The Bold and Fearless Woman Behind House of Tara: Tara Fela-Durotoye's Biography

If consistency were a person, then, it would have been named Tara Fela-Durotoye. The Nigerian leading lawyer and make-up artist, also known as Tara Òrékeléwà was born into the family of John Ejegi Sagay and Felicia Omaghomi on the 6th of March 1977. Tara's parents got divorced when she was just eight months old and so, her stepmother raised her till adulthood. 

Tara attended the Command Children School and Nigerian Navy Secondary School and from there, she finished her tertiary education at the University of Lagos, Nigeria bagging a degree in law. Her business, House of Tara is an internationally acclaimed make-up house and has seen multiple branches and clientele in various countries of the world. The multimillionaire business started when Tara was just twenty years from the corner of her room in the university and from there, she expanded her capacity by attending business schools in Lagos, Nigeria, Abu-Dhabi, Yale, Stanford and the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2013, Tara was listed on Forbes as one of the "20 Young Power Women In Africa" and in 2020, Forbes recognised her as one of "Africa's 50 Most Powerful Women".

Tara Fela-Durotoye is happily married to Fela Durotoye, the one-time presidential candidate for the Alliance for New Nigeria in 2019. She is blessed with three handsome boys and according to her husband, he could not have asked for a better wife than Tara as she is the biggest cheerleader and motivator for the whole family.

When asked how she was able to balance family and business, Tara Fela-Durotoye replied by saying, "It is important to marry someone who buys into what you are doing."

5 Lessons From The Life of Tara Fela-Durotoye

1. Your parental background notwithstanding, your consistency and determination to succeed will go a long mile. Who your parents are is never a permanent determining factor of how you will turn out to be.

Tara has made us realise that embracing one's imperfections will make one's light shine brighter.

2. Start with what you have. Tara Fela-Durotoye started her business with just 15,000 Nigerian Naira, yet, today, she is a multimillionaire who has a foothold in the Forbes ranking. Do not underestimate what you have because the fig seed you have today becomes a large tree which all birds perch on only when you water and tend to it well.

3. She gave herself the permission to succeed. In a typical African society, a 20-year-old is not meant to start a business or think about making money because such a youth should still be in school but in Tara's case, she went the extra mile by starting her business in the most inconvenient time. She stepped out of her comfort zone and it paid well for her.

In one of her interviews, Tara says, "I always knew that the risk of running a business in Nigeria is high but sometimes, you do not know to what extent until her products were counterfeited". Despite such a setback, Tara has successfully shown us that she can only go stronger from the lowest situations.

Read: How I balance my career and purpose - Head of Business Development, FCMBAM

4. She was ready to get more knowledge on what she was doing.

Talent, when combined with training gives quantum results as seen in the life of Tara Fela-Durotoye. She went to various schools on business, going as far as travelling around the world to get professional knowledge about her business. Being a business person does not make you a liability who cannot stretch to go to school. Strive, stretch and be determined to get an education no matter how many dollars it will cost you because when you invest in yourself, you will be able to dispense value to your generation just like Tara has done and is doing.

5. Your family is important.

On Tara's birthday in 2023, her husband, Fela-Durotoye gave forty-six reasons and more on his Instagram page on why he was blessed to marry a woman like Tara. This shows that you can always have a successful career and a happy family. You do not have to sacrifice one for the other.

You need wisdom on how to navigate being a boss, a wife and a mother so that none suffers and everyone is happy. The life of Tara Fela-Durotoye is one to emulate to achieve that.