Tamika is a Virginia native who graduated from The American University with a BA in Performing Arts while also studying at Howard University. While living in New York she wrote her first screenplay, "Jar By the Door", which was a Sundance Finalist and won several other awards including the Gordon Parks Indie Film Award and $10,000 which she used to move to Los Angeles after attending and graduating from the New York Film Academy where she fell in love with directing.
While in LA, Tamika won several Fellowships and Awards in Writing and Directing 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 in which she wrote, directed and produced the multi-award winning short film, HOPE which aired on every major network. She was then hired as both a Camera Operator and Director on one of BET's first reality TV shows: College Hill.
Most recently Tamika was a writer for the current streaming series "Monogamy" which can be found on Amazon and UMC. She also 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 created and founded, Make A Film Foundation (MAFF), a non-profit that grants 'film wishes' to children who have serious or life-threatening medical conditions by teaming them with noted actors, writers and directors who help them create short film legacies. Through MAFF, Tamika has produced over 100 short documentaries and 4 award winning short narrative films, working with noted actors and directors including J.K. Simmons, Johnny Depp, Laura Dern, David Lynch, Catherine Hardwicke, Theodore Melfi, Kerry Washington, Sean Astin, Rodrigo Garcia and many more. She was invited to do a TEDx talk about her journey with Make A Film Foundation, which can be found on You Tube, along with several talks about her writing process shared through Film Courage.
