About Tammy
The Woman Who Got Her Wings
From sixty years behind bars to building a six-figure empire. From abandonment to purpose. This is a story of wings formed in the darkest places.
The Beginning
Tammy’s story did not begin on a stage, in a studio, or behind a publishing desk. It began with abandonment.
At two years old, she was left by her birth mother. Though she was later adopted into a loving family, the wound of being left did not quietly disappear. It followed her into adolescence and adulthood, shaping her sense of worth in ways she did not yet understand.
The silent belief that she had been thrown away settled deep within her identity. That unseen fracture influenced her decisions, her relationships, and the way she viewed herself.
"When someone grows up believing they have little value, they often accept far less than they deserve."
At just twenty-two years old, Tammy’s life took a devastating turn. She was convicted of a murder she did not commit. The prosecutor pursued the death penalty. Only by agreeing not to contest the charges was she spared from being placed on death row.
Sentenced to 60 Years
She served 30. Thirty years removed from society. Thirty years away from freedom.
Formation
The Hidden Years
For the first twenty-five years of her incarceration, Tammy lived in what she now calls her “Hidden Season.”
She was hidden from opportunity, hidden from culture, hidden from the world she once knew. But she was not hidden from God.
Within prison walls, she chose formation over bitterness. Through correspondence courses, she pursued theological education with relentless discipline.
"Prison became her seminary."
These were not symbolic credentials. They were the result of years of structured study, spiritual rigor, and intellectual growth under the most restrictive circumstances.
Bachelor's Degree
Christian Education
Bachelor's Degree
Pastoral Theology
Master's Degree
Divinity
2 Books Published
Written and published while incarcerated
Multiple Programs
Inmate growth & educational initiatives
Still In Use Today
By the Department of Corrections
“What others saw as confinement, she treated as construction.
The world called it prison. God was building wings.”
Transformation
The Stretching
In the final five years of her incarceration, something shifted. The stretching began.
She began writing more intentionally. She began envisioning a life beyond prison walls. She began believing that her story was not over.
“Stretching is rarely comfortable. It feels like pressure. It feels like cracking. But wings cannot emerge without resistance.”
Tammy learned that the breaking of an old shell is often the first evidence of flight.
Elevation
Rising
After three decades behind bars, Tammy was released into a world that had transformed completely.
A New World
She had never used the internet. Technology was foreign. Culture had evolved in ways she could not have imagined.
The Choice
Many would have chosen safety. Many would have chosen smallness.
Instead, she chose to rise.
From Prison to Publisher
Within two months of her release, she launched a publishing house. Within twelve months, it became a six-figure business.
This from a woman who had spent thirty years incarcerated, who had been labeled, dismissed, and defined by a conviction for a crime she did not commit.
Soon afterward, she accepted a contractual position with a law firm in the Chicago area. It provided stability, but not alignment. She recognized the same holy discomfort that had stirred her before.
“Stability is not the same as calling. And so she walked away.”
From that decision emerged a multimedia network producing television shows, publishing books, leading publicity and marketing campaigns, and amplifying voices that might otherwise go unheard.
What began as rebuilding became rising.
The Mission
I Am Dragonfly
I Am Dragonfly was born not from theory, but from lived transformation. What began as a message of personal renewal has grown into a global network reaching more than half a million people across platforms.
Yet the heart of it has never been numbers. It has always been formation.
Tammy understands what it means to feel abandoned. She understands what it means to believe you have no value. She understands the devastation of being labeled by circumstances beyond your control.
She understands hidden seasons, stretching seasons, and rising seasons—not as metaphors, but as lived realities.
Global Network
Television Shows
Publishing
Author of 11 Books
Theologically Grounded Formation
Advanced Degrees
Theology and pastoral training with biblical integrity
Lived Experience
Guided by decades of testing and transformation
Transition Expert
Helping others rise and thrive through change
A Life Redeemed
Tammy’s life stands as evidence that hidden seasons are not wasted seasons. That abandonment does not define ultimate identity. That mistakes do not determine destiny. That confinement cannot cancel calling.
If God can take a woman sentenced to sixty years for a crime she did not commit, turn prison into a seminary, and build wings within confinement, then no season is beyond redemption.
“You are not what happened to you. You are not the mistakes you have made. You are becoming who you were created to be.”
And sometimes, the very place that tried to bury you becomes the place where your wings are formed.