Tamara was an award-winning print, digital and broadcast journalist who specialized in the coverage of crime stories, before founding Pickup Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in supporting victims of crime. The bulk of her career was spent as a television reporter in North America’s fourth-largest news market where she was the Crime Specialist for CTV News Toronto. Before joining CTV, Tamara reported on crime for the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star newspapers. Her work has been published and broadcast across Canada. Throughout her career, Tamara has interviewed thousands of crime victims and received several awards for her coverage of horrific and often high-profile crimes. Tamara’s exposés about human trafficking within Canada led to her becoming the first civilian recipient of the Peel Regional Police Chief’s Certificate. In 2019, she received a prestigious Best Local Reporter nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards. Tamara remains a trusted and relevant voice in mainstream media as a regular panelist on Newstalk 1010.

Highly regarded in the victim services community, Tamara was called upon to assist in the development of the Victimology program at Durham College, east of Toronto, where she created and continues to teach the Victims and the Impact of the Media course. She routinely aids in the media training of police officers across Ontario and has been called upon as an expert presenter on the topic of human trafficking for police officers, Crown attorneys and front-line service providers.

Integrity, compassion and professionalism have earned Tamara respect across the police, victim services and criminal justice communities, as well as among her journalism peers. She lives in the Greater Toronto Area with her husband and three children.