Tanya Stinson

I've been in the field of performance, process, and quality improvement for going on 20 years. I started my lean journey back in 2007 when I was working in a coal mine, which was very outside the box when you think of a female working in a coal mine. I worked there for 4 years until the coal mine was closing in 2011, and I ended up relocating from small-town Northeast Texas to the DFW area. I wanted to get into healthcare because making improvements in healthcare means you're helping living, breathing people and eliminating waste, errors, and inefficiencies for patients and their families, not just for inanimate objects like when working in a coal mine. I wanted to make those positive changes for patients. In November 2020, during the height of COVID, I started my own business called Leaning Towards Change, where I teach, coach, and mentor people and leaders on performance, process, and quality improvement methods, tools, and techniques, specifically coaching them on Lean Six Sigma tools. My business has been going strong for almost 6 years now, and I'm grateful for it. It has built itself naturally through positive feedback from the people that have taken my classes and people that I've mentored and coached. I don't advertise, but I'm now getting national support from one large organization called NOSI who signed up to support me and host my classes. I'm hoping one day it'll grow into something much bigger.