Tamika is a Virginia native with a BA in Performing Arts & Theatre from American University & Howard University, with additional training at the NY Film Academy and AFI's Directing Workshop for Women Fellowship. A multihyphenate writer-director-producer and Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Short Films Branch), she has been recognized by some of Hollywood's most competitive directing programs — including the Disney Directing Program, Series Fest Shondaland Directors Mentorship Program, CBS Director's Initiative, and Starz/AWD Creative Leadership Program for TV Directing. She created the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP) for the Directors Guild of America and AICP, and previously worked at the Academy developing the Gold program.
Her debut screenplay, Jar by the Door, was a Sundance Finalist and won the Gordon Parks Indie Film Award. She has earned numerous fellowships including the ABC/Walt Disney Screenwriting Fellowship, Guy Hanks & Marvin Miller Fellowship, and CBS Director's Initiative. Her short Hope aired on all major networks, and her feature Last Life is on Tubi TV. She produced the Tribeca Audience Award-winning documentary Ferguson Rises (PBS/Amazon Prime).
Tamika founded Make A Film Foundation (MAFF), a non-profit granting film wishes to children with serious or life-threatening illnesses, producing 4 award-winning narrative shorts and 100+ short docs. She served as writer/Supervising Producer on Monogamy (Amazon/ALLBLK) and showrunner for Effie T. Brown/Gamechanger Films.
Her short Superman Doesn't Steal, which she wrote, directed, produced and stars in, won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Short Form and has screened at 80+ festivals. The project has been accepted into Dan Lin's RISE Fellowship, Gotham's Shorts-to-Features Program, and reached the 2nd round of Sundance Screenwriting Labs.
Currently, Tamika is developing her one-hour crime drama pilot Black, White & Blue, a Page to Proof Finalist, and her latest short Doom Scroll, made during the Rideback RISE Fellowship, is now making its festival run.