that revealed the inequities facing girls denied education and opportunity. That experience inspired her to launch Cameras For Girls in 2017, which has since grown to serve cohorts of young women in Uganda and Tanzania, with a vision to expand across Africa.

We talk about:

• How Amina turned a late-night idea into a movement that’s changing lives.
• The importance of community-led solutions vs. imposing outside fixes.
• Navigating cultural and societal barriers with respect while pushing for change.
• Why mental health support and mentorship are just as critical as technical training.
• The ripple effect of one girl gaining skills and confidence—and teaching others.

Amina’s mission is bold: to impact 30,000 women across seven African countries by 2030. Her journey is proof that listening to your heart—and refusing to let fear win—can transform lives.

Related links or mentions within the episode:

• Communities / Resources:
  • Vital Voices (global women’s leadership community)
  • Nonprofit Hive (Canadian-run platform for nonprofit professionals)
  • We Are For Good (podcast + community, includes “Impact Uprising” events)
• Social Media / Links:
  • Website: Cameras For Girls
  • LinkedIn: Amina Mohamed
  • Instagram: @camerasforgirls

Want to support Cameras For Girls?

• Monthly or One-Time Donors
• Donate Used Cameras or Electronic Equipment

Episode Transcript

Erin Geiger (00:11):
All right, welcome Amina Muhammad, oh my gosh, to
the clover podcast, FYI. This isepisode number one of this new
show. So yeah, super excited tolaunch this new venture, which
really focuses on women inleadership and just really
making, you know, an impactwithin their world, whether or

(00:31):
not it's within their communityor it goes global. Just really
wanted to spotlight reallystrong women that are making a
difference, especially now, inthe day and age that we find
ourselves in. So welcome again.
You know, from you foundedcameras for girls. I'm so
excited to hear more about thisorganization, which kind of
leads us to our intro. One of myfavorite things is to hear

(00:54):
someone's origin story. I alwayslove 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 islike, a huge part of that story.
So if you wouldn't mind andindulge me and kind of let me
know, you know, yeah, how didyou, how did you start? What
made you you? How did you get towhere we are today?

Unknown (01:17):
Thank you so much for inviting me onto your new
podcast, clover and for makingme your first guest, that's
amazing. Thank you. So camerasfor girls is really a passion
project. My family and I came toCanada as refugees in 1972 from
Uganda. I grew up in Canada, butalways wondered, what was life

(01:39):
like on the other side of theworld. And after and during a an
amazing career in the film andtelevision industry, where I
expanded upon my photographyskills and passion storytelling
filmmaking, I had theopportunity to go back to Uganda
to do a documentary. I was arecipient of the first hot dogs

(02:01):
fellowship. And they were, whatstory do you want to tell? And I
was like, wow, this is myopportunity to go back,
rediscover my roots, and alsotell the story of the expulsion
and the people who had come backto claim their properties. So
here I was in Uganda, as in mylike, early 30s, and I expected

(02:22):
the poverty, but it wasdebilitating. But what was more
painful to see was meeting youngwomen who were denied an
education because either theirfamilies could not afford it, or
they just did not see the valueof educating a young girl over
their sons, and they were headedfor a life of, you know, getting

(02:47):
married at the age of 14. Theage of 14, I don't know if you
what you remember what you weredoing, but I was in grade nine,
partying it up and having agreat life. And the the, you
know, inequities really hurt andreally shocked me and really
bothered me, but I didn't knowhow to marry my life as a
filmmaker, photographer intowhat would eventually become

(03:09):
cameras for girls, until I leftthat world after 15 incredible
years, and I went into thefinancial sector. Huge
difference, but my mom was acreative and a seamstress. And
so that's how I entered film andtelevision as a in wardrobe. And
my dad was an accountant, or isan accountant, and so I had both

(03:30):
sides of the brain, and I wasmaking amazing money. I was, you
know, in all intents andpurposes, living the life, but
inside, there was somethinglacking. That transformative
experience of traveling back toUganda was always in my heart,
but I just, you know, it took mea long time. So here I was

(03:51):
working in finances and mortgagebroker, and I woke up in the
middle of the night August 2017and I said to my husband, I know
what I'm going to do for therest of my life. I'm going back
to Uganda and I'm going to teachphotography to young women. And
he's like, yeah, good luck withthat. And he went back to sleep.
And a year later, I was inUganda for our first test
workshop. And six years later,we are ready to launch into our

(04:16):
fifth, sixth, seventh and eighthcohort for year long programs
with 60 young women startingMarch. So yeah, it's been a long
journey, but it's beenincredible.

