A Georgia native, Tamara attended public schools throughout her youth: elementary school in Cartersville, GA, middle school in Vernon, NJ, and high school in Ellington, CT.

She received a Bachelor of Arts from Wake Forest University and a Master of Architecture from Georgia Tech, where she was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for leadership and service.

After graduating from Tech she and her husband Mark settled in Inman Park, where they have been active in the neighborhood organization and NPU.

She and Mark have 3 children who have attended APS schools from kindergarten. Two are “pandemic graduates” - Class of 2020 and Class of 2021- and their youngest will start high school in the fall of 2022. Tamara has been active in parent leadership roles throughout her many years as an APS parent. Those roles have included Local School Council Chair, GO Team Chair, GO Team Secretary, Cluster Advisory Team member, District Executive Team member, SPLOST Oversight Committee, and the Excellent Schools Committee.

Tamara has worked in architecture and urban planning in the Atlanta metro area for 25 years and has a passion for and expertise in New Urbanism, community master planning, facilities programming, context-sensitive infill, sustainable design, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation. She is an associate member of the Urban Land Institute.