The Personal Stuff
The Trouble With Normal…
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised in small town Alberta, Sundre [on a farm] [with cows], I am the least likely city girl you will ever meet. Yet, the bigger, the smellier, the more crowded the city, the happier I am. I prefer city scapes to mountain views and I think the most beautiful thing in the world is old, slightly broken down city architecture.
I currently live in San Francisco, California. The past year and a half has been incredibly exciting for me. I was in Toronto, minding my own business (literally, with Rogue Strategies - now forwarding here) and writing on this blog, when I was ‘drafted’ to come to SF to join an exciting stealth startup called Ojos, which became Riya, who has just launched a great new product called, Like. I left Riya in May of 2006 to pursue my own business, Citizen Agency, launched in June of 2006. We moved into our new offices (also a coworking space) in November 2006.
Although I spend a good deal of time railing against marketing and consumerism, I am by profession an Online Marketing professional and, well, a consumer to the nth degree. You can ask anyone who knows me. I think these three personalities can meet in the middle, though, and I think that makes me more effective. I think about the consumer…the person, the living, breathing, thinking, feeling being that is out there looking for good ways to spend her hard-earned money. I have never believed in mass anything, because people are individuals and not ‘targets’. People don’t buy brands, they buy hope, stories, memories, necessities, etc.
Take off your marketing hat and put on your regular every-day person who has some money in your pocket (i.e. consumer) hat and you’ll see what I mean, but remember that we all have different experiences, memories, desires and needs.
I specialize in community marketing, which isn’t ‘building communities’, but rather, delighting and enchanting those people already part of your community - through product, communication and experience. We only take on clients and products I believe in, although I am the first to admit being a total marketing whore in the past.
What does HorsePigCow mean?
My mom, Marianne (in the photo with me), is the queen of wise “mom-isms” (I quote her quite a bit here on the blog).
HorsePigCow is a phrase she used to use to avoid embarassment when she called someone by the wrong name (I inherited my mom’s scatter-brained goofiness, too…although it’s endearing to most). Something like, “Hi James, Jake *HorsePigCow* Jason. How are you?”
It’s a way of saying, “Hell, I’m human and I screw up, but let’s move on”…at least that’s my interpretation. Plus, it’s nonsense. I like nonsense.
Quick Facts:
Tara is:
- Canadian
- Mom of teenage son, Thaddeus (Tad)
- A Flickr Fan
- A Twitter Nut
- All over the web
- Totally Googleable
- A public speaker
- An author (book coming out with Crown Publishing in Fall 08)
Favourite Books:
I’m inspired by many things (including Mom), but information and the internet are two of those things that inspire me a great deal. Here are my top 10 reads:
Favourite Quote:
I’ve read many great things over the years and I’ve heard some brilliant other things, but probably one of the most brilliant thing I’ve ever heard is a line from a song by Bruce Cockburn:
“The trouble with normal is it always gets worse”
That’s what horsepigcow.com is all about for me. Making certain that normal doesn’t get worse.