Erin Geiger (04:27):
So I'm fascinated by every step of this story, and
I love your husband's response,like, yeah, okay,

Unknown (04:35):
exactly because I'm the crazy girl who always comes up
with crazy ideas.

Erin Geiger (04:41):
How so there's so many of us who have these ideas,
right? Like, you know, we'reinspired. We want to make a
difference. We had thisexperience that really impacted
us, and we want to do somethingabout it. How did you actually
take action? That's a big deal,right? So you're in Canada at
the time. Yeah. Uh, working infinance, and I'm still in

(05:01):
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 inmy belly, and it is telling me
to do X. I don't know the firstplace to start. You know
exactly. How did you? How didyou take those first steps?

Unknown (05:21):
So, while I was doing my documentary, I became very
good friends with my fixer. Afixer is somebody who arranges
everything for you in aninternational place, and we had
kept in touch, and he was ajournalist, but when I came up
with this idea, I said, I'mgoing to go up to the northern
part of Uganda and work withyoung women and boys who were
victims of Joseph Kony, they hadturned into child soldiers. The

(05:45):
challenge being there was noelectricity, no Internet, and if
I gave somebody a camera, theywere going to sell it for food,
though, I was like, my idea isdone. But then my friend said to
me, no, no, no, no, you need tocome and teach girls who are
trying to be journalists likeme. I'm like, why would they
want my help? Like a Canadianexpat, Ugandan, he said, because

(06:07):
a girl is told that she needs acamera and needs to know how to
use it. But a guy is not. He canget the job walking off the
street. She has to go and geteducated. She has to go and get
a degree. She has to have thatset that and I was like, bingo.
So then I started working my waybackwards. I was, What's my
goal? It's not just to teachphotography and storytelling. It

(06:30):
is to get them jobs in maledominated media spaces. Now,
male dominated media spaces werenot a term I was using at the
time, but it became known thatthat's what it is. It's male
dominated. And so I put my goalout there to get them jobs. But
how am I going to do that? ThenI worked my way back for it, to

(06:50):
build the curriculum. I had twosides of the people that I was
talking to, the believers whokept on saying, Amina, you can
do this. Here's 20 bucks. Here'smy use camera, here's whatever.
And the other people who kept onsaying, You're crazy, you can't
do this. It's never going towork. And in order to lead my

(07:12):
vision, I had to believe, firstof all in what I wanted to do.
And I had to pull out the calland get over myself and just put
it out say, I want to do thiscrazy thing. Who's with me, and
I collected 15 small point andshoots ice. I cashed out my
savings because I still hadmoney from when I was working

(07:35):
film and television and financesagainst my husband's wishes. And
I paid for everything, and Iwent with just a hope and a
prayer that this was going towork out, and it did. And we
asked for favors. We partneredwith the mercury university,
because in order for this tomake it a real thing, it

(07:57):
couldn't just be aninternational girl with a dream
to make a difference, and it hadto be with real partnerships. So
I started putting those thingsinto 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'sstart building. So first I
started with a test to see isthis even something that's

(08:19):
wanted. And we had huge, hugedemand, but not enough resources
to meet that demand. So I knewthat there was something there.
And then we built a formalprogram and applied for charity
status, which took us two yearsto get. But in the meantime, we
just kept on going back. Andthen, of course, covid hit,

(08:40):
right, and I had to ebb and flowagain, but it's constantly
looking at what is your vision,what's your mission, always
keeping that in your heart andin your top of mind, and
ignoring the haters and thenaysayers and just doing what
you need to do to make it areality. And sometimes it'll
work and sometimes it won't, butyou did it, right? That's the

(09:01):
big thing. You did it. The otherthing I'd like to point out is
that the back of my head,because we had that history in
Uganda of colonialism, becausewe were Indians that were
wealthy, you know, basically,the Africans had suffered at our
hands and the British I did notwant to go in like any other

(09:23):
charity, or NGO or NP and say,This is what you need. It was
always, what do you need tosucceed? And I'm still asking
those questions, like, sixyears, seven years later, what
do you need to succeed? And letme bring it to your let me build
it with you, because you cannotdo an international program and
ignore the needs of yourcommunity.

