Latest / The Soap Box Podcast / Why you should follow your gut, with Tarrah Nhari

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Why you should follow your gut, with Tarrah Nhari · The Soap Box Podcast

• 1:19
  Today on the soapbox, I'm joined by Tara, the CEO, and founder of tamay, a platform that connects African and displaced freelancers with global opportunities.
• 1:28
  But as is the case with many of my guests, that's just one part of her story, Tara is driven fiercely by equity, whether she's tackling stereotypes in the freelance market, building spaces for black and non-binary founders.
• 1:43
  Or writing about authenticity and neurodivergence on LinkedIn.
• 1:48
  She's always circling back to fairness and creating opportunities where others see barriers.
• 1:55
  But we are not staying up in the philosophical heights.
• 2:00
  We are talking about what equity really looks like in practice and also why gut instinct can sometimes be the best strategy.
• 2:09
  A lot of the time we think that we have to.
• 2:11
  Plan and focus group and meditate on all these ideas we have and the things that we wanna do.
• 2:18
  if that's where you find yourself and you find that frustrating, then I would really, really encourage you to listen to Tara's story.
• 2:26
  'cause we also talk about how she accidentally found herself running a tech company and why responsibility isn't something that you should fear.
• 2:33
  It's something that can anchor you.
• 2:37
  So come and join in our conversation about equity.
• 2:40
  Authenticity and following the call.
• 2:42
  That just won't leave you alone.
• 2:45
  Listen to Tara get on her soapbox.
• 2:50
  Peta: Tara, it's really lovely to have you on the soapbox.
• 2:52
  Peta: I'm really looking forward to our chat.
• 2:55
  Tarrah: So am I.
• 2:56
  Tarrah: Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:58
  Tarrah: Um, yeah, I've been really, really, really looking forward to doing this with you.
• 3:01
  Peta: All good.
• 3:02
  Peta: Um, so for people who don't know you, um, so Tara and I met in female founders Rise Community, and we've met on LinkedIn.
• 3:09
  Peta: Um, but for those who don't know you, can you give them a bit of a rundown on who you are, what you do, and kinda how you got there?
• 3:15
  Tarrah: Of course.
• 3:16
  Tarrah: So I'm Tara.
• 3:18
  Tarrah: I am the CEO and co-founder of Ware.
• 3:22
  Tarrah: So.
• 3:24
  Tarrah: That's just one aspect of what I do, but I'm a lot of other things.
• 3:27
  Tarrah: But since I've mentioned Tamir, I'll tell you a little bit about what that is.
• 3:30
  Tarrah: So Tamir is a platform ecosystem, whatever you want to call it, um, that is specifically focusing on African freelancers as well as refugee and displaced freelancers.
• 3:43
  Tarrah: So the whole idea and concept is that we help, uh, with demand generation for different roles and just.
• 3:51
  Tarrah: Uh, different projects, basically global opportunities, and then connect them to, um, uh, the, the database of, of freelancers that we have.
• 4:01
  Tarrah: So that's what Tamworth does in a nutshell.
• 4:04
  Tarrah: Um, as for me, um, like I said, I'm quite multifaceted.
• 4:08
  Tarrah: There's quite a number of different things that I'm into.
• 4:11
  Tarrah: Um, alongside of course, the work that I'm passionate about that we do for ware.
• 4:16
  Tarrah: Um, I do a lot of content on LinkedIn around mindset.
• 4:20
  Tarrah: Um, around just being yourself.
• 4:23
  Tarrah: I write a lot about, uh, neurodivergence.
• 4:26
  Tarrah: I write a lot about just my experiences in the world, the things that I've learned, the things that I'm learning now, the things that I'm picking up.
• 4:34
  Tarrah: Um, I'm very, very big on authenticity.
• 4:38
  Tarrah: I'm very big on people allowing themselves to be themselves.
• 4:43
  Tarrah: You know, listening to your gut, listening to your instinct, um, really just being authentically yourself and allowing yourself to live life in the way that makes sense to you.
• 4:53
  Tarrah: So I do quite a lot of, um, different projects and stuff around that, like I said, along with my content writing.
• 5:00
  Tarrah: I actually yesterday decided on a whim that I was going to start, um, like a new niche kind of community, starting off with just a newsletter, but I'm actually hoping to build it into something bigger.
• 5:14
  Tarrah: And this is a community that's focused around, uh, black and non-binary.
• 5:20
  Tarrah: Female founders specifically.
• 5:23
  Tarrah: Um, and it's called She Black Founded.
• 5:26
  Tarrah: Um, like I said, I literally created it yesterday, so I will share like all the links and stuff with you, but don't be surprised if you go on there and there's only like one or two things.
• 5:35
  Tarrah: It's, it's, it's, it's brand new.
• 5:37
  Tarrah: Uh, but yeah, that's I guess in a nutshell who I am and, and what I stand for.
• 5:43
  Peta: Oh, thank you for that.
• 5:44
  Peta: I love.
• 5:44
  Peta: Think that the best things, the best ideas, the best businesses, the best frameworks come out of those.
• 5:51
  Peta: Yeah, those kind of on a whim moments.
• 5:54
  Peta: Um, I, yeah, I, there I think you don't censor yourself as much when you are just'cause there's less pressure.
• 6:00
  Peta: So, yeah.
• 6:00
  Peta: No, I'm really excited to see how that develops.
• 6:02
  Peta: That sounds fabric.
• 6:04
  Tarrah: Oh yeah.
• 6:04
  Tarrah: No, me too.
• 6:05
  Tarrah: Um, and like, like you said there, there's something about.
• 6:11
  Tarrah: Like that gut instinct and gut feeling that you get about things.
• 6:16
  Tarrah: And we live in a world where from a very young age, you are being censored already.
