With Networks Since: 2023
Biography
As Networks’ Enterprise Project Officer, Tieshka (pronounced Tish-ka) K. Smith, MPM brings 20+ years of experience in the non-profit sector (workforce development, youth development, behavioral health, managed care) as a senior project manager, program evaluator and grants administrator to support Networks’ portfolio of cross-disciplinary programs that promote inclusivity, social justice and diversity and to meaningfully attract and engage new audiences and partnerships. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Northwestern University and a Master of Project Management from the DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management. Tieshka was part of a team (led by Dr. Mehmet Oz) that published groundbreaking research on the effects of soda consumption on New York City high school students.
Additional Information
Tieshka is also a Philadelphia-based photographer, curator, and cultural content creator. She utilizes a variety of tools at her disposal to challenge and disrupt the status quo, in partnership with the communities in which she works. Her artistic practice interrogates inequities in place making and civic identity formation, how neighborhood-level memories and values are shaped, and the ways in which the marginalization of people and ideas adversely affects American life and culture. Her photographs have been featured online, in print, and in galleries, museums, libraries, and other community spaces throughout the United States. Tieshka has received multiple commissions and grant awards for her work. She was also part of a collective of Philadelphia photographers that created a body of work that documented the 2013 mass closing of 23 Philadelphia public schools. In 2014, UPenn GSE’s Perspectives on Urban Education published a statement jointly written by the collective about this project.
Certifications and Awards
- Community Development Academy, University of Missouri Extension
- Advanced Grant Writing Skills (Program Code 7871-2005), University of Missouri
- Effective Federal Grant Proposals (Program Code 6953-2002), University of Missouri
- Grant Writing Clinic, University of Missouri
- The Grantsmanship Training Program, The Grantsmanship Center