Influential Woman · Non Profit

Tatiana Washington

Senior Director of National Partnerships, Girls Leadership

Chicago, IL

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Master's of Science in Nonprofit Management from DePaul University (2016) Degree Bachelor's of Arts in Public Relations from Illinois State University

Her Story

About Tatiana

I've been working in the education nonprofit field for 10 years, and I'm currently with Girls Leadership, an organization that equips schools and youth-serving organizations with resources and tools to help empower young people to lead and create environments where they're building trust and confidence within themselves. My main areas of expertise are growth in scaling organizations, partnership development, and team development. A typical day for me looks like getting an idea of our current pipeline, creating strategies around how we should expand our footprint - right now we're looking to stabilize our presence on the West and East Coast while starting a new footprint in the Midwest and South. I have meetings with our program team and CEO to discuss our vision for expansion, and I work to make sure our programs are in a solid enough space so that I can actually sell and scale them. I also interface with partners, getting to know them and understanding what gaps exist in their organizations to see where Girls Leadership can solve those problems for them. One of my most notable achievements was in my last organization, where I led a team in taking us from a single state to operating out of 3 or 4 different states - taking us from an Illinois team to a Midwest team. In my current role, even though it's only been about 60 days, I've been helping us get to a space of operational excellence and improving our internal systems so that we can actually scale and grow.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Tatiana

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say for someone wanting to get into nonprofit, align yourself with an organization that has a mission that you're genuinely passionate about. I think nonprofit work can be incredibly rewarding, but the name of the game with nonprofits is that they are under-resourced and understaffed. They pay lower, so the life cycle of a staff member could be long, or it could also be short because folks want to get paid more or just move on to the next thing. So know you're going to wear several hats. Know that you're going to be the one that's tasked with engineering and building and starting things from the ground. And if you're connected with an organization that you're passionate about, I think that that passion will be the thing that anchors you during those hard times when you're having to do so many things at one time.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I have a two-fold answer for that. One is funding - with this new administration, there have been so many cutbacks that funders are afraid. They are afraid to fund work that's associated with any kind of label that this administration has deemed as unsavory, or you shouldn't fund that work. So that is actually the reason why my role is so important. I'm helping organizations to create a financial footprint outside of relying on funding from the government and other organizations that may be cutting back on what their funding looks like. And then a personal one for me is, of course, juggling being a first-time mother while leading in my career. That has been - I could write a book on that. I was laid off right after my maternity leave. I kind of wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and be home with her, then re-entering the workforce. It's like 3 big events that happened within this 15-month span. And I envision that that's gonna take a while to get fully adjusted to, to being a first-time mom while also working.

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