ABOUT TANYA PINTO, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT OF BAAL DAN
Tanya's Inspiration
Our Founder and President, Tanya Pinto was inspired to found Baal Dan after volunteering at Mother Teresa’s orphanage and home for the dying in India in 2005 in honor of her grandfather, Ramesh Gupta, an orphan.
Ramesh Gupta was provided with an education and won India’s highest award for filmmaking a Filmfare Award for Then, The Rain posthumously in 1970. Although he passed away before she was born, Tanya made a promise that one day she would help orphans in India in honor of her grandfather. She took a sabbatical from her job in advertising in 2005 to spend 3 months working as volunteer at Mother Teresa's orphanage, Shishu Bhavan, and Home for Dying, Kalighat, in Calcutta, India. Tanya was inspired by Mother Teresa's life of service and a quote from her, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." After returning back to the US from her sabbatical, Tanya began fundraising to help children in need, first in India and then gradually expanding to other countries.
“The cycle of poverty was broken in one generation in my own family - all because an orphan had a chance to have an education.” Tanya Pinto
Tanya is so grateful to her team of amazing volunteers and generous and loyal donors that help keep this charity going.
Our Founder and President, Tanya Pinto was inspired to found Baal Dan after volunteering at Mother Teresa’s orphanage and home for the dying in India in 2005 in honor of her grandfather, Ramesh Gupta, an orphan.
Ramesh Gupta was provided with an education and won India’s highest award for filmmaking a Filmfare Award for Then, The Rain posthumously in 1970. Although he passed away before she was born, Tanya made a promise that one day she would help orphans in India in honor of her grandfather. She took a sabbatical from her job in advertising in 2005 to spend 3 months working as volunteer at Mother Teresa's orphanage, Shishu Bhavan, and Home for Dying, Kalighat, in Calcutta, India. Tanya was inspired by Mother Teresa's life of service and a quote from her, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." After returning back to the US from her sabbatical, Tanya began fundraising to help children in need, first in India and then gradually expanding to other countries.
“The cycle of poverty was broken in one generation in my own family - all because an orphan had a chance to have an education.” Tanya Pinto
Tanya is so grateful to her team of amazing volunteers and generous and loyal donors that help keep this charity going.
This quote is Tanya's mantra and is the guiding statement and ethos of all Tanya has tried to achieve with Baal Dan through focusing on helping impoverished youth.
BIOGRAPHY
Tanya Pinto founded Baal Dan Charities (which means Donation to Children in Hindi) in 2005 with the mission of supporting impoverished children (mostly orphans and street children) in developing countries. While working full-time, Tanya has raised almost $2 Million to provide aid to over 14,000 children in 14 developing countries through food, supplies, education and numerous other grassroots programs.
A few accomplishments include building a school for 150 children, providing aid to over 20 orphanages and feeding over 1,000 children daily. Tanya is the youngest recipient of the John Curtin Medal for Humanitarian Leadership from Curtin University, Australia.
A global citizen and a committed humanitarian, Tanya has traveled to over 50 countries, lived and worked in over 20 countries and is passionate about helping children in need.
CHILDHOOD
Tanya was born in Mumbai, India, lived in Dubai, UAE until she was 13 attending Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) and then Dubai College. Her family then moved immigrated to Perth, Australia, where she attended Corpus Christi College. She graduated with First Class Honors (B.A. Mass Communications) from Curtin University. At the age of 21, her family moved to the United States where they reside today. Tanya is Indian and proud dual citizen of Australia and the United States.
CAREER & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Tanya is currently a Principal UX Researcher in Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices team working on AI and Copilot for M365 and has been at Microsoft since 2017 with roles in Microsoft's Research + Insights team, Compass team and X3 Research team.
Prior to Microsoft, Tanya ran her own boutique consulting company, Shakti Consulting LLC from 2012-2017. Tanya specialized in consulting on brand strategy, cause marketing and qualitative research for clientele that included global creative agencies such as Lagardère Group (New York) and Tribal Brands (Silicon Valley) where she was hired to work on cause campaigns for Pfizer’s Emergen-C brand and charity: water as well as the UNHCR and Save the Children.
Tanya was hired to lead the global rebranding strategies of World Vision International (WVI) for their Food, Maternal Health, WASH and Humanitarian Emergency Affairs divisions and moderate a conference on Food Security at the headquarters of the UN World Food Program in Rome. Other consulting assignments for WVI included field video reporting (60+ videos), and deployments in Ethiopia, Bur Amino UNHCR Refugee Camp in Dollo Somalia, Senegal and Zambia. Tanya was also based for a time in Malaysia where she led Communications/Media for the “OneGoal” consortium to end child hunger as the cause platform of the FIFA/AFC Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Tanya worked at The Richards Group from 1999-2012, one of the largest independent ad agencies in the US. She worked in Brand Management on a variety of CPG, B2C, B2B and tech brands including Nokia and Travelocity as an Account Director & Planner. Tanya gained a depth and breadth of experience in branding and the production of numerous television, print, radio, outdoor and Internet campaigns including a Super Bowl television spot. Tanya also helped to build the agency’s cause marketing practice and brokered cause marketing partnerships including Alex’s Lemonade Stand and Auntie Annes – which is still in place today and raising millions to help pediatric cancer research.
