We were lucky to catch up with Danika Tynes, PhD recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Danika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
It all began one day in June 2021 when my friend Babaluku, a legendary Ugandan artist, confided in me, “Danika, raising capital to support my non-profit and elevate the community is not easy. I have all the passion, vision, and strategy, I just need a break on resources to realize it all.”
We pondered together what “thriving” and “legacy” really looks like for a community. I responded, “Baba, I believe in what you’re doing, and I could help. Yet, when I reach the end of my financial capacity to help, you will still need to ask for more money and that will continue to feel hard. What if we built a model of sustainability for your community to thrive? And what if I helped you structure what you really need to create access to the vision? What would that look like?”
That’s when the idea for Sustainable Access Foundation (SAF) was born. In January 2022, I stepped off a plane in Kampala, Uganda, wondering if I had missed the mail…what was I thinking? I had left Silicon Valley to go to a country where I knew only one person, and I wasn’t even sure if the word “access” would translate cross-culturally.
But within 3 weeks of being in Uganda, it became clear that while everyone had a different definition of ‘access,’ there was a universally understood feeling that we may want to achieve something but don’t know how to get there on our own. So we look for ways to remove the barriers to achieving our definition of success, through whatever access points avail themselves.
Each person I met introduced me synchronistically to the next, and before long, I had been to 6 districts, 13 villages, and met with hundreds of locals – from politicians, to youth leaders, to entrepreneurs. I returned to the US with my first three changemaker programs identified and ready to begin planning for project launch.
Nearly two years later, the model we initially envisioned – one that encouraged sustainable approaches to thriving – has expanded rapidly. We are now beginning to partner in Tanzania and India as well. What started from a heartfelt conversation has blossomed into something beyond my initial imagining.
What it took to pivot from corporate America into a global non-profit, even if armed with the requisite understanding and competency, required courage on my part–maybe more than that, it required faith; faith in myself, and faith in my ability to add value to something greater than me, in order to stand ready to partner for social impact with far reaching ripple effects.
To fully transition to a social entrepreneur from a geeky professional, I faced my greatest fear–my feminine energy, my creative, my nurturer, my intuitive sage. To bring the most value to the communities being served by SAF, I had to reckon with the parts of me that were less practiced in communing, dialoguing, and creating space to tap into higher frequencies so magic can occur. In one instance, through a needs assessment within a community in Uganda, we learned that ‘witchcraft’ was cited in the human centered design analysis as a barrier to access. This was no small finding to me, and led me down a journey to study shamanism and the spiritual practices communities studied before religion and continue to have roots in today that guide belief systems. Allowing myself to be responsive, fluid, and curious about how the foundation engages and connects has become the hallmark of our growth.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
From the day I was born, access has defined my journey. Growing up between the urban grit of Oakland and suburban Alameda, I straddled worlds – too “honky” for one, too much of a “n*gger” for the other. With an Italian-American mom and Bahamian-American dad, my mixed heritage meant never quite fitting in. But Mom’s unconditional love was the access point that shaped me: “You have the best of all worlds,” she’d say. “Not just one.”
Those words gave me wings when circumstances seemed to clip them. Like when we moved to Lake Tahoe and initially lived out of a tent in a campground, unable to afford our rental home. Or when I was just 14, poring over scholarship books in the library, hungry for a bigger life. Against all odds, I was accepted to an exchange program to Switzerland, my brave mother laughing through her fears as she waved me off.
When I returned to the States, I could no longer distinguish my backyard from anyone else’s. A full-ride scholarship to Tufts came next, providing the institutional access I never could have imagined from my tent in Tahoe. But it was the internal access gained through unlikely experiences that truly propelled me – the self-belief that I could walk through any door, the curiosity to pry them open when they remained shut.
From statistics to public health, digital transformation to international development, my career became a pursuit of democratizing access on a grander scale. Whether through telehealth’s geographical access, broadband connectivity, or guided by revelatory data – I worked to increase access points for flourishing across socioeconomic lines.
