Tara Salloum, or @taraleighrose on Instagram, is a beauty and vintage style blogger based in Montréal. With around 30 thousand followers on Instagram and a talent and marketing agency called Counter Culture World that she founded, she brings beauty, lifestyle and food content to her audience. We recently had a chance to catch up with her to learn more about her content and future plans as a content creator.
What is your channel called and what is it about?
I’m creating content on Instagram and TikTok under @taraleighrose and I also share my city guides (do, eat, sleep in some of my favourite cities) over at www.tlr.world
When did you start it? What motivated you at the beginning?
I started posting lifestyle content on Instagram in 2014 when I moved to Toronto after university. I didn’t know many people, so photography was my outlet to discover a new city. I was genuinely sharing things I liked and writing a complimentary bilingual blog about the brands I loved.
Who were you inspired by? Any influences?
I’ve always loved how Grace Coddington directed photoshoots and how she created emotion in a still image. There’s also this underwater photographer Zena Holloway that I’ve been inspired by since high school – I think that’s where the love of movement in photography comes from for me.
How would you describe your audience?
My audience is primarily women who live in metropolitan areas who like vintage style, beauty and eating out (just like me)!
What is your creative process? Do you have people who work with you?
I started Counter Culture World when I lived in Toronto and that’s my day job. That creative process is quite cerebral and comes from a strategic place, so when it comes to my social media, I just do what I feel. I don’t want to make that a “job”, so I treat it with more of a “laissez-faire” attitude. If one day, it’s no longer fun, I don’t see the point of continuing it.
How do you monetize your content? Do you also have another job?
I run the agency full-time, so monetizing my content means paid partnerships or creating user-generated content for brands to use on their channels before work/at lunchtime or after working hours!
What is your favourite piece of content you have created?
That’s really tough, but I think it would have to be the cover of The Kit in 2019. We flew to Paris with CHANEL for the launch of the Beauty Collection and did a whole editorial shoot.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best part is getting to be creative every day! The worst part is that I’m responsible for my team’s livelihood –which is something that is stressful to deal with.
What are your future plans for your channel?
I want to focus a bit more on TikTok since it’s something that I’ve just started – it’s a huge time commitment, but I find it to be such a funny platform, so I want to grow that more.
Where can we follow you?
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Canadian content creator that you love?
Katherine Johnsen of @beachykj!
