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Tanquil "Tai" Lisa Collins (born 1962 in Roanoke, Virginia) is a model, actress, screenwriter, producer, philanthropist, and former Miss Virginia USA (1983).
Collins co-created and Executive Produced 22 hours of the television series SAF3 (pronounced "Safe"), a first-run hour long syndicated series airing in 66 countries worldwide from 2013-2018 and currently streaming on Amazon Prime. The action drama is about a division of the Malibu Fire Department consisting of men and women who serve in the field of Sea, Air, Fire Emergency. She is one of the few women in television to create and executive produce their own series.
Her television credits include writing for and acting on Baywatch . She also wrote NYPD Blue, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Fame LA, The Pretender, and She Spies. Her feature film Finding Home won an Angel Award for "Best Drama" at the 2013 Monaco International Film Festival. [1] In 2022, she wrote a fire rescue series pilot for Netflix.
Collins is the co-founder and Executive Director of A Chance for Children Foundation. Founded in 1992, the foundations mission is to empower at-risk youth.
Collins was honored in 1999 with a humanitarian award alongside Kofi Annan and Al Gore. [2] In 2001, she received a Resolution by the Assembly of the State of California for her on-going work with "at risk" youth in South Los Angeles. W.O.M.E.N. of Los Angeles honored her with their first Lynne Weaver Mentoring Award in 2005. In 2010 her lifetime work was honored when she was invited by the United Nations to be a part of the Women in the World Making Change Summit. In 2011, she received numerous recognitions including; a Commendation from the City of Los Angeles for her service and support of the Los Angeles Police Department Southeast Division Jeopardy Program; a Certificate of Recognition by the California State Legislature for her community service to the city of Los Angeles; and the prestigious Women in History Award by the California State Assembly. In 2012, Collins was honored by the Los Angeles Dodgers with a "Go to Bat Award" for going to bat for inner city children in Los Angeles. LA Family Housing Homeless shelters honored her with a Dream Builder Award in 2013 for her over twenty years of service to homeless children and families. In 2013, Collins was the recipient of the California Peace Officers Association's Certificate of Appreciation. The award is presented to an individual outside of the law enforcement for an action that enhances Peace and the law enforcement profession. In March of 2024, she was honored by Reimagine LA for Women's History Month alongside Congresswoman Maxine Waters, LAPD Deputy Chef Emada Tingirides and former Secretary of the Treasury Rosario Marin.
TODAY and Al Roker chose Collins' charity as the Lend a Hand Charity of the Year 2012 featuring them on the show. Al Roker said: "In all of my years dealing with charities, I have never seen one as special as this."
A Chance for Children Free Libraries provide access to free books for children and have been established in over 40 locations around the city of Los Angeles at various locations including LAPD lobbies, the Torrance PD and Pasadena PD lobby. The libraries have expanded into LA Sheriff Department lobbies with four in the works. The libraries are registered with the Little Free Libraries and have been honored by them with a "Library of Distinction" Award. A Chance for Children has partnered with the Water Buffalo Club and several girl scout and boy scout troops to bring these libraries to life.
A Chance for Children Foundation works closely with the LAPD, LA Fire Department, US Coast Guard, Los Angeles County Lifeguards agencies and Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). It's appropriate that Collins career and foundation merge with these heroes.
In 2013, Collins and her then partner (now husband) Gregory J. Bonann, started A Chance for Children South Africa.
MSNBC featured Collins in a piece called "The God Mother of Hollywood."
Collins serves as Vice President on the board of Sunburst Youth Challenge Academy, a program run by the National Guard that intervenes and reclaims lives of 16 to 18 year old at-risk high school students; to produce program graduates with the values, life skills, education and self discipline to succeed as productive citizens.
She is also serves on the board of Shoes That Fit, a non-profit foundation whose mission is giving children in need new athletic shoes to attend school with dignity and joy, prepared to learn, play, and thrive as well as Operation Progress seeing inner city youth through from kindergarten to college.
In 1991, Collins was on the cover of Playboy Magazine.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Greater Los Angeles area, it serves the largest metropolitan population of any public library system in the United States. The system is overseen by a Board of Library Commissioners with five members appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles in staggered terms, and operates 72 library branches throughout the city. In 1997 a local historian described it as "one of the biggest and best-regarded library systems in the nation." It is not to be confused with the LA County Library system which operates several library branches across certain areas of Los Angeles County.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped by George Holliday, who was a bystander to the incident, and was heavily broadcast in various news and media outlets.
LA County Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States which serves residents living in 49 of the 88 incorporated cities of Los Angeles County, California. United States, and those living in unincorporated areas resulting in a service area extending over 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2). The LA County Library system provides local libraries to several unincorporated areas and cities across Los Angeles County, and is not to be confused with the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system, which serves areas within the city of Los Angeles.