When my dear friend Babaluku, a legendary Ugandan artist, lamented his inability to resource his community non-profit vision, it crystallized everything for me. We had to build a new model for sustainable access – one that empowered people to not just open doors, but to construct new portals to their own potential.
Today, the Sustainable Access Foundation is that living model. We don’t deliver temporary handouts, but nurture environments where entire communities can rise together by cultivating pathways to healthcare, education, economic opportunity and creative expression. Our grassroots partnerships across Uganda, Tanzania and India are proof that the greatest access point is instilling the innate belief that you can walk through any door.
My life’s work continues to be guided by that simple truth – that the smallest point of access can make the greatest difference in any life. All you need is that first door to open and the courage to stride through it towards your greatest possible self. With sustainable access as the key, I’ve seen it unlock universes. And that’s the vision I’ll always fight for – because my mother’s voice still sings in my heart, “You can. You have the whole world.”
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Growing up in a family with first generation immigrants, survival mode was the norm. “Work hard, keep your head down, follow the rules” was the mantra drummed into me. The goal? Put in the grind so you can retire comfortably – save yourself first before helping others.
That scarcity mindset became so deeply ingrained that even as I found professional success, climbing the corporate ranks in Silicon Valley’s tech scene, I was still operating from that same place of lack. Achieve, accumulate, stack those accomplishments and savings – that was the subconscious program running my life.
It took the forced stillness of COVID to shake me out of that limiting pattern. As the world hit pause, I found myself asking “Am I still just surviving? When can I stop ducking my head and look up?” That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks – I’ve been living a life completely centered on the Self.
No matter how much I achieved or acquired, it would never be enough to feel truly fulfilled. What I craved was meaning, connection, substance – to live a life of Service instead of incessant self-preservation. In that moment, I had to unlearn everything I’d been conditioned to believe about hustle and grind being the path to happiness.
So despite riding high at one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, I pivoted. My new personal mantra, which I share with the over 50 change-makers I now mentor: “Write your story, then live your story.”
I’ve realized we get to shed all those externally-imposed “rules of the game” and instead authentically attune ourselves to our highest purpose. When we set clear intentions for the life we wish to create, suddenly there’s no need to struggle or strive from a place of lack. We can allow our impact and prosperity to effortlessly flow forth.
The ultimate lesson I had to unlearn? That hustle, grind and survival are mandatory for a life well-lived. True freedom is realizing we all get to author our own stories from a place of inner abundance and truth. My sole directive now is living that story fearlessly each day.
How did you build your audience on social media?
In all honesty we are working now to build our social media presence, so it is a great question to answer, because it is real-time entrepreneurship at its finest!!
Coming from the corporate world, diving into social media marketing felt like getting thrown into the deep end. As someone who never had to leverage those platforms professionally, the learning curve was vertical.
My first step? Panicking, of course. Social media seemed like this big, daunting beast that everyone else had already tamed. So I did what any smart entrepreneur would – hired a virtual assistant to help wrangle content creation, design, strategy and more.
Next up was embrace the experimentation phase. We tried every type of post and content format under the sun – boosting some, collaborating on others, obsessively monitoring analytics to understand our audience. I consumed more YouTube tutorials and webinars on social media growth than I can count.
And through all the chaos, I had to keep reminding myself of one key thing: Have fun with it! Social media becomes a slog when you get too bogged down in numbers, algorithms, and comparing yourself to others. The energetic quality of what you’re putting out matters.
I’ll never forget the branding coach who snapped me out of viewing “branding” as some form of manipulation. They rightly pointed out that we brand ourselves daily through our words and actions – it’s just a matter of being intentional about it.
So if I could share any advice with those just starting to build their social presence? Stay playful and curious, but be purposeful too. Experiment shamelessly, but root yourself in an authentic brand essence. Most importantly, have fun with the process of finding your voice!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sustainableaccessfoundation.org
- Instagram: sustainable_access_foundation
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainable-access-foundation/?viewAsMember=true
- Twitter: SustainableAccessFoundation
- Youtube: @SustainableAccessFoundation
Image Credits
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