Tamika Sonja Lawrence was born in Columbus Ohio and later moved to Phoenix Arizona at the age of four. Tamika attended South Mountain High School, a magnet school located in Phoenix's South side and took part in music, music production, and acting classes. Once she graduated high school, Tamika attended the University of Arizona, first going for Music Studies but eventually changed her major and received her BFA in Musical Theater. After graduation, and spending some time performing in Europe, Tamika moved to NYC where she can now be seen in RENT Off-Broadway.