
Tamara’s Awards • Photo by Avi Rubin, September 2019
Updated; February 9, 2020
(Rates & Minimums Subject To Change)
Background
Tamara Rubin, an internationally-recognized expert on childhood Lead-poisoning and its prevention, has won numerous awards (including two from the federal government) for her pioneering work in raising awareness of household exposure to neurotoxic Lead (and other heavy metal toxicants) and safe work practices in remodeling and remediation – and is the only person ever to win the national “Healthy Homes Hero Award” (pictured above) — presented to her in 2011 by a consortium of federal agencies (HUD, USDA, USDoE, CDC & EPA) at the National Healthy Homes Conference in Denver, for her ground-breaking consumer advocacy in raising awareness about the dangers of residential Lead exposure.
Tamara became an advocate and activist for Lead poisoning prevention after her children were acutely poisoned at their home in Portland, Oregon in August of 2005. In early 2012 she gave up a career as a successful computer consultant and database designer to do this advocacy full time.
Since December of 2016 she began working under the name “Lead Safe Mama” as an independent advocate and consumer goods watchdog, with a focus on consumer goods testing and reporting the results of this testing here on the #LeadSafeMama blog, incorporating officially as “Lead Safe Mama, LLC” in January of 2018.
Highlights
- 2016: Tamara was recognized as one of the key whistleblowers in the Portland Public Schools (PPS) Lead-in-water legal case, for her work exposing the PPS administration’s knowledge and active participation in allowing children to drink Lead-contaminated water from school fountains without taking any action to remediate the Lead hazards (nor alerting the parents of this concern).
- 2017: In the summer of 2017 her work finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys went viral and was later covered by CBS This Morning in November of 2017 (link).
- March 2019: With her discovery and reporting of Lead (and Cadmium, Arsenic, and Mercury) in vintage Tupperware products in March of 2019, nearly 1,000,000 unique individuals from all over the globe visited the blog in a single month. [See the stats summary for March 2019 here!]
- September 13, 2019: In the past 12 months, the total number of unique visitors to the Lead Safe Mama blog (per Google Analytics) has grown to more than 1,500,000 people from more than 200 countries (link) – see image below & click here to see some more of the fun stats.
2019 News Coverage & Interviews Included:
- August 30, 2019 – New Idea Food, Australia
- August 28, 2019 – Truthout (USA)
- August 25, 2019 – Yahoo Style U.K.
- August 23, 2019 – The Sun (U.K.)
- August 16, 2019 – 7 News Australia
- August 1, 2019 – Better Homes & Gardens, Australia
- July 25, 2019 – New Idea Food, Australia
- July 23, 2019 – Vice (USA)
(2020 has been a quiet press year with CoViD-19 taking over the interwebs!)
Writing
The TamaraRubin.com / LeadSafeMama.com blog has more than 2,500 posts and pages with information and resources specifically on the subject of Lead, childhood Lead poisoning prevention, Lead in schools, Lead-safe work practices in renovation, Lead in consumer goods (consumer goods test results), and more.
Over the past 13+ years, Tamara’s writings have been published and quoted widely and the #LeadSafeMama website (which features extensive database of consumer and household goods she has tested) serves as a trusted source – a virtual encyclopedia – on these topics, which together with her social media channels (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), newsletters and blog, have earned her a large (and loyal!) Internet following.
Public and Private Speaking Engagements
Since her first speaking engagement at the Western States Lead Poisoning Prevention Conference in Seattle in 2007, Tamara has partnered with dozens of public health agencies and other businesses and organizations on collaborative outreach events for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention awareness. This has included headlining at professional conferences; she is also a popular keynote speaker and presenter at events hosted by medical schools, fortune 500 corporations, and civic groups throughout the U.S.
Speaking engagement highlights range from presenting alongside presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Flint, Michigan and serving as an opening speaker for renowned environmental activist Erin Brockovich. Her popular “lunch and learn” enterprise speaking engagements have included collaborative events at the Corporate Headquarters of Nike, Seventh Generation, and SC Johnson Wax. To read more about Tamara’s speaking engagements and collaborative outreach events, click here.
One-on-One Home Consultations
& Testing Parties
Tamara visits families and communities at home – where they live, educating people about common environmental sources of Lead exposure – particularly those lurking in plain sight in our homes – and childhood Lead-poisoning prevention. Healthy Home Consultations are one-on-one sessions where Tamara helps folks detox their life by helping to identify which consumer goods and household items in their home are free of heavy metal toxicants (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic and Antimony) and which are good candidates to eliminate from their homes. During these visits, she also gives great advice and support to help parents make #SaferChoices for their families moving forward, offering a unique set of information and tools (tailored to the families she visits) as guidelines to help them limit their family’s potential ongoing exposure to toxicants. To read more about Home Consultations, click here.
