The Advocate News about Tate Tullier

Photographer honored as trailblazer in deaf community
By PAM BORDELON
Advocate staff writer
Published: Jul 6, 2009 - Page: 1D
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Tate Tullier was 12 years old when he borrowed his mother Ida Tullier’s camera and began to take portraits of his younger cousin and friends. The St. Amant native said he was inspired by the ones he saw in magazines and desired to emulate them. So began what has evolved into a lucrative career as a professional photographer.

Tullier made the decision to follow his dream after graduating from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in 2003. He briefly worked as a recruiter for the university before successfully pursuing a professional photography career in New York City.

This past Father’s Day, Tullier, who is deaf, was honored by Purple Communications, one of the nation’s leading providers of text and video relay and onsite interpreting services for the hearing impaired, as one of its “Dream Bigger” campaign’s 10 Trailblazers in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Trailblazers are “visionaries” who have broken down barriers and/or established new status quos to improve the overall quality of life for all members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

At the June 21 celebration at the Baton Rouge Marriott, Brandon Arthur with Purple Communications presented Tullier with a $1,000 donation to his chosen charity — the Louisiana School for the Deaf. But the school could receive $10,000 if Tullier is chosen as Trailblazer of the Year, which will be announced in Washington, D.C., this October. All he needs to do is garner the most votes.

As he explained in an e-mail, “It certainly is an honor to be chosen as one of Purple Communications’ 10 trailblazers in the deaf community … I tell people that I much prefer to be behind the scenes when it comes to my work, but the charity portion of this campaign was enough for me to get involved. I get a chance to donate $10,000 just because I have an awesome job. All of you locals — go vote for me and LSD’s kids for their after-school program at this link — http://www.purple.us/Pages/dreambigger_tb_detail.php?id=9.”