Mamounata: a NY success story
Since it’s only my second week on the Samaschool team, I’m experiencing a lot of “firsts.” This week, I worked with my first student, and she left a big impression on me.
Mamounata came to our class eager to learn but not yet knowing much about the gig economy. After an introduction from my colleague Jeff, she was ready to jump in. I learned that Mamounata came to the U.S. around 20 years ago from West Africa. Her native language is Moore (not going to lie, a language I’d never heard of before), and she said she is always working on improving her English. When she was growing up in Africa, girls were not allowed to attend school. That has since changed, but women from Mamounata’s generation have to find ways to educate themselves, which is part of why she is taking classes with us and our wonderful partner, Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side.

She has worked as a hotel housekeeper for about five years, and said she is way too tired at the end of a long day’s work to use her home computer, admittedly forgetting how to use certain keys and functions. But, once Mamounata learned that there are platforms on which she could post her biography and secure work, it all came back to her! We set up her profile on Care.com, and she applied for her first few housekeeping jobs right on the spot. We even took a great new selfie for her page on the spot, practicing a few professional-yet-friendly faces before settling on just the right one.
The future is bright for Mamounata, and it was an incredible feeling knowing that Samaschool played a small role in helping her meet her goals. I hope she inspires you as much as she inspired me.
