Tara MacLean has experienced a few game-changing synchronistic encounters of “right place, right time” in her successful career. In fact, these events came as a direct result of the way Tara has chosen to live her life, in deep and dedicated service to her own originality. She’s a Juno-nominated artist, a Zen meditator, a Mom of three whose career started with one fateful moment of leaving every ounce of her soul in a song that would change her life forever.
It was the mid-90s and Tara had just gotten out of jail, ended a relationship, and found herself on a ferry, in the Gulf Islands, singing her heart out when she was first discovered. She says singing is what she knows how to do when everything else seems to be falling apart. It was this surrender back into herself that started it all.
“I think the most important thing with your art is to fully express yourself. Because the only thing that can make you unique is your own voice.”
Fast forward approximately twenty-five years to today. Tara has just signed a book deal.
In the middle of a yoga class, she had a thought. A moment of clarity around a part of her personal story. That thought made its way into a social media post that inadvertently went viral. The result of the viral post? A book deal.
What do the song on the ferry and the social media post have in common?
Tara doesn’t “put it on”, she just does…Tara. You’ve heard the old saying, march to the beat of your own drum? Well, Tara has been marching and we can all hear her.
“Be what you are and work hard at it.”
It’s not been all horseshoes and fate for Tara, it’s been a heck of a lot of work. And after writing and performing albums for decades, she’s just broken free and produced her own album (go Tara!). Here are a few tips Tara’s shared with us on how to get yourself and your art out there.
Sharing Your Art With the World
- The most important thing is to put it out there! Get it out on the streaming sites. If you can make it into some kind of video, that’s great. Video is such an incredible way to reach people in shareable snippets for social media.
- Work on your social media strategies. Find someone who is really, really good at it.
- Find your brand. Know who you are and what you have to offer. Focus in on that.
- Figure out who your audience is. Now, try to find them.
Resources
- Follow Tara’s work on her website here
- Read the Facebook post that went viral
- Follow Tara on Facebook
- Follow Tara on Instagram
- Taram mentioned one of the most influential books she’s ever read: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
