My mission is to provide and create spaces in relationships, conversations, communities and larger society for all people across all identities to feel seen and appreciated for their authentic selves. Williams, lead coach and consultant for Authentic Coaching and Consulting works to provide and create spaces in organizations for all people to feel seen, heard and appreciated for their authentic se
lves. Most recently serving as Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Community Engagement at Union Theological Seminary, Tanya was born and raised in Houston, Texas by working-class African American Southern parents and currently resides and is based in New York City. Prior to Union, Tanya served as Associate Dean of Students for Diversity and Inclusion at Mount Holyoke College and has 19 years of diversity, inclusion, and social justice programming and facilitation experience in higher education including positions at University of Illinois, Southwestern University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Tanya has taught courses such as Social Diversity in Education, Exploring Differences and Common Ground through Intergroup Dialogue, and the Psychology of Racism. Additionally, Tanya has served as a Lead Facilitator with LeaderShape, a national organization committed to creating leaders with integrity, for 19 years and as a Senior Trainer with Class Action, a national organization committed to ending classism. Dr. Williams holds an Ed.D. in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and her dissertation is titled “A Process of Becoming: U.S. Born African American and Black Women in a Process of Liberation from Internalized Racism”. She also holds an MS in Educational Administration and BA in Journalism and English from Texas A&M University. Tanya recently launched a new practice coaching and consulting practice committed to assisting individuals and organizations align with their core (beliefs, values, and visions) to create the socially just world they want to live in.