Erin Geiger (09:46):
No, that's, that's huge, and that was going to be
one of my my next, sorry, I goon tangents. But not to mention
that, right, when you weretalking, I was like, yes,
because how, how welcome wereyou? You know, when you first
came in. Yeah, I'm assuming itwasn'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 barrierto getting to know them. But as
soon as I break the ice and Ishow them that I have their best
interests at heart, these girlskeep coming back and back. It's
a year long program, but I'vestill got girls coming back for

(10:24):
support or to show me whatthey've done with our the work
we've put in since 2019 or 2018and I keep in touch with them
and say, Where are you now? Doyou still need help? Do you need
mentoring that set you up with amentor? Because they you can't,
you can't put out a program, butpeople through your program,

(10:44):
they Goodbye, good luck, andexpect that there's going to be
success. There's not. You haveto constantly be hitting them
back and back and back andasking them, what do they need?
Because they don't know whatthey don't need, until they're
stuck, and you have to keep onopening up that door. So that's,
I think that's why we're sosuccessful, because it's

(11:06):
community at the forefront, atthe heart of this, more than our
vision and mission and ourgoals, the numbers and all that
impact we want to reach. It'sthem who has to lead this and
tell me what they need so I candeliver,

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, youknow, 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 whatwe're doing. But we haven't had
anybody say, come to us and say,except for the men in some
communities who attack me andsay, Why are you doing this only
for men? And I'm like, if youhave to ask that question, then
you really don't understand whatgender equality means. And so it

(11:56):
becomes that constantconversation of, why can't you
include men? I'm like, becauseopen up your eyes. Men have all
the opportunities women don't,including the lack of education
or ability to get one. So it'sit becomes very difficult in
those instances, but you have tostick to your to your guns, and

(12:17):
just keep on forging ahead.

Erin Geiger (12:19):
And you're dealing with young girls. So I'm
assuming it's the families aswell, 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 havedoes your Do your parents
understand what this program isall about? And do they say yes
or no? Because we had aninstance two years ago where a
girl finished our four dayworkshop and then the father
said, Okay, that's it. You gotthe camera now you can quit. And
I said, Sorry, it doesn't workthat way. What is the hold up?

(12:47):
Well, he won't pay for me to goto learn any of the other
things, like the digitalmarketing training or the
filmmaking or the editing. And Isaid, Fine, I'll pay for you as
long as you continue. And shedid, and she eventually showed
her father why this was soimportant to her having a career
rather than get married, right?
So it's also educating thecommunity about why this is so

(13:08):
important to move the needleforward for gender equality and
for women's rights, to haveemployment, to have
opportunities that their sons ortheir 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 arepretty high, like you're coming
in this environment that, youknow, it's like you're coming in
from the outside, sort of, youknow,

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 doingand so like I'm, I'm assuming,
but

Unknown (13:53):
still respecting them, but still respecting them.
Because I cannot come in, andthis is what I see as many
nonprofits or outsiders do, isthey ignore social norms or
social or cultural practices andsay, 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, arecipe for failure in the end,

(14:14):
because you haven't serviced,you haven't given her what she
needs to succeed, and yet you'veinsulted, if it's a good word,
the community and their cultureand their understanding of how
they live, and try to change itto your norms, which doesn't
work. So I never wanted to dothat. Never have done that. And
I'm always asking my girls toeducate me on the right way to

(14:36):
portray them. So when we telltheir stories, I go back to them
and say, can I tell it this way,is there anything that's
missing? Is there anything thatyou want me to remove? Because
it's all about ethicalstorytelling, 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 withlike, Oh, I know your story. I
know how this goes. You. Knowthis is what we should do, and I
can imagine that's really one ofthe big reasons how you've
gotten the program so far. Iwould imagine,

Unknown (15:09):
yes, because we're in Uganda, we're in Tanzania, our
goal is seven African countriesto impact 30,000 women between
all of our programs by 2030 andthe reason we're being able to
do this is building those vitalon the ground partnerships that
see not only the ability forthese girls to learn
photography, but ethicalstorytelling. Ethical

