Responsible for bookkeeping, accounting, tax services and teaching financial literacy, LaTanya C. Stewart became involved in her profession because she always wanted to be able to provide services for people. People go to work to do a job and forget that they are paid for the services they offer, so she wanted to provide customer service for those employees and help reward them through their paychecks for what they do. She believes employees are the backbone of many organizations, and people take for granted what they do. Ms. Stewart currently serves as the payroll manager at Ellie Mae in Pleasanton, California, also owning her own small business, 3B Financial, in Oakland, California, since 2019.
Ms. Stewart began her professional career as the payroll supervisor for the American Red Cross in Oakland in 1997, remaining in this role for four years before transferring to Alert Staffing in Pleasanton from 1998 to 1999 and the Exploratorium in San Francisco from 2001 to 2005. She then served as financial director for the Mentoring Center in Oakland from 2005 to 2007, payroll supervisor of Innovative Technical Solutions, Inc., in Walnut Creek, California, from 2007 to 2008, payroll manager of Westin San Francisco Market Street from 2008 to 2009 and payroll administrator for Equinox, Inc., in Foster City, California, in 2009. Following this tenure, Ms. Stewart became the payroll manager at Tesla Motors, Inc., in San Carlos, California, in 2009 and Livescribe, Inc., in Oakland from 2010 to 2016 before joining OSIsoft in San Leandro, California, as payroll administrator in 2017. There, she moved up the ranks to payroll analyst from 2017 to 2018 and payroll manager from 2018 to 2019.
Prior to the start of her career, Ms. Stewart pursued a formal education at the University of Phoenix, earning a Bachelor of Science in accounting in 2008. She went on to matriculate at the Keller Graduate School of Management at DeVry University in Fremont, California, where she attained a Master of Arts in financial management in 2012. Additionally, Ms. Stewart became a certified Notary Public in the State of California in 2013.
A financial literacy teacher for the Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family Life and Culture, Ms. Stewart maintains involvement with numerous organizations related to her field such as the American Payroll Association, including its East Bay chapter, and the National Association of Professional Women. She attributes her success to having a strong family foundation, which was provided by her mother and grandmother. In five years, Ms. Stewart would like to retire from her traditional job with regular hours and be able to focus strictly on her on business.