Her Story
About Tanisha
I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and when I started out, I never imagined I'd be where I am today. I actually started thinking I wanted to be a pharmacist, but my path took me in a different direction. I've been in education for 25 years now, and I've touched on 3 to 4 different areas throughout my career in Dallas ISD. My strongest suit is being a teacher - once a teacher, always a teacher. I taught for 5 years before being promoted to our curriculum department as a science supervisor, where I spent about 9 years as a curriculum specialist. I'm a certified teacher of science and can teach any level of secondary science. From there, I moved to our school leadership side, where I worked with our chief of schools supporting campuses in both operational and curriculum aspects. After safety incidents at schools in Texas led to new safety requirements, our superintendent and chief of schools asked me to start what we call our school safety department. Now I'm the Director of School Safety for all 200 schools in our district, responsible for keeping them safe with safety equipment and technology. My department has grown from just 2 people to almost 75 employees, and I supervise about 20 of them. I use the mentoring and coaching skills I developed in school leadership to guide others. My most notable achievement is building this department and being able to mentor others along the way.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tanisha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would actually say my family, especially my grandmothers. They're both deceased now, but my grandmothers were very strong in the workplace, in their work ethic, and in their faith. I definitely attribute my success to them. My family is very close - we're a very large family. Just to give you an example, we just celebrated Easter this past weekend, and I had almost 80 people at my home, and the majority of them were family. That closeness and support from my family has been fundamental to everything I've achieved.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was to not give up and always pursue your dreams. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and at that time, seeing where I am now was so far-fetched - I wasn't thinking that I could become something of where I am today. I learned that it's never too late to graduate, because I actually graduated on my own time. I actually just recently told a young adult who was in school, I said please make sure you finish, because you're on your own timetable. He thanked me so much for that, because he said he'd never heard that - he was always thinking he needed to hurry and get it done. But you're always on your own timetable. Never give up.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be true to yourself. Don't ever try to change or conform to someone else's belief or identity. Don't try to conform because of someone else's belief or their identity. Stay authentic to who you are.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge I would say is always staying ahead of a threat in my professional career, because there's always something that happens. It's about always trying to be a step ahead, staying ahead of potential safety threats to our schools.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely family. Oh my gosh, family is always first. I actually have 3 grandkids - 2 grandsons, and I just had my first granddaughter. Family is first, their education, making sure they're safe - those are my values. But then also with work, I would say just always teaching and always growing others. Those are the values that guide everything I do.
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