We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tara Geraghty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tara below.
Tara, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Fun nerdy fact, I was the President of the Latin Club in highschool. So I love learning where words came from. The word “resilience” originates from the 1620s, meaning “the act of rebounding or springing back.” I think true resilience is built in the valleys—when life knocks you down, and you choose to rise stronger….and actually bounce back…better.
I think resilience is a lot like a muscle—one you don’t strengthen by avoiding challenges but by embracing them. The only way to build your physical muscles is by pushing them so the point where you create microscopic tears in muscle fibers. This “pain” allows the muscle to rebuild to create strength. Just like our physical muscles I think life’s challenges create the tears that, when rebuilt, make us stronger. The only way to become resilient is to experience pain, adversity, and setbacks—and then choose to grow from them.
My life sometimes has felt like a masterclass in resilience. My first career was in acting, where rejection was a daily occurrence. You learn to dust yourself off and try again. Later, in direct sales, I faced missed goals, disappointments, and the constant need to pick myself up. These experiences were resilience training grounds, preparing me for battles I never saw coming.
In 2009 I went through a domestic violence divorce the same year my only daughter (who was 3) was diagnosed with high risk stage 4 cancer. All those years of rejection, missed goals, and setbacks had built my resilience muscles pretty strong.
One thing that helps me build resilience is always looking for the “gift” in the storm. I am always asking myself, “What’s the gift in this? What can I learn from this?” I remember after one particularly traumatic season, I sat down and listed all the “gifts” that came from my pain and I filled a page. If I hadn’t experienced domestic violence, I never would have become an advocate for change, speaking at my state’s capital, influencing legislation, or leading task forces. If my daughter hadn’t battled cancer, I never would have done a TEDx talk, written a book, or become a professional speaker.
Resilience isn’t about avoiding pain—it’s about recognizing that you are stronger than you think and knowing you can rise from anything. When you realize that failure can’t keep you down, you become unstoppable. You take bigger risks, chase bigger dreams, and take larger steps out of your comfort zone because you trust in your ability to get back up.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Right now, I’m loving building “Hey Girl, You Can” – it’s not just a community, but a home for women who’ve got big dreams they have been hiding in their hearts.
This community is where I get to bring together everything I’ve learned from 27+ years of leadership, my theater background, my coaching certifications, and honestly, all those resilience muscles I’ve built over the years. We’re a face growing community who lift each other up on the days when everything feels too heavy.
“Hey Girl, You Can” is about real talk, real struggles, and finding your voice when the world has told you to be quiet. It’s where women learn to use their experiences as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks.
I teach the same tools here that I share when I’m giving a TEDx talk or working with organizations – how to reframe your thoughts, rebuild your confidence, and reignite that spark that might have dimmed along the way.
What makes me smile is watching women in our community start believing in possibilities again. They’re launching businesses, writing books (even when their inner critic says it’s not good enough), and creating lives that feel like theirs again – all because they found a place where they can say those dreams out loud without someone telling them to “be realistic.”
There’s something pretty amazing about a group of women who see your potential on days when you can’t see it yourself. That’s what we’re building, one connection at a time.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, three things have made the biggest difference in my journey. First, my background in theater taught me how to think on my feet. The first rule of improv is ‘yes, and’—you say yes to whatever comes your way and build on it. You don’t second-guess yourself, and you learn to lean into opportunities even if it means looking a little silly. That mindset helped me jump into new ventures, take risks, and trust that I could figure things out along the way.
Second, authentic communication has been huge for me. My theater training helped me connect with audiences, but life taught me real connection happens when you drop the script. Surviving domestic violence and watching my three-year-old battle stage 4 cancer stripped away any pretense. I stopped trying to look like I had it all together. That kind of vulnerable transparency made me relatable and drew people in. It was freeing to realize that people don’t connect with perfect; they connect with real.
Third, an unwavering belief in possibilities—for myself and others—has been a game-changer. Sometimes, we have to borrow belief from others until our own kicks in. That’s why I’m so excited about our community; when one woman tells another, “I believe in you,” mountains move. This is why I built “Hey Girl, You Can”—to create a space where women can dream bigger, lean on each other, and take bold steps toward the life they want.
My advice for those early in their journey? Start by building your resilience muscle. Take small risks, stretch yourself just a little bit beyond your comfort zone, and learn to pick yourself up when the stakes are small so you can say yes to bigger risks—and bigger rewards—down the road. Next, share your real story, not your highlight reel. Your mess is your message—it’s what makes you relatable and powerful. Lastly, surround yourself with people who believe in your vision, especially on the hard days. And be that person for someone else. Confidence is contagious, and the support you give others always finds its way back to you.
These qualities aren’t something you’re born with—they’re muscles you build through practice, patience, and showing up even when it’s hard. If you can do that, you’ll be unstoppable.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
One of the books (other than the Bible) that has had the biggest impact on my life is The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. I think it should be required reading for every high school student. It’s like the ultimate crash course in personal development—if you took every major personal growth and mindset book and rolled them into one, this would be it. You don’t need to read them all—just this one.
It covers everything from setting and achieving goals, the power of visualization, and the importance of speaking things into existence—because what you speak, you create. It dives deep into thinking like a winner, refusing to settle, and dreaming bigger than you ever thought possible. Jack weaves real-life stories with actionable strategies you can actually use, which is rare.
I read it in my early 20s when I got into direct sales, and it shaped the way I saw the world and my ability to impact my life through my thoughts. It’s not just a book—it’s a handbook for life. Those principles still shape the way I approach everything today.
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