Tanguy was a dual-degree graduate of business and computer science, working in computer software sales, when she was offered a sabbatical to hike in the Himalayas. According to a Stanford magazine profile (2000), she applied for a position with Médecins Sans Frontieres after the Armenian earthquake of 1988, which later led to coordinating relief missions in Uganda, Somalia, Zaire, Liberia, and the Balkan peninsula.