STUDIO SAMUEL CELEBRATES TEN YEARS IN 2025 AND AMPLIFIES THIS YEAR’S INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL THEME

“Periods used to mean I would miss class. With Yewer Abeba, I feel prepared. The girl I am is a student, and the change I lead is showing my classmates that we belong in school.” ~ SSGA student

NEW YORK, NY, October 10, 2025 /24-7PressRelease/ — In its tenth anniversary year, Addis Ababa-based non-profit organization Studio Samuel, which empowers girls in Ethiopia to reach their potential through education and employable skills, is celebrating International Day of the Girl on October 11, 2025. This day also marks Studio Samuel’s launch of a groundbreaking women’s health resource, Yewer Abeba (“Monthly Flower” in Amharic), a free menstrual health educational app created by girls, for girls.

The theme for International Day of the Girl 2025 is “The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis.” Studio Samuel’s Yewer Abeba app represents this theme in that the students themselves are leading the conversation on menstrual health, breaking stigma and creating solutions for their peers. They are using their voices and turning a crisis that keeps many out of school into an opportunity for change and empowerment.

Says one student currently in Studio Samuel Girls Academy (SSGA), “Periods used to mean I would miss class. With Yewer Abeba, I feel prepared. The girl I am is a student, and the change I lead is showing my sisters and classmates that we belong in school every day.”

The Yewer Abeba app is debuting in Ethiopia as a support resource for girls, where it is available for free download on Google Play beginning on October 11. About 95% of mobile users in Ethiopia are utilizing Android*, and the language accessibility covers Amharic, Tigrinya, Afaan Oromo, and English. Yewer Abeba provides culturally relevant content designed with input from adolescent girls, educators, and health professionals. The features include a period tracker, health resources and a Kalkidan avatar, loosely based on Studio Samuel’s menstrual health management ambassador. Once the app is downloaded, wifi is not needed to access the content. Caregivers and parents trust Yewer Abeba because it does not collect personal data, and this feature was prioritized at their request.

In Ethiopia, menstruation remains one of the leading causes of school absenteeism for adolescent girls. Yewer Abeba directly addresses this barrier by giving girls dignity, knowledge, and confidence to continue their education. The app builds on Studio Samuel Girls Academy’s proven model: pairing education with health and skills training to ensure long-term empowerment.

Tamara Horton, Founder & Executive Director, Studio Samuel Girls Academy remarks, “No girl should have her education disrupted by something as natural as her period. Our menstrual education app—created for girls, by girls and shaped with their families and medical experts—puts knowledge and dignity in their hands.”

The Yewer Abeba app is powered by MakeADifference.tech, developed in collaboration with Studio Samuel Girls Academy students and licensed medical experts, with research support from Dr. Kathryn Geurts and Global Health students at Hamline University. Studio Samuel will welcome opportunities from donors, corporations and global partners to join the movement to end period poverty and support education for girls across Africa.

2025 marks the ten-year anniversary of Studio Samuel Girls Academy operating in Ethiopia, achieving a decade of empowering girls through education, health and employable skills. In August, Studio Samuel held an event in Addis Ababa with local leaders and community members, featuring student led conversations. Since opening its doors, SSGA has impacted 25,000 girls with critical life skills. The organization’s goal is to reach one million girls by 2035.

*StatCounter Global Stats April 2025

~ for more information, please contact: Sarah Landy, [email protected]

About Studio Samuel
Studio Samuel opened its training center doors to the first class of 25 girls in January 2015 after being granted a Civil Society Organization license by the Charities and Societies Agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The organization’s mission is to empower girls to reach their potential through education and employable skills with Training for Tomorrow, its trademarked life skills program. Today, the program has reached over 25,000 girls in Ethiopia, and its vocational arm has been accredited as a college. The Studio Samuel Institute of Design + Technology opened in October 2019 to 50 young women. In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the organization rebranded as Studio Samuel Girls Academy to more clearly reflect its commitment to girls’ education and empowerment. Grounded in a community-led model, Studio Samuel Girls Academy continues to expand its reach—equipping girls with the education and employable skills to create lasting change for themselves and those around them.

Tamara Horton, an FIT graduate, Women’s Campaign International Global Ambassador to Ethiopia, and Board Member of Ethiopia Healthcare Network, founded Studio Samuel Girls Academy following the international adoption of her son, Samuel. She saw firsthand that when a girl is born into poverty and denied an education, safe options are stripped away. Her goal was to create a teach a woman to fish platform—one that would open opportunity and safe pathways, steering girls away from the all-too-common cycles of child marriage, trafficking, and child labor. Studio Samuel Girls Academy has been selected as a featured organization of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation.

Training for Tomorrow is held after school and on weekends, empowering adolescent Ethiopian girls through mentoring, counseling, self-defense training, vocational and digital skills, and healthcare access. Studio Samuel Girls Academy graduates are enrolling in college, mentoring peers, gaining meaningful employment, and using their voices to drive change in their communities.

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