If you’ve been waiting for Toronto’s very own, Tanya Sam, to receive a coveted peach on Real Housewives of Atlanta, you’ll have to keep waiting sis. Though the tech pioneer and entrepreneur brings fresh, positive energy to the group, she is securing her bag in other ways and wants to keep it that way.
“I kind of love being the friend to the show, it’s really the best of both worlds,” she said during a recent Instagram Live chat. “I have autonomy. No one can tell me like when you have to show up, for what. I can still travel so I kind of like it.”
Being a part-time cast member versus full time offers many perks that wouldn’t be afforded otherwise. Sam can still manage her full-time job responsibilities as the Director of Partnerships at TechSquare Labs in Atlanta, and also get an occasional twirl with the girls as she chooses, without the commitment.
Sam added that she gets to have just as much fun as everyone else. “I get to host trips,” she explained. “I get to travel and when I have to work I can go, ‘Sorry guys, I can’t show up for eight hours of taping today because I have to work.'”
Fans were first introduced to Sam two seasons ago as a longtime friend of Nene Leakes, but since her debut, we’ve seen her friendships blossom with other cast members such as Porsha Williams, Eva Marcille and Cynthia Bailey.
This season Sam took the girls ‘on de road’ to her hometown of Toronto’s annual Caribana Carnival Celebration.