Tamika is a Virginia native who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Performing Arts from The American University, simultaneously taking courses at Howard University. During her time in New York, she penned her first screenplay, "Jar By the Door", which garnered recognition at the Sundance Film Festival and claimed several prestigious awards, including the Gordon Parks Indie Film Award and a $10,000 prize.
The prize money enabled Tamika to relocate to Los Angeles after graduating from the New York Film Academy, where she developed a passion for directing. In LA, she secured various fellowships and awards for her writing and directing prowess, including the ABC/Walt Disney Fellowship in Screenwriting for "Memoirs of A Virgin Whore", The Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller (Cosby) Fellowship, the CBS Director's Initiative, and AFI's Directing Workshop for Women Fellowship.
As part of the AFI fellowship, Tamika wrote, directed, and produced the multi-award-winning short film HOPE, which aired on every major network. She then landed a role as both a camera operator and director on one of BET's initial reality TV shows, College Hill.
Most recently, Tamika has worked as a writer for the streaming series "Monogamy", available on Amazon and UMC. She also co-produced and starred in the Award-Winning Feature film, "Last Life" (also known as "Rise Again"),written and directed by Michael Phillip Edwards.
In an effort to give back, Tamika founded the Make A Film Foundation (MAFF),a non-profit organization that grants 'film wishes' to children afflicted with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Through MAFF, Tamika has produced over 100 short documentaries and four award-winning short narrative films, collaborating with renowned actors and directors such as J.K. Simmons, Johnny Depp, Laura Dern, David Lynch, Catherine Hardwicke, Theodore Melfi, Kerry Washington, Sean Astin, Rodrigo Garcia, and many more.
Tamika was invited to deliver a TEDx talk about her journey with Make A Film Foundation, which can be found on YouTube, as well as several talks about her writing process shared through Film Courage.