• 6:23
  Tarrah: Like you're being told, oh no, you know, be more realistic or bring this down a little bit, or, you know, that's crazy.
• 6:29
  Tarrah: Why would you do that?
• 6:30
  Tarrah: Um, and the biggest one is obviously people telling you all of the reasons why something isn't gonna work or whatever.
• 6:36
  Tarrah: And I've found that.
• 6:38
  Tarrah: When I don't listen to those things and I genuinely just go with my gut.
• 6:43
  Tarrah: It may not be me like obviously starting the next billion dollar thing, but it's always something that ends up being either a lesson, so you, you do something, it fails.
• 6:55
  Tarrah: You still learn something from that.
• 6:57
  Tarrah: You pick up something that you can then take onto something else, or it becomes successful and you're like, okay, yes, I should have done it anyway.
• 7:05
  Tarrah: So yeah, for me it's one of those like.
• 7:09
  Tarrah: Win-win situations really like regardless of what the outcome is, of just following your greatest joy and following your greatest excitement really.
• 7:20
  Peta: No, that's so true.
• 7:22
  Peta: So everybody who comes on this podcast, I ask them, um, the same question because I'm very unoriginal.
• 7:29
  Peta: Um, I ask them, what is the thing that gets them really riled up?
• 7:33
  Peta: Now it might be.
• 7:35
  Peta: The thing that is the idea behind their business.
• 7:37
  Peta: It might be like really, really woven into the, like, the purpose for their business.
• 7:41
  Peta: Um, or it could just be something that has always been their value, their thing.
• 7:46
  Peta: Um, and, and it is just really, really important to them.
• 7:49
  Peta: Like that soap box that they jump up on, uh, what they end up talking to everybody with a glass of wine at like 10 o'clock at a party like yapping everybody's ear off about.
• 8:00
  Peta: Um, so what is yours, Tara?
• 8:04
  Tarrah: Um, so mine, even though I do have all of these different areas, I think it all boils down to actually one thing.
• 8:12
  Tarrah: And if we're going to use a business word here, it would be equity.
• 8:16
  Tarrah: So for me, this word equity encompasses so much.
• 8:21
  Tarrah: It is the reason behind nearly everything that I do and everything that I'm passionate about.
• 8:27
  Tarrah: So in regards to Ware, the biggest driver for um, me even thinking of creating, um, ware was specifically the.
• 8:38
  Tarrah: Unfairness, um, of, of, of what I saw in regards to African freelancers specifically.
• 8:45
  Tarrah: Basically the whole journey with that was I became an entrepreneur myself, and when I became an entrepreneur, I was doing a bunch of different things, a bunch of different projects.
• 8:54
  Tarrah: I found myself in a moment when I was like, Hey, I actually need extra help, so I'm going to utilize freelancers.
• 9:02
  Tarrah: And because I'm half South Africa and half Zimbabwe and you know, was born in Africa, then moved here, and I'm very closely connected to the issues and stuff within Africa, unemployment being one of the biggest ones.
• 9:15
  Tarrah: I at that point, intentionally was like, okay, I'm in a position now that I can actually give.
• 9:21
  Tarrah: A role to somebody.
• 9:23
  Tarrah: So I'm intentionally going to go out there and, you know, want to engage with African freelancers.
• 9:29
  Tarrah: And that's actually when I started to see the issues and the gaps.
• 9:33
  Tarrah: Um, you know, there's a bunch of stereotypes that I won't go into that I'm sure a lot of, you know, um, there's a bunch of, like, a bunch of just misconceptions in general.
• 9:43
  Tarrah: And so my driving force there was.
• 9:46
  Tarrah: This isn't right.
• 9:47
  Tarrah: Like this is the 21st century.
• 9:49
  Tarrah: We're all connected now, um, and there's no reason why this huge.
• 9:54
  Tarrah: Discrepancy, you know, still needs to be there.
• 9:57
  Tarrah: So at the heart of everything that I do, it's always equity.
• 10:01
  Tarrah: So even when I'm talking about being your most authentic self, you know, advocating for yourself, following your gut, all of this stuff all boils down to.
• 10:12
  Tarrah: Again, if we're choosing the business technical word, that equity of, um, you know, like the individual.
• 10:18
  Tarrah: So I think my big thing is just that is fairness.
• 10:23
  Tarrah: I just believe that we, we already have everything around us to have a much fairer, equitable world and there really is no reason besides, you know, greed and just, you know, egos and whatever, that these things are not in place.
• 10:40
  Tarrah: I'm not sitting here saying I'm going to change the world.
• 10:43
  Tarrah: Of course, there's, there's a lot of people that are in the world and there's a lot of people that, you know, will still always be doing counter things to you, but I always at least want to be that voice and if I can even that power to be able to at least leave a, a, a much bigger bit of equity and fairness, you know, in the world.
• 11:03
  Tarrah: So yeah, that is really my, my biggest driver.
• 11:07
  Peta: I love it.
• 11:08
  Peta: It's very cool.
• 11:09
  Peta: And when we chatted about the idea of Tam wear the first time we talked, um, it was really interesting for me coming, from a perspective of starting out my business on freelancing platforms, and having the, um, and having the privilege of.
• 11:27
  Peta: Yeah.
• 11:27
  Peta: Of like a, a western sounding name and a white face and all those kind of things.
• 11:33
  Peta: So to hear, it from somebody else's perspective was really, really interesting.
• 11:37
  Peta: Um, do, can you explain a little bit more about the kind of barriers to that equitable kind of situation that the freelancers and, and the people that you, that Tam we work with would come up against?
• 11:51
  Tarrah: Of course.
• 11:52
  Tarrah: Um, so there's obviously the systemic ones, um, that, you know, they face that that's caused by a bunch of different things.
• 12:00
  Tarrah: Um, you know, the government.
