Bio

I’m an interdisciplinary ritual artist, wellness consultant, and mental health advocate dedicated to collective care and Black liberation.

Inspired at an early age by radical thinkers and my own family lineage of accomplished jazz musicians, survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and creative community leaders in Washington, DC, I’ve always been a spiritually-rooted person. I booked my first professional singing jobs as a teenager, just before heading to the Ivy League, then spent subsequent years grinding thru graduate school in DC, and living in Brooklyn and Los Angeles as a writer and multi-media producer. In 2013, I took my first yoga teacher training and started teaching in New York City, while immersed in tech start-up culture and the beverage industry. I was responsible for WTRMLN WTR’s mission-driven marketing activations at Sundance, Art Basel, Coachella, Afropunk, Wanderlust and countless yoga destinations, building a brand that attracted investors like Beyoncé and several professional athletes.

Over the years, as you can imagine, I was often one of very few Black leaders in predominantly-white spaces. In order to thrive in these intense environments despite the trauma, violence, and health challenges that are so common for people who look like me, I bolstered myself with over 10,000 hours of mindfulness, collective care and therapeutic wellness experiences. I embraced my queer, neurodivergent creativity, studied scientific and cultural legacies, and began to share my personal rituals in community.

Now I get to share my personal rituals with thousands of people every year! My stage name TARA AURA has embodied my artistic practice and talent as a ritual artist, sound healer, writer, host, meditation guide and yoga teacher since 2014. I’ve presented for the National Gallery of Art, Janelle Monaé’s Wondaland camp, Essence Fest, Nike, Soho House, the Smithsonian Institute, and at my own Heartcamp retreats in New York’s Hudson Valley.

At the height of the pandemic, I was recruited to serve as Wellness Director at DC’s award-winning, progressive Eaton hotel, where I produced bespoke events and experiences for Wu Tang Clan, Black Lives Matter founders, cultural institutions like The Kennedy Center, The National Cannabis Festival, the National Psychedelics Conference, and universities like Georgetown and Howard. My work there earned mentions in Vogue! In 2023, I became a published author, and in 2024, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities awarded me with a 2024-2025 interdisciplinary arts fellowship.

Now in addition to my artistic practice, I have a creative consulting agency called BLIND SEED. Our events and strategists integrate culturally-relevant mental health resources and spiritual tools to inspire personal growth and collective healing. We produce transformative private experiences and public programs for prominent cultural institutions, universities, faith-based organizations, and the people who need it most.

SHORT BIO

Tara Purnell aka Tara Aura is an interdisciplinary artist and wellness consultant dedicated to collective care and the empowerment of Black communities. She grew up in Washington, DC, immersed in the arts and faith-based communities, learning best practices in diversity and inclusion at an early age. After studying abroad in Puerto Rico and Cuba, Tara earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Marketing and Film Production from University of Pennsylvania and American University respectively, all preparing her for New York City’s bustling, creative, start-up culture and her path to becoming a certified yoga teacher in 2014. As an event producer, sound healer and ritual artist, Tara combines her family’s rich legacy in jazz, arts education and community building with over 10,000 hours of mindfulness, musicianship and wellness practices. She was awarded with a 2024–2025 Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities after a trailblazing tenure as Wellness Director at Eaton DC, the progressive hotel, co-working space and cultural institution. Now in addition to making art, she produces transformative private experiences and public programs for prominent cultural institutions, universities and faith-based organizations through her agency BLIND SEED, integrating culturally-relevant mental health resources and spiritual tools to inspire collective healing.