Taneshia Nash Laird is a strategist, storyteller, and systems-changer who builds power where it has been historically denied. Her work spans real estate, the arts, and civic leadership, with a through line of expanding who gets to lead.

She serves as the Executive Director of Project REAP, the nation’s leading initiative helping historically excluded professionals access and excel in commercial real estate. She is also an appointed professor in the Africana Studies Department at Berklee College of Music, where she teaches Entrepreneurship in Black Creative Expression—a course that explores how Black artists build institutions and movements at the intersection of culture, ownership, and business strategy.

A lifelong champion for cultural and economic equity, Taneshia led the nationally acclaimed turnaround of Newark Symphony Hall, raising over $15 million for the historic performing arts center. She also co-founded MIST Harlem, a multimillion-dollar entertainment venue rooted in Black creativity and entrepreneurship.

Taneshia is the founder of Thrive Tide Partners, a boutique platform for strategic speaking engagements, leadership workshops, and values-aligned advising. Her frameworks—including the Culture Core Blueprint and Harmony in Leadership—help organizations rethink community impact through cultural infrastructure, cross-sector collaboration, and inclusive governance.

She currently serves on the boards of the Billie Holiday Theatre, the National Independent Venue Foundation, the Roxbury Cultural District, and The Jar, and is a gubernatorial appointee to the Massachusetts Cultural Policy Advisory Council. Across her leadership, teaching, and advisory work, Taneshia brings a powerful blend of strategic insight, lived experience, and unwavering purpose.

A widowed mother of two daughters, she leads with both grit and grace.