Read how Tina leveraged a Year Up United internship to build a career in QA, project management, and community leadership.
Tina has built her career at the intersection of technology, project management, and community. A STAR who learned through experience, training, and determination rather than a traditional four-year degree path, she has spent her career identifying opportunities to improve systems while helping people succeed. Today, her work spans quality assurance, project coordination, process improvement, and community leadership, all grounded in a belief that strong systems and strong communities go hand in hand.
Her journey began with an internship through Year Up United, which opened the door to her first role at AT&T. Early in her career, Tina was often underestimated and faced the reality of the paper ceiling, including being overlooked for opportunities and having to continually prove her skills beyond what appeared on paper. Rather than letting those barriers define her, she focused on results. At AT&T, she noticed a recurring issue with expired email domains and created a proactive process that helped recover approximately $3.5 million in revenue. That experience showed her that she didn’t have to wait for opportunities to appear. She could create them herself. As her career progressed through startup and healthcare environments, she continued building technical, operational, and leadership skills on the job.
A defining chapter of Tina’s journey came at Kobiton, where she built and led a team that included many Per Scholas alumni. There, she helped create a culture rooted in accountability, growth, and shared success while mentoring and supporting others on their own career journeys. Through leadership roles, international projects, and professional certifications, Tina discovered that the work she had been doing all along, bringing people together, improving processes, and driving results, was project management. Today, she continues to invest in her growth while helping others do the same. Her story is a reminder that skills, character, and community can open doors that credentials alone cannot, and that success is even more meaningful when you bring others with you.
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