Tammie Teclemariam

Teclemariam was born about 1990 to Eritrean immigrants and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland.[1] Her father is a librarian.[1] At 16 she started attending St. John's College in Annapolis.[1] She moved to France to go to pastry school, graduating from St. John's afterward.[1] She did an apprenticeship in viticulture and winemaking at Clos Centeilles in Minervois, France.[2]

Teclemariam got a sales job for a wine importer.[1] In 2015 she got an internship at Eater.[1] She worked in wine shops to develop her wine knowledge and calls herself a "wine unprofessional".[1][3] She started freelancing as a food and wine writer.[1][3][4] She has written about food and wine for Wine Enthusiast, Eater, Taste, Epicurious, and Wirecutter.[1][4]

In the immediate aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, Teclemariam attended protests and felt "motivated to continue to fight for justice."[5] On June 8, 2020, she tweeted a photo of Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport at a 2004 costume party, a photo taken days after he'd rejected a pitch for a story about Puerto Rican food from Illyanna Maisonet, who is Puerto Rican.[1][3][6][7] The photo showed Rappoport dressed in a "stereotypical Puerto Rican costume" of do-rag, sleeveless undershirt, and chains.[1][8][9][10] Teclemariam captioned the photo, “I do not know why Adam Rapoport simply doesn’t write about Puerto Rican food for @bonAppétit himself!!!”[1][11][12] By the end of the day Rappoport, who had been criticized multiple times for his treatment of minority staffers, had resigned.[1][3][11][13][14] The New York Times said her tweet helped spur "a reckoning over institutional racism at the magazine."[3]

According to GrubStreet, Teclemariam's Twitter feed quickly became the "Page Six" of the food and wine media.[1] On June 9, 2020, Teclemarian tweeted about a Confederate-flag cake that Alex Delany, Bon Appetit drinks editor and Test Kitchen cast member, had posted to his Tumblr.[7][15] Teclemariam called for the removal of Matt Duckor, the VP of video for Conde-Nast, who resigned the next day.[1][11][9] She tweeted a multipost thread of allegations about Peter Meehan, editor of the Los Angeles Times food section, and two days later he resigned.[1][13][5] Multiple LA Times staffers said that without Teclemariam's twitter thread, the conversation that led to his resignation would not have happened.[13]

The New York Times profiled her in a piece about Black wine professionals.[3]

Teclemariam lives in the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, with five housemates.[1][3] She has a rescue dog.[1]