(15:32):
storytelling goes back toharnessing the power of
community to tell their ownstories, vital business skills
like building their resume andtheir lead their LinkedIn
profiles and teaching them howto use it to network for
opportunities, and thenmentoring, right? All of these
things combine, and now we'relooking at the changing
landscape of Okay, so we can say80% of our girls are getting

(15:56):
work, but then they might begetting work and mail in these
media houses, but they're alsoput at risk for sexual
harassment. I don't want tonecessarily go down there, but
what we look at is the changinglandscape, the challenges of
them finding work, what theywhat happens to them? So now
we're building podcasting intoour program, which then gives

(16:18):
them ability to use their voicein a safe way, in the comfort of
their own home, and get theirvoices out there to to the
world, to tell them what life islike for them, or to tell share
their stories in a differentway. So we're always asking
them, what is it that you arelacking that we can bring to the
ecosystem so you can learn withso next year, when we do our

(16:41):
programming, it will be eitherthey enter the podcast stream or
they enter the photographystream. Everything is is bound
by ethical storytelling andmentoring and all the other
stuff. But now they're learningin the way they want to be
portrayed out there in theworld. Instead of me saying, No,
you want to be a podcaster,learn photography, it'll still
serve you well, no, it won't. Soit's, it's building your

(17:07):
programs around their needs,rather than your programs around
what you think their needs arevastly different. And the
approach does not work in in thelatter, yeah,

Erin Geiger (17:19):
and I can imagine that varies region to region,
country to country, you know?
And you apply to educateAbsolutely,

Unknown (17:24):
and you have to, I have to educate my difference. Even
though it's East Africa, I haveto educate my the difference
between going from Uganda toTanzania, right? And that's all
through education and andtalking 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'regoing to go forward with this. I
know you know you were saying atthe beginning you had donations
of cameras and everything, like,how did you figure out, like,
funding especially, to keep thisgoing to expand into

Unknown (18:00):
it's still like it's challenging, but what I've
done is I have said, Okay, I amlacking this. So then I go and
find a partner who eithersubsidize 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

(18:22):
her rate that four episodes willlive on our Online Learning Hub,
so we'll be able to reuse,reuse, reuse that now as part of
the agreement, I don't sharethat outside of our Online
Learning Hub. It's just for thestudents who come through us.
But imagine what one piece ofrecorded, paid content can do
for hundreds and 1000s of girls.

(18:46):
And then we take them fromthere, from the learnings, to
help them with a with a, youknow, a microphone if they need
it, over, over a camera. Westart them with the resources
that they can't afford, becausecameras, a microphone, whatever
it is is a gender based barrierto employment or moving their
path forward. You and I canafford a Amazon microphone. They

(19:10):
can't afford even that. So bygiving them that tool that now
propels them into the, you know,the ether out there, where
anybody can hear them andunderstand it's a game changer.
So we, when I looked atfundraising, you know, I'm
constantly writing grants, or wewon an amazing award last year
that's really propelling usforward for the 60 that we're

(19:33):
going to do with Estee Lauder,have to give them a shout out.
But it's always reaching out toconvince funders that even
though I'm one woman led with abunch of volunteers, I can
actually do this shit, because Ican show it. I can show that,
right? But it's also thinkingoutside the box. So we do a lot

(19:56):
of in kind donations. We askpeople, Hey, do you have kids?
Cameras, smartphones, computers,lighting equipment, whatever,
equipment sitting and collectingdust, send it to us. We send you
a tax receipt. We sell yourstuff, and we buy the cameras
from that like it offsets thecost of the cameras or the
microphone that we're going tobe buying. So just this past

(20:19):
year, I raised 20,000 doing thatright, which is a huge offset of
the camera equipment would benormally like 40,000 50,000
depending on how many cameraswe're buying in a year. So you
always have to be we. I have tobe scrappy with Every Dollar,
and I have to be reallystrategic. But the more we get

(20:40):
out there, the more like I'mtrying to find the money now to
hire a full time fundraiser or afractional fundraiser that can
take off my plate. They knowwhat they're doing, and they can
go and find me the money insteadof me trying to wear 10,000
different hats and burn out theend 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 thenearlier you had mentioned, like,
listen, even to do somethinglike this, you have to have the
right mindset. That's it. AndI'm huge on that. It's not just
like, Okay, here's thelogistics. You know, I came up
with a strategy. This is how I'mgoing, you know, it's like, is

