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Tamara MC, PhD
  • Speaker
  • Cultural Critic
  • Author
  • Activist
  • Journalist
  • Speaker
  • Cultural Critic

Welcome to Unicornlandia

We believe in miracles, magic, & the power of the unicorn to free all girls and women worldwide from gender-based violence and coercive control.

Hop on your unicorn and join me on a magical adventure.

An image with the saying, "In Unicorn We Trust."

Dr. Tamara MC is a/an

You have entered Unicornlandia, a place where dreams come true.

"In Unicornlandia, we believe in maximalism. More is more. Each page of this website is exploding with color. And delight. You enter Barbie's Dream House, hum alongside a hummingbird in a desert oasis, and lounge on a sandy beach sipping pink lemonade. You run under rainbows, kiss a starfish, and lick lollipops. We believe in pink, princesses, and parasols. Why? Because joy and beauty are activism. Today, we reclaim our power by choosing the almighty unicorn as our magical leader. Why the unicorn? She represents beauty, strength, and possibility."
About Me

Dr. Tamara MC is a unicorn activist for girls and women worldwide.

What is a Unicorn Activist?

Someone who believes in the magical strength of all girls, women, and female-identifying humans to live free in matriarchal magnificence.

Dr. Tamara MC with blonde hair is wearing star earrings and she is saying, "I was a child bride. It's time to stop teaching young girls to stay sweet."
About Me

Dr. Tamara MC is a unicorn activist for girls and women worldwide.

What is a Unicorn Activist?

Someone who believes in the magical strength of all girls, women, and female-identifying humans to live free in matriarchal magnificence.

Lived Experience Expert:

  • Cult
  • Child Marriage
  • Human Trafficking
  • Polygamy
  • Temporary Marriage
  • Domestic Violence

Dr. Tamara MC is a cult, child marriage, and human trafficking Lived Experience Expert who advocates for girls and women to live free from gender-based violence worldwide. Her Ph.D. is in Applied Linguistics, and she researches how language manipulates vulnerable populations.

Themes in her work explore coercive control, intergenerational trauma, Complex PTSD, religion/spirituality, and mothering. She researches language, culture, and identity in the Middle East and beyond, specifically her hybrid identity of growing up simultaneously Jewish and Muslim.

Dr. Tamara MC's a Contributor to Over 60 Outlets

ARTICLES

Read Tamara's Latest Publications

Holy Food by Christina Ward

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Tamara MC, former cult member, interviews Christina Ward about Holy Food: How Cults, Commune, and Religious Movements...

Rudy’s “Country Store” and Bar-B-Q in Scottsdale, AZ: Just in Time for Arizona Bike Week

The newest Rudy’s “Country Store” and Bar-B-Q location has opened its doors in Scottsdale, Arizona, just in time for the 27th Annual Arizona Bike Week, April 3-7, 2024. For Texans needing a taste of home, Rudy’s is only a six-minute drive (for anyone driving the speed limit) from bike week headquarters at Westworld of Scottsdale. They have ample parking and […]

Submission Sunday: The Rejection Interview with Tamara MC

SS: Thanks so much for agreeing to this interview, Tamara! Would you say that you fear rejection? Why or why not? TMC: I’ve never been terribly afraid of rejection. Anything that didn’t come into my life wasn’t meant to. Life would be overwhelming if everything was a yes, if everything I wanted or wished for came […]

Ain’t that a Mother: A conversation with Adiba Nelson

Adiba Nelson is the author of “Ain’t that a Mother,” a hilarious and vulnerable memoir about Black motherhood, Cerebral Palsy, and surviving intergenerational trauma. Adiba’s memoir is timely and so important because it discusses important themes such as Plan B in today’s post Roe v. Wade climate, postpartum depression, and the *shit* show of dating. The memoir even dips into the beautiful world of burlesque dancing.

The survivor stories blog interview project 2024

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! 1. What is your personal experience with gender-based violence (this may include domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, female genital mutilation etc)? I grew up in a cult in Texas during the 80s and 90s and was married at 12 as a child bride. I stayed with my husband […]

Tamara’s story of surviving child marriage at 12.

