Inspiring Journeys: Conversations For Women 50+

Discovering Purpose: Tara Murphy's Inspiring Story of Passion and Perseverance

• Lauri Wakefield • Episode 3

Share episode

In the latest episode of the Inspiring Journeys podcast, Tara Murphy shares her powerful story of resilience and transformation. With a lifelong passion for horses nurtured by her aunt, Tara developed a strong sense of determination early on. This passion seamlessly transitioned into her professional life, where she spent over 26 years at a credit union, rising from a night computer operator to chief information officer. Her adaptability and commitment to fostering a supportive work environment were pivotal to her success.

A major turning point came when Tara decided to leave her stable career to launch a consulting business focused on executive coaching and leadership development. However, her journey faced a significant hurdle when she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. This experience tested her resilience and deepened her appreciation for empowerment in both her personal and professional life. As she navigated her treatment, Tara found a renewed sense of purpose, illustrating how strength can arise from adversity.

In her leadership programs, Tara leverages the emotional intelligence lessons learned from horses to provide unique insights into personal and professional development. She plans to expand her services through group training sessions and webinars, making leadership training more accessible. Her journey serves as a powerful reminder of how passion and resilience can help us overcome life's challenges, encouraging listeners to celebrate her insights and the strength of determination and positivity.

Tara's Bio: Tara L. Murphy is the founder of Tara Murphy Leadership, a coaching practice dedicated to empowering emerging leaders and executives through emotional intelligence and business acumen. With over 27 years of experience in the credit union industry, including executive roles such as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Operations Officer (COO), Tara brings a wealth of knowledge to her coaching programs. Certified in EQ-i 2.0, she integrates emotional intelligence principles into her holistic approach to leadership development. A cancer survivor, Tara draws from her personal journey and her lifelong work with horses to inspire resilience and compassion in leaders. Through her engaging content and coaching sessions, she aims to cultivate good leaders who prioritize team well-being and practice servant leadership.


Get in Touch with Tara

Website: taramurphyleadership.com/
LinkedIn: Connect on LinkedIn
Book a Free Consultation


Next Episode Preview: In our next episode, we’ll share the story of another  incredible woman who is making a difference in the world. Stay tuned!

Send us a text


If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please share it with others if you think they would also enjoy it. Thank you!


Subscribe to the Podcast:
Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to the Inspiring Journeys Free newsletter or on your favorite podcast platform for more stories that celebrate and empower women over 50.

Would you like to be a guest on the Inspired Journeys podcast?
Or do you know someone else who would be a great fit? Fill out the form here, and someone will reach out to you.

Website: inspiredlivingforwomen.com

Lauri Wakefield:

Hi, welcome to the Inspiring Journeys podcast. Thanks for joining me today. I'm your host, lori Wakefield, and I've invited Tira Murphy to be my guest today. I'm going to say hi, tira, hello everyone, good morning. Okay, so we're going to talk about Tira's journey, beginning with her love of horses from childhood to where she is today in her career and at a personal level. Childhood to where she is today in her career and at a personal level. So, tara, let's start talking about when you first started like working with horses. Do you want to start with just when you first got introduced to horses? How old were you?

Tara Murphy:

The first picture I have of myself on a horse. I was about to. I have an auntie that was a that is a horse trainer, and so I was very lucky to be exposed to them quickly, and my mom will tell you. The minute my eyes hit a horse, it was done. I was a horse nut, and if there's one near me I'm going to go toward it. I can't help it. I absolutely love them, and I was able to get my first horse of my own when I was six years old, and since then I have been riding, taking lessons, competing and even offering lessons myself and training and I'm 54 now, so that's a long span. It's been the most consistent thing I've done in my life.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, I didn't mention this when I first started the episode, but Tara and I have known each other for a while and I just I remember hearing about your horse, hearing you talk about him, and I just thought it was so fascinating. So even when you were a kid, you were competing and you were actually helping to train them.

Tara Murphy:

Absolutely yes, I want to say I'm trying to think back, and my first horse show I was probably around seven years old, eight years old maybe, and my last horse show was a little over a year ago. So I just can't stop. So how many horses do you have now? I have three now.

