Our People

Our team includes all the humans- past and present- who have been part of our Mindful Littles family. From our visionary founder to passionate staff, board members,  advisors, youth leaders and volunteers, so many people continue to amplify our mission each and everyday. 

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

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

Eliza Becker

Former elementary school educator

Eliza is a parent, longtime board member of the nonprofit, CoachArt, and an educator with 10 years experience teaching in elementary school classrooms. She is now raising three littles of her own, is heavily involved with her kids’ schools, and has found a deep appreciation for her Jewish roots driven by values in action. 

For Eliza, parenting truly highlights the importance of practicing self-regulation tools, mindfulness, and compassion with our children. She is thrilled to share the benefits of mindful and intentional living through her work with Mindful Littles!

Eliza Becker

Board Member

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

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, Curriculum Development

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, People Operations

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

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

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

Advisor, Strategy & Fundraising

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, People Operations

Desiree Aquino

Desiree Aquino

Advisor, Grants & Impact

"Wow, on behalf of our Girl Scouts troop, a heart-felt Thank You for the thoughtful and enlightening workshop! We are so excited about the breathing and movement skills you shared, linking the concepts of feeling good and doing good, and reminding us these calming tools are useful everyday! This was an invaluable workshop, really well done, and we so appreciate what you all do!”
— Bay Area parent and Girl Scout Troop leader
"I would 100% recommend this program to any school or district as a way to help students learn and utilize social/emotional life long skills and strategies to become more engaged and better learners."
— Michelle John, Superintendent, Paradise Unified
"I learned that in life you have ups and you have downs. I learned something...that is not easy to learn. I learned how much one person can change a whole community."
— 5th grade participant, Mindful Service Learning