In addition to dancing, acting and singing backup for CCC Manhattan, Tamara is also an annual competitor in the Miss America Organization. She has competed in Miss Manhattan, Miss New York City and Miss Philadelphia.

While still in high school, Tamara trained up to 30 hours a week at the Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia, directed by Cynthia Donavan Rudorfer. With the studio company, Classical Ballet Theater, she performed numerous soloist and principal roles.  Among her favorites were Les Sylphides, “Arabian” from The Nutcracker and the Stepmother in Cinderella. One of her most astounding performance experiences was dancing in the Opera House of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with the Joffrey Ballet in their annual Nutcracker. During summer breaks, she received scholarships and additional training at the Joffrey Ballet, Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet and Nutmeg Ballet.

After many years of being blessed with wonderful instructors and mentors, Tamara felt it was only natural to give the gift of the arts to a new generation of students. In the fall of 2002, as a student at Marymount Manhattan College pursuing a dual B.A. degree in Dance & Communications, Tamara founded A.R.T.S. United-Arts Reaching To Students. This arts education club enables the students of MMC to share the arts with NYC public school students. In 2003, a partnership with Bea Fuller Rodgers Intermediate School in Harlem was formed. Members of the club are able to teach their art form to students at the school, resulting in a year-end performance by the junior high school students. Tamara remains active in the MMC community having written for both the MMC newspaper The Monitor and the MMC Dance Department Newsletter. Her academic achievements include membership in Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society and 2002 Dean’s List.