Tessa Charnofsky has been the Government Affairs Manager for First 5 LA since March, 2010. Tessa’s role is to represent and advance the mission and policy goals of the agency, which aim to improve the health and school readiness of 0-5 year olds. She frequently meets with elected officials and other community leaders to advocate on behalf of the organization and its constituency.

Tessa served as Special Assistant to Karen Bass while Ms. Bass was Speaker of the Assembly from 2009-2010, supporting the Speaker on issues involving the nonprofit, business, and environmental communities of Los Angeles.

A trained social worker, Tessa began her career in the adoptions field in the early 1990’s and later focused on child abuse prevention. She ran the youth development and gang prevention programs at a non-profit in Northeast Los Angeles from 2002 through 2006. In 2007 Tessa joined Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's staff as West Valley Area Director. For part of that time, she concentrated on the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program, helping to implement the city’s new gang intervention/prevention program in the San Fernando Valley.

Tessa was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received a B.A. in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master's in Social Work, with an emphasis in community organizing, from San Francisco State University. In 2009 she received a second master's degree, in Public Administration, from California State University, Northridge. She studied Spanish in Mexico and Spain, and is fluent in the language.

Tessa has a 17 year old son, and lives in Echo Park.