After battling with cancer, Tamela A. Reed, a wife, mother and entrepreneur at heart, took a leap of faith and followed her heart, passion, and vision from God to start Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. Inc. (RCC). In her moments of hopelessness and overwhelmingly confusion, little did she know that God was actually leading her into her purpose in life—to help others find their own comfort and hope through a ministry and organization which exists to fill in the gaps of cancer care. This ministry, Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. Inc., provides much needed support in all of the areas that insurance does not cover.

Tamela began her education at San Francisco State University, where she studied pre-law and African American studies for two years. She then continued her studies at the University of Pittsburgh where she received a B.A. in Legal Studies, and after college graduation, took some time off to travel Europe and see the world. Soon after her get-away, Tamela returned to her education and went on to obtain her post-baccalaureate in general practice law as a paralegal at the University of San Diego. As a result, she opened up her own paralegal business where she focused on helping battered women obtain restraining orders and learn how to stand up for their rights.

Tamela continued on in her career to direct system-wide operations for such companies as Metro One Telecommunications, Chase Manhattan Bank and more. She also continued pursuing her education, earning a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Masters Degree in Organizational Management. During this time, Tamela wrote her two Master Thesis’s which described how she would go on to open her own catering business (a long-time passion and enjoyment). From 1998- 2006, Tamela became founder and owner of La Soul Food Catering.

In 2005, Tamela’s exciting 24/7 career path and on-the-go mom routine came to a halt, when she woke up one morning with a lump on her chest, and discovered she had cancer. A natural fighter at heart, Tamela did not give up hope. Through her journey to recovery, Tamela relied heavily on the hope, faith and love sourced from God. In God was her strength and in God was her hope. While Tamela found much help from God, she was still overwhelmed and confused by all of the many needs that came along with cancer. She was constantly struggling to figure out how to fill in all the gaps that her insurance did not cover (babysitting, nutritious meals, laundry, emotional support and more). In meeting other people with cancer, Tamela realized she wasn’t the only one in need of an organization that provided complete cancer patient support. She wanted to take her experience and skills to draw attention to the effects that a cancer diagnosis can have on an individual and their family members.

In 2008, soon after her recovery, Rock Cancer C.A.R.E. Inc. was born. Tamela first founded RCC as a ministry of the Rock church in San Diego, and as it vastly grew in spirit and love, it also grew to become one of the first cancer care organizations in San Diego to offer resources, support and help—all free of charge. Today, Tamela works hard to lead and operate the business. She was named Rock “Hero” for her dedication to the ministry and organization and just finished writing her first book entitled Recipes for Healing. In January of 2011, RCC opened its official office doors and recently over 3000 volunteers voted RCC along with 5 other ministries to receive the people’s choice ministry award! RCC employs four full-time employees and has hundreds of volunteers.

Tamela has been beyond blessed through her own experience and challenges, to be able to see her dreams come true with RCC, through the perseverance of hard work, dedication, and passion and direction from the Lord.