Sister Tamara W. Runia was sustained April 1, 2023, as first counselor in the Young Women general presidency and began her service on Aug. 1, 2023. She was born on March 2, 1961, in Concord, California, and grew up in Walnut Creek, California.
While studying broadcast journalism at Brigham Young University, she met Brother R. Scott Runia, a BYU basketball player. They were married on May 23, 1981, in the Oakland California Temple and have seven children. She spent many years in civic service while they lived in Provo, Utah.
Before her call to the Young Women general presidency, she was a Australia Sydney Mission leader with her husband, a stake Young Women president, stake Relief Society presidency counselor, stake scripture class instructor, Primary music leader and missionary preparation class teacher.
In honor of her birthday, here are nine quotes from Sister Runia over the past year.
1. Smiling
“Smiling is the universal language and the medicine we all need in our lives. Without a single word, it says to strangers and friends alike, ‘You are a child of God. I see you.’ ... We talk about receiving Jesus’s image in our countenance (see Alma 5:14). By smiling, we do just that.”
— This Week on Social, Feb. 23, 2024
2. The house of the Lord
“For me, the place [where the veil] has become the most thin is when I am in the house of the Lord. ... The temple is a home. It is the house of the Lord.”
— Red Cliffs Utah Temple media tour, Jan. 29, 2024
3. The 2024 youth theme
“We have this unique opportunity to be disciples of Jesus Christ but also to show our love for Jesus Christ.”
— This Week on Social, Dec. 29, 2023
4. Individual worth
“Obedience brings blessings, but it doesn’t bring worth. You already have that. When you interact with other people, everything changes when you know your worth and the worth of others.”
— Youth devotional during ministry in Iowa and Illinois, Oct. 14, 2023
5. Doing God’s work in earthly families
“While our families aren’t perfect, we can perfect our love for others until it becomes a constant, unchanging, no-matter-what kind of love — the type of love that supports change and allows for growth and return. … In earthly families, we’re simply doing what God has done with us — pointing the way and hoping our loved ones will go in that direction, knowing the path they travel is theirs to choose.”
— “Seeing God’s Family Through the Overview Lens,” October 2023 general conference
6. A worldwide group of women
“Relief Society is what tethers me to this wonderful worldwide group of women. While I belong to Relief Society, my heart is with the young women right now.”
— Relief Society devotional in San Diego, California, Sept. 15, 2023
7. ‘God knows you and loves you’
“God knows you and loves you, especially when you’re feeling small and insignificant. You mean everything to Him. And just because you don’t remember your Heavenly Father doesn’t mean He’s forgotten you. He absolutely remembers you; He remembers every single wonderful thing about you.”
— This Week on Social, Sept. 1, 2023
8. Youth are needed
“You are known, you are numbered, and you are needed. I want you to catch that vision. ... The youth of this generation can be a force for good as they bring the love of Christ into every circumstance and every place they enter in.”
— BYU Education Week remarks, Aug. 24, 2023
9. Tethering covenants
“If we can help this rising generation learn that He will never leave [them], even when [they] fall, then that will be the thing that tethers them. And that is what covenants do.”
— New Young Women general presidency begins service, Aug. 1, 2023
