Our People - Mindful Littles

Our people are the heartbeat of Mindful Littles. From our passionate staff to our visionary founder, to our dedicated board members and advisors to the inspiring youth leaders and volunteers, so many people have helped us grow and continue to guide us on our magical journey forward.

The Crew

Tanuka Gordon
Founder & CEO

After being inspired to leave a more compassionate world for her two young daughters, Tanuka discovered her life's purpose with the founding of Mindful Littles. Tanuka's business background in designing engaging product and service experiences for technology companies has come full circle as her innovative vision for Mindful Littles continues to provide transformative compassion experiences for the most important audience- our youth. Tanuka is recognized as a rising leader in education and service. She has spoken at several national education conferences; she is a member of the Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) national cohort and won the Jefferson Award for public service. She has an MBA/MSI from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is certified as a yoga and mindfulness instructor. When not working on her passion project, she loves hiking, camping, traveling, writing...and last but not least spending quality-time with her two daughters and family.

Tanuka Gordon

Founder & CEO

Lisa Sadikman
Content Manager

Lisa is a freelance writer living in northern California with her husband and three daughters. She writes about raising girls, women’s issues and parenting. Her writing can be found on her blog Flingo, Scary Mommy, Motherwell Magazine, Brain, Child, HuffPost Parents and others.

At Mindful Littles, Lisa oversees the website content and communications, supports curriculum and curates resources to inspire mindfulness in both Littles and Bigs. Her passions include surfing, spinning, coffee, finishing crosswords, reading and keeping up with her daughters’ Spotify playlists.

“With three girls of varying ages, I’m often quickly switching modes to meet their needs. It’s definitely a challenge, but tapping into compassion and empathy does wonders to shift the energy from precarious to positive for both me and my girls. I love that Mindful Littles reinforces what’s already true for our kids: they’re born with open hearts and helpful hands. They just need our encouragement to realize their love and care can change the world.”

Lisa Sadikman

Content Manager

Alannah Murray

Program Development Associate

Alannah is a recent public health graduate, and is passionate about advancing public health initiatives and working towards a future where everyone has an equitable opportunity to reach their optimal health.

"Public Health gives me a background in community work, program evaluation, and implementing effective programs."

"I am dedicated to supporting programs that drive positive community outcomes. In this role I will support the creation and development of resource guides and assist with program evaluation and coordination."

Alannah Murray

Program Development Associate

In addition to our core team, we work with an incredible group of people who contribute their legal, design, tech, HR, and financial expertise to keep our business operations running smoothly and efficiently.

Board Members & Advisors

Our work is backed by board members and advisors who believe in us, donating their time and wisdom to support our mission.

Dr. Stephanie Machado, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Health, CSU Chico

Dr. Stephanie Machado is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and Health Services Administration at California State University, Chico. Her background is in public health nutrition and implementation science. She received her Doctorate of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020 and her MPH in Health Behavior/Health Promotion from the University of Arizona. Her BA is in Sociology/Anthropology from Middlebury College.

Stephanie's research focuses on school and community-based interventions to improve nutrition and physical activity opportunities for low-income youth and families. Her passion is working with organizations that run school-based health interventions.

Dr. Stephanie Machado

Advisor, Public Health Research

Julianna Roberts

Advisor, Food Insecurity & Nutrition Education

Julianna brings to Mindful Littles an extensive career background in food systems support - from most recently serving as the Food & Nutrition Administrator at the Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) to pioneering the formation of the North State Food Bank. During her time at BCOE, she worked with local and national programs such as No Kid Hungry to provide food assistance to children and families. From starting the CalKidz Anti-Hunger Summit to Summer Meal Programs to launching the first CalKidz mobile teaching kitchen, Julianna has helped thousands of students with food insecurity and provided learning opportunities for healthy eating. Mindful Littles is thrilled to have Julianna as an advisor and collaborator as we continue expansion of our mindful service learning programs in Butte County and beyond.

Julianna Roberts

Advisor, Food Insecurity & Nutrition Education

Lauren Vertrees Wilson
Director of School Success at XQ Institute

Lauren’s synergistic path to Mindful Littles was sparked by her passion for empowering and supporting students. Lauren began her career teaching diverse, gifted and talented and low-income populations in Denver, Colorado, where she witnessed the power of mindfulness through the eyes of her second and third grade students. Her classroom teaching experiences, complemented by her current work rethinking school systems at XQ Institute and previously in education policy at Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) continues to drive the focus of her work.

