It all originally started as an off shot of the Somaly Mam foundation and has been rebranded to the beauty plus network last year. I had the opportunity to write and share a beauty curriculum for young girls in Siem Reap Cambodia who had been victims to the sex trade industry as well as distressed situations of extreme poverty. We work to teach them a trade in hopes that they can become financially stable on their own accord.
Unfortunately, sex trafficking and extreme poverty are a huge problem in Southeast Asia, bit programs like this help young girls have the opportunity to learn a skill and make a good life for themselves and their families.
Specifically, I developed and cutting and styling curriculum, to be taught over 6 month intervals. I have been there 4 times so far for two week classes to do the training. My last trip included doing teacher training to the girls who have completed to program, as to make it more sustainable in the long run. I am on the board of directors for beauty +, and tackle issues such as technical training and development, financial literacy and life skills training. The girls are anywhere from 14-early 20s.
Our hope is to teach them the basics of hairdressing in a 6 month intensive course so they are equipped to move into the working world ASAP. Unfortunately, in 3rd world countries, they don't have the luxury of time, so we have created an intensive course to get them working ASAP.
I think this kind of work is super important bc it allows us as an industry to take from the people who have and share with the have nots. It evens the playing field and raises the bar of the industry globally. My theory on this and developing trade up curriculum is that cash flow and circumstance should never be the determent factor of who had access to quality education.
