cal lutheran university years
In the early 1970s, Desta Hagos left Ethiopia for California, beginning a chapter that would broaden both her artistic world and her personal life. She studied Fine Arts at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, where she earned her bachelor's degree with the support of a full scholarship.
Desta graduated with a BA in Fine Arts while her Husband to be Yohannes received his MBA.
Yohannes received his Masters in Business Administration
new environment, new challenges
Professor Jerry Slatum
California exposed Desta to a different artistic environment and new ways of seeing and creating. At Cal Lutheran, she studied with Professor Jerry Slattum, who encouraged her development and exhibition of her work. During her years there, Desta participated in four group and solo exhibitions, giving her an opportunity to develop and present her work to American audiences
But California became much more than an academic chapter.
It was there that Desta married Yohannes Tekle, beginning their life together while she continued to grow as an artist. Art, education and family became intertwined during these formative years.
After completing her studies, Desta and Yohannes made the consequential decision to return home to Ethiopia. Their return coincided with one of the most dramatic periods of political and social change in the country's modern history—a transition that would profoundly alter the course of their family life and begin an entirely different chapter in Desta's story
Desta and Yohannes married in 1975 at a Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, California in the presence of family and friends.
Desta and Yohannes were hosted by the Birgham Family as young students with friendship that lasted beyond their college years.