Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Morgan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I feel like my story has many paths with multiple forks in the road to which every fork I took shifted my entire course of life, and for that I’m grateful. I was born to a barely 18-year-old teen mom, in a tiny town called Sandpoint Idaho on October 7, 1983 so if you calculate correctly I’m quickly approaching 40 or I’m a Libra, either way, you’re correct. My life was relatively normal-ish for the 90s. My mom was a partier and a student so I developed a lot of responsibility at a very young age taking care of my sister who was 3.5 years younger than myself. We were latchkey kids who spent a lot of time home alone and took public transportation, the bus, to and from school starting in 3rd grade, teaching me a high level of hyper independence at a young age. Due to a lack of parental supervision, I messed around with the wrong crowds early on and was on a quick path to nowhere. By 13 I was drinking, smoking and dabbling in drugs until I had a very traumatic event happen that altered the course as stated earlier. I was suspended from school and returned a “new girl” and elevated the version of myself. This is when I learned how to reinvent myself and from this point on I embraced change, and never feared the unknown because what I had already gone through up to this point was the lowest of lows and how much worse could it get? I’ve been the extremely advanced golden child in accelerated learning programs for smart kids and skipping grades, the gangster, the skater, the prep, the snowboarder, the popular kid, the nobody. You name it, whatever I wanted to be in that moment- I did it but now recognize this as a very external journey to self-discovery.
I knew from an early age I either wanted to be a lawyer or a hairstylist because I like pretty things and I liked to argue, both still true. At 14 I was working and paying to have my hair done at a high-end salon. I would watch how they did things and recreate what I thought they were doing with smiths bleach kits and Reynolds wrap and none of my friends were safe, we were all rolling around with heavily chunky highlighted hair that we all thought looked good, and to this day I stand by they did and we have no picture proof as phones didn’t exist yet, thank goodness. I also had a love for makeup and did my first wedding at 15, it was my aunt but nonetheless I did her hair and makeup and from there I had a love affair with all things beauty.
At 17 a met an older man, 21, dated him for a year and found myself a senior in high school and pregnant. I knew graduating was important to me (the smart version) so I went to hair school in high school and graduated after first quarter of my senior year, moved in with my boyfriend and became a first time mother. Less than 2 years later I got pregnant again and found myself barely 20 married with 2 babies under 2. We went through a lot of the basic early 20s struggles but not knowing who we were, insecurities and some emotional abuse (this was normal back then) we ended up divorced within a couple of years. My ex-husband made the money and I worked for him so I went from owning my home, driving and Audi and going to school to making $9 an hour and struggling. I went through everything from having my gas and power turned off, no groceries, quick sales on my home and repossession of my car. I built a lot of character during this part of my journey and honestly, in hindsight, I wouldn’t change anything.
There is so much detail with this part of my life I am leaving out but snippet stories are I was a single mom, a true one as my ex moved to Vegas and my parents moved 45 minutes away. They did what they could but my stepdad worked a lot and my mom was struggling with her own demons and addiction to prescription drugs at this time. She struggled on and off my entire life but this time was bad and she wasn’t very present. After 2 years of spiraling into poverty, I decided to move to Vegas where my ex was so I could have help with the kids instead of a 6-week on a 2-week off cycle. The kids went first to start school, my oldest now 20 Was starting kindergarten and I followed about 9 months later.
New chapter- I was wild. When I had my kids I was home but for the most part they lived with their dad which was very hard for me but their dad was stable and married and I was a mess. I didn’t want to put my kids through what I was put through with my mom so I made the choice to let their dad have them primarily. I did it for them and still struggled with the guilt and shame. They had an amazing life and I never would have been able to give them that so I work through this with therapy and spirit work. My Vegas life was that of a movie. I partied hard again, drugs, drinking, odd celebrity stories, it’s a miracle I’m alive. I did actually have my body start to shut down once, which was my wake up call. This is was short-lived as this is when my spiritual gifts began. I went home to visit my mom for thanksgiving and being we always had an internal connection I instantly knew something was wrong. After being sober for a few years, my mom had fallen off the sobriety wagon and I moved back home which was the best choice I ever could have made. I moved home to help my mom get sober and in turn saved myself, this is when my life truly started.
When I moved back to Utah, I had a small window of bringing those same behaviors back home with me. I was still wild but within reason. I no longer had wild nights full of benders and bad choices but I still was heavily drinking. I was unhappy, shameful for leaving my kids with their dad and coping the best I could while also trying to help my mom get sober. Needless to say this was a lot and I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing or where I was going and in my mind, Utah wasn’t it. I was going back to Vegas eventually so I didn’t really attempt to plant roots until the roots were planted for me.
I applied for a front desk job at a salon in Downtown Salt Lake called Salon O where I met some of the most amazing people who were a huge light in my journey. It was like my road suddenly had neon signs that said “THIS WAY” and for once, I followed the intuition that was always there, I just chose to ignore it.
My first real mentor, Falecia, owner of Salon O and was the fearless leader so full of love and compassion but took no shizz from anyone, had walked into my life and became not only my guide but also who I wanted to embody. This woman changed my life and I still get emotional when I talk about her, she believed in me and pushed me to be who I am now even when I couldn’t see it. I ended up completing an apprenticeship at Salon O under another mentor near and dear to my heart, Ann. This was a monumental time of growth in my life. I learned a lot, I fell in love and a couple of years later I was married with two more babies, Aurora and Johnny. Having Aurora was the second path altering experience in my life, this was when I started my awakening and my journey of self-discovery. After I had her I took 3 months off of work and followed the calling. I quit Salon O and started a salon with my mother-in-law at the time. I had no choice but to learn how to build a clientele and a business and build it fast. Not only was I thrown into business building and leading but I met my spiritual mentor at the time a Peruvian shaman, and started spiritual training and was rocking my 4th baby bump, Johnny. Sometimes I don’t know how I managed this portion of my life. I was committed to being a mother, a wife, a leader, and equally committed to finding out who I was and digging deep to work on my trauma. I struggled but I followed my instinct and although I didn’t understand at the time I knew I had to leave my situation and head out on my own.
