Speaker’s Bio
From the day she held the glossy commemorative book from the King Tut Exhibit at the Met in her hands when she was nine years old, Taneshia Nash Laird has led a life immersed in the visual and performing arts. Thanks to her mother’s effort to expose her to the arts and reveal it as a catalyst for opportunity, Taneshia’s journey toward becoming a nationally recognized leader in arts and economic development was solidified.
A graduate of Bernard Baruch College with an extensive career in business development, project management, strategic communications, and contract negotiation, Taneshia has lead initiatives designed to revitalize distressed communities and help them to thrive. In 2017, she was appointed Executive Director of the Arts Council of Princeton, a nonprofit organization with a rich history of presenting community-focused, cultural programming in the greater Princeton, NJ region. She is only the third executive director since the organization's founding in 1967 and the first one of color.
Her love of community is always foremost in her endeavors, and she is an active leader in organizations that advance the causes of women, minorities, senior citizens, the disabled, and youth in under-resourced communities. She regularly gives talks across the country on social entrepreneurship, community revitalization, and the intersection of the arts, innovation and economic development. Her exuberance and wisdom make her an in-demand speaker audiences can’t get enough of.
Condensed Bio
Taneshia Nash Laird is an accomplished leader with a remarkable career that reflects an unwavering dedication to leveraging the arts and innovation as a platform for community and economic development. In 2017, she was appointed the Executive Director of The Arts Council of Princeton, an award-winning nonprofit organization with a rich history of presenting community-focused, cultural programming in the greater Princeton, NJ region. She is only the third executive director since the organization's founding in 1967 and the first one of color.
A graduate of Bernard Baruch College with an extensive career in business development, project management, strategic communications, and contract negotiation, Nash Laird has lead initiatives that have revitalized distressed communities and caused them to thrive. She has been featured in the New York Times, Ebony, and Rolling Out, and regularly gives talks across the country on the intersection of the arts, innovation and economic development, and social entrepreneurship.
Comprehensive Bio
Taneshia Nash Laird is an accomplished leader with a remarkable career that reflects an unwavering dedication to leveraging the arts and innovation as a platform for community and economic development. In 2017, she was appointed the Executive Director of The Arts Council of Princeton, an award-winning nonprofit organization with a rich history of presenting community-focused, cultural programming in the greater Princeton, NJ region.
She is only the third executive director since the organization's founding in 1967 and the first one of color.
Raised by a single mom in a close-knit community in Westchester County, NY, Taneshia’s interest in the visual and performing arts was ignited at an early age. Through trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to see shows like "The Wiz" on Broadway, her mother taught her a lesson that would become the guiding principle of her career: creativity is a catalyst for opportunity.
Through community-based outreach programs that featured dance and music classes, Taneshia began to excel in the arts. She received scholarships to programs on the campus of Purchase College in both middle and high school, with the latter as part of the highly competitive Westchester Arts Program for advanced high school musicians, visual artists, and dancers. She didn’t know it then, but providing those same kinds of opportunities to others would become her life’s calling.
After graduating from Bernard Baruch College, Taneshia embarked on a vibrant career path in industries such as entertainment, real estate, and government. In roles, she was hired for and those she created through her own business ventures, she developed a valuable skill set in business development, project management, strategic communications, and contract negotiation.
As Director of Economic Development for the City of Trenton, NJ, Taneshia was instrumental in advancing initiatives focused on business attraction, retention, expansion, and job creation. For five years she served as the Executive Director of the Trenton Downtown Association, where she oversaw strategic plans geared toward the revitalization of Downtown Trenton through a unique blend of business development, art, culture, and tourism.
Her love of community is always foremost in her endeavors, and she is an active leader in organizations such as the Artpride NJ Foundation, the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film, and KD New York, a minority-owned dance apparel company. Taneshia regularly gives talks about the intersection of the arts and economic development, social entrepreneurship, and community revitalization. Her exuberance and wisdom make her an in-demand speaker audiences can’t get enough of.
Impressive as her career is, Taneshia Nash Laird is so much more than a list of accomplishments and accolades. She embodies what it means to have your purpose align with your profession - and use them to inspire change. The common denominator in all she has done is using creativity as the currency to build communities, push them forward, and change lives in the process. As a widowed mother of two beautiful daughters, her life’s work thus far has been to give to them the gift her mother gave to her, which is to use the arts as a tool for self-discovery, expression, and limitless opportunity.