Testing Parties
A Testing Party is like a one-on-one home consultation where the host invites friends to bring things to be tested (using XRF technology) and to help share the cost of the home visit. It ends up being a crash-course in metallic neurotoxicants commonly found in our homes — and how to avoid them. Testing parties often have between 6 and 10 participants – are usually a lot of fun and have often been compared to a “reverse Tupperware party” – where the outcome is not that the host and guests buy things, but rather that they end up getting rid of things in their homes that are potential or confirmed sources of heavy metal exposure. To read more about Testing Parties, click here.
Rates – in most cities:
(subject to change)
DAY RATES, United States
- Public Speaking Events: $5,500/ half day or $7,500 full day (up to three events in a full day, schedule permitting). $10,000 for two full days. [Travel time and travel costs included]
- Private Engagements: $2,000/day, plus $1,500 per travel day — depending on location; usually one to two travel days are necessary for a full day of consulting. For example, an East Coast private engagement might require two full travel days but a California private engagement would normally just require one full travel day. [Travel costs (flight, ground transportation, etc.) included]
- Corporate Consumer Goods Consulting: $5,000/full day [Travel time and travel costs included]
- Non-U.S. Locations: Rates can be discussed, and depend on travel time and additional cost factors.
Click here to learn more about Tamara’s outreach events and speaking engagements.
Testing Parties & Home Consultations*
(one-on-one), rates for 2021
- $350 to $500 per hour in most U.S. locations.
- Normally $350/hour for a 3-hour or 4-hour appointment, or $375/hour for a 2 hour appointment (2-hour appointments depend on availability, and are only possible if I am already in your area).
- For most locations: 3-hour minimum site visit depending on location.
- Maximum consultation length: 4 hours.
- No charge for travel time if travel is less than 1 hr. total driving required.
- Longer minimum visits may be required (or a charge for travel time or a higher rate) depending on the anticipated travel time to your location.
Considerations:
- Payment must be made in advance to confirm your time-slot.
- We can send you an invoice for payment, or you can use one of the electronic payment methods listed below.
- If travel time is greater than 30 minutes, 1/2 of round-trip travel time may be charged in addition to the time of the visit. [or a longer minimum site visit may be required – depending on the travel distance.]
- *Home Visit rates are for when Tamara is in your area already; if you would like to book Tamara to come to your city or state when she is not already going to be there, she needs to confirm a private engagement or public speaking engagement to bring her to the area OR at least 25 hours of aggregate home visits to make that possible [or 10 hours – for areas that are near a major California airport.] You could also opt for paying the day-rates listed above (to bring her to your area when she is not already scheduled to be there.)
- Included with your consultation is advance calls/communications with Tamara (to help you prepare for her visit), as well as follow-up questions answered via text, e-mail, or messenger (really pretty much “unlimited” – within reason!)
Legal disclaimer for private consultations:
Tamara is not (and does not claim to be) a Hazard Assessor, Lead Paint Inspector, nor Risk Assessor. And no formal written reports are provided with her consultations — however, you are encouraged to take notes during your time with Tamara.
Thank you for your interest in this important work!
Click here to read the refund policy.
This is linked in the footer on every page of this website.
Neighbor Visit
Is Tamara visiting a friend who lives next-door to you (a home that is literally next to your home) and you want her to pop in for an hour? Please inquire about a “neighbor visit: (only for situations where there is literally no travel involved!)
Phone Consultations
Phone consultations are normally billed at $250 an hour, with a one-hour minimum. You can email photos and tests results (if that is what you have questions about) in advance of your call to TamaraRubin@mac.com. Please pay in advance to confirm your time slot (Venmo preferred: @TamaraERubin). More details about phone / zoom consultations here.
As always, thank you for reading. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Tamara Rubin & The Lead Safe Mama Team!
I would like to schedule a consult but how do I select a time slot? The link just goes to Paypal.
I will email you directly! Thank you!
i contacted you a few months ago and am just following up (after you told me to email you after May)– sorry! i run a non-profit called Round the Bend Farm, a Center for Restorative community and we’d love to have you speak here in Dartmouth, MA. also hire you for a consultation. thx
Thank you so much! Will send you an e-mail!
Hi, I live in McMinnville, Oregon and am interested in a consult with you. Would you please let me know how to get in touch or email regarding a consult? I have a large collection of vintage dishes and am currently pregnant with my first child. Thank you so much!
