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Tamra Ryan
Tamra Ryan
01:19

Tamra Ryan

Women's Bean Project

Denver, CO USA

"Whenever we think that we’re giving, we’re always getting. I came to this place thinking that it was about others’ transformation, and in the process, I’ve been transformed."

Career Roadmap

Tamra's work combines: Business, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People

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Day In The Life

CEO

I manage a social enterprise that provides stepping stones to change the lives of chronically unemployed women.

02:13

Day In The Life Of The CEO Of A Social Enterprise

My Day to Day

My main role as CEO is to think about the future of the business. I think about what our future will look like and how we might get there. I then bring in resources to support the company in realizing that future—that could mean supporting sales or fundraising. I also get to meet and spend time building relationships with all of the women who work for us. The third piece of my job is to help others within the organization do their jobs. That primarily means performing coaching or trainings.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Kinesiology

    University of Colorado at Boulder

  • Graduate Degree

    Physiology, General

    Adelphi University

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

I've taken a lot of twists and turns

  • 1.

    I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the eldest of four children.

  • 2.

    When I graduated high school, my dream job was to design shoes for Nike, so I went to the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned my bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.

  • 3.

    After graduating from college, I thought I might want to be a researcher, so I moved to New York for graduate school and earned a master’s degree in physiology.

  • 4.

    By the time I finished graduate school, I knew becoming a researcher was not the right fit for me, so I moved to Chicago, Illinois and started my career.

  • 5.

    As I gained more experience, my career path led me into marketing.

  • 6.

    I eventually realized that the things I valued most were back in Colorado, so I moved back to my home state.

  • 7.

    I learned about Women’s Bean Project and felt drawn to the mission, so I spent about six months volunteering on the sales and marketing committee.

  • 8.

    When the position for CEO opened up, I decided to apply and ended up getting the job—I’ve been the CEO of Women’s Bean Project for 18 years now!

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    You can't change the world.

  • How I responded:

    This isn't something I've heard directly, but many people subscribe to the idea that you can't make a big enough difference to change the world. I've learned that you don't necessarily need to change the world. Making a difference for one person or a couple of people is enough. If I can do that, that's a good enough legacy for me.

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