Meet Tinesia

Tinesia Conwright is a respected Nonprofit Executive and Career Development Specialist who aims to help young girls of color thrive in society both personally and professionally. As a woman driven by passion, Tinesia features an extensive background involving executive leadership, team/community engagement, and mentorship. She enjoys every moment of leveraging her experience to guide today’s youth towards cultivating the fulfilled, successful futures they deserve.

Born and raised in Southeastern San Diego surrounded by gang violence, poverty, and little opportunity, Tinesia learned early on, the rooted value of having resilience and a strong work ethic to get ahead. She used dance as an expressional outlet during these humbling times. At the age of 15 she joined a local dance group at her church and began to recognize just how powerful youth groups were at influencing social change and uplifting both peers and community. The group was discovered by Kirk Franklin shortly after, and Tinesia had the opportunity to join his Nu Nation Tour during her high school senior year in 1999. This ultimately sparked Tinesia’s flame to become the change society needed and ultimately transition into the empowering community activist she is today amongst girls of color.

Over the last two+ decades, Tinesia has built a strong inventory of career progressions that have led to her current endorsed standing. To date, Tinesia is a graduate of San Diego State University (BA) and the University of San Diego(MA), a 2021 Graduate of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative Leadership, a 2019 Graduate of RISE San Diego Urban Leadership Program, and serves as a Mentor for RISE and on the San Diego Police Department Chief’s LGBT Advisory Board. In addition, Tinesia is both the Founder and Executive Director of DETOUR Empowers (2010).

With a goal of increasing access to higher education and employment opportunities for girls of color, DETOUR has since forged pathways for over 1,000 girls towards educational success and concurrently launched the FANCY in STEAM initiative in 2016 to motivate girls to enter careers in STEAM fields. From then to now, 100% of the high school graduates were accepted into 4-year universities, with 73% of them pursuing a degree in the STEAM industry. Along with this, DETOUR is valued for its extended support programs. Those said programs include the FANCY Ambassador Paid Internship Program, Teen Girls Expo, Leadership Academy, and additional scholarship youth development programs that have been empowering thousands of girls since 2009.

Fast forward to today, Tinesia’s dedications to empower teen girls through academic achievement, leadership development, confidence building, and various engaging, hands-on workshops have not gone unnoticed. To date, she has gained numerous rewards and recognitions for her above and beyond commitments to optimize girls of color for full-scope leadership success. Those include:

• the San Diego LGBT Pride Champion of Pride Award
• the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Under 40 Award
• the Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Organization for Diversity and Inclusion Award
• the San Diego Community Assist Impact Community Service Award
• the RISE San Diego -SD Women In Civil Rights Award
• the National Council of Negro Women
• the San Diego Chapter of the BAPAC Community Service Award
• the African American Association of Educators Unsung Hero Award
• Molina Healthcare Community Champion Award
• the Moxie Theater, Open Heart Leaders, the Black Girlz Rock San Diego Community Change Award
• the San Diego County Urban League Young Professionals Top Forty Under 40 Award
• the Urban Pride Community Leadership Award
• a 79th District’s Assembly-member Dr. Shirley Weber 2014 Women of the Year Award Nomination
• a City of San Diego Human Relations Commission Commendation
• the Blue Heart Foundation Community Award

As a visionary fueled by mission excellence, nothing makes Tinesia happier than helping young girls of color translate their leadership visions into tangible realities while ensuring they have positive constructive experiences along the way. Overall, she has a genuine love for unlocking innate potential and demonstrates that through her forward-thinking approaches that solidify empowering, transformative-rich futures that society as a collective can benefit from. This, in conjunction with her motivating energy towards promoting inclusiveness, inner strength, and resilience, and her reputation for accentuating the entire human/nonprofit experience, is what shaped Tinesia into the endorsed change agent she is today – one who continuously strives to raise the standards bar for youth development, her community, and for the entire trajectory of future leadership as a whole.

PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENTS

• San Diego Urban League                                                                 First Time Homebuyers Seminar
• San Diego State University                                                                    ASU High School Conference
• San Diego Pride                                                                                                      Leadership Academy
• UCSD AIDS Research Institute & Mental Health America                              YES Youth Summit
• Eleanor’s Place For Women                                                                                        Anniversary Gala
• University of San Diego                                                   Nonprofit Board Governance Symposium
• Jacobs Center of Innovation                                                          Career Enhancement Workshops
• San Diego Housing Commission                                                  Career Enhancement Workshops
• San Diego Workforce Partnership                                   African-American Achievement Summit
• RISE San Diego                       Technical Training & Coaching for Small & Emerging Nonprofits

CERTIFICATIONS          

• DISC Assessment Facilitator
• Myers-Brigg Type Indicator Facilitator
• Grant Writing,  SDSU Extended Studies                   
• Foundational Skills for Front Line Managers,  SDSU Extended Studies      
• Coaching for Organizational Excellence, SDSU Extended Studies                       

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS & BOARD SERVICE

• City of San Diego Human Relations Commission
• San Diego Workforce Partnership Youth Council
• San Diego Police Department Chief’s LGBT Advisory Board
• SDSU Alumni Association
• San Diego Coaches Alliance
• San Diego County Urban League