Aumazo
Aumazo

Our Team

Meet the people who work tirelessly to keep Aumazo Inc. on track toward achieving the goal of providing secondary education for girls in rural communities.

Our Founder

Jacqueline Audigé

Founder and CEO, was born and raised in Cameroon. She moved to the United States in 1991 with her family. While raising five children, Jacqueline successfully completed both her bachelor’s degree in Marketing at Robert H. Smith School of Business and her master’s degree in Education with specialization in International Education Policy at the School of Education at the University of Maryland College Park. With an extensive training at the Foundation Center in Washington D.C, she has founded and served as the Executive at Aumazo since 2005.

In June 2009, she graduated from Leadership Montgomery, a nine-month program during which she learned, shared, grew, changed, and strengthened her own leadership skills. She has acquired skills in Nonprofit start-up and Management, Quickbooks Software, Web Management, Project Management and Sustainable Tourism Destination Management.

Aumazo was inspired by her personal experience. Jacqueline once walked in the shoes of the girls she is now determined to help. Growing up, she struggled with the lack of real advancement opportunities. Nowadays, school buildings are sprouting everywhere in Cameroon, whereas many villages lacked the appropriate educational institutions in the 60s. At age 8, Jacqueline’s parents sent her to live in the city and pursue her education. This was a common practice among village parents. In search of a better future for their children, they were confronted with such a heartbreaking and difficult decision. The heartbreaking was shared both by the parents, who felt powerless and disarmed before their no-choice decision, and the children, who were forced to grow up too fast. Jacqueline endured severe hardships as a child, like home-sickness, coming home from school countless times to a foodless house, and tending to endless domestic chores. Lack of financial and emotional support was commonplace, yet she still managed to strive in school.

Unfortunately and like many girls in her situation, and despite her willingness to succeed and pursue a Higher Education degree, she was forced to drop out of high school. Jacqueline claims that her late parents, who were both illiterate and perfect representatives of not-well-to-do parents, were instrumental in her education. This is not unusual; most financially poor parents have high expectations for their girls and want them to go and succeed in school. In Jacqueline’s case, her parents’ unconditional love, encouragement and belief in her educational potentials stirred her passion in Education and her desire to take advantage of the endless educational opportunities available in the United States. And so, she courageously pursued her education with one goal in mind: giving back to other rural girls who still lack the financial support necessary to fulfill their educational potentials.

Board Members

Malik Mendenhall

Board Member

Malik Mendenhall – Johnson has background in non-profit management with a specialty in fund raising development and event planning. Malik is the founder and former Executive Director of Icon Chess Foundation a Washington, DC based nonprofit organization that taught chess and academics to disadvantage youth and foreign dignities. Mr. Mendenhall – Johnson received his leadership training from the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership and served as a community organizer / Ward 4 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner under former Councilwoman now Mayor of Washington, DC Muriel Bowser. Malik is an advocate for improving the quality of life for African youth and providing them with meaning educational opportunities. Malik saw Aumazo’s need and was impressed with the vision and mission of the organization and decided to offer counsel. Malik currently works in the Office of Office Operation for the law firm of DLA Piper serving lawyers and former American politicians.

Advisory Board

Abbe Fessenden, M.A.

Board Chair

Abbe is a principal and co-founder of Value-Add, L.L.C, with more than 35 years of international development experience. She has worked on design, oversight and evaluation of technical assistance and policy reform activities, primarily in West Africa, including Cameroon. Her work often involved integrating institutional and organizational assessments into project design and evaluation as well as strategic planning. As a program/project development officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), she took a leading role in design and evaluation of many projects in agriculture/natural resources, economic growth, economic and marketing reforms, health, and infrastructure in nations throughout Africa.

Among her assignments were developing the Africa Bureau’s Non-Project Assistance (NPA) guidance, working for Africa Bureau’s Project Development Office, and managing the Southern Africa Regional Program portfolio. She holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs (African studies, Economics), from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C., and a B.A. (Political Science, History), from Barnard College, Columbia University, N.Y.

DEBRA L. C. LIVERPOOL

Advisory Board Member

For 40 years Debra has served her community. Working in philanthropy for 20 years and another 20 years with various banking institutions has allowed Debra to use the depth of her experience for the benefit of community nonprofits.

She is a native Washingtonian and graduate of George Washington University. She has a Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and she is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).

Active in many volunteer roles as member and board member of organizations she contributes back to her community daily. Debbie is also a happily married proud mother of four.

Staff

Sylvester Seuyam Youssa

Staff

Sylvester Seuyam Youssa (Lead Field Manager) was born and lives in Cameroon. He became a priest after graduating from the Regional Seminary of Douala-Cameroon in 1997. Successively, he has worked as an Assistant priest, a vice steward of the rural parish of Bakou, a Cure and as a Spanish teacher at the middle school in Bankondji-Cameroon. Father Sylvester is currently the first priest in function at the parish St. Joseph of Bankondji.

Father Sylvester carries with him the private pain of losing a mother to ignorance at age 9. After his mother’s death, he had to forgo his childhood to help his father raise his three younger brothers. Despite his priesthood, he clearly understands the struggle of single parenthood and a sad reality of losing a mother too early. He strongly believes in female education. He vows to dedicate the rest of his life not only to saving souls, but also to raising awareness on the importance of girls’ education.