We recently connected with Tara Coyote and have shared our conversation below.
Tara, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I am a Equine Facilitated Learning Instructor, which means I work with humans in a healing capacity with horses. I also have written two books that revolve around the healing power of horses. One of my books is my own personal memoir, ‘Grace, Grit & Gratitude: A Cancer Thriver’s Journey from Hospice to Full Recovery with the Healing Power of Horses’ sharing how my horses have helped me heal from stage 4 cancer. The second one is a children’s picture book, ‘Comanche the Wild Mustang’, which is the story about my wild horse who was taken out of the wilderness at a young age and has been a powerful healing force for me and many others through the healing horse work that I do.
This is a meaningful mission for me as I do believe that animals (horses in particular) possess an innate healing ability that is often overlooked in our fast-paced modern world.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was drawn to practice the healing work with horses with humans after a personal experience that left me in an extremely painful emotional state. It was through my experience of being with the horses that I transformed my trauma into my dharma and transformed my life in a powerful manner.
Through the Equine Facilitated Learning work I teach, it helps clients through their own personal challenges and painful life transitions.
My memoir, ‘Grace, Grit & Gratitude’ helps give other cancer journeyers and those going through a tough time to know that our adversity is here to grow us and make us stronger.
I am proud that the work I do and the books I have written give others a sense of hope and helps them tap into their innate strength.
My children’s book, ‘Comanche the Wild Mustang’ is an educational book about the wild horses in North America. I am proud to share about these majestic animals who’s lives and ecosystem are in danger.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I have two social media audiences depending on who I am addressing: 1) People interested in the healing horse work 2) Those on a cancer healing journey.
With both audiences, I started sharing on both of my Facebook pages and building an audience depending on what subject I was talking about. I would post several times a week sharing relevant horse or health related photos, the events I would offer and my writing about the topic at hand. Eventually I started my own YouTube channel, then created different Instagram pages.
For all of my social media pages it required consistency and sharing creative content that was fun for me to share. It was/is also important to keep engagement going with my audience and connect with the people that follow me.
I would advise those starting out on social media to enjoy the process the best they can and find their own creative niche of expression for what is authentic to their personality and brand.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect for me with my writing is knowing that my work can impact far more people than I can ever imagine. When you publish a book, you have no idea of how many people will actually read it. You never know when you throw a pebble into a pond how the ripple will go out and impact countless people in a positive manner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.windhorsesanctuary.com/ and https://www.cancerwarrioress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taracoyote/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/windhorsesanctuary1 and https://www.facebook.com/cancerwarrioress
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taracoyote/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaraCoyote
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/TaraCoyote
Image Credits
Kalalea Photography – Erica Taniguchi https://www.ericataniguchi.com/