
Benita Tsao
Making Non-Profit Workplaces Equitable & Inclusive
Back when I first chose a non-profit career, I wanted to make life better for a whole ton of people. I had just spent a year living and working in China, where simple errands could morph into full-blown ordeals. I kept thinking, "It shouldn't be this hard." But it is really hard, every day in the U.S., for far too many immigrants, families trying to make ends meet, and communities on the margins. No matter the role, my job has always been to connect people and ideas so society works for all of us.
These days I'm exploring how "human resources" are an essential mechanism for equity and inclusion at non-profit organizations. Solving complex social problems requires sustained effort and partnerships; neither is possible when people feel alienated at work. Taking action so our shared values manifest in every aspect of how we do work is crucial -- for staff retention, mission success, and for making real and tangible a better world. That's why I inspire colleagues to be courageous in their everyday work, support their growth and success, and strive to systematically uproot supremacy culture in the workplace.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and I live and work on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land. I use she/her pronouns. I like riding bicycles, reading science fiction, and eating pasta.
Where I've Worked Lately
Oasis Legal Services
Human ResourcesManager
since 2025
Legal assistance and
holistic social services for LGBTQ+ immigrants
826 Valencia
Human ResourcesManager
2019 to 2024
Neighborhood writing centers for underresourced students and English learners in San Francisco
ChangeLab Solutions
Senior
Policy Analyst2017 to 2019
Non-profit organization using local laws and policies to advance health equity
What I've Been Reading
The Asteroid and the Fern
"In the climate crisis, humans are the impact event, but we are also the small furry things emerging from the safety of our burrows in the aftermath and the ferns renewing the blasted landscape with greenery, creating something new out of the ashes of the old world. We have a choice. ... What if the future was better than the past? What if it was beautiful?"
Jacquelyn Gill, in Not Too Late, edited by Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young Lutunatabua
How to Survive the End of the World podcast
"I want people to be in agency. I want people to have a sense of no matter what happens, no matter how bad you might think it gets, you still have an abundant number of choices. Our choices might be limited. Our choices might be less of what we want to do. Our choices might ask us to call from resources that we haven't tapped in before. And our choices might be suprising."
Daniel Hunter, in conversation with Autumn Brown and adrienne maree brown
Sisters of the Vast Black
"There would be blood spilled again, across worlds and worlds, there might be war, or plague. And the universe would need them to do what small good things they could, even in the face of that which they could not stop. If all they could be were small rocks to break the current, it would have to be enough."
Lina Rather
How to Connect
Photo of Benita by Sarah Deragon