Before coming to Oxford, Tara’s background was in bridging the gap between the worlds of entrepreneurship and education. She worked first for the New Schools Venture Fund (a Silicon Valley venture philanthropy fund), then for the California Charter Schools Association – a state-wide network endorsing an entrepreneurship-based solution for a social cause and creating a quality education for all children through charter schools.
Tara is currently the president of the Goldhirsh Foundation, a $65 million dollar foundation that supports social innovation in Los Angeles. Under Tara’s leadership, the Goldhirsh Foundation has spearheaded the LA2050 initiative which creates a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles and hosts the My LA2050 Grants Challenge, a $1 million crowd-sourced program in which more than 70,000 Angelenos vote online annually on hundreds of proposals aimed at improving LA.
Prior to the Goldhirsh Foundation, Tara served as the founding COO of GOOD. Tara serves on the board of Southern California Grantmakers, the executive council of Innovate Los Angeles (InLA), and as an advisory board member of Opportunity Fund Southern CA and 826LA. Tara is also a Senior Fellow at USC’s Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab.
