Prior to that, she served in the same position from 2002 to 2006 and as a substitute party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from Santa Cruz under Roberto Landívar from 1997 to 2002, on behalf of New Republican Force.

Her education was briefly suspended by the 1980 coup d'état of Luis García Meza, during which time many documents were burned, causing her to lose a year of studies.

During this time, Tejada worked to channel funds for the Modelo daycare center in the La Ramada barrio and founded the Santa Cruz Somos Todos urban movement.

For the 1997 general elections, the group formed a series of alliances with the country's major parties in a bid to facilitate greater women's representation in Congress.

[6] Tejada joined the New Republican Force (NFR) and was elected as a substitute deputy from Santa Cruz under Roberto Landívar on the party's electoral list.

[10] However, she questioned the decision of the NFR's leader, Manfred Reyes Villa, to ally the party with the abortive government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.

Her presence as one of multiple openly critical voices against party leadership led the NFR to support her ouster as departmental head through the election of Jaime Rivero in 2004.

[14] In January 2013, the MAS caucus chose not to ratify Rebeca Delgado as president of the Chamber of Deputies due to disagreements over an asset forfeiture bill.