Named as a 2020 Changemaker in the Food System by Washington City Paper, Tambra serves as the visionary leader of WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture which recently launched the WANDA Fellowship and WANDA Academy through partnerships like DC Health Care Finance and Sibley Memorial Hospital. Through education, advocacy, and innovative approaches, WANDA is on a mission in creating a pipeline and digital platform for women and girls of color to lead in building healthy sustainable communities from farm to health.

 

Appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser to the D.C. Food Policy Council, Tambra serves as the Council’s first public health nutritionist and fierce champion for nutrition equity. She co-authored research examining caregivers navigating food desserts to feed children and published it in the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics with Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International and the North American representative for the African Nutrition Society. She is the former Policy Chair for the National Organization of Blacks in Nutrition and Dietetics. Her health advocacy as the NAACP DC Health Committee Chair resulted in earning the William Montague Cobb Award at the 2017 NAACP National Convention. As a former Extension Agent, she has developed and implemented USDA-funded programs for the University of District of Columbia’s Center for Nutrition Diet and Health.The Oklahoma native began her career as an Emerging Leader Fellow in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Secretary’s office. She handled public affairs for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency. She was the #2 at the D.C. Mayor’s Office on Women’s Policy and Initiatives. She has been featured in Washington Post, Forbes, Food and Nutrition Magazine, Cleaning Eating Magazine, WJLA (CBS), NBC 4, Food Tank, NBC Nightly News, Mind Body Green, Healthline, WPFW-FM, Technical.ly, Voice of America, and National Geographic Traveler Magazine. She holds a B.S. in Human Nutrition/premedical sciences and a Spanish minor from Oklahoma State University. She garnered her MPH in Health Communication from Tufts University School of Medicine. As a Boren National Security Education Scholar, she studied community health in the Dominican Republic. She is currently a PhD student at the American University School of Communication.