(21:22):
how I'm going to execute on it,you know? And it's like, no, no.
A lot of it comes from here. Itcomes from our mind. And you and
like, yeah, and it's very easyto get, you know, trapped in,
you know, all the things thatyou'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'tget up and say, oh shit, I'm
gonna quit this. This is notworking, yeah, because it's so
hard, yeah. But then I get anemail from a girl who told tells
me a story that I finished mytraining with you in 2019 and or
2020 2021, after 2022, aftercovid, and that camera that you

(22:00):
gave me, was able to leverageborrowing or getting five other
cameras, and I went back to myvillage and I taught 15 younger
girls, and now I'm helping themto find work, cuz it's a ripple,
right? So they get in, they getempowered. I hate the word
empowered, empowered, becausethey are have the power within I

(22:21):
just need to open up that doorto their potential. And once you
do, man, they're off andrunning, and they're showing
other girls what's possible.
They're alleviating those girlsfrom falling into a trap of
poverty, lack of education, orgetting married at age 14
because their family's demandingthey show them what's possible
out there. Just have to open upthe door, just one, one girl,

(22:43):
right? It can change a wholefamily, 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? Iactually cringe when my social
media girl shares the videosabout me unless it's a rant,
which I'm getting better atdoing, because you can't come
and partner with us and thenwant to pay our girls nothing.
No, I'm there to get them jobsfair pay jobs, not work them out

(23:21):
for free or farm them out forfree. So, you know, it's you
have to walk the talk yeah thewhole way through,

Erin Geiger (23:29):
exactly yeah. And I think that's part of the mindset
work as well. Because I think wejust get so caught in with our
own internal dialog, you know,of like, and it's just like, if
you kind of break yourself, likeyou were saying, if I see an
email about how this rippleeffect of change, you know, and
it's like, is there anythingelse that you do to, kind of,

(23:49):
like, keep your mind aligned toyour the mission that you set
out to do? Because I canimagine, because with what
you're doing, you have so manylayers of complexity. It's like,
it's tough for a woman,regardless, you know. But here
you are, you know, going to thisother country, you know, and
like, and it's, you know, soit's like, is there anything

(24:10):
that you do? It doesn't evenhave 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 yourhead on right, and keeps your
kind of, you know, having onefoot in front

Unknown (24:22):
of the other. Yeah, I am part of the Vital Voices
community. So Vital Voices is aleadership community that I
joined in, 2023 2020 early,yeah, 2023 and through that, I
was invited to become aleadership summit participant,

(24:45):
which happened in Washingtonlast March. So out of 300 women,
I was chosen as one of 50 andthe only Canadian, which was
phenomenal, which brought meinto the Estee Lauder thing. But
what I do is every month or. Theother month, I get together with
other leaders, other non profitfounders, or founders even in a

(25:06):
for profit space, just to bounceoff of each other. Share our
stresses, share our struggles,support each other, but we have
a whatsapp community. I'm off offake book on purpose. I got
harassed because women foundersseem to find themselves harassed
for no reason. And I was like,What the hell am I doing here?

(25:28):
It's not even moving the needleforward. So I find the safe
spaces to hang out on socialmedia and the rest of it, i i
forget and that that means thatI'm not reaching those people
for possible donations. So beit. But my mental health has to
come for us, because if mymental health struggles like
then I off put that onto myfamily and my students and the

(25:51):
whole thing. And it's, you know,it's just a downward spiral. So,
and then I got into art, and Iget, you know, more into my
photography. And when I havetime which I don't have enough
of reading a lot and learning,I'm an avid like reader and
learner. I just lifelong learnerabout anything and everything.
And just learning to say no hasbecome something that I've had

(26:17):
to really practice. You know,you network with people, and
everybody wants to meet like butis it really making a
difference, or is it they'retrying to sell you something,
unfortunately, so I'm being veryintentional with my time,
because then I can get thingsdone and feel good about it and
walk away from my desk at theend of the day instead of going

(26:38):
to bed stressed that I didn'tget shit done. So I think it's
as a founder and executivedirector and a fundraiser and a
marketer and all these hats thatyou have to wear when you're
starting out, you really have tofind your purpose and your
meaning within life, not just inthe work that you do, and I used
to only find it in the work thatI do, which brought me to

