As an only child from a single-parent and bilingual household, Tanya Festa-Piedra has strong ties to her Costa Rican family. Ms. Festa-Piedra is the Chief Human Resources Officer for Norristown Area School District.
Ms. Festa-Piedra joined NASD in 2018 as the Assistant Director of HR before becoming the head of the department. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Kutztown University. Prior to coming to NASD, she worked for the Chester County Intermediate Unit and EBS Healthcare.
Her family means a great deal to her; she often will include her cousins and extended family when people ask her about her immediate family because of how close they are to each other. She was born and raised in New York, and she moved to Pennsylvania when she was 9 years old. Ms. Festa-Piedra said
“I am proud of where I came from and the women that raised me.”
Her mother immigrated from Costa Rica to the United States when she was 11 years old. Ms. Festa-Piedra takes great pride in her mother and her mother’s accomplishments.
Being of Hispanic descent has helped Ms. Festa-Piedra in her role here in the district. She added that she is “able to help other families and help in a different way” that is meaningful to those in our community. Our NASD community is so diverse and being able to break down language barriers has been incredibly helpful in many ways.
Ms. Festa-Piedra said the best way for NASD community members to help celebrate Hispanic Heritage month is to learn about people. She said it is important to
“understand that if someone says they are Hispanic, it is a huge group of people and everyone is different.”
Every country and culture has different traditions, foods, celebrations, dialects, and more. It is important to take the time to learn about people different from ourselves and celebrate those differences.