Oh – Hi again, Kat!
I will look for your e-mail or text! I have not been doing Oregon home consults recently, but can check in with you via PM and keep you posted as to when I am available to do those again (hopefully will re-start doing Oregon home visits later this year – 2019!)
Tamara
Hello. I just found you site after researching for dishes that are durable. I am blown away and amazed by what is being sold to consumers with misleading information. Are you ever in the Atlanta area. I may be interested in doing a home party.
Hi Sarita!
Thank you for commenting.
YES I am coming to Atlanta in about a month – October 2-3-4-5 (possibly the 1st too!) PM Me! Here is a post with details about home visits: https://tamararubin.com/2018/10/tamara-can-you-come-to-my-home-and-make-sure-my-stuff-is-safe-for-my-kids/
My email address is: TamaraRubin@mac.com
Tamara
Add me to the list of interested people in Austin, TX!
Hello, I am located in Nashville and would be interested in having you over to our home. Please let me know how we can make that happen and if you are doing any events over here. Thank you.
Can you call or write me. Would love to have you come do testing. I am in south Florida.
Hi Rachel! Will do.
Thanks for being in touch.
Tamara
Thank you for your informative site! Please let me know when you’re planning on coming out to LA. We would love to have you test our stuff!
Thank you! I will be in touch!
T
I would like to schedule a phone consultation. Where do I find a time slot?
I would like to schedule a phone consultation. How to find a slot?
Thank you! I will follow up with an e-mail.
Tamara
I’ve been struggling with lead poisoning ever since I tested positive for lead poisoning.
I would like to email you a letter with a few questions about how you might be able to arrange a consult? I live in Maine and have a few suggestions as to ways you may be able to do some consulting via Zoom or email. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Jayne! I am in Maine at the moment too! Feel free to email me. TamaraRubin@mac.com. Here’s my post about phone consultations / zoom consultations: https://tamararubin.com/2020/07/yes-i-do-phone-consultations-and-video-conferences-and-video-speaking-engagements/
Tamara
Dear Tamara,
Thank you so much for your work! I live in Auburn, Washington, so we are “neighbors” and I am currently taking the Fundamentals Course from Wardee Harmon where your work was referenced. I am so concerned about my health. I am 66 years young – however now have time to devote to proper food preparation and realized that perhaps my cooking classes over the years as well as purchases did not consider the lead and other toxic metals. I want to contact a friend who perhaps would be able to come to my home with some of her items and perhaps we can get a small group of neighbors and her followers to make it worth your stay? Perhaps a day or two in our area? Are you still traveling and working during CoViD-19? Perhaps in February sometime? I will be traveling to California in March and April and also was wondering if I could take a few items to your office (work at home) and pay for the evaluation of a few key pieces? or the six as you state? Or just pay for the amount of time it takes? It seems there are so many items; I am thinking best to come to my home. Your website, I must admit has now “scared” me a bit more than I wanted to know. However, in general glass is ok and bone china is ok, too? We bought our new home in 2013 here in Auburn and purchased from Macy’s “Home Collection” white bone china mugs and dinner ware. However, I enjoy vintage and have purchased items from Gold Castle “occupied Japan” as well as having green, blue, yellow and orange Fiestaware. Also, a few pieces of “Erica” from Lenox teacups and actually a coffee pot; and Block Spal from Portugal in Lisboa White. And a few other white ceramic cups from China and Portugal. Plus, my mom’s entire “formal ware” is from Franciscan in Desert Rose, I even purchased a few items to add to her set. We would drink out of the creamy-colored glasses of ceramic whenever we had company the entire time that I was growing up! I am afraid to drink out of my items now. At any rate, could you please let me know if best to schedule a review in my home? Or take some items to your home on my way to CA? or let me know if you are even doing any work now due to CoViD-19? Thank you so much for your work!! And a big thank you to Wardee Harmon of Traditional Cooking School which has brought up this issue and let me know about you and your wonderful, useful, important and great work.
Dear Tamara,
Just a quick follow-up to my lengthy message of just a few minutes ago:
I use several different types of cookware, in which I have invested in over the years: All Clad Stainless steel cookware set with exposed ring of aluminum around the top edge of most pans. Le Creuset enameled in color of “Bone” and also a few other pieces that my husband has purchased in non-stick which he likes to use and I do not.
And now I will be using the Cast Iron “plain” skillet and prepare it with the proper method for seasoning which I learned on the Traditional Cooking School website. I recently started the class and our topic in the 2nd lesson is Tools.
Thank you again.
Most sincerely, Dee