MEET THE 2024 LEADERSHIP TRAILBLAZER FINALIST: Tanisha Briley

Today’s Trailblazer: Tanisha Briley

The League caught up with Trailblazer Finalist, Tanisha Briley, City Manager, Gaithersburg, Maryland to talk about being named a Leadership Trailblazer and having a career in public service:

Q: Congratulations on being named a finalist for the Leadership Trailblazer Award. What does it mean to you to be nominated? 

Organizations like the League of Women in Government continue to be critical to the development and advancement of women and other underrepresented groups in our field. So many have sacrificed so much to forge the path that I now have the privilege to walk. It is an honor to be considered a small contributor to the work from which I have greatly benefited. I am thankful for the reminder this nomination has provided me to reassess and double down on my efforts to assist more women in public service.

Q: What led you to a career in public service?

Coming from very humble beginnings, my early life was shaped directly by local public programs and services. As I grew older, I began to appreciate the positive impact that public servants had on my life, and I knew that I wanted to find a way to do the same for others and ensure that those programs and services that were so instrumental in my life would be available to others in the future. I thought my civic life would consist of donating time and money to causes that were important to me while I pursued a career in business, but during by my junior year of college, I realized that I wanted to build a career serving others and improving communities.

What many in our field who may not have personally experienced the challenges of growing up in poverty, the work we do has the potential to create generational transformation in the lives of those we serve. Thanks to many great government programs and dedicated public servants, my life, and the lives of my family from my mother to my niece and nephews, is vastly different than our origin stories would have predicted. It is a beautiful honor to hold a position that allows me to play a part in someone’s tomorrow being better than their today, no matter the hand they were dealt or the deck that may try to stand in their way.

Q: Who were your mentor(s) or advocate(s) in your career?

I have so many! I consider a mentor to be someone who does something so well that you want to learn from them and emulate their best qualities. My mentors tend to be real people in my life like my husband, mom, former bosses, teachers, colleagues, and great friends. I have been exceedingly fortunate to have crossed paths with giants in our profession like the great Sy Murray (ret) who introduced me to city management and people like Peggy Merriss, Valerie Lemmie and former colleague turned friend Karen Boyd who never hesitate to answer my call and have provided incredible advice to me over the years. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge one of my biggest advocates, my former boss, Craig Malin, who helped to shape my career by giving me my first local government job. Craig pushed me to see past the obstacles to find the possible no matter how insurmountable the challenge may seem. I have also been blessed to have staff who have been extraordinary advocates for me and for our shared mission to serve with excellence. Many times they were the cheerleaders I needed to get through the hard stuff and the only people I wanted to celebrate the victories with!

Q: What is the most important lesson you learned while coming up in your career?

It came from a piece of advice from my first local government boss, Craig Malin. He told me to “always go to the problem”. When I have not heeded this advice, I have almost always diagnosed the issue incorrectly which leads to mismatched solutions that either make the problem worse. The city manager’s level in the organization can many times be so far removed from the daily experiences of our teams and our residents. “Going to the problem” helps to cut through the layers of assumptions we hold and hear directly from those closest to the issue and therefore closest to the solution.

Q: What advice do you have for women just beginning their careers who would like to be an executive in local government someday?

Beyond the obligatory edicts to be prepared, work hard, and take chances, I would advise women early in their career to see past the limits, both self and system imposed. I often think about the “firsts” in our field and so many other professions. While we may not enjoy the critical mass we should have achieved by now, we at least relish the benefits of having many trailblazers who have come before us and work alongside and support us today. In other words, we are not alone, and as difficult as things may get, someone, somewhere has been there before and succeeded at the very thing you believe to be out of your reach. The “firsts” have endured and overcame so that we can extend the trail for others. If they had been deterred by self or system limitations, where would we all be?

Q: What do you hope to leave as your legacy in local government when your career comes to an end?

I only hope to have left the people and places I’ve had the honor to work with and to work for, better off in some meaningful way.