Tamaya Garcia was born in San Jose, California where her and her four siblings were raised by their hardworking grandmother. She attended San Francisco State University where her studies focused on the mass incarceration of Latino and African American youth and where she was introduced to a community of activists. In 2005 she graduated with honors and a Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology. During her last two years in college she turned her education into action by becoming CYWD’s courtroom outreach volunteer, providing legal information and referrals to young people and their families navigating the juvenile justice system. Upon her graduation she was hired as the Development Director. Since then she has been a fierce advocate for CYWD securing national funding and growing individual donor support. She is a member of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice and founder of Literary Latinas, a volunteer group that promotes Latina writers. During her free time she studies Flamenco and Spanish. She lives in the Excelsior District in San Francisco where she and her husband are raising the next generation of leaders, their son and daughter, Santos and Luna.