Mother inspires victim advocate to ‘keep moving forward’: Trailblazers & Trendsetters

For a second year, PennLive marks Black History Month by recognizing “trailblazers and trendsetters”: leaders and advocates in central Pa. working to uplift their communities through their work, businesses, arts, ministries and mentorships.

In the coming weeks, we’ll publish more than 35 profiles of doctors, nurses, gardeners, ministers, educators, entrepreneurs, athletes, philanthropists, restauranteurs, authors, actors and others. They were nominated by readers and, for the most part, are people who have rarely been in the spotlight. More people were nominated than we were able to include; we’ll keep the names of those people for future profiles.

We hope you enjoy reading about these trailblazers. If you missed last year’s, you can find links to them here.

Tatiana Roberts

Age: 32

Community: Midtown Harrisburg

Her story: No victim should have to go through the criminal justice system alone.

That’s the driving mantra for Tatiana Roberts, supervisor of Pennsylvania’s Office of Victim Advocates.

Roberts derives much of her passion, motivation and excellence from her 60-year-old mother, who first moved from Haiti to Harrisburg at age 19, unable to speak a word of English.

“She came to the States, made a way for herself, had me, and I’ve known nothing but hard work and forward movement,” Roberts said.

Roberts grew up in the city and graduated from West Virginia University around 10 years ago with a degree in social work. She came back to Dauphin County to work for its Case Management Unit, which provides services in the areas of intellectual disabilities, mental health and early intervention.

That difficult job took its toll on her, and one day after a particularly tough case, she knew she had to leave. So she “shot her shot,” and ended up working in the state’s Office of Victim Advocate, where she has been the past five years.

“This is the first job I can truly say I love — even if it can be thankless. No matter what I did in the day, something I did made a difference for somebody,” Roberts said.

The state office partners with county offices and collaborates to advocate on victims’ behalf — during parole hearings, at sentencing, and the like. They keep victims informed and ensure they know of all future hearings and terms of defendants’ probations.

Around a year ago, Roberts’ work as a victim assistance coordinator caught somebody’s eye. She interviewed for the position, and became supervisor of the office.

In her downtime, Roberts helps out at her mother’s restaurant, Marie’s Kitchen Haitian Cuisine. “She’s constantly dropping jokes,” Roberts said. “Little gems, wisdom, some love. Everything we produce out of that kitchen is made with love.”

“Whatever it is, she has it, and I want it. We try to feed that to everyone at the Broad Street Market,” Roberts said.

In her words: “On my job, and on the toughest cases, knowing my mom has survived anything and everything possible? There’s no excuse to not keep it moving,” Roberts said.

“One of the biggest things my mother has taught me: How to pivot and maneuver. Life is always going to throw you curveballs, life is always going to life. It’s progress over perfection. She helped me push forward, and never get stuck in a place that is muddy. Use your resources and tools and keep moving forward — stuck is not an option.”