Tina (Nelson) Greene is a faith-driven leader, nonprofit founder, entrepreneur, and community builder dedicated to empowering women through spiritual guidance, mentorship, and meaningful connection. As the Executive Director and Founder of Nana’s Foundation, Inc., Greene has created a faith-based organization focused on supporting women across generations by helping them discover their identity, purpose, and spiritual growth.
Inspired by biblical principles, including Titus 2 and Proverbs 31, Greene believes deeply in the importance of women supporting, teaching, and encouraging one another. Through Nana’s Foundation, she is building a platform centered around mentorship, wellness, education, and relationships to create a renewed sense of community where women know they are not alone.
For Greene, transformation happens through shared wisdom, authentic relationships, and the willingness to show up for others. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to service and a belief that strong communities are built when individuals come together to support one another.
Before launching Nana’s Foundation, Greene developed a diverse professional background spanning business administration, retail, and insurance management. Throughout her career, she frequently stepped into leadership roles in environments where women were often underrepresented, including male-dominated industries where she learned the importance of resilience, confidence, and perseverance.
Over time, Greene began seeking a path that aligned more closely with her personal values and desire to serve others. This led her to transition into the culinary world, where she became a personal and private chef, managed a restaurant, and served high-profile clients. Her ability to adapt, lead, and create meaningful experiences for others became a defining theme throughout her career.
Today, Greene continues her entrepreneurial journey as the owner of MawMaw’s Baked Goods, where she combines hospitality, creativity, and craftsmanship to provide homemade, from-scratch baked goods. Through each chapter of her professional life, she has remained committed to serving people in practical and meaningful ways.
She recently graduated with a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry from Regent University. Greene continues to strengthen her knowledge and deepen her ability to lead through faith. She integrates her academic journey with her mission of helping women grow spiritually, personally, and professionally.
Through Nana’s Foundation, Greene focuses on several key areas, including mental health and wellness, educational and vocational support, mentoring, and relationship-building. Known by many as a “connector,” she believes her role is often to bring people and resources together rather than duplicate services already available in the community.
Greene works to build partnerships with organizations, ministries, and community leaders to ensure women have access to the support and resources they need. Her approach is rooted in collaboration, believing that greater impact comes when individuals and organizations work together toward a shared purpose.
Greene attributes her success to her faith-based approach and the strong foundation provided by the women who raised her. After losing her mother at the age of five, Greene was raised by her grandmother and what she lovingly calls her “second mamas”—neighborhood mothers, church mothers, and women of different generations who poured wisdom, encouragement, and love into her life.
Growing up, Greene experienced the power of community firsthand. She was surrounded by people who worked together, supported one another, and believed in the importance of showing up for each other. That village mentality shaped her understanding of what community should look like and became the inspiration behind Nana’s Foundation.
Greene strongly believes in the Titus 2 principle of older women teaching and guiding younger women. While she acknowledges that she did not always listen to the wisdom those women offered when she was younger, she now understands how valuable their collective experiences and encouragement truly were.
Those women provided Greene with a blueprint for mentorship and connection. Today, she is passionate about restoring that sense of community because she believes society has become increasingly isolated and disconnected. She believes people need more opportunities for face-to-face conversations, collaboration, and genuine relationships.
For Greene, success comes from recognizing that people need one another. She believes authentic relationships are the foundation for creating lasting impact and meaningful change.
The best advice Greene can give—and the advice she wishes she had received earlier in life—is to be authentic.
During her insurance career, Greene spent many years in a highly formal and primarily male-dominated industry. Often, she found herself as the only woman, and particularly the only Black woman, in professional spaces. Because of those circumstances, she felt pressure to fit into expectations and hide aspects of who she truly was.
Her brother recognized this challenge when she moved into management and told her she would struggle because she was too much of an individual and did not simply follow the crowd. Looking back, Greene realizes that he understood something important about her personality and leadership style.
Although she achieved success in insurance, Greene eventually recognized that the industry’s increasing focus on business and profits did not fully align with her desire to serve people. That realization became a turning point and helped guide her toward nonprofit leadership and community-centered work.
Greene’s message to others is clear: embrace who you are. She believes authenticity is a person’s greatest strength and that individuals should stop trying to become someone else. For Greene, being yourself is your superpower.
For young women entering the nonprofit space, Greene encourages patience. As someone who describes herself as action-oriented and accustomed to seeing quick progress, she has learned that nonprofit work requires a different mindset. Building meaningful change is not a sprint—it is a long-distance journey.
She encourages women to remain committed to their mission even when progress feels slower than expected. Greene believes that continued effort, dedication, and faith will eventually create results.
Through her own experience, Greene has seen organizations that have existed longer but have not necessarily advanced further. She believes the difference comes down to purpose. Nonprofit work should not be entered into for personal gain or financial expectations. Instead, it should come from a genuine desire to address a need and serve others.
One of the biggest challenges Greene sees facing nonprofits today is fundraising. With economic uncertainty and changes affecting charitable giving, organizations must find creative ways to communicate their missions and inspire support.
Greene believes storytelling has become more important than ever. Organizations must clearly explain who they serve, why their work matters, and how contributions create meaningful impact.
She also believes collaboration is essential. Instead of recreating services that already exist, nonprofits should seek opportunities to partner, strengthen resources, and expand their collective impact. Greene believes the question should not be, “How do we do this alone?” but rather, “How can we support what is already working and make it even stronger?”
The values that guide Greene most in both her personal and professional life are faith, trustworthiness, intentionality, and honesty.
Faith remains the foundation of everything she does. Greene believes her commitments matter and that when she says yes to something, others should be able to trust that she will follow through.
She also believes vulnerability is an important part of authentic leadership. Greene understands that no one has every answer, and she believes it is perfectly acceptable to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out together.”
Through faith, authenticity, trust, and service, Tina Greene continues to create meaningful connections and build a lasting legacy through Nana’s Foundation. Her mission remains focused on helping women recognize their worth, discover their purpose, and experience the power of community through shared wisdom, encouragement, and support.
Learn More about Tina Greene:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/tina-greene or through her profile on Nana’s Foundation, Inc., https://nf4women.org/founder
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