Born and raised on a small farm in West County in Santa Rosa with her five siblings, Tawny Tesconi has always been surrounded by farming. Through agricultural youth organizations such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), she learned about livestock production, leadership and community service. These opportunities, alongside working and living on a family farm, molded her into who she is today, the executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. Before working with the farm bureau, she was a fair executive for almost 30 years. She has since retired from fair management and started an event management company all while joining the Sonoma County Farm Bureau in 2018. Now, she owns the family home from her childhood farm with her husband of 14 years, Michael Wagner, and her stepdaughter, Hayley.
What is the most important thing you learned about yourself from farming?
How to be responsible toward everyone and everything. As a 4-H and later an FFA member, taking care of my animals was a 24/7 job. There was no sleeping in—the animals relied on us kids to make sure they stayed healthy and safe. I know hundreds of people who were in an ag youth organizations as a youngster, and they all have a strong sense of follow-through and commitment to their responsibilities.
What’s a great skill to have as a leader in your opinion?
Problem-solving. In fact, I enjoy problem-solving. I have spent my professional life working for nonprofits where there are never enough resources to do all the work that can be done for the members, customers, or stakeholders. Without the ability to hire consultants or industry experts, as a nonprofit executive, you often have to problem-solve to do more for less or to find alternative resources to make a project happen.
How much of the United States have you traveled? Favorite states you visited? 
I would say that I have traveled to 20 or so states—most travel being work-related. I recently traveled to Alaska and I have to say that I truly enjoyed the scenery, the people and the sense of community that I felt most folks seem to have there. Definitely a state I need to spend more time in.
If you were to write anything non-work-related, what would it be about?
I would like to write a children’s book that featured the relationship between a young person and their farm animal—possibly a baby goat or calf. There really is a bond when you care for an animal like many of our young agriculturalists do. It would be a story that tells how species can learn from one another and love each other.
If you could have a street or a square or a park named after you, where would you want it to be and why?
I would want it to be in Sonoma County and at an agriculture facility like one of the fairs. Sonoma County is my home, the local fairs are my home and agriculture is my life’s passion. (Just don’t name one of the restroom buildings at one of the fairs after me!)
What is your favorite quote?
My first fair CEO position was at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, an event that was born out of Mark Twain’s work. In this role, I spent a great deal of time reading about Mark Twain, and something he once said that I can relate to goes like this: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” — Mark Twain. I was a late bloomer—at around 25, I realized that my father really did know what he was talking about.
What was another career path you considered before deciding to pursue fair management?
I was working at a local CPA firm and taking post-graduate accounting classes at SSU to prepare myself to sit for the CPA exam. After retiring from fair management and before taking the executive director job with the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, I started an event management company, which was something I dreamed of for many years. I actually did open the management company, and I still work for many events in addition to my Farm Bureau gig.
[Duncan Garrett Photography]
