Tamara Ann Alba has been a reader and writer since childhood. In the third grade, she got in trouble for reading the novel The Color of Her Panties, by Piers Anthony. Her teacher said that it was inappropriate for school because it mentioned "panties." (Tamara wonders what that teacher thinks of the Captain Underpants books that are popular now...) Tamara still enjoys reading fiction of all kinds, especially urban fantasy, sci-fi, and romance, but she also reads plenty of nonfiction, like biographies, history, and science texts…basically, anything that catches her fancy.

As an adult, Tamara graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor's in theater and then immediately dashed off to live in Japan. In the decade that she was there, she progressed from teaching one-on-one to writing curricula and training teachers for a nationwide chain of private schools. After returning to the US in 2008, Tamara got a second bachelor's degree, this time in elementary education. She began teaching life skills to adults with mental illnesses and developmental delays, as well as teaching part-time in the public school system.

Now, Tamara is taking time off from writing her own books to combine her two loves—reading and teaching. She is using the skills she learned from her Poynter Institute Certificate in Editing and the continuing education classes from the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) to start The Righter Writer. Here, Tamara is offering rewriting, beta reading, editing, and proofreading services to authors, bloggers, business people, and students.