Excerpt from Turning on the Lights: Part II.5 Purpose for the Learning – Freedom!
“When others see challenges, I see opportunities to define my purpose and create my own success.” – MESA Creator Fatimata Sanogo
Another MESA success story is Fatimata Sanogo. She immigrated from Burkina Faso in West Africa, and she began her college studies at City College. She joined MESA after realizing that she was heading in the wrong direction and needed help with her academics. Trained in the learning culture, Fatimata excelled at City College, and she successfully transferred to UCSD in biochemistry. I ran into her during a UCSD campus tour with our MESA students. I was very proud of her. I asked her what difference the MESA learning culture made for her. She answered as a true Creator, “The MESA learning culture has given me direction, guidance and focus; it has given me emotional intelligence, mental toughness, and confidence to fight for myself; it has given me empowerment!” I then asked her about her transition to UCSD. She replied, “Corner Man, some students do not come to UCSD because they say that they do not see many others who look like them. But I love it here! When others see challenges, I see opportunities to define my purpose and use the learning culture to create my own success. I am a MESA Creator!” Fatimata graduated from UCSD, and she is now future Dr. Fatimata! She was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Epidemiology in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. In addition to becoming a certified yoga instructor, she has authored her first book, 31 Spiritual Principles: A daily guide and tool for spiritual growth, joy and empowerment!, and she is the founder and CEO of Sahel Girls Empowerment or Sahel SAGE, a non-profit organization providing menstrual hygiene products and full tuition and school supplies to adolescent girls in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso to keep them in school! This is how a MESA Creator defines her purpose.
Dr. Sanogo earned a Ph.D. degree in Epidemiology in May 2023 from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). She began her career as a Senior Research Associate focused on Cancer Equity Research in the USC Department of Population and Public Health Sciences.