As a child Tanda was a good student, a participant in beauty pageants, someone aspiring to get everything out of life, just like other young women.
At the age of 12, however, she was placed in foster care. By 14, Tanda was married to her first husband, a relationship that produced two children.
That marriage failed. Tanda remarried and had two more children. After her second marriage ended in divorce, she met a new man and had another child, leaving her a single mother of five children—a 20-year-old son, an 18-year-old daughter, 16-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old son, and a 10-year-old son.
Tanda said she had to do something drastic to support them, which led her the business of selling crystal meth in Tulsa. According to Tanda, her business was thriving unless she got caught.
She had gone to jail before for the distribution of drugs. But she said her first experience in jail did not affect her like her current sentence does. She did not tell me much about what caused her to become imprisoned the second time, but she reiterated that it was a terrible experience.
Tanda describes herself as a survivor, not a bad person. She has not forgotten where she has come from.
At Eddie Warrior, Tanda is on her way to an associate’s degree in business. She aspires to be a certified drug and alcohol counselor. She encourages young women she meets in prison to not go down the road she did.
Tanda’s story is not only informative but inspirational. If she follows through with everything that she says she will, Tanda Marshall’s story will be a tale of triumph over a string of bad circumstances.
Rodrick Thomas is a student-athlete and a communication major at TU.
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