Tami Sawyer

Tami Sawyer (born April 27, 1982) is an American politician and civil rights activist. She was elected in August 2018 as Shelby County Commissioner for District 7 and resides in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She serves as chair of the Education and Legislative committees. She is chair of the Shelby County Commission Black Caucus. As of 2024, Sawyer is running for election as the Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk.

Sawyer has provided commentary on social justice and public policy for many outlets including Al Jazeera, CNN, The Commercial Appeal, Essence Forbes, HuffPost, MLK50, MSNBC, NPR, Roland Martin, and Time. Sawyer is featured in the award-winning 2022 documentary, Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America with Jeffery Robinson.

Sawyer is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Links, Inc., social organizations for Black women.

Early life and education Sawyer was born in Evanston, Illinois, to Gladys and Andrew Sawyer, Jr. She has one older brother, Michael. At the age of 8, her family relocated to South Holland, Illinois. When Sawyer was 12, her parents returned to her mother's home state, Tennessee. She subsequently graduated from the University of Memphis in 2004 with a BA in Political Science.

Career From 2008 to 2014, Sawyer was a human capital analyst supporting diversity initiatives at NAVSEA PEO IWS, a program office of the United States Navy. During that time, she competed on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars and owned a small cupcake business, Tami Cakes.

Having lived in Washington, D.C. for a decade, she returned home to Memphis and led a team in teacher licensing for Shelby County Schools.

In 2015, Sawyer began a five-year tenure with Teach For America Memphis as the managing director, Diversity and Community Partnerships.

Controversy In 2019, Sawyer was at the center of controversy when old tweets from the politician surfaced in which she communicated racist, anti-police, anti-disability, and anti-LGBTQ sentiments. In response community members created online petitions calling for Sawyer to be removed from the 2019 mayoral ballot. WMC Political Analyst Mike Nelson was quoted as saying “These are devastating revelations about someone who is a self-avowed progressive. These are the farthest things from progressive sentiments”.

Awards and recognition

Ebony Power 100 List 2018 Memphis Business Journal Top 40 under 40 Class of 2018 The Tennessean 18 Tennesseans to Watch in 2018 Reckon South's 2022 Reckon List Women of Achievement Heroism Award 2018