We recently connected with Tara Jae and have shared our conversation below.

Tara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

When looking at my career path, there were many times where I thought I was off the path and in the fields completely distracted with everything but what I thought I was supposed to be focused on. Back in the day, I was a curator within the arts field. Traveling to do shows that represented artists of color, lecturing in art classes nationally and internationally.

In 2008, I was doing a lecture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that was discussing the intersections of race and expression of ones identity. As I was digging into the talk, there were many questions on how one finds information like this as it seemed that this was just available information. Confused by the questions, I asked for the TA to put on the screen and google the information. Please note, this was 2008 and Google was not the Google of information that we know of today. As the search button was hit, the screen that came blaring on the screen was not found.

The class was obviously quiet and waited for my response. Staring at the screen, I asked the TA to put in other search words, all of them leading to “not found”. Turning back to the class, I contemplated what this actually meant. The level of privilege that I had as an American to information, was something I had never even pondered. What was immediate to me was how this impacts people who are trying to learn about their identity as a whole.

A conversation developed in the back of the lecture hall that found its way down to me. Having access to knowledge and community has a deep impact on one’s wellness and mental health. It was at this point, I realized that in order for me to work with people in the way I wanted. I needed to know more.

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 background and context?

Dr. tara jae (they/them) is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Seen, an organization that concentrates on QTBIPOC mental health and wellness. In this role, they serve as an advocate in decolonize mental health and wellness by providing greater access to resources for our community. In 2021, Dr. jae co-founded and co-created Black Pride Colorado. Beyond their role as executive director, advocate and co-creator, Dr. jae also consults with a wide range of nonprofits and organizations on the work of acknowledging, deconstructing and rebuilding systems from an equitable perspective. To add to the list of all the creative activities, Dr. jae also serves as an executive coach, curator, a DEI curriculum developer and as a consultant for public media organizations to provide accurate representation and perspective of our LGBTQ + BIPoC community in storytelling and media.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think the biggest example of illustrating resiliency in my journey is that I’m still here, doing the work.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

The most supportive aspect to succeeding in any field is prioritizing self care and rest in however you need it.

Contact Info:

• Website: youthseen.org
• Instagram: @tjaes
• Linkedin: tara-jae
• Twitter: @drtjaes

Image Credits
EB Pixs