With a career in producing news stories about extraordinary events and people's fascinating lives, Tamara has spent the last year writing about something she never imagined would be interesting: her dating life.
After a long string of breakups, Tamara tried to warm her broken heart by the 31 candles glowing from her birthday cake. She decided it was time to adopt a risky set of rules for her 31st year: learn how to enjoy first dates and avoid jumping into another tumultuous relationship. She vowed to say 'no' to relationships and, instead, would enjoy her successful single life in New York City by taking on the ultimate dating adventure: 31 Dates in 31 Days. While juggling a full-time news job and dwindling hours of sleep, Tamara would focus on dating one man every day for a month. On day 31 - Valentine's Day - she would host her 31st date, which would be a spectacular second date with one of the suitors.
From cynical New York City dater to hopeless romantic, Tamara's 31 dates helped change her attitude about men, dating, love, and life. She kept dating one of the men she met during her project. In one year's time, she went from blogger to bride.
Tamara has worked in television news for more than 12 years. Most recently, she was a writer for ABC's Good Morning America in New York City. She has also worked as a newscast producer for KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon, KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah, and WSLS-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.
A D.C. area native, Tamara started working in the news business when she was 18, scurrying with political journalists behind-the-scenes at conventions for the 1996 presidential election. From there, she muscled her way into an internship at a local TV station, waking at 3:00 a.m. for a full day of work before tackling her over-packed schedule of college courses. As a motivated Dean's List student, she graduated from Roanoke College with a double-major in just three years, placing her among the school's youngest graduates in its nearly 170-year history.
Tamara also has a master of arts degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where she was a recipient of the full-tuition Lee Bollinger Fellowship. It was in grad school where she first started writing about dating in New York with her thesis project, Celibacy and the City, a radio documentary profiling single Mormons in Manhattan.
After years in the busy news business, Tamara now spends her days writing about love, dating, and the life-changing project that helped her find the kind of man she never believed existed. She spends lots of time watching movies, lots of money on theater and concert tickets, and lots of calories eating cupcakes. She and her husband reside in Los Angeles.
Tamara's first book, 31 Dates in 31 Days, is expected in bookstores in October 2011 and is available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.