Holding the Door Open – With Dr. Tatiana Warren

Ten years ago, Dr. Tatiana Warren set out to close a gap she kept seeing in her work. Research existed. Data existed. Health programs were being built with good intentions and real resources behind them. But too often, none of it reached the communities who needed it most, or it reached them in a language that didn’t fit their culture, their history, or their daily lives. This gap became the reason for Just TATI: Teacher, Author, Trainer, Innovator, LLC, a firm focused on prioritizing evidence-based strategies and innovative thinking to foster environments where equity can flourish and sustainable change is achievable.

Dr. Warren is a social-behavioral scientist by training, but her work rarely stays inside one lane.

For the past eight years, she has co-directed the Community Engagement and Dissemination Core, an advisory board for the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions. She also sits on the Advisory Board for Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport, her beloved alma mater.

Her work also extends into emerging technology and workforce development. After participating in the inaugural AI Upskilling Fellows pilot, Dr. Warren became a co-founder and board member of The Upskilling Labs, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit helping professionals build the skills needed to work effectively with emerging technologies like AI. Through workshops and a 12-week, project-based program, participants develop technical and durable skills while exploring real-world problems and building solutions together. Much of the organization’s programming is anchored at the DC Public Library, with support from peer mentors, including AI startup founders.

Running alongside all of that is the team behind Just TATI: Dr. Warren, an executive assistant, an IT specialist, and  subcontracted data analysts and project managers. AI agents now help carry some of the workload too. It’s lean by design and built to stay responsive without losing a personal touch.

“Entrepreneurship gave me the flexibility to work across healthcare, academia, government, and community-based organizations,” she says, “while remaining focused on health equity and meaningful community engagement.”

Today, the Washington, DC-based firm Just TATI works at the intersection of analytics, exercise science, public health, and human-centered design. Dr. Warren and her team partner with healthcare organizations, universities, government agencies, and community-based organizations across the DMV region, the Tri-state area, and the Carolinas, helping them turn research into strategies that actually move people. 

The Building Blocks of Just Tati

Dr. Warren identifies as an Afro-Antillean Afro-Latina woman, and she’s clear that this identity isn’t separate from her professional practice. It shapes it.

She grew up around values of resilience, family, service, and collective responsibility, and those values guide how she designs programs and builds trust with the communities she serves. Her approach rejects a common shortcut in public health work: designing solutions for communities instead of
with them.

“I do not believe effective solutions should be created for communities without being shaped with them,” she says. That means prioritizing listening, honoring lived experience, and communicating in ways that feel relevant and respectful, not generic.

She’s also attentive to strengths that often go unnamed in Black, Latino, African and Caribbean communities. Representation, to her, isn’t only about who’s in the room. It’s about whose knowledge gets treated as valid once they’re there.

The Cost of Doing It All Yourself

For a long time, Dr. Warren believed being capable meant doing everything herself: delivering services, managing clients, handling admin, marketing, and technology, all at once.

“Trying to do everything alone can limit both the growth of the business and the quality of life of the person building it,” she says now. The fix wasn’t a single decision. It was a slow shift toward delegating, building systems, and trusting a team to carry real weight.

A second lesson took longer to land: the cost of saying yes too fast. Early on, she sometimes accepted unclear scopes of work or gave more time than a project called for. “I had to learn that passion and service must be balanced with clear contracts, appropriate pricing, defined expectations, and healthy boundaries,” she says.

What Actually Grows a Business

Dr. Warren assumed early on that excellent work would speak for itself. It didn’t take long for her to realize that referrals, relationships, and word of mouth drove more growth than any single project outcome.

“People also need to understand who you are, what you value, and how your expertise can support their goals.”
-Dr. Warren

“I was surprised by how much time is required to manage the business behind the work.  Delivering a high-quality service is only one part of entrepreneurship. There are also contracts, invoicing, marketing, scheduling, technology, follow-up, relationship management, and long-term planning. Learning to build systems and delegate responsibilities has been necessary for creating a more sustainable business.”

A Truth the Industry Doesn’t Like to Say Out Loud

Dr. Warren often speaks about a tension that exists throughout health equity and community-centered work: a mission can be both urgent and deeply meaningful, yet the business required to sustain it is often overlooked.

Much of the work begins long before a contract is ever signed. Building trust, listening to communities, and adapting strategies to meet the needs of a specific audience all require significant time and expertise. Yet that work is rarely funded or recognized for its value.

“There can also be a disconnect between how strongly organizations speak about health equity and the resources they are willing to invest in doing the work well,” she says. Meaningful engagement takes time and consistency. It rarely comes from one training or one campaign.

What Dr. Warren believes gets talked about the least is the pressure many mission-driven entrepreneurs feel to sacrifice for the cause. Charging appropriately, setting boundaries, or building a profitable business can feel at odds with serving others, creating an unnecessary sense of guilt.

Ten Years In, Still Building

Dr. Warren has had to let go of the idea that her business should look like anyone else’s. Just TATI has its own rhythm, with busy seasons and quieter ones, and she no longer reads a slower stretch as a sign of failure.

She’s also moved toward building multiple streams of income rather than leaning on one client or one contract, a shift aimed at giving her more freedom and stability over time.

Her inspiration traces back to her parents, whose endurance and sacrifice she credits for the opportunities she’s had. Their example taught her that success isn’t only personal. It’s also about honoring the people who made your path possible, and building something that opens a path for the people coming after you.

“I do not want to simply be the first or the only person in a room, I want to help widen the doorway so that others can enter, contribute, lead, and eventually create opportunities for the people coming behind them.”
-Dr. Warren

Advice for the Next Generation

For women considering entrepreneurship, Dr. Warren’s advice is: know the problem you want to solve, the people you want to serve, and the value only you bring to that work. You don’t need every detail figured out before you start.

She also urges women to build relationships before they need them, and to walk into rooms even when they don’t yet see themselves reflected there. At the same time, she’s insistent about the business fundamentals. Understand your contracts. Know your pricing. Watch for opportunities that take your time without offering real value in return.

“Women are often encouraged to be helpful, flexible, and accommodating, but entrepreneurship also requires boundaries.” she says

Above all, she doesn’t want anyone waiting for perfect confidence before they begin. “Confidence often develops through action,” she says. “Start, evaluate what is working, make adjustments, and continue building.”

As Just TATI enters its second decade, Dr. Warren is thinking less about scale and more about depth: deepening the impact already underway, and keeping the door open for the women coming up behind her.

“I want the next generation to inherit more opportunities, fewer barriers,” she says, ” and the belief that their ideas can make a
lasting difference.”

Connect with Dr. Tatiana Warren