# Tamara Rubin

Tamara Rubin is an American filmmaker and environmental activist.In January 2018, Rubin founded Lead Safe Mama, LLC, a woman-owned small business for childhood lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety with a community-collaborative business model.

## Early life and education

Tamara Elise Budgett was born November 20, 1969 in Saginaw, Michigan to ceramic artist and art teacher Helene Nancy Budgett (Glickfeld Marshall) and lumber industry site manager, Harvey Wakeham Budgett Jr., both of San Francisco. She has one older sister, Jennifer Ellen Islas (Budgett).
In 1970, Rubin's family moved to Braintree, Massachusetts, and again in 1971 to Hingham, MA. Rubin (then known as Tammy Budgett) attended Hingham’s Central Junior High School from 1981 to 1984 and Hingham High School from 1984 till graduating in May 1987 at 17 years old. In high school, Rubin participated in drama club, the International Thespian Society,French club,debate team, the AFS intercultural exchange program,and was president of the competitive math team. In 1986, while still in high school, Rubin attended a summer program at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY), taking classes in creative writing and performance arts.
Rubin was accepted to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA) and attended from the fall of 1987 through December 1990, primarily studying with Circle in the Square on Broadway and receiving her undergraduate Bachelor of Fine Arts diploma in 1991. She attended Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) for a program with a focus on sciences in the summer of 1988. In 1989/90 she studied in Paris with NYU's Experimental Theater Wing and with the Theatre du Soleil.

## Personal life

Tamara currently lives with her husband Leonard in Portland, Oregon.

### Relationships and family

In July 1994 Rubin suffered a miscarriage with her first husband (Mark Wilk Strauss), after which the couple divorced.
In 1995 Rubin was later diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer. Given her history of cancer and miscarriage (and other reproductive complications) she had concerns about her ability to have a child and chose to have her first child as a single parent while living in San Rafael, California. Her son Colescott James Barry Rubin (Budgett) was born on July 29, 1996 in Santa Rosa, California. Colescott’s biological grandfather is the artist Robert Colescott.
On May 9, 2001, Rubin married Leonard Rubin, a bicycle inventor, designer, fabricator and computer consultant. They have four children. In 2024, Colescott and AJ appeared together as The Rubin Brothers on American Idol.

## Lead poisoning incident

In 2005, a contractor used an illegal open-flame torch method to remove lead-based paint from Tamara Rubin's home in Northeast Portland, resulting in her two young sons being lead-poisoned.

## Career

Upon completing her studies with NYU in 1990, Rubin moved to Marin County (Mill Valley, San Rafael, and Fairfax). During her time in Marin County, she worked as a consultant for nonprofits in database design, fundraising, volunteer coordination, and special event coordination, as well as held the position of event coordinator for the County of Marin.
After marrying Leonard Rubin in 2001, the couple combined their consulting businesses working together as Leonard Rubin & Associates. Tamara continued to work for their consulting business as their family expanded, focusing on database design work—primarily creating custom database solutions for health-related businesses and educational institutions (hospitals, kidney dialysis clinics, acupuncture clinics, universities, private schools, etc).
Following the lead poisoning incident, Rubin began advocating for lead poisoning prevention. She spoke about lead hazards in schools and informed parents about the risks of lead in children's toys and jewelry through her website, mychildrenhaveleadpoisoning.com. Her efforts led to media attention and she shared her family's experiences with lead poisoning. She also testified at legislative hearings in Salem, Oregon supporting new regulations on lead use.
In 2011, Rubin left her job to focus full-time on producing a documentary on lead poisoning, MisLead: America's Secret Epidemic. In the same year, she also founded the Lead Safe America Foundation.
In 2016, Rubin organized a town hall meeting in Flint, Michigan with special guest Bernie Sanders. Later that year, she was the opening speaker for a presentation by Erin Brokovich in Portland, Oregon. Also in 2016, she was the whistleblower for the Portland Public Schools lead in school water legal action.
In 2018, Rubin founded Lead Safe Mama, LLC.
Through her work, both with the Lead Safe America Foundation and Lead Safe Mama, LLC, she has won multiple awards from federal agencies. Her work has also been the basis of six product recalls from United States federal agencies.
Rubin’s work has been covered in the news when she discovered unsafe levels of toxicants in common household products (such as Tupperware and Corelle). In March 2023, Rubin reported the presence of lead in Stanley tumblers, which led to a lawsuit against the manufacturer and mention of the concern on Saturday Night Live.

## Product recalls

The following products have been recalled as direct result of Rubin's work:
* Bindle Bottle - Food and Drug Administration recall (February 2023)
* Cupkin Children's Cup - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall (March 2023)
* Green Sprouts Baby Bottle Recall - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (November 2022)
* Jumping Jumparoo - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (June 2022)
* NUK brand baby bottle - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (July 2022)
* Stanley-Branded Jr. Kids Garden Sets - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (September 2024)

## Consumer Reports partnership

Since 2023, Rubin and her company Lead Safe Mama, LLC have partnered with Consumer Reports Magazine (ConsumerReports.org) on several projects. Consumer Reports has both cited Rubin’s research in articles and collaborated with Rubin on follow-up investigations based on her work.

## Television appearances (partial list)

* April, 2008: WWL-TV's 4 Investigates Eyewitness News (on lead poisoning and crime in New Orleans)
* July 15, 2008: Today Show (on dangers or lead paint)
* November 9, 2017: CBS This Morning (on lead in fidget spinners)
* February 7, 2024: Consumer Reports: The truth about lead in Stanley Tumblers

## Awards

* June 2011: Healthy Homes Hero Award, Healthy Homes Conference presented by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Agriculture and United States Department of Energy (Denver Colorado)
* October 2011: Mom on a Mission, Healthy Child Healthy World (New York, NY)
* January 2012: Woman of the Month, Lifetime Television
* May 2014: Best Outreach Campaign, National Healthy Homes Conference Communication Star Award (Nashville, TN)