Salon O
Salt Lake City, Utah
“’The Anegundi Empowerment Project’ works with girls and mostly single women particularly from the lower castes in Anegundi, a village with a population of roughly 4000 in the south of India. The project finds individual financial sponsors from the United States for girls wanting to further their education and we provide mentorship for women who want to open small businesses to provide for their families.
Anegundi is a very impoverished small village with very little opportunity for girls and women. If I am honored with the Icon award the five thousand will be donated and used to fund opportunities for more Anegundi women.
Salon O started their involvement in 2015 with the Salon O team donating their personal funds to sponsor Tanureddy Cham, a young girl from the Anegundi village. Their generosity was enough to fund a year's cosmetology course in a neighboring city and a years stay at a hostel while she took her course. Tanu now owns and operates a very successful salon in Hospet, a neighboring city. She is successful enough to support her Mother and two sisters. (Her father passed away before her training started). In December 2023 Tanu finished mentoring and training Krishnamma, another young lady from the Anegundi Village.
I personally just returned from 2 months in India (Dec 2023-Feb 2024) where I also worked with Krishnamma, continuing her education and helped her open a small salon in Anegundi itself. I went to India with a suitcase full of donated tools from the Salon O team to help get her started. I have committed to continue to work with the project from the U.S. thanks to the wonders of technology and I will go back to India for another 6-8 weeks at the end of this year. My plan is to continue this pattern of involvement for years to come.”
Falecia Wilson
