Executive Director & Co-Founder, Treetops Collective

Tarah Carnahan leads a diverse team investing in immigrant and refugee women who arrive in West Michigan already carrying resilience, creativity, and leadership. Together, through shared values, they are creating spaces where belonging is practiced, not just promised. Under her leadership, Treetops Collective has grown from a small grassroots effort into a trusted cross-cultural organization offering leadership cohorts, entrepreneurship pathways, and community-building programs that strengthen families and local economies. Through this movement, hundreds of women have experienced cultural and language access to services, expanded networks, and have stepped into visible leadership across the region.

Carnahan’s greatest contribution to West Michigan has been helping shift the narrative around new Americans, from need to contribution, from isolation to shared leadership. She believes the future of the region depends on how courageously we invest in the gifts already present among us and build communities shaped by mutual learning and opportunity.

“I longed to make this city one that families could sink their roots into and really find wholeness and connection. I believe many of us are isolated in our own ways and that connections across cultures have the power to heal us collectively; proximity forces us to truly see our neighbor.”