ABOUT | LEADERSHIP & STAFF
Tessa Tracy
Director of Postsecondary Pathways
Tessa joined YDO in September 2024 as the Director of Postsecondary Pathways. As part of the Pathways team, Tessa works with high school students in the Lawrence Public School system as they prepare for college and other postsecondary plans. Through an individualized approach, the Pathways team provides the resources, information and mentorship needed so that students can make informed decisions aligned with their own passions and priorities.
Prior to joining YDO, Tessa lived and worked in Central America for six years, most recently Costa Rica and prior to that Nicaragua, where she co-founded Biblioteca Girasol, a youth-led, community library located in the rural community of Matapalo. The library is run by 15 teenagers from the community who lead after school programming based on their interests. It also offers scholarships for students to access secondary and postsecondary education, provides mental health services, and organizes experiential learning opportunities through exchanges with youth leaders in other parts of the country. Tessa is deeply committed to expanding access to education, ensuring adolescent mental health support and facilitating youth leadership opportunities. She was drawn to YDO’s mission that centers youth voices and puts youth leadership at the heart of everything we do.
Most recently, she worked as the Director of Programs for an innovative NGO, leading sustainability efforts in the coffee sector by challenging top-down approaches to development and instead investing directly in young local leaders in coffee-growing communities as they crafted change initiatives in their own communities. Through this role, she developed extensive knowledge of leadership development, fundraising, program design, monitoring and evaluation, and project management.
Tessa holds a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Barnard College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, and an M.S. in Community and Organizational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin.