Bio

Tamara was the leader of the Maryland Environmental Health Network (MdEHN), based in Baltimore, Maryland. As its executive director she promoted the elimination of environmental threats to human health and facilitated the development of coalitions led by impacted community members and supported by health practitioners and environmental advocates.

Highlights of her time with MdEHN include conception and development of an annual environmental justice digest to provide statewide policy analysis through the lens of equity, access, and justice. The digest was a valued resource for state legislators and decision makers. Additionally, she launched a groundbreaking educational web series on human health and environmental impacts on issues ranging from community solar, to transportation and natural gas infrastructure. The series amplified the input and experience of impacted community members in regional policy.

As a state policy leader in Maryland, Tamara oversaw the cultivation of groundswell support for legislation to include health impact assessments as standard practice at the Public Service Commission and co-founded the Healthy Green Maryland Amendment Initiative to define healthy communities and provide multi-generational protections to defend against disproportionate climate impacts in the Maryland constitution. Tamara was also the chief architect of the Baltimore City Climate Resolution, which passed in the City Council unanimously in response to the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords.

Tamara is the former Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments: Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee, where she advocated for meaningful engagement and responsive public resources. She is the outgoing Chair of the Board of Directors for Women’s Voices for the Earth, a mighty organization based in Missoula, Montana, where she supports science-based advocacy that gives voice to women fighting to protect their health from toxic chemicals. She is also co-chair of the Green Leadership Trust.

Tamara has nearly two decades of cross-sector environmental experience. Prior to moving to non-profit work, she held several positions in state and local government including the Maryland Energy Administration and District Department of Energy and Environment in Washington, DC, among others. Tamara had the honor of serving as the Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Douglas A. Brady, and the Senior Sitting Judge Julio A. Brady (deceased) at the Superior Court of the US Virgin Islands on St. Croix.

Tamara developed an early aptitude for environment and justice issues through internships with the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation, The Environmental Protection Agency, the Center on Race, Poverty and Environment, Natural Resources Defense Council, and employment with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

Tamara is a long range thinker, committed to environmental advocacy in support of the poor and chronically under-served. Over her lifetime she has worked relentlessly to promote equity in environmental protection and enforcement, with particular attention to community capacity, mobilization, access to opportunity, and reduction of health disparities.

The defining characteristic of Tamara’s career to date has been a commitment to public service focused on solutions and problem solving with community. She is a lifelong learner, bridge builder, and thought leader.

Her hobbies include travel, yoga, slowly reading books about energy, politics, and neuroscience, and writing about civil society.