• 12:02
  Tarrah: Infrastructure, just access to stuff.
• 12:06
  Tarrah: And then there's the ones that are more societal, if, if that's the right word.
• 12:12
  Tarrah: So you know the stereotypes that we have.
• 12:14
  Tarrah: So, because there's a few people that do things within a certain country, now, people here that country and automatically assume, oh yeah.
• 12:23
  Tarrah: It's got to be this.
• 12:24
  Tarrah: It's got to be that.
• 12:25
  Tarrah: And then there's just the, the ignorance, I guess.
• 12:29
  Tarrah: But I'm not even using ignorance in a negative way.
• 12:32
  Tarrah: I guess it's just people not knowing.
• 12:35
  Tarrah: So there's a lot of misconceptions as well.
• 12:38
  Tarrah: I don't think people actually realize.
• 12:40
  Tarrah: Just how educated and dedicated, you know, the, the, the people in Africa are, you know, this is a demographic of people that even though like, um, official employment is extremely low, this is a whole continent of people that have become so good at just fending for themselves that the biggest, um, employment that you see over there.
• 13:03
  Tarrah: Is like the, the unofficial one.
• 13:05
  Tarrah: The, the ones where it's somebody that's created a store at the corner of their street, somebody that's, um, you know, created a marketplace and they plant, um, their plants and then they, they take those and they sell them on.
• 13:18
  Tarrah: There's all of these, you know, unofficial like, um, ways that, that people have.
• 13:25
  Tarrah: Being, I think the word I'm looking for is resourceful.
• 13:27
  Tarrah: Yeah.
• 13:28
  Tarrah: That's the word that that that was floating away from me is there's, it's such a res, resourceful demographic because they've had to and.
• 13:37
  Tarrah: I think people see what they see in the media and they believe that's the fuller picture, whereas it's not.
• 13:44
  Tarrah: And what I love actually about this day and age is a lot of people are starting to become wise to this.
• 13:49
  Tarrah: They're starting to see actually a, a bunch of the stuff we thought was not real.
• 13:53
  Tarrah: Like, I love being on TikTok these days and like seeing all of the African creators on there, even seeing some of the, some of the questions and stuff that they still get in their comments of people going.
• 14:03
  Tarrah: What the heck?
• 14:04
  Tarrah: Like, you know, why does your house look like that?
• 14:05
  Tarrah: Oh, you've got internet?
• 14:07
  Tarrah: Oh, no, no, no.
• 14:07
  Tarrah: Like all of these misconceptions that I, I guess we take for granted because we know, obviously, you know, I, I've got that direct experience because I am African, so I've known these things and that's why I said, even when I say ignorance, I don't even really mean it in a negative way.
• 14:23
  Tarrah: It's just.
• 14:24
  Tarrah: People are not aware.
• 14:27
  Tarrah: So there's so many different types of barriers, and the ones that we're focusing on right now are some of those societal ones, because those are ones that are very easy for us to like disprove.
• 14:38
  Tarrah: Um, you know, ones where people think, um, actually the talent isn't there, you know, what do they know about technology, et cetera.
• 14:46
  Tarrah: Uh, we know quite a lot actually because, um, there's a lot of development happening in Africa right now and it's not just like infrastructure, but it is technological.
• 14:57
  Tarrah: There is a lot.
• 14:59
  Tarrah: A ton actually of technological advancements that are coming from Africa because it faces such unique problems and issues.
• 15:08
  Tarrah: Um, and this is really where I think a lot of people miss out, is on that type of brain that not only the resourcefulness, but the unique problems and experiences that I had over there that could actually.
• 15:22
  Tarrah: Um, help people overhear like, you know, look at certain things in, in a different way.
• 15:28
  Tarrah: So yeah, there there's quite a few barriers and obstacles, like I said, some systemic, some societal, and we're focusing on the societal ones right now, but our goal is to 100% get to the systemic ones.
• 15:45
  Tarrah: I think it starts with what you can affect the most and then the more successful you become at that, the more.
• 15:52
  Tarrah: Um, what word am I looking for?
• 15:55
  Tarrah: Like, I, I guess the, the more authority you build in a space and people start to know certain things, it's then much easier to tackle the, you know, the, the much bigger, bigger ones.
• 16:05
  Tarrah: But that's, that's very governmental as well, so that's a whole different area.
• 16:11
  Tarrah: But yeah, I think once you have this.
• 16:13
  Tarrah: It actually makes it so much easier for you to then have the, the door open for you to be able to, to deal with this stuff.
• 16:20
  Tarrah: So yeah, I would say those are, um, just some, I would say of the barriers that are faced.
• 16:26
  Peta: Like, one of my next questions was going to be kind of, what do you think that kind of companies are missing out on by tapping into this kind of like this massive resource?
• 16:35
  Peta: And it was really interesting that, yeah, you talked about like a different kind of, um, a different kind of mindset, a different kind of, kind of problem solving brain.
• 16:44
  Peta: Are there any other kind of things that you've, perhaps, that you've noticed when you've paired up some of your freelancers with, um, like with clients or with businesses?
• 16:55
  Tarrah: Yeah, so obviously like the, the biggest thing that I've noticed is the, the ones that I've mentioned, which is just a different way of looking at things just based off of having, you know, like a different experience.
• 17:08
  Tarrah: Um, but some things are, I almost wanna say cultural, um.
• 17:16
  Tarrah: And like, so for example, actually if, if, if I speak about me and like how I grew up, there's like certain ways that were taught things like even about business, et cetera, like about when you are in the workplace and.
• 17:33
  Tarrah: It is actually, uh, it's, it's interesting you've asked me this because these are the bits that are very hard to explain because it is quite cultural and quite innate.
• 17:42
  Tarrah: It's hard to say, oh, you know, this brain, the, this person's brain is like this just because of their unique experience.
