Tara Rae Moss is a passionate and inspiring advocate, keynote speaker, bestselling author of 14 books of fiction and non-fiction, and holistic practitioner.
Tara Rae Moss is one of Australia’s most iconic authors. Since 1999 she has written 14 bestselling books, published in 19 countries and 13 languages, including her advocacy handbook for women and girls Speaking Out, her #1 non-fiction bestselling memoir The Fictional Woman, and the internationally bestselling postwar historical crime novels The War Widow and The Ghosts of Paris featuring feminist PI Billie Walker and her disabled war vet assistant Samuel Baker. Her fifteenth book is due for release in 2025.
An experienced documentary host and interviewer with a passion for research and human stories, Moss hosted the true crime documentary series Tough Nuts – Australia’s Hardest Criminals for two seasons the Crime & Investigation Network and Amazon Prime, Tara Moss Investigates on the National Geographic Channel and the author interview show Tara in Conversation on 13th Street Universal. She was also the host, co-executive producer and co-writer of Cyberhate with Tara Moss on Australia's ABC, examining the phenomenon of online abuse, and most recently a reporter and host of the true-crime podcast, The Man in The Balaclava, for Audible.
Tara Rae’s passion lies with helping others and fueling positive change. She is an outspoken advocate for human rights and the rights of women, children, people living with pain and people with disabilities, and this focus informs all of her work. She has been a UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 and in 2014 she was recognised for Outstanding Advocacy for her blog Manus Island: An Insider’s report, which helped to break information to the public about the alleged murder of Reza Barati inside the Australian-run Manus Island Immigration Detention Centre. In 2018 she was named one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, along with Angelina Jolie, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and more.
After many years at the forefront of chronic pain advocacy, in 2023 she recovered from the debilitating pain condition Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which caused her to experience extreme burning pain rated on the McGill pain scale as above childbirth or amputation of a digit, caused her to rely on a wheelchair for mobility, and from which she was told she would never recover. Now in full remission after living with this illness for nearly 8 years, she feels like a new person.
Tara Rae - or Rae, as she is known primarily by her middle name in her healing work - is a mother, a wife and a dual Canadian/Australian citizen, and currently resides in her hometown of Victoria, BC, the unceded territory of the Lkwungen speaking Peoples, where she is a recipient of both the Order of Lambrick Park, and the Honorary Citizen Award, the highest formal honour awarded by the City of Victoria. She is an author, speaker and certified holistic practitioner, offering work as a Shamanic Practitioner and Seiðkona, Reiki Practitioner, and a Funeral Celebrant her local community.
Talking Points
Labels, Leadership and Why We Need More Women's Voices
Labels, Leadership and Why We Need More Women's Voices
Online Safety and Unsocial Social Media
Online Safety and Unsocial Social Media
Speaking Out
Speaking Out
Adaptability - Diversity without Disability
Adaptability - Diversity without Disability
Lables, Leadership and Why Your Voice Matters: on the Need for Women in Leadership
Lables, Leadership and Why Your Voice Matters: on the Need for Women in Leadership
Women's Rights
Women's Rights
The Archetypal Woman: on Women's Representation in the Media
The Archetypal Woman: on Women's Representation in the Media
Vintage and Retro 40s and 50s Nostalgia, History and Fashion
Vintage and Retro 40s and 50s Nostalgia, History and Fashion
Femme Fatales and the Representation of Female Criminality in Popular Culture
Femme Fatales and the Representation of Female Criminality in Popular Culture
Video
Tara Moss on losing her mother and her start in modelling | Anh's Brush With Fame
Tara Moss opens up about losing her mother to cancer and how her passing pushed Tara to pursue modelling seriously.Tara was wonderful. A delight to deal with and extremely accommodating, especially signing a huge number of her books that members of the audience wanted autographed. She was genuine in her ... keep reading Maroondah City Council
Tara Moss is much more than a pretty face. She's an international best-selling author, ambassador, television host, and reptile-wrangler... she may well become one of the world's best-sellers.
We've done three hundred and one shows and that's the first time I've been topped, I can tell you.
I think it is important to have a personality like Tara on B&B [panel show Beauty and the Beast], a show a lot of Australians watch, and are influenced by. Maybe a voice like Tara's could open some eyes.
Hardly a blonde joke or a vacuous modelling stereotype, [Tara Moss] is savvy, articulate and...a darn good writer.
[Tara,] Your skills as a speaker are outstanding, and the message you gave was one that should be heard by school students across the state.
As a successful model and author, Tara Moss breaks the mould of both professions.
Tara Moss has it all - brains, beauty, and a best-selling thriller...Fetish is a debut novel with kick, from an author who happens to be a supermodel herself, as well as an accomplished, award-winning writer with an acute sense of the macabre.