How PGA WORKS Fellow Tasita Garcia is Paving Her Own Way in the Industry

Tasita Garcia is paving her own path through the golf industry.

Garcia, a PGA WORKS Fellow with the Southern California Section, has always had a passion for playing golf. Over time, that passion has transitioned into a desire to better the industry that is centered around it.

Tasita began playing golf at a young age. She played through high school and eventually collegiately at Jackson State University. After graduation, she accepted a job in sales, but golf remained a part of her life.

"I didn’t want to be a coach, and I wasn’t going to go pro so I worked in the sales and marketing industry,” she explained “During that time, I volunteered for the First Tee. I began to dislike my job, but I loved what I was doing as a volunteer.”

The desire to do work in the sport that she loved remained strong, so she decided to leave sales behind and go for it.

“I started reaching out to people in the golf industry,” Tasita said. “I found out about the PGA WORKS Fellowship, and once I learned more about it I fell in love with the initiative, especially being a woman of color in golf.”

PGA WORKS is a strategic initiative, designed to diversify the golf industry’s workforce.  A purpose that Tasita is passionate about on a personal level, highlighting a flaw in the culture around the game that she loves.

“I always felt like a bit of an anomaly everywhere I went,” she said. “Growing up, me and my family were often the only people of color on the course. At the first college I went to I was the only black person on the team, until I transferred to Jackson State. I’ll still go to events with about 200 people and there will be 10 women and I'm still the only black person.”

These moments are the ones that have driven Tasita to find a deeper passion within her love of the game: making everyone feel included and capable. Something she admits to struggling with before finding PGA WORKS.

"I always knew I wanted to work in golf. Frankly, I didn't think that it was possible. The PGA WORKS Fellowship was an opportunity for me that opened my eyes to the possibility that I COULD work in a sport that I loved."

During her time at the Southern California Section, Tasita has been able to gain extensive knowledge of the ins-and-outs of a large variety of positions, specialities and skills that will help her forge her path forward.

"[My Fellowship] has made my resume really well-rounded. I've done tournament operations. I bounced around so much in the office. I don't know everything, but I know a little bit about everything," she said of the experience. "I've gravitated toward communications and marketing the most."

"I like content creation. I like social media. I like brand marketing and everything kind of on the techie and digital side of things. So that's where 100% of my focus is now."

Now that she has found her niche, she plans on utilizing those skills to carry PGA WORKS’ initiative with her in the future.

"The ideal next steps for me would be a creative marketing role, but ultimately I would love to get into diversity and inclusion," Tasita said. "Making programs like PGA WORKS happen. I would like to do creative marketing that helps continue diversifying the game of golf."