• 17:50
  Tarrah: That's why I, it's actually why it's, it's hard for me to, to explain what I'm trying to say, but it's, it's in the way that they approach work.
• 18:00
  Tarrah: It's, it's different.
• 18:01
  Tarrah: Um, and I've even experienced it as somebody obviously that's like grown up and only worked in the western world.
• 18:08
  Tarrah: I've never worked, um, you know, in, in the African world or worked in, in a space where I was coming in as an African working for that because we moved here when I was quite young.
• 18:22
  Tarrah: But there is just this innate.
• 18:25
  Tarrah: Thing, like we're told different things growing up.
• 18:29
  Tarrah: We're told to approach work in a different way, like because we already understand that we have certain barriers.
• 18:37
  Tarrah: That we have before we even go in.
• 18:39
  Tarrah: It could be things like our names, you know, you mentioned that yourself before about, you know, you have a very English sounding name or, or white sounding name, if that's how we want to put it, like, but it's even things like that.
• 18:53
  Tarrah: We we're taught extra stuff on top of what everybody else is taught because we have different barriers and different doors that we need to open.
• 19:02
  Tarrah: And this is one of.
• 19:06
  Tarrah: The, the reason I'm, I'm struggling is because I wanna say this is one of the most hardworking demographics I've ever met.
• 19:12
  Tarrah: But that's not to say that other people are not hardworking.
• 19:16
  Tarrah: It's, it's just an extra different level because it's almost life or death in a way, like when somebody gets an opportunity.
• 19:27
  Tarrah: They are bringing not just their skills to that, but they're bringing their role to it because they know, do you know what this opportunity is?
• 19:35
  Tarrah: Something that's popped up it, maybe it could be a while before I get another one.
• 19:41
  Tarrah: So there's this like extra level of like ownership that tends to come with this demographic that is just on a level that I am still to find.
• 19:52
  Tarrah: In a different demographic.
• 19:54
  Tarrah: Uh, that's why it's very hard to explain because 100% we're all hardworking, but there's just an extra little oomph.
• 20:02
  Tarrah: In this one because it does almost feel like it's, it's it's life or death.
• 20:08
  Tarrah: And like when you are bringing in the displaced, you know, the, the, the, the refugee freelancers into the mix, that's even bigger now because this could be the difference between, you know, somebody being able to have enough to get somewhere to, to protect themselves or, or not.
• 20:25
  Tarrah: So yeah, it's.
• 20:29
  Tarrah: It is always an interesting question, and I always find it interesting to answer because it's like, I'm not trying to downplay anybody else, but it is just an extra level that unless you've actually been in that you wouldn't really be able to tap into or, yeah, or, or know quite how deep it goes.
• 20:48
  Peta: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 20:50
  Peta: You mentioned refugees as, uh, again, that like.
• 20:53
  Peta: How, how do you deal with having that kind of responsibility as a business owner?
• 20:57
  Peta: So like a lot of us founders are like, we have responsibility to our clients.
• 21:01
  Peta: Um, but like, for example, I work in marketing.
• 21:04
  Peta: There are no real marketing emergencies.
• 21:06
  Peta: Like nobody is, like, someone says, oh, I've got an emergency.
• 21:10
  Peta: Like they're lying.
• 21:12
  Peta: Like something needs sorting.
• 21:13
  Peta: And it would, it would be nice if it was sorted kind of fairly soon, but it's not like, it's not an emergency.
• 21:19
  Peta: It, there are no life or death stakes.
• 21:21
  Peta: Um.
• 21:22
  Peta: How do you deal with that extra level of responsibility, uh, while running Tamworth?
• 21:28
  Tarrah: Yeah, that, that's a good question.
• 21:30
  Tarrah: And sometimes I find myself literally sitting there going, why did you choose something with so much?
• 21:38
  Tarrah: You've actually hit the nail on the head.
• 21:41
  Tarrah: For me specifically, I think I needed that level of responsibility for it to be something that is so important to me that no matter what, I am going to stick to it.
• 21:56
  Tarrah: I know our why.
• 21:58
  Tarrah: I know what we're trying to do.
• 22:00
  Tarrah: I know the difference it can make.
• 22:02
  Tarrah: So yeah, I think for me specifically.
• 22:08
  Tarrah: I almost needed that level of responsibility for me to be so passionate and want to continue no matter how hard things get because you know you are a business owner yourself.
• 22:22
  Tarrah: Having a business in general, like forgetting what it it's about is literally one of the hardest things that I think we could choose to do as humans.
• 22:32
  Tarrah: Like, and, and it's you.
• 22:34
  Tarrah: You'll hear people saying that and then when you are in it, you are like.
• 22:37
  Tarrah: No, I don't think I can express just how much it is so difficult.
• 22:42
  Tarrah: Like we already have the responsibilities, you know, of just the employees, like the freelancer, the people that we hire.
• 22:48
  Tarrah: So now when you are adding that, okay, so it's not even just the people you hire, it is the extra, like what you are actually doing as well.
• 22:56
  Tarrah: 100%.
• 22:57
  Tarrah: That adds.
• 22:58
  Tarrah: A a, a hotter level, I think is, is the word, the, the, the word to say a spicier level to it.
• 23:05
  Tarrah: But for me, I think the, the way that I cope with that is by constantly anchoring myself to my why.
• 23:15
  Tarrah: And remembering why we're here and why it even evolved in the way that it did.
• 23:21
  Tarrah: So originally, um, it was just like African freelancers was the focus, but one of our very first, I think, no, I think it was our very first partner early on, is an organization called Namal.
• 23:35
  Tarrah: And Al's whole thing is refugee and displaced freelancers.
• 23:39
  Tarrah: They basically take them, they train them up to be like full stack, but it's not just like the hard skills.
