The #TLTogether series highlights the incredible people who are part of the Tenderloin’s diverse community—neighbors, small business owners, nonprofit workers, creatives, and more. This week, meet Tatiana Alabsi.
Tatiana is a Safe Passage Corner Captain, a mother, and an immigrant. She is fluent in Russian, Arabic, and English. She has a background in medicine and is one of the kindest people you’ll meet.
Originally from Russia, Tatiana graduated from medical school, along with her husband, before they moved to Yemen. In both countries, Tatiana worked as a gynecologist. Over the span of those seven years she had delivered a countless number of babies…“a couple a day, maybe three, or four, or five…” as she explains.
In 2014, when the Yemen Civil War first broke out, Tatiana and her family moved to the United States. More specifically she came to San Francisco. And more specifically, to the Tenderloin, to 201 Turk Street where her husband’s family was located. Since moving, she has found comfort in finding both Russian and Yemen communities here, with people to practice her languages with, and cultural traditions that remind her of home.
“The Tenderloin is in the center of the city,” she says. “It’s the heart. It’s amazing how, in such a small area, there can be SO many different kinds of people—from so many different countries, with so many languages, and cultures. It’s really a very interesting place.”
Tatiana has also made it a point to connect with the wider Tenderloin community. As she simply puts it:
“I love people. I believe in people.”
Tatiana out on a Safe Passage Shift, KQED Podcast episode “Making San Francisco’s Gritty Tenderloin Safer For Kids”
Tatiana has two sons, age fourteen and six-years-old. Her youngest goes to Tenderloin Elementary School and, as a mother, she really hopes the neighborhood will become safer for kids. As she shares:
“If the streets were safer for people, especially for the children, and there was less drug activity, and cleaner sidewalks, then the Tenderloin would be even more beautiful…The BEST place.”
If you are often in the Tenderloin, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Tatiana out on a Corner Captain shift. Since joining TLCBD’s Safe Passage team, she has become an integral part of the program and an advocate for safer streets in the neighborhood. If you see Tatiana, be sure to say hello!
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