How This Coloring Book Creator Is Empowering Senegalese Girls To Go After Their Goals On The Field And In Business

You could say promoting diversity and stories that often get overlooked on large platforms is Evelyn’s Sabino’s personal mission, sweet spot, and calling. From defense innovation conferences to the Life is Beautiful music and art festival, she’s focused on booking diverse speakers across age groups, ethnicities and abilities throughout her career. During her three years working for Life is Beautiful, she met Charles Ressler, who was sharing stories about #dreamMaker, a burgeoning movement he started helping strangers across the world achieve their wildest aspirations without using money; only creativity, ingenuity, hard work, and the fellowship of community. 

At the time, Sabino, a self-proclaimed hyper independent person, was inspired by Ressler’s vision, but didn’t have anything to ask of him. She had her eyes on the Peace Corps, an initiative she had wanted to join since her high school days, as a means to not only give back, but also to appreciate the privileges she had, as well as better understand what her mom experienced growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in the Philippines. 

After a rigorous application process, Sabino manifested her vision and landed in an isolated village in Senegal, the longest standing Peace Corps service location in the world. While she was there another dream unfolded. Shortly after arriving, she met a host family mother, who shared how much the kids in the village loved to color. Unfortunately, the mother had only one good coloring book that featured images of African girls who actually look like them instead of a Western girls representing a Western standard of beauty. During that time, Evelyn was in Peace Corps training and learning about the patriarchal culture of Senegal—how girls, not only go to school like boys, but are also responsible for all of the chores in their home.

“So they [girls] have all this back breaking work to do, and there’s a lot of misogynistic behavior that goes on,” says Sabino. “I started thinking about how much I loved  Aesop’s Fables growing up, and how much I loved amplifying stories of people of color, and I thought, ‘Well, why don’t we just make a coloring book?’ Around that time the World Cup was on, and the Senegalese love soccer. I was determined that whatever story I did it was going to uplift girls, and it was going to have a female protagonist.” 

Ask And It Is Given 

From there, based on everything she had learned up to that point about Senegal, she created Maimouna Makes a Goal, the story of a Senegalese girl who loves to watch soccer, but was told no by her brother every time time she asked him to play with her. One day, he brings home a soccer ball and it regrettably pops. At the same time, Maimouna and her mother are selling homemade dolls at the market, and Maimouna is given a portion of the profits to save. She uses the money later to replace the popped ball for her brother, and ultimately wins the first soccer game she plays with the boys using the ball she purchased. 

After the story was finished, Sabino went on the hunt for an illustrator. 

“t just so happened that around that time I saw Charles on Facebook offering to help people through the #dreamMaker movement. 

“It’s beautiful to watch and see how he helps people, but I just was a quiet observer for the longest time,” says Sabino. “Finally, I asked Charles if he knows anybody that could illustrate this book pro bono.” 

In a short time, Megan Glade Dresback, came on board as illustrator, and Maimouna’s soccer adventures hit the page. With this help and support, Sabino ended up writing four books, one of which ended up being published and distributed to every French speaking country in Africa. Additionally, she ended up being asked to fly to Europe to be a part of a leadership conference.

“When Evelyn reached out I knew I had a network that could support her, so I found her the resources she needed, and helped her project manage the creation of the first book,” shares Ressler. “Seeing the outcome of it all was such an incredible experience, and now seeing her in Forbes is another example of the ripple effect of #dreamMaker. The ripple effect is one of my favorite parts of this movement because helping one person multiplies. You have no idea how many lives change. For example: what will Evelyn’s books inspire in the young girls who read them, the young boys? How many will go on to become leaders? To change their village, their country, the world? So many things will happen because they had a book that had characters who looked like them and told a story that empowered them. And how many stories would go unwritten if Evelyn hadn’t found the resources she needed? That’s why I help anyone because the positive impact reverberates far beyond a single dream.”  

“The most rewarding thing I did in the Peace Corps wasn’t any of the metrics projects I worked on,” says Sabino. “It was actually making this coloring book.”

Sabino’s sees her coloring books as part of her grand vision for getting stories about underrepresented groups into the world. Bringing her own Peace Corps story full circle, she was able to pay homage to the host family that inspired Maimouna Makes a Goal.

Here’s a photo of Ideyni, the real life Senegalese girl Sabino stayed with. Dresback modeled Maimouna after Ideyni—clothes, expressions, Senegalese features, and all. And below Ideyni is the first drawing Dresback did of Maimouna—entrepreneurial mindset, goal getter, and all.