So much happened in these 5 years, so much I don’t even know how to contain it in this brief interview but the cliffs notes version is. I started a studio with friends who came and went, started a side hustle doing hair and makeup for weddings, events, commercial work and film, completed 4 years of deep shaman work and 3 years of master training to become a shaman myself, left my studio and went to a salon where I re-connected with an old friend and my now business partner who I adore, got divorced-again, became a single mom but this time I didn’t struggle and handled my shit, and finally learned how to go inward to dissect the layers of who I thought I was and tapped into the magical manifesting goddess energy that I am and now all I want to do is share that with the world.
Fast Forward to 2020 and we all know what happened then, covid shut the world down, but I took that as my opportunity to dive head first into the unknown world of business. I was going to school full time to complete my degree and stumbled into business ownership.
The reason I had to share so much of the before is so you can understand that although I was terrified I wasn’t scared to leap as I knew the universe had me. After all, I had overcome what’s the worst that can happen? Leading more with my power source and after completing shaman training my need to go deeper was always present and after a plant medicine journey and a long list of things I wanted to manifest a building literally fell into my lap and CREATE. The Collective was born. With a building, a dream and no clue how we were going to fund it we still said yes. We did an entire build out and funded the business development solely by ourselves without taking out a single loan, I have no clue how but I know that because of my inner knowing and trusting everything would work out, it did. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and to this day I look back and have no idea how, I just say thank you.
It has now been 2 years since we started, 18 months since we birthed our covid baby and opened our business doors. During that time we went from 5 artists (ourselves included) to 14 artists, a progressive not only salon culture but business culture in general and are running a fully functioning debt-free fully staffed salon and we did it in less than 2 years. We also have grown our on location beauty team to 12 artists and that has organically grown from a side hustle to a fully functioning business. We have so much vision and huge dreams and we are just getting started as cliche as that may sound but we are. The right people continue to show up in my life that help me dig deeper into myself so that I can continue to lead with love and heart and do so being the absolute best version of myself. I am in a loving relationship with my best friend, like for real- we were friends for 8 years before we started dating and he has played a pivotal role in my healing of my deepest wounds as he helps me see them and offers a safe space for healing. We live in Park City with my two kids, Johnny and Aurora, who are 8 and 10 and live part time with me and part time with their dad, whom I also have a great relationship with and my partner’s son, Taye, who is 15 and obviously to cool for us but an absolutely incredible kid. The older kids Kayd and Ava live in Vegas are 18 and 2o and are living their lives. We have worked to create a great relationship and life is really amazing, I still have my ups and downs in business but I have learned how to go with the flow and check myself and my mom, she’s now been sober 11 years!
I know this was long-winded and I really did leave out so much but I am truly an open book. I have no shame or hesitations about who I was as it brought me to who I am and I love sharing my story because I was just a regular ass statistic, on the road to nowhere who made something of myself and if I can give anyone hope and offer myself as a mirror to just see a little of yourself in me then my ripple into the world is working, From here we just keep going, journeying and building onto my dreams even during shifts and transitions. Its never about the destination as there is no such place, its about the journey and whether its business or personal or spiritual just enjoy it and trust that you’re being led to whatever greatness is meant for you, and everyone is meant for greatness irregardless of where we come from and the choices we made. Learn from it and keep going. You got this!! Whatever this is.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every chapter in life comes with its own set of struggles. That’s how we grow. Each obstacle was easier as each one gave me new sets of tools and insights to utilize to overcome the next one. A person like myself chooses to never sit still as growth and change are always my main goals. I’m always setting that next goal and calling in the next level of evolution
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a hairstylist and business owner. I have worked for myself since 2013 renting spaces. Renting studios. Booth rent a chair at a salon to opening my own salon with my best friend in the middle of a pandemic in January 2021. This is a story within itself as ir was a true manifestation. The building fell in our lap and we took it on with no loans and an entire build out. How? We have no clue, we just did it. We started with ourselves and 3 other artists and have since grown to 14 Incredible team members and are growing into a top salon in salt lake, google says so, in a short 18 months that have felt like an eternity. Remember how I said I thrive in challenge, I love it I just cry a lot. The thing that we focus on and that sets us apart the most? Our culture. We have built an incredible culture and have never had to find artists, those who are meant for us and fit our vibe find us- we are like The Salon of dreams, we built it and they came.
We also run on site hair and makeup teams for weddings, events, commercial, film, headshots, etc. we offer additional services such as grooming for men, nails, spray tans, lashes, skin care, waxing, etc.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Ambition
Zero attachments to an outcome
Being committed to my personal growth, both internally and externally
Integrity
Living my true authentic self
Enjoying the journey without a need to speed up the arrival to a destination
Being fluid
Being everyone’s biggest cheerleader, I truly want what people believe is best for them
Knowing there is more than enough
My relationship with the universe and myself
Contact Info:
- Website: Createthecollectiveslc.com
- Instagram: @bytamaramorgan | @create.thecollective | @create.onlocation
Image Credits
Morgan Olsen- In Frames Photography
Pepper Nix- Pepper Nix Photography
Logan Walker- Logan Walker Photography
