BUILDING KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, AND TRUST.
Tara Wicker | Director, Community Engagement
Community Engagement Director, Tara Wicker, is a stakeholder engagement, community engagement, governmental affairs, and business workforce development specialist with over twenty years of experience who served for twelve years as a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish (County) Council, serving a diverse district that included the Louisiana State Capitol, all of downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University, and Southern University. She is a member of the International City/County Management Association. Tara has a Master's Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Public Policy
Analysis. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Tara is the founder of The W Consulting Group and Community Builders, Inc.
Prior to her time as an elected official, Tara served in the Office of the Mayor-President for the City of Baton Rouge as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer. For over eight years she worked as a Program Officer and Community Organizer for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, where she established five local Community Development Corporations (CDCs), and championed other community revitalization efforts throughout the City of Baton Rouge. She established the Community-Police Ambassador Program, the EBR Blight Elimination Team, Co-Authored the Take A Bite Out of Blight Policy Paper, established the Police Policy Review Committee, Race Talk Community Conversations, as well as the Love our City BR Initiative.
Tara was born and raised in Mid-City Baton Rouge. She is the First Lady of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Church and has been married for 30 years to her high school sweetheart, Pastor, former State Trooper, and business owner, Michael Wicker. She is the mother of six children, Tya, Trinity, Michael-Joel, Mya, Magnus, and Mailey. Tara’s life philosophy is, “I believe that service is our rent for living life on this earth, and if we go through life living and serving only ourselves, then we’ve done this world a grave injustice.”