Community Redevelopment

Tara Allegra Adams

New Orleans, LA
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With over 20 years of Philanthropic, Legal and Operational experience, Tara Allegra Adams has committed her impressive career to the pursuit of social justice and equity. A graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a degree in Criminal Justice, Ms. Adams began her career as a legal assistant with the Major Crimes and Gangs division of the Sacramento District Attorney's Office. In an effort to broaden her legal experience, shortly after graduation she became the youngest paralegal at the firm of Burger and Plavan working directly for a named partner, Superior Court Justice, Trena H. Burger-Plavan. A move to the San Francisco Bay Area 5 years later, prompted a shift in focus where she parlayed her legal training and experience into employment law, as a Human Resources Executive for various small firms across the Bay Area. In 2003, after 7 years, she was presented with an exciting opportunity with and up and coming technology start-up, Google, Inc. Though she departed the company in April 2014 after 11 years, Ms. Adams built an impressive philanthropic portfolio of work including roles as a founding member of Google.org, founding member and Global Community Outreach Lead of the Black Googlers Network employee resources group, co-founder of Google's Corporate Social Responsibility division and founder/Global Programs Manager of Google's K-12 Education Outreach Team where she spent her final 4 years with the company focused extensively on the role of STEM/CS global education in improving the global economies of not only the United States, but varying nations across the world. This work directly influenced a recent $50 million investment by Google, Inc. in CS Education for girls and under-represented minorities worldwide. In 2013, Ms. Adams relocated from California to New Orleans, Louisiana in an effort to pursue her passion for the city's redevelopment which was nurtured as a result of her experience volunteering post Hurricane Katrina. Over the past 9 years, Ms. Adams has served in many official and unofficial advisory roles in New Orleans in varying capacities such as non-profit outreach, city government, K-16 education, entrepreneurship and digital literacy with organizations such as the Office of Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu, New Orleans Business Alliance, Greater New Orleans, Inc., Greater New Orleans Foundation, Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, The Brees Dream Foundation and The Idea Village. Passionate about all of the opportunities she has had the honor to experience, Ms. Adams has served in an advisory capacity and board member for many global philanthropic and educational organizations including The Points of Light Foundation’s Conference on Volunteering and Service (where she received a Presidential Volunteer Service Award for her efforts), MIT's Office of Engineering Outreach Programs, National Girls Collaborative Project, National Center for Women in Information Technology and the White House Educate to Innovate Initiative. She is currently an active board member for two local education programs, STEM NOLA and The Learning Lab focused on providing equal access to high quality STEM resources for children across the Greater New Orleans and Gulf Coast regions. In her spare time, Ms. Adams is an avid traveler, a foodie and blogger who enjoyed a brief "stint" as a private chef and is a trained Life Coach specializing in life transitions.