(27:02):
burnout. So, right? Yep, and I'mso I love gathering and helping
other women to figure out whatis 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 youmentioned your mental wellness,
right? You know, because that'sso that's everything. That's the
foundation, yeah, of it all,really, and it's something that
we need to talk about more, youknow, think it's becoming less,

(27:32):
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 girlsis we don't work in a silo, so
part of this job bringsawareness that our students
struggle with mental health. Whyshouldn't they struggle with
mental health, if they're inAfrica over our mental health in

(27:55):
North America, why should wetake precedence to talking about
it? So we partnered because it'snot in our mandate, it's not in
our budget. We partnered, or Ipartnered, with two incredible
human beings who are offeringtheir mental health coaching for
free. Wow. And so we're rightnow running two back to back of
three sessions each for 19 girlsin Africa who have indicated

(28:19):
suicide ideation, which comesfrom the challenges of working
in these male dominated spaces.
Either they're not paid, or payswith held unless they, you know,
sleep with their bosses and allthis other garbage that you
don't come into being and noknowledge when you start this.
But like I told somebody elsetoday, you cannot work in a

(28:40):
silo. You cannot say, Oh, well,that's we can't touch that. We
can't go there. No, no. Youbetter go there. Because if
you're taking responsibility todo all this other work, you
better make sure that they'resound and okay and stable in
order to carry on the hard workthat they're going to be doing.
So I you know, and I'll havepeople say, Well, why are you

(29:02):
taking this on? You got enoughon your plate. Cuz that's what I
have to do. If I'm going to callmyself a leader, that's what I
have to do. I have to beresponsible, not just to the
organization, to the mission,the vision. I've been
responsible to each one of thosegirls 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 itsugly parts and great parts,
right? You can't just ignore theugly and celebrate the good.

Erin Geiger (29:34):
Yeah. Well, is there? So for the women
listening, what piece of advicewould you give them who you know
they want to embark on this newinitiative or take the next step
in their career? You know what?
What piece of advice would youwould you give to these women?

Unknown (29:53):
Listen to your heart.
Most of all, listen to yourheart, 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 youneed to be for the rest of your
life. It's going to beuncomfortable, it's going to be
hard. But reach out to peoplewho believe in what you're

(30:14):
doing. Ignore those people whoare telling you you're crazy. If
I'd listen to those people, andthere were so many of them who
told me I was stupid, I wascrazy. I was never going to get
this off the ground. I'd stillbe sitting here thinking about
it 10 years later, wondering,oh, maybe I should have just do
it. It might fail but failupward. Always fail upward,

(30:35):
because you're going to learnsomething through that, and
you're going to find maybeanother path to follow, but
don't. Don't stop because offear. 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 tellyou. 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 loveto 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 getsome calls. Perfect. Yep, that's
so perfect. Yeah, no, Iappreciate it. Was started by
Hillary Clinton in the 1970s andshe wanted to start a program
where women, of course, in the70s, right? The women were told,
Hey, in the bedroom, in thekitchen, right? And she wanted

(31:26):
to show women her theirpotential. It's now run by Elise
Nelson and her group of women,and it's just it's a safe
community. They teach youleadership skills, but then they
open up the door to so manyother opportunities, and without
them, I don't think I'd be whereI am even further today. So I
just Yeah, it's amazing.

Erin Geiger (31:47):
That's incredible.
I'm going to definitely checkthem out. Is there any other
kind of resource that you wouldwant 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 recommendyou check out the nonprofit
hive.com it's a Canadian runplatform. You sign up for free,
and once a week, you sign up foryour time slot on Thursday, and

(32:21):
Tasha, who runs this, arrangeshalf an hour curated chats for
you with another non profitprofessional around the world.
So I've met people in Africa,I've met people in South
America, I've met people inCanada, US, no matter. And it's
incredible half an hour and youget to know these people, and
you don't know where your nextpartnership or where your next
friendship or where your nextsupport person is going to come

(32:43):
from, because you're allfighting the good fight, and if,
also, if you're in the nonprofitspace, I would highly suggest
you listen to a podcast calledwe are for good. They also have
a community, and this Thursday,they do it quarterly. It's
called Impact uprising, and whatthey're trying to do is change
the conversation around nonprofit leadership and how hard

(33:06):
it is because there's so muchburnout in the non profit space,
and give you a safe space tocome and talk about the you
know, the challenges. And theyalso have it themed. So
definitely check them out aswell. And there are so many, so
I could go on and on, butdefinitely those three are, are
the biggest communities that Ihang out in and find support.

