Tamara Wood

Tamara Wood is a wife, mother of two boys, an Army veteran, and self published author. She grew up in St. Louis MO. with her mother, father, and five sisters. Growing up she always had a love of writing. Having several published works as a child including poetry in short stories. Winning the Missouri young authors award when she was 11.

Into Tamara’s teenage years she had a rebellious heart. While attending Hazelwood Central High School she found herself getting into a lot of trouble, and ended up finishing out her high school years in a juvenile facility. There she continued to excel at writing and sports, becoming Missouri’s MVP as a track runner. When she got released from juvenile detention at 17, she began attending Saint Charles Community College for a year and a half. She’d soon drop out, move out of her father’s house, and join the US Army as a military police officer in 2008. While in the army, Tamara excelled further. Less than a year after joining, she shipped off to Iraq 2009-2010. While in Iraq, she won the base-wide bodybuilding competition beating out every female participant. For this win, she was featured in “Bodybuilding magazine” “Women's Fitness” and “Army Times”. Unfortunately, also while deployed, Tamara faced an assault from a superior. After coming home, Tamara struggled for years with alcoholism and PTSD. In 2012, Tamara was again sexually assaulted by a superior. Soon after that is when she met Gregory Wood, who did his best to pull her out of her depression. With Greg’s support, she decided to deploy a second time to Kuwait from 2013 to 2014. After coming home from Kuwait, she continued to struggle with PTSD, migraines, and various physical injuries. She decided to shift her focus to civilian work where she became a corrections officer at Saint Louis County Corrections, where she learned a lot about the minds of psychopaths. Due to the fact that the normal inmate population under her watch were those who committed the most heinous crimes within the Saint Louis area, that particular job began to take a toll on her, so she decided to leave and embark on a journey as a government contractor where she deployed to Israel from 2016 to 2017. After coming home in 2017, her relationship with Greg wasn’t going so well, so she moved to Ohio with her father to help him take care of her little sister (who was 14 at the time) and going through a rebellious stage of her own. It was in 2018 that Tamara decided to move back to Saint Louis and give her relationship with Gregory another chance after he proposed. Tamara left the military in late 2018. Exiting the military proved to take an extreme mental toll so much so that Tamara began to self-medicate. Months later, her family staged a successful intervention.

In 2019 Tamara became pregnant with her first son (Robert). It was then that she decided that she was going to be a stay-at-home mom, to be able to raise her son without the use of babysitters, and focus on her mental health treatment. In 2020 Tamara’s father and best friend was hit by a car while on his motorcycle. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and numerous injuries that landed him on life support. When his wife hung up on the hospital after saying, “Let him die,” Tamara stepped in and began to make decisions to save his life, and assumed responsibility as her father's permanent caregiver. Losing who her father was felt like it was going to tip Tamara over the edge. In 2021 she and Gregory got married in a small private ceremony in St.Louis, Missouri. Miraculously her father had healed enough to walk her down the aisle with assistance. In 2022 Tamara became a mother for a second time, giving birth to another boy (Makito). That pregnancy proved to be extremely difficult. But she was able to push through despite having polyhydramnios while battling with PTSD, and numerous physical injuries that she had sustained during her time in service.

It was then in 2022 Tamara decided after several years of treatment, and with the help of her amazing VA mental health team, that she was going to put whatever was in her head out on paper. No matter what subject came to her, she was going to write about it. In late 2022 Tamara self-published her first book “Star of Her Stripes: Internal Seductions”, the first book in a romance novella series that is too spicy for those under the age of 18. Unfortunately, her book did not sell well, but Tamara refused to give up. She continued to struggle with depression and PTSD but found a way to overcome it with the help of her mental health team, her husband, her children, intense faith, and guided meditation. Tamara decided to release her first titles in a self-help series, “The Serene Path: Mastering the Art of Guided Meditation” and “Breaking the Chain: Empowering Strategies to Deal with a Narcissist”. That brings us to the present day.

After writing “The Serene Path” and “Breaking the Chains”, Tamara is determined to spread her message of healing the body, by beginning with healing the mind. It is no doubt that the condition of our mental health significantly affects our physical health. That persistent problems with our mental health manifest themselves in our physical being. “The Serene Path” is meant to give her readers a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to begin their mediation journey amongst life’s everyday struggles. To help her readers heal the mind and spirit, resonating with the body. With that mental strength, they can begin to address the subject of developing conscious relationships within their lives. When we feel better, we communicate better.