Hi!

If we don't know each other, I'm Tamisha. I'm a Pittsburgh-native, and have been in Sustainable Living since 2005.

My interest in organizing began in the summer of 1999, just before high school. I was recruited to co-run a free-to-use volunteer summer camp for children in our community ages 3-11.

Following that, I was part of the Rotary Club, which sparked my interest in urban forest health.

After high school, my interest in organizing for greater and equitable access to the resources necessary for all to live sustainably was fed by organizing with multiple similarly aligned community organizations and institutions.

After leaving college and returning to Pittsburgh, I began urban farm leadership and education for youth ages 13-17.

I co-founded a community farm organization with a mission to be a free source of healthy, local and sustainably grown food for that community, first to those most marginalized that ran for near a decade. The 501-c3 for which now rest with a long-standing member of the community who'd been gardening in that neighborhood for 35 years before our arrival.

To date, I've worked for and with dozens of local, national, and international urban farm and garden projects over the years, and am currently involved in 3.

This work is my passion!

It has, unfortunately, only ever fully paid my bills twice.

My last full-time, salaried job was covering an Economic Justice portfolio and facilitating a committee of representatives in national policy. That ended in December of 2024, when the change in the national policy landscape was imminent.

Before that, I worked on the distribution of emergency relief funds through lockdown and the height of the pandemic. For many years, I did natural cleaning home services for people with chemical sensitivities and limited mobility.

I most recently worked on a straight forward seasonal contract, in an environment where I was the only diagnosed AuDHD, Queer, NB, or Black AFAB person navigating a white, cis-het male dominated workplace.

It was living wage work, and no one made an issue of any of my challenges. But the position didn't include adequate access to time off for me; and the accumulated stress of getting to the place (first time working in person in 6 years) and navigating the workplace dynamics (first time working in-person, with co-workers in 12 years), on top of managing my everyday frictions was A LOT. On my last day, my nervous system felt like electric fire.

I've been in pain since 2012. After being let go from my policy position at the end of 2024, I committed to investing all I could to improving my condition.

It was identified that I would need surgery to remove 2 growths. They were relatively small, and my recovery should be quick. (Update: Recovery is going well!)

My doctor wanted to do it two months ago, but I requested to wait until the end of my contract, so that my recovery wouldn't impact my ability to complete it.

Now, my contract is over. My surgery was on January 12th, 2026.

And now, I could use some community support in covering what my insurance will not: $3,110.

I'll need a little time to finish healing, then secure my next income and hopefully have it be a good fit for the long-term.

Thank you so much for reading about me and my situation! Please give anything you can, including enough of a care to share among your people!