When I first met Tamara Leigh, I had no idea the impact she would have on our community or how she would become such an important part of not only my life, but the lives of thousands in the queer community in Tampa Bay and beyond.
Her passion for community is unparalleled and her commitment to making the world a better place is honorable. Through her DEI consulting business, her queer person of color magazine Blaque/OUT and her group the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians, Tamara has opened doors for many professionals to tap into their talents and share them with their communities.
I first learned of Blaque/OUT when a call for models was put out for a queer POC to pose semi-nude on the cover. I answered the call because, why not? When I spoke to Tamara about her vision, I was blown away at her creativity and as a writer, I wanted to be a part of the magazine. But her vision didn’t stop there.
Tamara is the founder of Blaque/OUT Equity & Inclusivity Architects, a consulting firm that takes a very different approach to DEI work. Through speaking engagements, workshops and more, she and her team speak from points of personal experience to help organizations evolve. She also helped create one of the most important tools for our trans community this year, the Blaque/OUT T.R.A.I.I. (Trans Remembrance Archive and Information Index) mapping system.
In collaboration with the incredible team at GIS Scholars, Inc., Blaque/OUT has developed a powerful tool that integrates geospatial technology with critical data concerning every known individual from the trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming/gender expansive communities who have lost their lives to violence since 2018. The T.R.A.I.I. is a free resource, accessible to all individuals and organizations that allows users to layer various factors such as victimology, geographic region, and gender identity onto a map.
Its visualization provides valuable insight into who each of these individuals were and the details surrounding their cases. The hope is that the T.R.A.I.I. will empower groups and organizations to lobby more effectively for funding, enable investigators to identify patterns with greater speed and accuracy, and most importantly, keep the memories of our lost siblings alive.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, when Tamara moved to Tampa Bay she found it hard to find “her people,” so she started the Tampa Bay Black Lesbians as a Facebook group.
It quickly grew to over 1,000 members and evolved to a community centered, nonprofit organization in 2024. Most recently TBBL helped several members with recovery efforts from the hurricanes, providing hot food, helping to replace lost items, utilizing the human resources within the group to connect members with whatever assistance they required. All efforts are donation based or funded from the events that the group puts on annually to support the nonprofit while staying close to its social origins.
To say that Tamara Leigh is one of the most Remarkable People of the year is, for me, an understatement. I am honored to know her, proud to write about her, but overall, grateful to call her my friend.
View the full list of Watermark’s Remarkable People of 2024 here.
