Hangin' with Tamar Turner

Dom Muccilo Q & A with Tamar Turner 

Where did you grow up and who was your biggest influence as a kid? 

I grew up in Philadelphia, specifically West Oak Lane area, it's a nice little city. I would say my biggest influence growing up was definitely my mom. I just watched pretty much everything she did. What she did at work, how she interacted with people and what she did on a daily basis to always make sure I was taken care of, the house was taken care of—just how hard she worked. It definitely motivated me to take everything that I did seriously whether it be education, sports, family, different stuff like that. 

You have other siblings?

Yeah, I have an older sister and I have a younger brother. 

What sports did you play growing up?

I played football and baseball, then I ran track. I went to Catholic school so we had a freshman, junior varsity and a varsity team so I played football up until the varsity level, tried out for the baseball team and I got cut, so, that was that. But yeah, I ran track for my freshman and sophomore year I was on the varsity team and junior varsity for a little bit. Then my senior year I played rugby, we got a rugby team my junior year. 

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever had to overcome? 

I would definitely say the biggest challenge is being a good role model. One of the biggest obstacles in my life was probably losing my mom in high school, so a lot of people thought I was gonna kind of drift off and not take things seriously. They really didn’t know how I was gonna react to it but it really just—people look at me weird when I say it but I think losing my mom kind of motived me. Just because I know what she would’ve wanted me to do and what track she put me on so it really made me just want to be that much more influential to my little brother, to my older sister, cousins and different stuff like that. So it really just put me on the right track and put my mind in a different place. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Five years I definitely will be on TV somewhere, hopefully west coast living, maybe. I definitely do want to start a non-profit organization so hopefully, that will allow me to travel a lot more and just be able to give back to the kids and public schools and stuff like that. But yeah, in five years you’ll definitely see me on TV somewhere. 

What are some obstacles you foresee facing in getting a non-profit going and getting to that TV appearance? 

So when it comes to the non-profit the biggest thing will be funding, but I know you can go through different grants and everything like that but I feel like non-profits are so common nowadays that everybody is looking for something to do someway, somehow. I definitely think exposure might be a bit of a conflict too just cause I know that starting a non-profit I’m gonna have to differentiate myself from everybody. What makes mine so unique, so they people will want to go towards it and just making an impact I feel like I know in my head what I want to do, I tell people the impact I want to make all the time but just being able to put that in fruition because a lot of things are easier said than done. 

When it comes to getting on TV I really would just say it’s about connections. I know I can be on TV, I know I’m the right fit for it but its really just about knowing the right people, getting exposed to the right avenues, having the money for it, too. Especially with me wanting to have my own show and just making myself different, like what’s gonna make me different from all these other shows out here, all these other people out here with the same dreams. 

40 years from now, when you’re 62-years-old, what position would you have to be in or have held where you can say, “this is exactly how I wanted things to go.”

At 62-years-old I hope that I’m retired, but still being able to do work in the community, so I would definitely say that being the head of my own non-profit would do it for me. That I was able to give back, make a difference, maybe even start a legacy and then somebody else continues it. Then with my show, I’m hoping that it's still airing, maybe just playing some repeat episodes. But 40 years from now I definitely want to be traveling, retired, just living life. 

Outside of all this serious business talk about the endeavors in the sports industry, what do you do for fun? What kind of shows do you like, any kind of hobbies, what’s up with that? 

Right now I’m really hooked on this show called Silicon Valley. It's like this geeky humor, but its really keeping me entertained. I like to watch sports every day when I get home from class. My first tab I open is ESPN, just catching up on everything, whether it be highlights, whether it be different shows that went on throughout the day. And I love music, I have a speaker in my house and I bluetooth it to my phone and every time I get home, between my laptop playing sports and my speaker just blasting music that’s just how I keep myself at peace. 

What’s on the playlist? 

Little bit of everything—well, not a little bit of everything. Predominantly rap, hip-hop. I’m a big Future fan, Young Thug, Travis Scott—those are probably my top 3. Drake’s my favorite artist overall, but they’ve been really catching my eye lately. But I like to listen to anything, anything that sounds good with a good beat anything I can breakdown. And I love ad-libs, I love a good ad-lib. 

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Long before Tamar Turner was accepted into the Master’s program at Newhouse, got his bachelor’s degree, or had dreams of pursuing a career in sports, he could have done what most people would have done—given up. 

As a kid, Tamar didn’t look up to an athlete or celebrity, he looked up to his mom. 

“I just watched pretty much everything she did,” Tamar said. “What she did at work, how she interacted with people and what she did on a daily basis to always make sure I was taken care of, the house was taken care of—just how hard she worked.” 

Tamar knew who his role model was at an early age and by the time he got to high school, he realized the important role he played in being the same for his siblings. This became especially challenging during his sophomore year of high school when his mom suddenly passed away. 

Being a 16-year-old kid, its hard to imagine this kind of loss not taking a severe mental toll. Tamar grieved but ultimately knew that he still had to make his role model proud. 

“…people look at me weird when I say it but I think losing my mom kind of motivated me. Just because I know what she would’ve wanted me to do,” he said. 

What brings Tamar here today and what drives him to where he wants to be tomorrow are the lessons he learned from his childhood hero and of course, never giving up.