Lisa Olson has been a member of Tandem’s Board of Directors since July 2019. She is also the team lead for Tandem’s collaboration with the Full Circle Fund. Lisa sat down with Tandem Deputy Director Sara Rizik-Baer, earlier this year to tell us more about herself and her involvement with Tandem.

About Lisa

Tandem board member Lisa Olson.

Although Lisa started her career as a lawyer in the high tech industry, she has been involved in educational nonprofit work ever since her three children were very young, and, specifically, she has been involved in early childhood education advocacy for the last seven years. She most recently was on the board of directors for 10 Books A Home (now known as Thiebault Method Tutoring), an early education nonprofit serving preschoolers in the low-income community of East Palo Alto, and also served as its Development Director. Other nonprofits Lisa has been involved in include Children of Ethiopia Education Fund, Citizen Schools, Sequoia High School Mentoring Program, and Project Read; Lisa currently serves on the board of the Wajirat Foundation, which supports the education of young adults in Ethiopia. Lisa is also a team leader for Full Circle Fund, a community organization that leverages resources and accelerates nonprofits to build a better Bay Area. Tandem was chosen as the Full Circle Fund’s 2019 Early Childhood Education partner.

In her spare time, Lisa enjoys cooking, eating at restaurants, and loves to travel (and eat while she travels!). 

In her own words…

Q: What made you decide to serve on Tandem’s board?

Lisa: I got to know Tandem through the Full Circle Fund. But even before I knew Tandem, I met Tandem Board Vice President Rebecca Haskell at an event, and she asked me to consider joining the board. It was a passion for early childhood education and the importance of supporting low income students getting the best early education they can. In San Francisco, Tandem is one of the very few organizations doing that work. 

Q: What inspires you about Tandem’s work?

Lisa: Tandem has a great model that combines a lot of existing resources in a child’s life to support a child to get ready for kindergarten. It is not simple, but not complex. I like that Tandem’s model is effective, and that it empowers parents, teachers, and grandparents. I respect the fact that Tandem uses resources that are there, but uses them in a new and different way to solve an old problem.

Q: What is Tandem’s hidden talent?

Lisa: One of Tandem’s unique skills is its ability to truly empathize and understand  families—their strengths, their weaknesses—and come up with positive ways to  support them in making things better for their children. Ultimately, Tandem co-creates solutions for families. It is not a top-down program, it’s flexible. What a StoryCycles® home looks like in one house can look different from how the family across the street is doing it…and both are okay!

We are thrilled to have Lisa Olson with our Tandem community and on our Board of Directors. To learn more about other Tandem board members, visit Our Board. If you are interested in volunteering your time on the Tandem board, please contact us for more information.