Tanja Roos

Tanja earned a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on Sustainable Development from The University of California — Berkeley and a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco’s School of Management in Nonprofit Administration. Tanja’s early career was dedicated to co-creating MEarth, a grassroots nonprofit that provides high-impact youth and family programming in Monterey County, focused on ecological stewardship, hands-on science, healthy food choices, and community action. She then went on to help develop transformational programs for global audiences at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. There, she supported the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts through her work on the scholarship committee and by helping coordinate a multi-year healing and reconciliation process with local Indigenous leadership.

Tanja strongly believes that her academic and professional pursuits have largely been informed by her upbringing. Growing up a daughter of an immigrant in a multicultural & multiethnic household, Tanja was fortunate to travel abroad often, which she sees as foundational in shaping her holistic and inclusive worldview. Tanja was honored to receive the ‘Visionary Leadership’ award from the Democratic Women of Monterey County in 2012 and was named one of the “25 For the Next 25 Years,” by Monterey County Weekly in 2013. Deeply dedicated to leaving the world a better place than how she found it, Tanja works hard to ensure that her efforts are in service to the greatest good for ALL.

Tanja lives on a mini-homestead replete with a vegetable and flower garden, a vermicompost system, a chicken coop with laying hens, a beehive, and her beloved rescue cat and new puppy. She enjoys going on adventures in wild places, tending her soil, getting lost in a good book, cooking homegrown meals, and spending quality time with her loved ones.