Tara Fela-Durotoye is the founder and CEO of House of Tara International, the creator of Tara Orekelewa Beauty range, Inspired Perfume and the H.I.P Beauty range. Over the past 12 years, Tara Fela-Durotoye has been dedicated to realising her vision of building a globally respected beauty company of African origin. The organisation has grown into a franchise enterprise with three main lines of business namely The Make-up Studio, The Makeup School and the TARA product line comprising beauty products and professional make-up kits. Tara is widely considered as a veteran in the beauty industry, who has pioneered the bridal make up profession in Nigeria, starting her make-up business whilst an undergraduate in the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University. Tara is a trained and certified make-up artist of Charles Fox, Convent Garden, London. In a series of first, she launched her bridal make-up business in 1998. Thereafter, she launched the first Bridal directory in Nigeria in 1999. In 2000, Tara facilitated the first-ever series of Bridal seminars, drawing for the first time-ever in Nigeria celebrated professionals in the bridal industry to speak to brides. She has franchise spread across Nigeria (branches in Lagos, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and Abuja) and with emerging footprint on the West African coastal countries of Cotonou, Ghana and Senegal. She established the country's first makeup school in 2004, and also launched the TARA product line comprising a range of professional tool kits (such as make-up boxes, brushes and purses) for make-up artists and a wide range of make-up products including eye shadows, eye liner, lip gloss, foundation and powders on a brand platform promoting ethics and ethnicity, by empowering young women for economic independence without moral compromise, just as it flies the proudly Nigerian flag. In 2008, at a record-setting celebration of her tenth anniversary in Lagos, she surprised the nation with the launch of her first perfume fragrance aptly called "Be Inspired". She is a highly sought after speaker at entrepreneurial platforms including conferences, TV programmes, newspaper and magazine publications and electronic media platforms. She is a favourite speaker at women business conferences, youth empowerment seminars and faith-based gatherings where she speaks on topics ranging from finding your purpose, identifying your talent, building and managing businesses, maintaining a successful career and marriage. She is also a mentor for make-up artists and small business owners. Through her make-up school, Tara has developed and trained about 300 make-up artists who are now active players in Nigerian beauty industry. She has also succeeded in empowering over 600young ladies (most of who are in the tertiary institutions) with the Tara Orekelewa beauty representatives' initiative that makes them financially independent, improving their self esteem while while building their marketing and entrepreneurial skills. She is presently working on her book How to Turn Your Hobby into a Thriving Business.