Trailblazer-Angela Hashisoma

For a while now, we have found ourselves jesting to make her Workable's ‘member of the month’ and have her image featured all over our marketing material.

She is bubbly, funny, vibrant and will almost always be found engaging with fellow coworking members at the shared kitchen area or over a game of pool. She insists that she’s actually quite shy, and even though you will catch glimpses of it here and there especially in larger forums, there is no doubt that this young woman is a force to reckon with.

Angela Hashisoma is a 27-year-old Director of Student Development at The Fleischer Foundation; a US based NGO working in Kenya to promote the personal development and empowerment of underprivileged children in developing countries, through mentorship and education. In her capacity, her roles include; student recruitment, admission, sponsorship, mentorship, and donor correspondence. She also works with students to prepare them for the job market through the foundation’s job search program.

Hers has not been an easy journey; born in Kakamega county, she spent part of her childhood with her grandmother before joining her parents just as they were about to relocate to Nairobi in pursuit of greener pastures. When that dream failed to become a reality, they ended up settling in the slums of Mukuru Kwa Njenga (a densely populated slum located in the East of Nairobi) where she joined a primary school that was run by a religious order called ‘The Marianists’. It was at this school that she came about a scholarship opportunity that allowed her to join high school; an incredible opportunity that her parents would otherwise not have been able to afford.

On successfully completing her high school education, she joined the University of Nairobi to pursue an Undergraduate degree in Economics. Having been a beneficiary of a charity organization herself, she would be found volunteering at her former primary school in an effort to give back to the community that had so generously moulded her.

As fate would have it, it was during such volunteering activities that she would meet with her current boss Mr. Stephen Fleischer who at the time was also working as a volunteer at the school. When he shared with her his plans to start a charity of his own, she knew without a doubt that she wanted to be a part of the initiative. She started it out as a part time job while still in university, making her way into a project manager position and got promoted to Director of Student development all within a span of 6 years

Thanks to the charity, Angie is able to leverage on mentorship sessions held during school breaks to teach students about gender equality and why it’s important to break down stereotypes. She also helps connect female students with strong female mentors to show them that they can achieve anything as well as connect them with opportunities that allow them to pursue their dreams.

Looking back, she believes that her source of drive was in the fact that she wanted to have a better life.

‘I had nothing else but my education, so I used my challenges as a motivation’.

For her future plans, Angela has always considered herself quite the nerd and reckons that she might have been a scholar in another life. She is therefore very excited to have come across the golden opportunity to go back to school and pursue a much-coveted degree in law. Not only is she looking forward to be back nose-deep in the books, she hopes to use this added expertise in her line of work to help women and girls champion for their basic human rights.

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