Tessa Tigar-Cross
About
Tessa attended The University of Texas at Austin, and double majored in psychology and government. She also obtained a minor in how to keep things weird, although not listed on her transcript. During her undergraduate studies, Tessa lead the only non-partisan student group on her campus, UT Votes, and registered over 500 individuals to vote. She also completed a year-long internship with the non-partisan legislative research program, Vote Smart, summarizing state and federal legislation. Upon realizing she had a knack for being non-partisan, she worked after graduation at The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, a non-partisan non-profit, co-running a youth civics education program, Speak Up! Speak Out!. Next, she decided that a change of pace from non-partisan to non-profit might do a girl, and the world, some good. She worked the next year at Dress for Success Austin, a non-profit helping women achieve economic independence, doing administrative work.
Recognizing that her varied experiences had the common threads of counseling individuals and filing paperwork - Tessa decided to go to law school. Attending William & Mary Law, she became interested in constitutional rights and how at-risk populations gain access to those rights. She will be working at International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), a non-profit that works to ensure due process rights for individuals in developing countries. At IBJ, Tessa will be researching and compiling the laws of a developing country to write a training manual for lawyers on the ground. She will also be researching and writing grant proposals to secure funding for various IBJ offices and projects.