Christine Devine is an American television news anchor based in Los Angeles. She can be seen weeknights on KTTV's Fox 11 News. She has won 16 Emmys, including the prestigious Governors Award. Six Emmys were for Best Newscast.
Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the United Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California and was the lead negotiator in the workers' contract that was created after the strike.
Gregory J. Bonann is an American lifeguard, television producer, director, writer, and showrunner. He is best known for co-creating the internationally syndicated television series, Baywatch, which ran for eleven seasons, and was listed in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records as the most widely viewed TV series in the world. His later work includes the syndicated action drama, SAF3, and A Chance For Children, a charitable foundation that benefits homeless and at-risk youth.
Rachel Annetta Robinson is an American former professor and registered nurse. She is the widow of professional baseball player Jackie Robinson. After her husband's death, she founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
Darlanne Fluegel was an American actress, fashion model, film producer and professor. Fluegel played the female lead role in a number of films and television shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Christina Gonzalez is a news reporter for FOX 11 (KTTV) in Los Angeles. She has been with FOX 11 since 1990.
Alice Stebbins Wells was one of the first American-born female police officers in the United States, hired in 1910 in Los Angeles.
The Wineville Chicken Coop murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken murders, were a series of abductions and murders of young boys that occurred in the city of Los Angeles and in Riverside County, California between 1926 and 1928. The murders were carried out by Gordon Stewart Northcott, a 19-year-old farmer who had moved to California from Canada two years prior, as well as his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, and his nephew, Sanford Clark.
Charles Lloyd Beck is a retired police officer, formerly serving as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and subsequently as the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. A veteran of the department with over four decades as an officer, he is known for commanding and rehabilitating the Rampart Division after the Rampart scandal; and for technology enhancements during his time as Chief of Detectives. He agreed to be interim Superintendent of Police in Chicago in late 2019 while the city searches nationwide for a replacement for retiring Eddie Johnson. Beck took the helm of the Chicago Police Department on December 2, 2019 after Johnson was fired. On April 15, 2020, Beck stepped down and was replaced by former Dallas Police Department Chief David Brown, who had been nominated by Lightfoot to serve as permanent Superintendent. After his retirement he rejoined the Reserve Corps as a Reserve Police Officer and is assigned to the Office Of The Chief Of Police.
James Thurman Butts Jr. is an American politician, currently serving as the mayor of Inglewood, California. He rose through the ranks of law enforcement in Inglewood during the 1970s and 1980s, eventually becoming a Deputy Chief. He then worked as the Chief of Police in Santa Monica, California from 1991 to 2006. Butts then took a public safety position with Los Angeles World Airports in 2006. He was elected mayor of Inglewood in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 with an 84% vote. He led efforts to renovate and reopen The Forum and develop a plan for SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome in Hollywood Park.
Jasmyne Ariel Cannick is an American politician, journalist, and pop culture, race issues and politics commentator. She is also known for her work as an advocate for underrepresented and marginalized communities. She was selected as one of ESSENCE Magazine's 25 Women Shaping the World, KCET's Southern California Seven Women of Vision, one of Los Angeles' Most Fascinating Angelenos by the L.A. Weekly and as one of the Out100 in 2019.
Although often characterized as apolitical, “Los Angeles has provided the setting for many important chapters in the struggle for gay and lesbian community, visibility, and civil rights." Moreover, Los Angeles' LGBT community has historically played a significant role in the development of the entertainment industry.
Dr. Virginia Uribe was an American educator, counselor and LGBT youth education outreach advocate. She was best known for founding the Los Angeles Unified School District's Project 10 program, an educational support and drop-out prevention program for LGBT youth, and the nonprofit arm of the Project 10 program, Friends of Project 10 Inc.
Georgia Ann Robinson was an American police officer and community worker who was the first African American woman to be appointed a police officer at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD); she was also one of the first Black policewomen to be hired in the country. She joined the force in 1916 as a volunteer jail matron and was appointed an officer in 1919. She worked on juvenile and homicide cases, as well as cases with black women. She often referred the people she came in contact with to social agencies. Her police career ended when she permanently lost her sight after being injured by a prisoner. Robinson was also an activist who founded the Sojourner Truth Home, a shelter for women and girls, while working on the force. After retiring, Robinson continued her community activism, working with the NAACP, volunteering in shelters, and campaigning to desegregate schools and beaches. She was married to Morgan Robinson, and had a daughter, Marian. She died in Los Angeles at the age of 82.
The Los Angeles Police Department Cadet Program, known informally as the LAPD Cadets, is a cadet program run and sponsored by the Los Angeles Police Department for youth aged 13 to 17. The cadet program is similar in nature to the police explorer programs that are present in many police departments through the Learning for Life program.
Melina Reimann Abdullah is an American academic and civic leader. She is the former chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and is a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, for which she also serves as co-director.