• 23:46
  Tarrah: They do the soft skills with them.
• 23:47
  Tarrah: They have mentoring programs and all of that, and then they've also created an agency where they try and connect them now to actual meaningful work, et cetera.
• 23:55
  Tarrah: So for me, it was the conversation that I had there.
• 23:58
  Tarrah: I also do mentoring for that organization and I.
• 24:02
  Tarrah: You know, I was speaking to these people, actively working with them and like, and it's just knowing that what you are doing could literally be something that changes the entire trajectory of someone's life and not just their life, but like their family.
• 24:25
  Tarrah: I think.
• 24:26
  Tarrah: Again, for most people probably would be quite scary and too overwhelming.
• 24:32
  Tarrah: But for me, it is actually what anchors me and what helps me be able to keep going and be able to keep fighting through all of the difficult things that, that, that we have to fight through, through this company.
• 24:46
  Tarrah: Because, I mean, we've chosen A-A-A-A-A company and a model that.
• 24:52
  Tarrah: Isn't the easiest, of course, because there's a lot of work that you have to do.
• 24:56
  Tarrah: Like we're trying to change stereotypes.
• 24:58
  Tarrah: We're trying to do all this as well as actually doing the work to bring in the opportunities.
• 25:03
  Tarrah: But again, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how many rejections or how many people don't get what you're doing, th like those people, those people's lives are actually what.
• 25:16
  Tarrah: Make everything worth it and make the difficult parts worth it because I do know we will get to a stage where everything is more stable and, and we're not having to work as hard.
• 25:28
  Tarrah: But of course to get there, we do need this part.
• 25:32
  Tarrah: So yeah, for me to even carry on, funnily enough, it is the responsibility in itself that helps me cope with the responsibility.
• 25:42
  Tarrah: Funnily enough.
• 25:44
  Peta: That's really interesting.
• 25:45
  Peta: Yeah.
• 25:45
  Peta: There are The idea that there is, yeah, there are some kind of consequences.
• 25:48
  Peta: You can't just wake up one morning and go, I want to pivot, or I'm suddenly gonna.
• 25:54
  Peta: I dunno if I woke up one morning and went, oh no, I'm gonna be a coach.
• 25:58
  Peta: Like my cl some of my clients would probably be sad, but like there wouldn't be any huge consequences to anybody.
• 26:05
  Peta: So, and sometimes having that freedom is, is, yeah.
• 26:09
  Peta: Is dangerous.
• 26:10
  Peta: Especially if you are neuro type surgeon, um, and you are like, oh this is, this is nice and bright and shiny on the other side of the room.
• 26:18
  Peta: Um, so no, that is really interesting.
• 26:21
  Tarrah: Yeah, it's, um, like I said, I've, I've had my moments where I'm literally somewhere walking back and forth and I'm like.
• 26:29
  Tarrah: Why, why, why, why?
• 26:32
  Tarrah: Like, why did you do this?
• 26:34
  Tarrah: And it's so funny because I actually never set out to create a tech company or a tech startup.
• 26:41
  Tarrah: Literally never set out to do this at all.
• 26:44
  Tarrah: Um, when I got laid off in 2022.
• 26:48
  Tarrah: I became an entrepreneur, I was like, okay, you know, there's so many different areas we can go into.
• 26:54
  Tarrah: And my plan was always to keep it individual.
• 26:56
  Tarrah: It was always like, you know, I had a few e-commerce stores I was doing like digital products, I was doing coaching myself, and I was, um, you know, starting to do a little bit of freelancing and I was like, no, this is what, what I wanna do.
• 27:10
  Tarrah: Because it's one of those things where it, it, it can go really big, but you are still your own responsibility.
• 27:16
  Tarrah: And that's it.
• 27:17
  Tarrah: So that's the path that I was going down.
• 27:20
  Tarrah: But clearly the universe, of course, always has different plans.
• 27:23
  Tarrah: It's like, yeah, that's what you think.
• 27:25
  Tarrah: Because it's actually interesting how it's only when I started utilizing freelancers myself and these things kept popping up, and I have that type of brain that.
• 27:37
  Tarrah: I can't let certain things go, so it just kept popping up and I'm like, okay, this is annoying.
• 27:43
  Tarrah: Somebody really needs to do something about this, you know?
• 27:46
  Tarrah: And I keep, and I kept going until the, like, the universe is like, well, I'm just gonna keep hammering you.
• 27:51
  Tarrah: But the problem, until you realize that clearly it's you, that is the somebody that has to do, you know, the, the something about it.
• 28:01
  Tarrah: And yeah, so as much as I tried.
• 28:04
  Tarrah: To not have that level of responsibility.
• 28:07
  Tarrah: It's just not what happened.
• 28:08
  Tarrah: And even like the first version of Ware, again, was still me trying to keep it small was still me going.
• 28:15
  Tarrah: Okay.
• 28:15
  Tarrah: So what we'll do instead is we'll create an agency.
• 28:18
  Tarrah: So that's actually how it started was we're going to be an agency, um, will be like a digital agency.
• 28:24
  Tarrah: We will get the jobs, and then when we have the projects.
• 28:27
  Tarrah: We will bring in, um, we'll find our own freelancers basically, to be the ones that help deliver them.
• 28:35
  Tarrah: But as we were building that, those same issues that we were having from the root cause kept still popping up.
• 28:45
  Tarrah: So it was like, yeah, you can try all, you want to avoid making this a bigger thing.
• 28:52
  Tarrah: But I'm just going to keep hammering you no matter what you're doing with the same problem.
• 28:57
  Tarrah: So yeah, we, we pivoted, I think about three months in to like us building the agency and we realized.
• 29:04
  Tarrah: Okay, let's be honest with ourselves.
• 29:06
  Tarrah: We, we have to get to the root cause and the root cause is the source.
