Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Armour.
Tamara, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In college, I was not 100% sure what I wanted to “be”. I knew I wanted to be something but the reality for me and lots of students is that I just wasn’t wise enough to really understand how to best utilize my talents. That being said, I started off as a Pre-Pharmacy major at Southwestern Oklahoma State University which is located in a little town outside of Oklahoma City called Weatherford. While it wasn’t by any means my first school of choice, I had made the dance team and was offered a partial scholarship so it was the school that made the most sense for me at that time. My first year of college wasn’t a total disaster. My social life flourished and I thoroughly enjoyed being on my own and making my own decisions, but academically, I struggled. I realize now that at that time I had work ethic but no discipline or study skills.
Furthermore, at a school with zero diversity, I found a lot of comfort in my group of friends who were lacking in the same areas. All that led to me transferring to Sam Houston State University for a fresh start. This is where I would fine-tune my skill set and finish my undergraduate degree in Education. Yes, a sharp turn from Pharmacy, but I knew after year 1 of school I wanted a change of major and landed on teaching. In the midst of my college years, I gave birth to my one and only son, Brian Jacob Wyatt. Literally the greatest blessing in my life. He alone would change the trajectory of my life in a way that I never saw before. Shortly after having Brian (BJ) I graduated college and started my career as a teacher. My first year was a huge success! I taught third grade Language Arts and Social Studies and my colleagues voted me as Rookie Teacher of the Year.
Also during my first year of teaching, I met David Anderson, the owner of Twenty Ten, a then up and coming promotional marketing firm. I knew he was on the entertainment scene in Houston and I knew I wanted to work with him. My business partner at the time led the pitch to him since I was working full-time and couldn’t make the meeting and he gave us a big fat NO! I was fuming to say the least, but that didn’t last long. I took time off of work to pitch him again and we got our yes. And that’s where my current career began. I started working as partner on events, then transitioned to his cashier/door girl, I took on admin responsibilities in the office when I was off from teaching during the summer, then started working with clients. I was project managing and curating experiential events for our spirits clients and eventually managing on-premise programs all over the country. You name a major urban city, I more than likely had an employee there.
During this time, I also went back to school to get a Master’s Degree in Business at Houston Baptist University. I remember not getting accepted based on my GMAT score the first time, studying for months, taking the test again and being admitted in the fall of the next year. B-School (although expense) was again, a life changer for me. What I was able to learn and apply to my skillset really solidified what I knew I could do. After graduation, I worked as a teacher for another year before I was offered a full-time role to manage a new spirits client, Bacardi USA. I’ve been managing and helping grow that client account ever since and I’m extremely proud of the work we’re doing. In addition, I also recently brought in a new client, Liberty Bank which is a black-owned bank headquartered in New Orleans. I spend most of my time working with and on these brands. Additionally, I enjoy building my own new ventures and mentoring other entrepreneurs,
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Honestly, when you approach life with gratitude, your struggles don’t feel like bumpy road. They feel like hurdles that you need to clear to get to the next level. There are no problems, only opportunities! This is always my approach.
Please tell us about Team Enterprises/Twenty Ten.
Twenty Ten, powered by TEAM Enterprises is a leading experiential marketing agency. We specialize in Multicultural programming for lifestyle brands. We’re known for our work in the spirits industry as that’s where we’ve really created a lane and disrupted the industry. I’m most proud of our growth. Having been around to see the company evolve and grow has been an amazing experience. When we were acquired by TEAM Enterprises, we inherited a ton of additional resources and capabilities and our most recent work is some of the best that I’ve seen in our space. Currently, I’m managing a program for GREY GOOSE which is all about connecting with the community and building within it. Our team members Jhordan Gibbs (Atlanta) and Lester Richmond (Chicago) are truly pillars in each of their communities and they do a fantastic job representing the brand in a relevant way. Really proud of the work they are both doing as well as the work of the team at large. We also recently did a kick-ass experiential event for BOMBAY Sapphire which was one of the most unique and engaging takes on event execution led by Tracy Asencio from our agency. What sets us apart from others is the acuity of thought that goes into our programs and also the execution but more importantly, we’re just good people. People want to work with us and do business with us because of that
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is playing “Friends” and “Girl Sah Sah” with my sister Crystal. “Girl Sah Sah” was a completely made up name from what we would hear our mom say on the phone. “Girllll… something, something” or whatever she was saying (sah, sah). So we created this game that was the grown-up version of us with kids. We’d drop our kids off to school and go to “work” and get lunch and go pick up our babies. LOL. Maybe not so ironically, it’s literally exactly how our lives are today. We manifested everything we used to dream about.
Contact Info:
- Website: teamenterprises.com
- Email: info@teamenterprises.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/teamenterprises and my personal is instagram.com/tammy_sosa
Image Credit:
Kayla Madonna, John Walder
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