Lauren has a Master’s in Elementary Education from USC and an undergraduate degree from UC Davis, where she majored in Managerial Economics. She is also deeply passionate about yoga and is a certified yoga and mindfulness instructor.

Lauren Vertrees Wilson

Advisor, Director of School Success, XQ Institute

Gaynor Brown
Advisor, The Teacher's Guild

Gaynor is a fervent believer of empowering communities to connect through compassion. She has had a critical role in establishing the Teacher's Guild - an organization incubated at IDEO and focused on activating teachers' creativity to solve major challenges. Since 2020, Gaynor has been an advisor with Mindful Littles strengthening the nonprofit's unique culture of design thinking and innovation.

Gaynor Brown

Advisor, The Teacher’s Guild

Michelle Chang
Director, LEAD, San Francisco Unified School District

Michelle is the Director of LEAD (Leadership Equity Achievement and Design) in the San Francisco Unified School District. She assists school leaders in their professional development, creation of support structures, troubleshooting and communications at 17 school sites.

Michelle is also the unofficial advisor to the Pacific Islander Coordinator in the district. She has a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership, Bachelor of Arts in Biology, a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential and a supplemental credential in science.

Michelle Chang

Advisor, School District Leader – SFUSD

Desiree Aquino

Senior Manager, Internal Communications and Community Relations, Simpson Strong-Tie

Desiree is a Senior Manager of Internal Communications and Community Relations at Simpson Strong-Tie. Her role includes managing all internal communications strategy, programs and projects, working with the Executive Leadership Team to support their communications objectives, and leading companywide strategy and relationships with national and international nonprofit partners to create and promote positive social impact.

Desiree also holds a professional coaching certification with a specialization in Energy Leadership assessment. Over the last few years, as an advisor and now a board member, she has graciously offered her communications expertise to Mindful Littles as we continue to grow.

In addition to Mindful Littles, Desiree supports several other nonprofit organizations, including the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Campaign, and Pandemic of Love.

Desiree Aquino

Board Member

Molly Bellero Fischer

Head of Enterprise Sales, Modern Treasury

Molly is the Head of Enterprise Sales at Modern Treasury, a platform that automates the cycle of digital money movement. In addition to serving on the Mindful Littles board, Molly volunteers with Lion's Heart running a service volunteer group for 12-year-old young women.

When she's not working or volunteering, Molly likes to hike, walk with her dog, watch her kids play sports and hang out with friends. She also has a regular meditation practice. If she could have one super power, Molly says it would be to be a singer because "music connects people like nothing else!" She lives in Moraga with her son, daughter, husband and giant schnauzer!

Molly Bellero Fischer

Board Member

Maggie Roach Black
Co-Founder, Bloom Leadership

Maggie is the Co-Founder of Bloom Leadership where she coaches, trains, consults and facilitates with the goal of making the workplace a better place. Previously, she served as Vice President of Programs for Galileo Learning. Maggie holds a BA in Psychology & Political Science and an MA in Education, both from Stanford University.

She says her dream superpower would be to "...understand what someone is truly trying to communicate, regardless of my own perspective, speaking different languages, communication styles, or other barriers."

Maggie Roach Black

Advisor, Co-Founder, Bloom Leadership

Cuong Nguyen
Head of People, Playworks

Cuong Nguyen is the Head of People Operations at Playworks, a national education organization dedicated to using the power of play to transform children's social and emotional health. He has been an active advisor to Mindful Littles since 2020 providing instrumental support in human resources issues and strategies for the growing nonprofit.

Cuong Nguyen

Advisor, Human Resources

Christine Tringale
VP Implementation and Data Strategy, Deed

Christine is Director of Data & Analytics at VIVA Social Impact Partners, a consulting firm dedicated to amplifying the work of impact-forward organizations and initiatives through data, strategy, and communications services. She specializes in drawing insights from data sets and presenting the data in visual ways that facilitate transparent communication and promote learning and discussion. Prior to VIVA, Christine worked in strategy roles with Participant Media, Disney, LEK Consulting and Deloitte Consulting.

Christine earned her MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and her Bachelor of Science in Business from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

Christine Tringale

Advisor, Social Impact Data & Evaluation

Tania Wong
Associate Principal in Accounting, Airbnb

With her deep experience in finance and accounting, Tania provides valuable insights to Mindful Littles from an analytical perspective. As a yogi herself, she quickly learned about and resonated with the Mindful Littles mission and truly believes in the importance of fostering mindfulness and compassion in our youngest generations.

Tania Wong

Advisor, Finance