We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tina Tara. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tina below.

Tina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I always knew I wanted to become a singer, stand on a stage and connect with the audience on a sheer emotional level. I felt flooded with emotions and excitement when I listened to Whitney Houstons first album when I was 8 years old. It sure took a few months for the idea to form that I wanted to do that too, but I was mesmerized with the possibility to be able to create such energy by just opening your mouth to sing. It fascinated me and simultaneously I had the feeling in my gut that I was supposed to do that too.

Tina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Tina Tara, I am an artist (vocalist, songwriter, producer) based in Santa Barbara, California. I have moved here from London about three years ago, but I am originally from Austria. Growing up in Austria, I very quickly found out that I had a grand passion for singing. I listened to Whitney, Mariah, Celine and all the other great vocalists every day trying to replicate the tones and feel I could hear in their delivery. Having the vision to be on a stage in front of a microphone and have the audience feel what I feel, the possibility to create such magic was at the core center of my every breath. I could not think of anything else.
Making my dream become a reality seemed next to impossible for the longest time as no one in my surroundings knew how to help me, nor was I equipped enough to find out for myself. (Internet was not the biggest thing then yet). For most of my childhood and teens I felt lost, misunderstood and not supported in the pursuit of my dream. It was apparent that most people who heard thought it was a childish mirage that had nothing to do with reality. I took the standard course of life and studied marketing at college but had to fight against depression and self medication.

I was lucky to be granted an exchange semester in Spain where I ended up meeting a producer with whom I began working on several song recordings. I decided to stay in Spain for a few more months as I had the strong feeling I needed to break out of my rigid, carefully constructed life plan.
When I came back to Austria I decided to honor my promise to my parents to finish my college degree but I also promised myself that once that was done I would move to another country where my music career had a chance to blossom. And so I did.

In my early 20’s I moved to London and began a music performance course at the BIMM institute. Since I had written my own songs in English I felt that I had a better chance of improving and gaining traction in an English speaking country. Only after a year of living in London I developed odd, non explicable symptoms like numbness, brain fog, severe fatigue and more. The symptoms continued for a few months and caused me to break off my course at the institute as I was not able to use my voice due to extreme fatigue. I was always quite active and sporty, therefore my only solution was to go work out every day. Since I could barely walk, I just used the bicycle and did some minor strength training, adjusted my diet to what I thought was healthy at that time and spend ample amounts of time trying to relax. I used to smoke and drink alcohol which I gave up during that time. It helped and I got better again and was able to focus on my music.
Over the following years I had a few more episode like the first one, but I learned that I needed to relax and work out when that happened. It was always scary but also thought me to turn my focus inwards and give myself what I needed first.
In 2016 I was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I was told that a career in music was too stressful for me and that with the right medication I could have a decent life. Still In shock I believed these claims and went on strong medication (bi-weekly injections) and turned my focus away from music.
Not for long.
I took a course to become a yoga teacher, changed my dietary routines and within no time I felt much better. Except that the medication was really harming my body and I could feel it. What was supposed to help me turned out to make my life miserable. My newly found spirituality and balanced approach to life got me through those times quite well. After two years of medication I learned of ways that will supposedly heal MS and even reverse certain “lasting” issues caused by the disease.
I immediately went off my medication, took on the different protocols and decided I was going to heal.
And so I did. It only took a couple of months until my brain fog was completely gone, I had my full strength back and felt better than I had ever felt in my entire life. From 2018 to this day I have not had any MS relapses or symptoms. I have not been on any MS mediation since and I am a big advocate of finding alternative options including researching the psychosomatic reason for the disease to heal the underlying cause.
Having found my new strength and motivation I worked on new music with producer Anthony Goldsbrough. I was drenched in positivity, light, colors and hopefulness. That’s what you can hear in the recordings I released in the following years. My single “Maybe” ended up hitting the TOP 40 Pop Billboard Charts in America as only independent single on that Chart in the year 2020. Shortly thereafter I was so lucky to make my wildest dreams become a reality and move to the United States. It happened in midst of the pandemic and I only arrived with one suitcase and four boxes. I had left everything else behind and therefore it was a completely new start.
My now manager, Charley Pavlosky, helped me establish myself in the new country, connected me with some great people and became my mentor and best friend. With his help I made one off my bucket list items happen which was to sing the National Anthem in a big stadium in front of tens of thousands of people. In 2022 I sang the Star Spangled Banner live for the Chicago Bulls and later that year for the White Sox.
I am now living and working as a full time musician, vocalist, songwriter and vocal coach from my newly found home in Santa Barbara, traveling to amazing places and meeting amazing people.
When I was a child, the sheer thought of owning a microphone let shivers run down my spine so full of hope and excitement but also sad and full of resignation believing this will never be possible.
Now I have travelled across the globe, have sung for Embassies, in stadiums, had chart success and have been so lucky to write music that makes people cry, laugh, dance, sing along and ask for more.
I feel very blessed to have been so lucky to do all this and I am grateful to my ten year old self that realized that “in life you really only fail if you give up”.
And every time I thought of quitting I faced my ten year old self staring back at me telling me that if I would give up now, that would be the only reason I would ever fail in my life.

So I keep going.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

It is quite funny how literature that I have come across so randomly has shaped my life in such pivotal manner. From a healing point of view, during my MS time, I read “Medical Medium” by Anthony William. I followed his cleansing diet for months but it had an immediate impact on my body and mind. Together with the Coimbra Protocol by Dr. Coimbra I managed to get through the hardest phases of my recovery.

A book that was randomly recommended to me was about Sukyo Mahikari. I had signed up with a new gym in London and randomly met the owner on the first day. He was a sweet 80-year old man and we had some wonderful discussions. After meeting him a few times at the gym going through my work outs, I was so lucky to meet his wonderful wife Neelam. She became my very good friend and I learned about the wonderful practice of healing with light, Sukyo Mahikari. She recommended to me the book “Goods Light” by Sidney E. Chang. It talked about universal principles and healing with light. The first principle of Sukyo Mahikari is to say Thank You around 6000 times per day.
I was confused and thought, well, I will not be able to count but what I can do is start saying thank you for everything I can find.
It was the BEST thing I ever did. When you apply gratitude to everything, even the things that are uncomfortable or painful, because you know the experience itself is worth being grateful for, you create magic. Life will turn your way and things will fall into place for you.
They did for me. Everything magically aligned. I met the right people, had the right timing, moved to the place I always wanted to live at. Things just blossomed. So I cannot recommend this book enough.

“Entrepreneur Revolution” by Daniel Priestly is probably the reason why I ended up coming to the United States and therefore ended up moving here. Things could not have fallen into place in a better way.
I only booked my trip to the US where I met my manager because Daniel Priestly urges his readers to plan their holidays before they plan their work schedules at the beginning of the year. So I thought about where I wanted to go and the only place I could think of was California, since I had always wanted to live there.

To me all these books are results of me being so lucky to attract the right answers to my prayers. Maybe one of these will resonate with one of you. Maybe not. But they sure changed my life’s story and for that I am ever grateful.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yes. I only learned later on that my own mind, my own believe and my own determination are really the one resource that I need to nurture and grow and strengthen the most. I am still marveling at all the things that can be achieved by purely wanting and believing and not giving up. There is a myriad of stories I have heard from people who excelled in various areas of life be it self healing, career goals, growing wealth, healing others etc. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate the power of your own mind!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.tinataraofficial.com
• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/tinataraofficial
• Youtube: Www.YouTube.com/tinataraofficial
• Other: Www.TikTok.com/@tinataraofficial

Image Credits
Danny Tsai Jean Christophe Hermier Eveline Toplak Derek Harper