(33:30):
And these are, you know, we arefor good and nonprofit hive. Of
course, men and women open toVital Voices, just women from
over 68 countries are in there,and it's for for profits or non
profits, who are trying, womenwho are trying to grow their

(33:50):
initiative or their leadershipin whatever they're doing. So
I've met women who are fightingfor gender based violence, for
period poverty, or who havepodcasts they're trying to grow,
or who are like me. You know,internationals working in this
so it doesn't matter where youcome from. It's a safe space to
talk about and get support forwhat you're doing. So and learn

Erin Geiger (34:13):
that's incredible.
I'll have to, I'll get the linksfrom you. Yeah, I will, I will
definitely share that with you.
Yeah, that'd be great. And I'llput them in the show notes for
this episode, for sure. I knowwe have to wrap it up. I could
talk to you for hours, but as Ithink about what you've already
built, and I'm so excited tojust be on the sidelines and

(34:36):
watch as you even grow it evenfurther, it's amazing. What is
the legacy that you want toleave? 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, atleast 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 Iwant to leave this in a in the
hands of our young women. Sowhat we did in 2024 is build the

(35:11):
train the trainer program. Wetrain five former students to
step into my shoes as trainers.
Paid trainers. They're going tolead the four cohorts starting
this March. So they went througha six month training in advanced
photography, ethicalstorytelling, leadership skills

(35:32):
and public speaking withToastmaster. Because you can be
a student, but it's vastlydifferent to be a student to a
trainer and step into thoseconfident shoes of being able to
lead African other Africanwomen. So that's our whole
succession. Is that I wantcameras for girls to one day be
a space where other Africanwomen are teaching other African

(35:54):
women that is sustainableimpacts, and I will step aside
to watch from the sidelines, orbe there as the CO trainer or
whatever, but watching them leadand you know, and and be
empowered to lead other women tohave the ability to tell their

(36:15):
story. That's That's my legacy.
That's what I want to create andleave behind. And I want
somebody to a girl who comesthrough our program to tell
other girls that I went throughcameras for girls, and when I
entered, here's where I was, andwhen I finished, here's where
here and the vast differencethat it made, that's what I hope
that we have, and we're gettingthat so we have 80% success rate

(36:35):
in Our graduates finding paidwork 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. Youknow, even at the

Unknown (36:50):
outs, yeah, yeah, you have to. And every country I
want to initiate the same. SoUganda has been the longest
running program since 2018 andTanzania since November 2023 so
we still have a lot of growth togo there before we run that
program. But eventually everycountry will go through the same
and so we're still hoping thatwe can launch Kenya later this

(37:13):
year, but definitely 2026 andwe'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, wherecan people find you online, if
they and then, you know, toconnect with you, yeah, and then
also, if they want to help orthey 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 LinkedInunder Amina Mohammed, or you can
follow us on LinkedIn andInstagram at cameras for girls.
Ways of supporting if you haveelectronics that are sitting
idle and you don't need them,cameras, smartphones, computers,

(37:59):
whatever it is, as long as it'sworking, send them to us. We'll
give you a tax receipt if you'rein Canada, if you're abroad and
you still want to send it,that's incredible, because you
will still learn about how thatwas put to work. And then we are
trying to build our monthlydonor program, even starting as
low as $10 a month, really helpsus move the needle, because that

(38:22):
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 fundraisingsupport, and you know the girls
that we need to support on anongoing 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

(38:44):
all of these things are so vitalto helping us do the back end
stuff so we could do the frontend 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. Thankyou so much, Amina, thank you
for being on the show and takingthe time out of your incredibly
busy and important schedule.
Might I add? I'm honored thatyou took the time today. Really,
I am so honored as well. I thinkyou're gonna ask me one more
question that I was reallylooking 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 onlylisten to one music artist for
the rest of your life, that'sit. Just one. Who would

Unknown (39:27):
it be? Yep, Prince.
Prince and Prince the war. Ilove it.

Erin Geiger (39:33):
How incredible. I just want to give you a high
five and a hug right now. Howincredible is

Unknown (39:37):
Prince. Thank you so much for the time to tell my
story. I appreciate it. Amina,i.