Get to know Tanisha Moncrieffe-Grant, our Curriculum Developer!

How would you describe yourself in three words?

If I could describe myself in three words, I would say passionate, compassionate, and intentional. I’m a passionate person because anytime I set my mind on something, I want to see it through with my whole being, especially when it comes to my goals and ambitions. I’m compassionate because I'm always concerned about others and want to make people feel comfortable and secure whenever they’re around me. Lastly, I would describe myself as being very intentional because I want everything I do to have a purpose.

These words don’t exist in a vacuum. Rather, I think they are a testament to all my years of schooling and the positions I’ve held. Together, they’ve shaped me into the person I am today. 

Could you describe your educational journey? What inspired you to commit yourself to education? 

Regarding education, I tried a lot of things. I personally believe in trying things and worrying about student loans later. When I got to college, I started with American sign language. I took this one class called “Deaf Sociology,” and my professor was deaf. Taking that class really allowed me to understand his perspective and how he operated in the world as a deaf person. It also got me thinking about education and what it means to meet the needs of different students. I really enjoyed the class, and I ended up getting my associate’s degree in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies.

Shortly after, I also ended up getting married. It was also when I was introduced to my sister-in-law, who has Down Syndrome. Over the course of knowing her, I watched her kind of get pushed through the educational system in New York City and found myself wishing that she could have had her needs met and more could be done on her behalf. I wish my husband and I could have advocated for her more and got her more resources. And unfortunately, you know, life happens. I was younger. I didn't know exactly what I needed to do in order to get her the resources that she needed. But her experience was my driving force to be like, okay, in the future, we need better resources for students with Down Syndrome or with different needs. We need better resources for their educational success. As my professor taught me, education can and should understand the differing needs of students. This experience pushed me to get my master's degree in curriculum and instruction because I wanted to figure out how we can formulate curriculum, content, and information to meet the needs of our students and learners in general.

You’re focused on education, but you’ve navigated many

different career and professional spaces. Could you speak

on this?

I’ve always been as fluid education-wise as I was career-wise. I kind of just wanted to be in spaces where I knew that I was going to make an impact. Whether that was at a nonprofit where I started, where I worked with high school kids to get them career-ready, or in another space. I wanted to directly see an impact. It was a similar thing in the medical spaces I worked in. I worked with patients and could directly see that impact. With TCI, although I'm not directly seeing the impact because I'm not in California, I hear about it. I hear the feedback, and I can see how my work is impacting the lives of our mentees. That’s really important to me. Anytime I get into a professional space, I want to make sure that what I'm doing there is impactful and meaningful. 

What lessons have you learned in navigating these different

spaces?

The biggest lesson I learned is how to pivot. I think for a long time. I had an idea about how things in my life were supposed to go. However, I quickly learned that you have to pivot sometimes, and that's okay. Pivoting, too, also doesn't always look like what you think. For example, right now, I work in a field that has to do with social service policies, which is not where I would love to be right now. I want and prefer to operate in the education space. Like K-12 higher education space. But I see how that pivot would help me reach the next step. Realizing this wasn’t easy, but when I did, it was valuable.

Another pivot example is when I worked in the medical field. Again not necessarily where I wanted to be, but that pivot definitely taught me a lot of things in regards to organizational operations, patients, understanding different needs, and how adult learners are valuable and showed me that education and meeting the needs of different learners is something that can be done in a lot of different spaces. I’ve also learned how to be uncomfortable because growth comes in that uncomfortable space. Pivoting and navigating various industries taught me a lot and gave me varied skills and experiences. I could go into many industries and make an impact, and I am proud of that. 

Pivoting and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is my general advice, but as a Black woman, my biggest piece of advice would be to talk to other Black women. Growing up, a lot of professional information was gatekept. I don’t think it was purposeful. It was done because we [Black women] tend to hold opportunities close to our chest because we don't know what's going to be taken from us or given to us. So, we try to hold onto those opportunities. But I think for me, especially amongst my group of friends and the Black women that I keep in my circle, it was essential that we talked about what's going on in our careers. While I work in the education space and I have friends that work in tech spaces or health administration spaces, by talking, we found that we could actually do work in each other's industries. Having those conversations about what's really out there for us and building that network helps to build a better collective. We're able to share more information, share more resources, and move along as a community. So, I advise any young Black women to talk about their careers and future plans with their friends.

Getting into TCI and mentorship, I wanted to ask if you've

had any mentors or influential people in your life?

You know, I've never had a mentor, and that’s a part of what drew me to TCI in the first place. I commune and take advice from my peers. The people in the same predicament and spaces as me are the ones giving me advice. But we're all still, you know, on the same level of trying to figure out what life looks like. So, when Nicole presented TCI to me and the idea of mentorship for young Black girls, I was drawn in because that's exactly what I wished I had growing up. 

I hope to find a mentor in the near future. In fact, sometimes I look at Nicole as a mentor, which I don't know that she knows. But you know, I do ask her questions about TCI and how she started the nonprofit because I think it’s very inspiring, and I see myself going into the nonprofit space and wanting guidance. I think that it's hard at times for Black women to find mentorship for similar reasons why we tend to gatekeep information. But I do hope that as we progress educationally and professionally, we are able to open ourselves up and offer guidance and mentorship to the next generation. 

So right now, you’re redesigning the TCI curriculum for my

age group and then designing the curriculum for another

age group. Could you talk a bit more about what kind of

information or messages you’re trying to center and get

across to mentees?

So, we have the overall topics that we want to cover for TCI. But, when designing the curriculum, I also like to tap into my own experiences and ask myself what I could have benefited from knowing when I was your age or the other mentee's age. For example, some of the topics that we covered are financial literacy, and in doing the research and talking to individuals and getting advice on what we should include in it. I’m like, oh, I didn't even know this at my big age. So including something like financial literacy in the curriculum, it’s going to be so much better and worthwhile for them to learn about it at a younger age than, you know, 15 years down the line.

There’s more, too. We're trying to cover topics about Black women and attitude. We’re trying to help our mentees navigate professional spaces that still hold biases and stereotypes against Black women when they speak their minds. So we’re trying to answer questions like,  how do you authentically speak up for yourself without being perceived as having an attitude right, or being disgruntled, or being upset? How do you take up space without brandishing? Again, this came from my own experience navigating a professional space that was prejudicial towards me when I worked in Virginia. When I add things to the curriculum, they are from the heart and address things I hope will better prepare our mentees to go out into the world and, be their most authentic selves, and chase down their dreams and aspirations.

What are things that bring you joy?

I am an avid reader, and I read one genre: Romance. I love romance novels. I love 2 people falling in love. I want a happy ending for them. I love reading. It's honestly a problem because I will stay up till 3 AM to read an entire book. I love a good book. 

I also fully believe in retail therapy. So I will shop all the time. I love shopping! I also like more handsy things like arts and crafts and DIY. Anytime I have the ability to do something like an arts and crafts project, I do it because it makes me happy and brings me peace alongside my books and shopping. Between those 3 things, that's how I spend a lot of my free time.

Any book recommendations?

My favorite romance author is Jasmine Guillory. I’ve read all her books. I also discovered an author who wrote a murder mystery book I mistook for a romance novel lol. Her name is Jennifer Weiner. I would recommend Big Summer for those interested in murder mystery, and she has also written other dramaesque books.