• 29:10
  Tarrah: So yeah, that's how we actually ended up being a marketplace ourselves.
• 29:15
  Tarrah: And then like, you know, having this, uh, branch where we now have delivery partners and like, you know, we deliver much complex projects.
• 29:22
  Tarrah: So in a way we've, we've kind of done the agency thing, but then.
• 29:28
  Tarrah: We've, we've, we've mixed it in with like the marketplace, um, and realized, yeah, we, it's the root cause really
• 29:37
  Peta: it's a much bigger thing that you need to kind of dive into.
• 29:39
  Peta: Yeah.
• 29:40
  Tarrah: yeah.
• 29:41
  Tarrah: So I tried to run away from the responsibility, but the responsibility
• 29:46
  Peta: all?
• 29:47
  Tarrah: literally was like, no, I'm gonna keep knocking until you answer.
• 29:50
  Tarrah: So, yeah.
• 29:52
  Peta: That's really funny.
• 29:54
  Peta: Do you.
• 29:55
  Peta: Um, so you talked earlier about kind of gut instincts with this new, kind of like the new community that you're starting up.
• 30:02
  Peta: Do you think it is a bit of a balance between that gut instinct, um, between like the universe tapping you on the shoulder consistently and going Hello?
• 30:12
  Tarrah: yes.
• 30:13
  Tarrah: So I do actually get a lot of, of shoulder taps.
• 30:15
  Tarrah: I'm, I'm not gonna lie to you, I, I'm one of those people that is like, my friends ask them how many voice notes they get from me.
• 30:23
  Tarrah: It's always.
• 30:24
  Tarrah: I just thought of this thing and like some of the things become things, and obviously other things are just like ideas that my brain will have, you know, and it, it, it just has to say it out loud and then I move on.
• 30:35
  Tarrah: But there's certain things that literally, like I said, will keep popping up and it'll keep just being, hello.
• 30:42
  Tarrah: Like, you can ignore this, but I'm just gonna keep saying it until you do something about it.
• 30:48
  Tarrah: And then there's the wands, like the one yesterday where.
• 30:51
  Tarrah: Clearly there was stuff already underlying that I hadn't really like sunk my teeth into that yesterday.
• 31:02
  Tarrah: It's almost as if a solution, solution is the wrong word, but like.
• 31:07
  Tarrah: Let's just say solution.
• 31:08
  Tarrah: Like a solution popped in and once it's stuck in, it was like, no, this is it.
• 31:12
  Tarrah: So just do all the things.
• 31:14
  Tarrah: So, so that's where the gut gut one comes in, where it's like, I woke up yesterday with no plans of this thing existing at all, and not even knowing it was going to exist within a few hours.
• 31:26
  Tarrah: And now it's something that exists.
• 31:28
  Tarrah: I think I told you like.
• 31:29
  Tarrah: I bought the domain.
• 31:31
  Tarrah: I already like, set up the substack of, I've, um, done the first, uh, welcome post on there and already created the first two that are going to go out that I've already scheduled for like the coming weeks and this.
• 31:45
  Tarrah: All happened like yesterday and it's because, so we met obviously at Female Founders Rise.
• 31:51
  Tarrah: I love Female Founders Rise.
• 31:54
  Tarrah: It's actually one of the communities that I'm a part of.
• 31:56
  Tarrah: I'm quite part of quite a lot.
• 31:58
  Tarrah: It's one of the communities that I'm a part of that's super active and they're, they're constantly doing something and it's bringing people together and I've made actually a lot of connections.
• 32:08
  Tarrah: I mean, including you.
• 32:10
  Tarrah: And I, I love, like literally the, the, the female, um, female founders rise space.
• 32:16
  Tarrah: But, and like I said, I'm a part of other communities that are like different ings down and you know, they focus on different stuff.
• 32:24
  Tarrah: But I realized that there was this one specific area that.
• 32:29
  Tarrah: I feel like needed more.
• 32:31
  Tarrah: And there is probably communities that already exist, but it's about finding them and searching for them.
• 32:36
  Tarrah: And I realized I actually had a lot of ideas and a lot to say and a lot of things that I thought, actually, why don't I just start my own?
• 32:43
  Tarrah: And this was, um.
• 32:45
  Tarrah: So the, the, the black female and non-binary founders specifically, so I'm sure you know, you are, you are aware of like the intersectionality of a lot of different issues, even including like feminism and diversity and inclusion.
• 32:59
  Tarrah: So for me it was just that the intersection that is me was what I found was.
• 33:07
  Tarrah: Perhaps something that I couldn't quite find.
• 33:10
  Tarrah: Um,'cause there's a lot of specific conversations and nuance that are unique to this intersectionality that, um, perhaps wouldn't make much sense to bring up in another community that's focusing on, on something else.
• 33:24
  Tarrah: So yeah, I was like.
• 33:27
  Tarrah: Literally, why don't you just start your own, like, why don't you just start your own?
• 33:31
  Tarrah: There is nothing stopping you.
• 33:33
  Tarrah: We, we live in such a beautiful age.
• 33:36
  Tarrah: I mean, some could argue with this, but we do live in such a beautiful age where you are able to do that.
• 33:43
  Tarrah: You are able to just.
• 33:45
  Tarrah: Create the things that you find missing.
• 33:48
  Tarrah: Like I was thinking about, do you know how many people are famous today?
• 33:52
  Tarrah: Because they decided, Hey, I've been going for auditions.
• 33:56
  Tarrah: I can't do anything, so I'm gonna create my own YouTube channel, create my own series, and just do my own thing.
• 34:01
  Tarrah: Issa Rae is like a, a, a huge example for this.
• 34:04
  Tarrah: I'm not sure if you're aware of Issa Rae, but I watched Issa Rae on YouTube before.