Article Voiceover AHA Foundation: Can you start by telling us about your upbringing? Particularly the religious culture that you were brought up in. Tamara: When I was 5 years old, my life completely changed. My father joined a new religion, which he thought would be a utopian community where all was going to be good. […]

My boyfriend broke up with me on Christmas.

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! My boyfriend and I had a perfect Christmas with a Venezuelan meal, a fire pit, and dancing.  But that night, he broke up with me; maybe he was grieving his former life with his ex and kids.  I haven’t dated since and have embraced my independence while […]

Holy Food by Christina Ward

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Tamara MC, former cult member, interviews Christina Ward about Holy Food: How Cults, Commune, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat, An American History I grew up in a Sufi cult in Texas during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Our diets were completely restricted. For years we […]

I Was Raised in a Cult. Like the Duggar Family, We Had Dark Secrets

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Many are stunned after watching Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, a docuseries about the famously growing Duggar family, on Amazon Prime. How could this have happened? The Duggars looked like such good people! But for those of us who grew up in similarly repressive environments, none of this was shocking. […]

‘Uncultured’: The Intergenerational Trauma of Girls Growing up in Cults

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Daniella Mestyanek Young’s powerfully immersive and exceptionally honest debut memoir Uncultured opens with a scene of Young standing in line to get spanked by Uncle Zephaniah. This man is not her blood uncle, but what the kids in the Children of God cult call the men in […]

I was in a cult. Britney was in a conservatorship.

Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Secretly behind closed doors, we’d both been held hostage, our personhood and civil liberties stolen Nov. 12 marked the historic day when after 13 years, Britney Spears finally freed herself from her father’s stranglehold, proclaiming, “I ain’t a slave 4 u!” The termination process of Britney’s conservatorship […]

READ MORE OF TAMARA'S ARTICLES
ARTICLES

Read Tamara's Latest Publications

READ MORE OF TAMARA'S ARTICLES

Do You Love Rainbows...

Glitter, sunsets and sunrises, coffee, animals, bodies of water, bodies, cotton, fresh air, bamboo duvet covers, flowers, Farmer’s markets, walking and running, pink, sand, herbal teas, globe trotting, brunch, best friends, mountains, the sun, sparkly flip-flops, anklets, dancing?

Hey Beauty Lover, I see you!

Do you believe in miracles? Rainbow-colored sheep? 

Do you believe in miracles?

Rainbow-colored sheep? 

I’m sooo glad we found each other!

