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Why She’s Fearless
Born and raised in Leon, Mexico, Tamara moved to California with her mom at 13 years old, but in 2005 at age 19, when she was on a weekend getaway in Mexico with her boyfriend many years later (while attending college in California), the taxi they were in hit a horse that was on the road, with the horse landing on the car, killing her boyfriend and paralyzing Tamara.
A horrible tragedy, Tamara moved on admirably. After several months of rehab, she was determined to return to college and graduate with her Bachelor’s, and received a Communication Studies degree from California State University Stanislaus in 2010.
After graduation, Tamara launched her motivational speaking career, but she is also now a model, actor and host. She was selected as a test pilot and ambassador for Esko Bionics, an exoskeleton company. In 2011, she was able to walk again Mexico. She demonstrated Esko at “La Ciudad de Las Ideas.” She also demoed the exoskeleton on Sabado Gigante and on The Doctors TV show.
And Tamara has been a successful model. In 2013, Tamara went to to Rome to model in the international adaptive fashion show, Modelle & Rotelle. This show features dozens of women who use wheelchairs. She has since modeled extensively. Tamara was the solo wheelchair-user contestant in Nuestra Belleza Latina, a beauty pageant/reality show hosted by Univision in 2013.
She has also been the host for the TV show American Latino, on LATV, hosting “Beauty on Wheels,” a fun segment that focuses on fashion. And in 2017, she began to hone her acting skills, and was awarded a scholarship to the Upright Citizens Brigade. Tamara has been in a commercial for Kay Jewelers, that included her fiancé Chris (an old friend from high school she’s now engaged to). Tamara is also a stepmom through Chris. And in 2022, Tamara was the feature in a commercial for Sephora.
Tamara has also been in several short films including Rivals for Friends in 2018, Connections in 2019 and Always Winning in 2021. She was also a back-up dancer in a music video to bring attention to Lyme’s Disease.
What’s Next?
Tamara reaches out to the SCI community to help as well. She hosted a support group for several years called the “Young Women’s SCI Support Group” at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She’s also busy being an ambassador for several companies, including Red Bull and their Wings for Life Foundation (that helps raise money for spinal cord injury research), as well as Tilite, a popular lightweight wheelchair manufacturer.
She also works in corporate communications fulltime at a hospital in California. To keep her body moving, Tamara has discovered wheelchair dance. She dances in wheelchair dance competitions through the Cheryl Burke dance studio, and she dances with American DanceWheels, a wheelchair dance studio in Southern California.
Beautiful both inside and out, Tamara’s spinal cord injury experience has become an epic journey of positivity. And we can’t recommend enough to follow her on social media. Her videos showcasing wheelchair life has amassed her nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram.
— Visit her site: Tamara Mena
ideas@spinalpedia.com