• 34:09
  Tarrah: She's the Issa Rae we know now.
• 34:10
  Tarrah: She literally on YouTube, had a web series called The Awkward Black Girl.
• 34:15
  Tarrah: This was something she created herself just with her and her friends, and it was a proper series with like a script.
• 34:23
  Tarrah: She created it for that for herself on YouTube, and now she's the Issa Rae that we know now.
• 34:28
  Tarrah: You know, she's the big movie star.
• 34:29
  Tarrah: She, she produces a a, a lot of stuff in Hollywood.
• 34:32
  Tarrah: This is just one example.
• 34:33
  Tarrah: Doci is one.
• 34:34
  Tarrah: You know, Justin Bieber, if we actually even wanna get to those specifics is one.
• 34:40
  Tarrah: And there's so many people in this list, in this day and age where it's like we live in a time where.
• 34:46
  Tarrah: There isn't that many barriers actually, if you want something out there.
• 34:51
  Tarrah: So this is where, for me, that gut things comes in and that whole thing of like, um, people always feel like they need all of this research, they need all of this stuff behind them before they can actually start.
• 35:04
  Tarrah: And I find that sometimes people actually end up using that to talk themselves.
• 35:09
  Tarrah: Out of doing certain things, um, because it's very easy to do so, so sometimes I'm like, you know what?
• 35:16
  Tarrah: Don't allow room for knowledge.
• 35:18
  Tarrah: I, I know that sounds really, really counterproductive, but sometimes knowledge can actually be to your detriment in, in that case.
• 35:26
  Tarrah: So, yeah.
• 35:27
  Tarrah: Um, with this whole community thing, I decided yesterday'cause I was like.
• 35:32
  Tarrah: Well, really all I have to do is like start it off as a newsletter.
• 35:36
  Tarrah: What can I do?
• 35:37
  Tarrah: Go on Substack.
• 35:38
  Tarrah: There you go.
• 35:39
  Tarrah: I created the Substack straightaway and I've done the, the, the post and it's stuff that I'm already talking about anyway in my content and stuff.
• 35:48
  Tarrah: So it was just literally like a no brainer to then have.
• 35:53
  Tarrah: That area of focus because it is something, again, that I'm super passionate about and I think is so important.
• 36:00
  Tarrah: And like I said, I have so many ideas around community and around like specific things that we can do that I was like.
• 36:09
  Tarrah: Yeah, you've, you've literally got everything at your fingertips to be able to do this and start it.
• 36:15
  Tarrah: So why don't you, domains, by the way, are so cheap in the first year.
• 36:18
  Tarrah: I think we all know this, especially if it's like something you've literally just randomly created yourself.
• 36:23
  Tarrah: Like it costs you like a penny or, or a pound.
• 36:27
  Tarrah: So, you know, to, to to, to have that set up.
• 36:29
  Tarrah: So genuinely in this day and age.
• 36:32
  Tarrah: There's no excuses not to follow your gut, and obviously this always goes without saying good things.
• 36:38
  Tarrah: If your gut is to go out there and commit crimes, don't do that.
• 36:43
  Tarrah: Don't follow that one.
• 36:44
  Peta: Tara doesn't want you getting in trouble.
• 36:46
  Tarrah: Literally let, let's not hurt people, but I just mean like in general, just the things that that make sense to you, the things that.
• 36:54
  Tarrah: Oh, your greatest excitement.
• 36:55
  Tarrah: I think that's one thing I say all the time is just follow your greatest excitement because it is that way for you, specifically spec.
• 37:05
  Tarrah: It's for you.
• 37:06
  Tarrah: Feel the way you feel specifically.
• 37:10
  Tarrah: I don't feel the way you feel for a reason because I have my own things that I'm supposed to be here doing.
• 37:16
  Tarrah: So don't block yourself from doing the things.
• 37:20
  Tarrah: That makes sense to you because somebody else might say it doesn't make sense or not understand why you're doing it, basically.
• 37:30
  Peta: No, that's so true.
• 37:31
  Peta: I'm gonna have to put a disclaimer at the beginning of the podcast.
• 37:33
  Peta: Tara is not saying that you should go and commit crimes.
• 37:38
  Tarrah: Please, please.
• 37:40
  Tarrah: I always have to like, because you, you always get that cheeky person that's like, oh, so you are saying I should just go commit crimes.
• 37:46
  Tarrah: It's like, well, no.
• 37:48
  Peta: No.
• 37:50
  Peta: Check yourself.
• 37:52
  Peta: I have one more question kind of that I'm curious about before we wrap up.
• 37:56
  Peta: Um.
• 37:58
  Peta: So my listeners are, um, business founders, entrepreneurs, um, from all over the place.
• 38:07
  Tarrah: Okay.
• 38:08
  Peta: How can they, as they are looking to staff their business, looking for support in their business, um, looking for support for themselves personally, how can they do that in a way that gets us closer to your goal of equity?
• 38:29
  Tarrah: I really, really like that question actually, and it's one I feel people don't ask enough, so.
• 38:36
  Tarrah: I've been banging on about the time that we live in and the time that we live in is great because there is so much free, quick and abundance of information and access out there.
• 38:52
  Tarrah: But the very first thing before we even get to that is intentionality.
• 38:57
  Tarrah: So when you are building something new, it's building that.
• 39:02
  Tarrah: O already with the intention of equity, whatever that looks like for you, you know, in your industry.
• 39:10
  Tarrah: It's starting with intention.
• 39:12
  Tarrah: Um, and I think that's actually where a lot of people lack because it tends to be like a secondary thought.
• 39:19
  Tarrah: It tends to be something that's like people are scrambling to then figure out because, you know, something has been called out, or something has happened that has then gone.
• 39:30
  Tarrah: You know, like you, you don't have anything in place for this.