An image of rainbow sheep in bright colors such as fuchsia, turquoise, lime green, yellow, and blue.
What do others have to say about Dr. Tamara MC?
What do others have to say about Dr. Tamara MC?
“Tamara's story is heartbreaking and extreme, but also a deeply revealing tale of the truth of child marriage and religious labor trafficking that is the fate of way too many children, in the US and throughout the world. As a child of trafficking myself, I appreciate the boldness with which Tamara tells her story, and the delicateness with which she cares for the reader. I hope this book is widely read, to help people be able to better spot the signs of religious trafficking and abuse when they encounter it.”
Tamara’s story intersects with major issues at an urgent time, and she powerfully offers reminders of hope from the gravity of experience. Her unique voice brings highly relevant and personal context to confusing world issues we struggle to comprehend as a concerned society. But as a fellow survivor of patriarchal violence I know firsthand—what survivors hunger for most is to know a better life is within reach, and that happiness again is possible. In a time when exploited women and children need all the advocacy they can get, I look for authors like Tamara to help me understand what is beyond yet all-too familiar in fundamentalist and high-control religious regimes.
Tamara is a leading voice in the survivor-led movement to end forced and child marriage in the United States. She is fearless in standing with me and other survivors -- at a chain-in protest in California, in a bridal gown and chains, and now in her powerful book -- to tell her heartbreaking story and push for legal reform, so she can spare other girls the trauma she endured. I remain in awe of Tamara's resiliency and eloquence, which are helping to drive the movement.
Tracy (3)
Athena (2)
Janice
"Tamara’s story shows us the intersection of high control religions and patriarchy and how, too often, children are collateral damage in the pursuit of power and influence. She demonstrates how faith can turn to manipulation, servitude, and abuse. She is a needed voice in our crucial collective conversations regarding agency, parental control, and keeping our youngest and most vulnerable citizens safe."
Allison (1)
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celia
Julia Brill
Gayle Testi
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Testimonials (1)
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Adanna literary journal
The Pixel Project
Aha Foundation
Business Insider
EcoTheo Collective
Apartment Therapy
Los Angeles Review of Books
Elizabeth Ellen's Hobart
Write or Die
The New York Times
New York Magazine
Newsweek
Ms. Magazine
Salon
Parents
Independent
MSN
Yahoo news
Food52
Bomb
Brevity Blog
Oldster
Hippocampus Magazine
woman and home
Diagram
Herizons
hey alma
Literary Mama
Motherly
Sonora review
Stud
Northwest Film Forum
As Us
Mutha Magazine
Hippocampus magazine
100 word
thrillist
The Skinny Poetry Nation
The professor is in
The Paragon Press Presents
The Audacity
Rat's Ass Review
Poetica Magazine
Modern love
Memoir Land
Journal of Expressive Writing
High Shelf X
Driftwood
Cambridge scholar
Berkeley poetry
Columbia
Tuscon Lifestyle
Tiny House
The blue guitar
The Coachella Review
Sling magazine
Sketchbook
MMPP
Human Trafficking Search
Grub Street
flipboard logo
Fiction International
Drunk Monkeys
Dorothy Parker Ashes
Daily Mail
Cutthroat
Bohed
A Quiet Courage
motherwell
The Strategies
Tuscon
Ordinary Madness
Rigorous
Cult Education Institute
Cult News Network
NY Breaking
submission sunday
RideTexas

Emotionally and mentally, I feel my age because I’ve lived my life in neon yellow and hot pink-flashing colors, with zest and flare, rarely forsaking a moment, knowing what I value most in life is time, something I am very greedy with and protect fiercely. -- Dr. Tamara MC

Emotionally and mentally, I feel my age because I’ve lived my life in neon yellow and hot pink-flashing colors, with zest and flare, rarely forsaking a moment, knowing what I value most in life is time, something I am very greedy with and protect fiercely. --Dr. Tamara MC

Podcasts

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Podcasts

Listen Now

VIEW ALL PODCASTS

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Dr. Tamara MC's Wall of Icons

These incredible women have influenced Tamara as mentors from afar.

An image titled, Dr. Tamara MC's Wall of Icons. 70 women are included including Oprah, Ruth Bader, Princess Diana, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Malala, and others.

FAQs

How do you pronounce my name?

My name is pronounced:

“Tamara” like the sun will come out tomorrow.

“MC” like emcee, not McDonalds. 

My students often call me Doc MC, and you can too.

What is a Unicorn Activist?

Someone who believes in the magical strength of all girls, women, and female-identifying humans to live free in matriarchal magnificence.

 

And yes, I did make up this title. 

What's with all the pink? And Unicorns?

Pink is power. Unicorns represents our eternal search for magic. 

You deal with such a heavy topics but your website is so joyful. Why?

Joy is transgressive. Being joyful is activism.

 

“Joy and pain

Like sunshine and rain”

(From the lyrics of Rob Base.)

You mention girls and women. Are others welcome?

Absolutely!

 

This is an inclusive space, and anyone who supports our mission is welcome.

What's up with the Barbie theme?

I’ve loved Barbie since I was a little girl. She was able to do all the things I dreamed of before I was physically able. 

 

Barbie was my girl way before the movie premiered.

What do cults and unicorns have in common?

Absolutely nothing. That’s exactly why unicorns are the symbol of my brand and my website. Unicorns stand for freedom. 

Is Dr. Tamara MC a coach, counselor, psychologist?

No! She has no training or certificates in these areas, just a lifetime of experience. 

An image with the saying, "May be the unicorn be with you."

Tamara MC, PhD

Newsweek
MSN
Bomb
Los Angeles Review of Books
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