A few accomplishments include building a school for 150 children, providing aid to over 20 orphanages and feeding over 1,000 children daily. Tanya is the youngest recipient of the John Curtin Medal for Humanitarian Leadership from Curtin University, Australia.
A global citizen and a committed humanitarian, Tanya has traveled to over 50 countries, lived and worked in over 20 countries and is passionate about helping children in need.
CHILDHOOD
Tanya was born in Mumbai, India, lived in Dubai, UAE until she was 13 attending Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) and then Dubai College. Her family then moved immigrated to Perth, Australia, where she attended Corpus Christi College. She graduated with First Class Honors (B.A. Mass Communications) from Curtin University. At the age of 21, her family moved to the United States where they reside today. Tanya is Indian and proud dual citizen of Australia and the United States.
CAREER & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Tanya is currently a Principal UX Researcher in Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices team working on AI and Copilot for M365 and has been at Microsoft since 2017 with roles in Microsoft's Research + Insights team, Compass team and X3 Research team.
Prior to Microsoft, Tanya ran her own boutique consulting company, Shakti Consulting LLC from 2012-2017. Tanya specialized in consulting on brand strategy, cause marketing and qualitative research for clientele that included global creative agencies such as Lagardère Group (New York) and Tribal Brands (Silicon Valley) where she was hired to work on cause campaigns for Pfizer’s Emergen-C brand and charity: water as well as the UNHCR and Save the Children.
Tanya was hired to lead the global rebranding strategies of World Vision International (WVI) for their Food, Maternal Health, WASH and Humanitarian Emergency Affairs divisions and moderate a conference on Food Security at the headquarters of the UN World Food Program in Rome. Other consulting assignments for WVI included field video reporting (60+ videos), and deployments in Ethiopia, Bur Amino UNHCR Refugee Camp in Dollo Somalia, Senegal and Zambia. Tanya was also based for a time in Malaysia where she led Communications/Media for the “OneGoal” consortium to end child hunger as the cause platform of the FIFA/AFC Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Tanya worked at The Richards Group from 1999-2012, one of the largest independent ad agencies in the US. She worked in Brand Management on a variety of CPG, B2C, B2B and tech brands including Nokia and Travelocity as an Account Director & Planner. Tanya gained a depth and breadth of experience in branding and the production of numerous television, print, radio, outdoor and Internet campaigns including a Super Bowl television spot. Tanya also helped to build the agency’s cause marketing practice and brokered cause marketing partnerships including Alex’s Lemonade Stand and Auntie Annes – which is still in place today and raising millions to help pediatric cancer research.
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AWARDS
Winner of the “John Curtin Medal” Humanitarian Leadership Award, Australia, 2011. Winner of the “Woman of the Year Award”, Harvard Womenʼs Empowerment Conference (WECAN), 2009. Winner of the “Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Award for Uplifting Human Values”, 2007. Nominee of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (DFW), 2012 Award for Leaders of Excellence. 
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MEDIA & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Tanya has been featured in various media and publications including NBC, Gulf News, Qatar TV, The West Australian and various Australian radio/news media including: About Baal Dan & Tanya Pinto (Full Length Interview) - YouTube Water Means Opportunity for women - Bing video John Curtin Medal Award to Tanya Pinto, Baal Dan Founder - Bing video Baal Dan Means Thank You: Tayna Pinto at TEDxSMU - YouTube Baal Dan supports Jagriti School for Blind Girls in Pune - YouTube (NBC Spotlight Story on Baal Dan Charities - YouTube), Voice of America (Tanya Pinto Helps Needy Children in India's Slums - YouTube) Reporting from the Dollo Ado Refugee Camp under hardship conditions: TANYA PINTO IN ETHIOPIA - DOLLO ADO REFUGEE CAMP - YouTube Keynote Speaker at Universities: Southern Methodist University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas & Southern Methodist University. Keynote Speaker at Conferences: [Market Research and UX Research Conferences] Insights Association Southwest Chapter {Las Vegas}, Quirks Conference (Dallas, Chicago, New York), Women in Research (Southwest Chapter) & featured as a keynote speaker at the Network of Indian Professionals Outstanding Leaders Conference (OLC), 2012. |