Staff: Tanya Martinez

Tanya joined Friends of the Children-SF Bay Area in January 2019. Her roots are in the “San Fran Frisco” Mission and Cortland communities. She comes from a lower-economic class family and grew up around people who shared the same harsh but powerful experience. For many years Tanya worked in the restaurant business as a supervisor and server, but she always knew that her passion was to give back to her community in a more impactful way, so she decided to pursue her dream of teaching. Since completing her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in elementary education, Tanya has fully dedicated herself to advanced educational theories, practical classroom teaching, and community empowerment. As a graduate of San Francisco State University’s 36-unit graduate-level Multiple Subject Teaching Credential Program, she was honored to be a student teacher at Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley. She is also a community advocate and mother of two honor roll athlete high school students. Tanya’s background experiences and personal struggles have inspired her to help others who come from challenging experiences of their own.

She has extensive experience in teaching young children successful life skills, implementing effective pedagogies in the classroom, and educating diverse elementary school communities. In addition, Tanya has dedicated many hours outside of the classroom doing things to uplift her community. For her dedication, she was awarded the 2016 San Francisco Human Rights Commission Hero Award (for her part in advocating for justice in the S.F. Mission district community).

Tanya’s teaching acumen, professionalism, and leadership capabilities have contributed to many successful achievements. She strives to be a culturally responsive, patient, and understanding teacher and mentor who excels in and loves teaching and learning, and who is dedicated to a high caliber work ethic.