• 39:33
  Tarrah: Like this wasn't something you were considering.
• 39:35
  Tarrah: So for me, that's where I start is intentionality.
• 39:39
  Tarrah: Um, and then it's really like the culture that, that you build, because obviously depending on the type of business, you know, that, that you're going to have, you want to have a foundation of inclusivity already and again.
• 39:57
  Tarrah: It starts with you being intentional when you're building that.
• 40:00
  Tarrah: And then once you've done that, it's okay, what do I want the culture to look like?
• 40:05
  Tarrah: Um, and yeah, making sure you have all the points that you want to make sure you cover because.
• 40:12
  Tarrah: There's something about having something written down that I think, um, people are starting to discover the power in.
• 40:20
  Tarrah: Like it's more than just talking about it or having it just as a concept that's floating around in your head.
• 40:26
  Tarrah: Because when things are floating around in your head, they can go in, they can come out, something more pressing, could come in and replace it and dah, dah, dah.
• 40:33
  Tarrah: Then before you know it, something you thought was super important, it's actually eight months down the line.
• 40:38
  Tarrah: You're like, oh.
• 40:40
  Tarrah: I actually haven't done anything about it at all.
• 40:43
  Tarrah: I've
• 40:43
  Peta: just you're just describing my to-do list for the last year.
• 40:48
  Tarrah: to be fair, like we, we all find ourselves in this.
• 40:50
  Tarrah: There's things like that I have in my head that I'm constantly like, oh, like it's always almost a, a reminder every time it pops in because I just haven't written it down.
• 40:59
  Tarrah: So it's actually a reminder to myself to make sure that I write that thing down.
• 41:02
  Tarrah: So it's somewhere, but I think.
• 41:05
  Tarrah: Really without them going into like the deepness of, you know, once you're intentional, you go in, it's much easier.
• 41:13
  Tarrah: You can find access over there.
• 41:14
  Tarrah: There's a lot of companies as well like ours that will help you do that.
• 41:19
  Tarrah: So if your thing is, you know, I want to be more, uh, inclusive, I want to be global.
• 41:24
  Tarrah: I want to have, you know, a bunch of different brains from all over the world, you know, we exist.
• 41:29
  Tarrah: For, for, for, for the African brains.
• 41:31
  Tarrah: We exist for the, um, for the displaced, you know, mindset and experience and view.
• 41:38
  Tarrah: And then there's other companies that you can tap in that will help you with other areas.
• 41:43
  Tarrah: So really in this day and age, the simplest, simplest answer to that question is just be intentional.
• 41:51
  Tarrah: Be intentional.
• 41:52
  Tarrah: Know exactly what it is that you're trying to build.
• 41:55
  Tarrah: Know exactly, um, know, yeah.
• 41:59
  Tarrah: Know how you want your company to look, know how you want your project to look, know how you want your messaging to be.
• 42:07
  Tarrah: Start there and then everything else actually kind of slides in because we do have access.
• 42:15
  Tarrah: To all of the information, I think, at this stage that that, that you could really ever need.
• 42:20
  Tarrah: So yeah, that would be my, my biggest, biggest thing that I would say.
• 42:25
  Peta: No, that's great advice.
• 42:26
  Peta: Thank you.
• 42:27
  Peta: So if people want, who are listening, want to come and find you, um, they wanna come and find out about tamo, they wanna come and find out about your new community or just to have a chat, where can they go?
• 42:38
  Peta: Where should they head?
• 42:40
  Tarrah: Thank you.
• 42:40
  Tarrah: So if you want to find out more about our work at Ware, you just simply go to ware.com if you'd like to connect with me specifically.
• 42:50
  Tarrah: I'm on LinkedIn, Tara.
• 42:52
  Tarrah: Um, I'm sure you will see the, the, the name of my spelling, some, the name of my spelling, the spell, the spelling of my name, somewhere, you know, send me over a dm.
• 43:04
  Tarrah: I'm always open to, um, connecting with more.
• 43:08
  Tarrah: People, I was gonna say more founders, but you don't have to be a founder.
• 43:11
  Tarrah: Just more people in general.
• 43:13
  Tarrah: Um, yeah, just different walks of life, et cetera.
• 43:16
  Tarrah: So you can find me over on there.
• 43:17
  Tarrah: And then the new, um, newsletter slash community that I've created is called She Black Founded, and I will actually provide Peter with, you know, the link and all of that stuff as well.
• 43:31
  Tarrah: So you can find me and hopefully join me.
• 43:35
  Tarrah: Right now I am my only subscriber, so it would be fantastic to, to start
• 43:41
  Peta: I did it yesterday.
• 43:42
  Tarrah: I mean, that is true actually.
• 43:43
  Tarrah: What am I expecting overnight?
• 43:45
  Tarrah: It's like, yeah, I, I woke up overnight and it had gone viral somehow.
• 43:48
  Tarrah: People found out.
• 43:50
  Tarrah: Um, but no, these are all the places that you can find me.
• 43:53
  Peta: That's great.
• 43:53
  Peta: I'll pop all of that in the show notes for people, um, so they can come and find you.
• 43:58
  Peta: Um, thank you so much, Tara.
• 43:59
  Peta: This was fascinating as I knew it would be.
• 44:01
  Peta: It was lovely to talk to you.
• 44:03
  Peta: Um, thank you for taking the time.
• 44:05
  Tarrah: Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 44:07
  Tarrah: This was so cool and so good.
• 44:10
  Tarrah: I wanna do more of these and yeah.
• 44:12
  Tarrah: Thank you so much.
• 44:13
  Tarrah: I really appreciate it.
• 44:15
  Peta: no problem.
• 44:15
  Peta: I.
• 44:15
  Tarrah: Amazing.
• 44:16
  Tarrah: Thank you.
• 44:16
  Tarrah: I.