Tanarra Schneider

In my 41 years, I’ve been a dancer, a designer, a cook, and event planner, and for the last 3 years – a mom. I’ve decided titles are irrelevant. After 4 internal posts and 4 agencies, and the afore mentioned culinary sabbatical – I am absolutely the sum of my experiences, and I draw on that collective memory everyday at Fjord. My latest title – Business Design Senior Director – is definitely a marriage of my collective experiences in a profound way. From dance (ages 4 - 21) I learned agility, discipline, perseverance and performance. Cooking (age 26 until …) taught me to be true to who I am, and that authenticity shines through more than we know. It also taught me how to lead with craft in service of others to build community. As an event planner (ages 28 – 33) I learned to be prepared, to check everything twice, and to bring other people’s visions to life – even when I disagree. Design? Where do I begin? The truth is, I’ve always been a designer. The first ‘professional’ design gig I had was an internship at the Beit Hashoah Museum of Tolerance, designing experiences for children too young to visit the core exhibits. And now, 2 decades later, I get to use design every day to change my clients’ businesses, and hopefully the world, for the better.

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