Rehrahie Mesfin Gebrehiwot grew up in Tigray, Axum, Ethiopia in a family of eight, with hard-working parents who supported their family by making a living as farmers, which inspired her to pursue a career in agriculture. “Ethiopians’ livelihoods are based on agriculture—it is our way of life,” says Gebrehiwot. “I’m interested in helping marginalized people, especially poor farmers, to improve their livelihoods.” To this end, she pursued a BSc in Agriculture with a specialization in Animal Sciences at Alemaya University of Agriculture, followed by an MSc in Agriculture in Sustainable Tropical Livestock Systems in Uppsala, Sweden. Her master’s research was focused on improving the feeding value of poor quality crop residues by applying urea-molasses treatment as dairy cattle feed. She is currently a researcher at EIAR as a member of the Dairy Cattle Improvement Research Program in Ruminant case team.