In 2018, Tami won the general election for Shelby County Board of Commissioners District 7 with 80.5% of the vote. Tami has been unwavering in her commitment to make Memphis a better place to live, work and raise a family. Since joining the commission, she’s used her voice to challenge educational inequity, transportation insecurity, and the lack of investment in minority & women owned businesses, and she’s delivered reform of juvenile court and detention. She is currently the chair of the Law Enforcement & Corrections committee and vice-chair of the Education committee.
Her life’s work and passion are people: ensuring they’re represented, heard, valued, and included. In each of the roles she’s held, she’s built coalitions from across communities to challenge systems, propose solutions, and strengthen the bonds between neighbors.
In 2019, she was selected as the first Speaker in Residence of Clayborn Temple, the meeting site of the sanitation workers who organized the historic strike and “I Am A Man” march of 1968. Tami also serves as the Education Co-Chair of the NAACP Memphis Branch and as a board member of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Incorporated and The Links, Incorporated. She is a graduate of University of Memphis and attended Howard University School of Law.
If elected, Tami plans to invest in job training programs and youth development programs that are specifically designed to retool the Memphis workforce for industries that will grow in a new economy – industries like senior care, robotics, coding, and management. She will work to increase the city’s MWBE spend to a minimum of 30% and advocate for a living wage as a requirement for all jobs – especially if a company is asking for tax abatements.