Tanja was born in West Africa in the Republic of Ivory Coast in 1969 where she spent her childhood and part of her adolescence. She lived in three different continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) before arriving in Mexico where she has lived for the last fifteen years. Tanja is specialist in equine assisted psychotherapy and member of the board of EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) located in Utah. She founded the project "Melanippe: Equine assisted human development". She has published numerous articles on human development and personal growth based on the experiences of her clients with her horses.