TITAN Spotlight: Taneshia Nash Laird — Expanding Power at the Intersection of Culture, Capital and Community
Taneshia Nash Laird, Board Director, Strategic Advisor and Executive Director of Project REAP
Fresh off being named an Industry Honoree at the 8th Annual Side Hustle Honors, Taneshia Nash Laird continues to demonstrate what purposeful leadership looks like across industries, institutions and communities.
For Taneshia, leadership has never been about access alone. It has been about expanding who gets to lead and who gets to build lasting influence.
Across every chapter of her career, she has operated at a powerful intersection where culture meets capital and where opportunity is intentionally extended to those historically left outside the room. Whether in commercial real estate, the arts or civic leadership, Taneshia has built a reputation for connecting vision to resources and ensuring that growth is both strategic and inclusive.
Today, she serves as Executive Director of Project REAP, the commercial real estate industry’s leading pipeline for high-potential professionals from underrepresented backgrounds. With a 30-year legacy and more than 2,000 alumni nationwide, Project REAP continues to play a critical role in reshaping leadership across an entire industry. Under Taneshia’s leadership, the organization is strengthening its impact and advancing long-term pathways into one of the most influential sectors of the economy.
Her latest recognition as an Industry Honoree by Side Hustle Honors celebrates exactly that kind of leadership. The award recognizes excellence, innovation and impact in entrepreneurship and advisory work, honoring leaders who are building influence beyond a single title or organization. For Taneshia, whose career has consistently bridged business, culture and civic leadership, it is another milestone in a career defined by purpose and lasting impact.
Her work extends beyond a single institution. Through her advisory firm, Thrive Tide Partners, Taneshia counsels cultural organizations, public agencies, founders and mission-driven leaders on strategy, governance and growth. From board retreats to leadership development to institutional transformation, her approach is grounded in clarity, equity and cultural power. She helps organizations shape narratives, direct resources and influence systems at scale.
Taneshia also invests directly in the next generation as a faculty member at Berklee College of Music, where she teaches emerging creative entrepreneurs how to navigate and lead within complex industries. Her work in the classroom reflects the same throughline that defines her career: building leaders who are equipped to translate talent into sustained impact.
Her path to this work is as dynamic as the impact she now drives. Earlier in her career, Taneshia led the transformation of a historic performing arts center, raising $15 million and eliminating years of financial deficits. She has also co-founded an entertainment venue and served as a city economic development director, further deepening her expertise in building institutions, revitalizing communities and aligning vision with execution.
Across sectors, roles and industries, one thing remains consistent: helping mission-driven organizations think clearly at pivotal moments. Whether building institutions, advising boards or developing future leaders, Taneshia has a gift for bringing clarity where it matters most.
Her leadership is defined not only by what she creates, but by who she creates access for. She understands that influence becomes more powerful when it is shared, and that leadership is ultimately measured by how many others are able to rise alongside you.
That perspective, combined with her ability to move between boardrooms, classrooms and community spaces, positions her as a powerful force in shaping the future of leadership, culture and capital.
Taneshia’s work points to a larger truth. When you understand how systems operate, you gain the ability to change them.
Whether advising institutions, developing leaders or expanding access to capital, she is focused on more than opportunity. She is focused on influence. She is focused on who holds it, how it is distributed and what it makes possible.
Her leadership is intentional. It is strategic. And it is built to endure.
In a moment when organizations are rethinking leadership, governance and long-term impact, her work offers both a blueprint and a challenge: expand who gets to lead, and everyone benefits.
We are honored to have her in the TITAN community.
Connect with Taneshia:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/taneshia
Website: www.taneshia.com
For Taneshia, leadership has never been about access alone. It has been about expanding who gets to lead and who gets to build lasting influence.
