Tara Rodrigues
Ealing
On programme: 20/02/2023
GSE: 24/04/2023
Workshops: 4
Adviser: Kate Beever

Tara and I met when she was ungainfully self employed and at a point when her business was at a real turning point.  Tara delivers high end, quality interior design services and had recently completed filming on an Interior Design Reality show which was due to air on prime time Channel 4.

We spent time in our first meeting reviewing the business plan which was very comprehensive and of a high quality.  Tara had limited  marketing skills and needed support in this area; in training, practical support and confidence building.  She was also hoping to secure grant funding to pay for marketing content management but I advised her that grants for this purpose are not readily available in her industry.   As a single parent, Tara was concerned about taking out a loan.

With the TV show launch approaching, Tara was very concerned that she didn’t have the social media content that she needed to take advantage of the publicity that the programme would bring.  Confidence was low and she attended our marketing workshops which boosted that confidence and helped her to create a marketing strategy which we worked on together.

I also introduced Tara to Remus, a photographer who is also a Restart Client in London and they did a skill swap; Remus did some professional photography in return for Tara completing an interior design plan for a room in his house.  This then led to a further introduction to another of our trading starts, Alexandra who specialises in social media management and a similar trade off was agreed.  What is so great about this is that each party gets what they need for no charge and furthermore, they may well (and will most certainly in this case) work together on a paid basis in the future.

During her time on the Momentic programme, Tara was crowned the winner of the show and obviously had to navigate the attention that this brought when it became public.  Tara won the apartment that she had designed during the show – with a market value of £250,000.  As a single mum and not already a home owner, this was absolutely life changing.  We worked together, enhancing the social media strategy and I particularly supported her building confidence.

Tara has had so much from the Momentic programme, not least the practical support of the people we have referred her to, but also skills training, confidence building and intensive business support.