Lauri Wakefield:

Two of them are retired racehorses and one is my competition horse, and they bring me so much joy, yeah you post a lot of little clips on your Facebook page and your Facebook business page that where you're actually standing there with the horses and yeah. So, anyway, we'll go. We'll get back to the horses in a little while, but let's, let's talk about your like your professional or your career journey. So you and I met at a credit union.

Lauri Wakefield:

We were both working at the credit union and you worked there, for it was over 26 years right.

Tara Murphy:

Yeah, 26 and a half years I had the pleasure of working there.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yes, and do you want to go through like the different, like where you started and where you ended up in that career?

Tara Murphy:

Absolutely. It was such an amazing opportunity and when I went there to work I didn't even know what a credit union was and then I learned what it was, what their mission is, and I was all in. So I started as the night computer operator and that was really running the night processes and I was actually overqualified for it. And they said, if you do this, in a year we'll look at advancing to network administrator. And I thought, oh yeah, every company says that, but they didn't. And within a year I got to do that and I stayed in IT for my first 15 years there and I started as a night operator and ended up moving my way through and became the director of IT. That was 15 years.

Tara Murphy:

Then I got into project management, mainly because it was an easy way to organize IT projects and we had a new CEO come in he's the current CEO, gary Rigoli and he created a project management position that would report directly to him. So I went for that and I got that. And what an amazing opportunity to now have the CEO as a mentor. And that led me into becoming the vice president of operations and then ultimately the chief operations officer and I then became the chief information officer. So absolutely amazing experience, great company and so grateful to learn all those lessons going through the level.

Lauri Wakefield:

So when you transitioned from the IT department into project management, it probably wasn't that much of a change. It was a different way of looking at things, but it probably you were still working behind the scenes and working on things, and then when you got into the operations, that was like a totally different thing for you. So how did you handle that?

Tara Murphy:

So it's funny spending my years, the beginning of my career, in IT. When you're in IT, you touch every department of the organization. Everybody needs you 're in IT, you touch every department of the organization, everybody needs you. So I thought you know what, I know what's going on in this company and I had a really good idea. But boy, you don't really know where the rubber beats the road until you're in operations and you're dealing with the public and your members, your customers. And I loved being in IT. But, boy, when I got into operations, that was my sweet spot because I love people and it was so much fun to be able to go to the branches and work with all those teams, hear from the members themselves directly. Most of those were good calls. I got to deal with the bad ones too, but could usually turn those around, and you always learn from that too on how you can make it better.

Tara Murphy:

So, I feel so fortunate to be able to have gotten different vantage points of the company to then have a nice strategic perspective of the back office and front office operations.

Lauri Wakefield:

So what we were talking before you were saying. When the CEO came up to you, he didn't really give you much notice, but he said you're now vice president of operations, right? Isn't that what he told you? So how did you react to that?

Tara Murphy:

After the initial, we were just going live with a merger. So there was a lot going on and I was surprised and excited and, to be honest, it was a little daunting because I knew that wasn't my area of expertise. But the great part was I quickly found, by working with the frontline team, that the knowledge that I did have from the back office and just systems in general and process management I could ask them what we needed to focus on, and my skill set helped turn their recommendations into reality. Being a project planner, I basically put it into a plan and then they got to execute it and it was a really good opportunity. But it was daunting and I'm not going to say that every employee was thrilled that all of a sudden I became their boss. They wondered what are you bringing to the table? And I was honest. I told them I don't know how to do your job, but these are the things I'm good at and these are the things I can support you with. So how do we work together to move forward, Right?

Lauri Wakefield:

So yeah, so why don't you talk a little bit? You said that there was one employee in particular one of the branches and he was really upset because the other person who? Well, actually the position that you were in was a newly formed position but it took over or incorporated two other positions, so two other people, but the person who left, he wasn't thrilled about it. And how did you handle that when you went in to talk to him?

Tara Murphy:

He was really upset. He laughed out a little bit and I realized he's not upset with me. He's devastated because his mentor is no longer here. No-transcript be in the middle, but you have to help them each through that journey in their own way, and he was a fantastic employee who just needed some reassurance that there was still going to be someone there that cared about his future and was invested in his career.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, so that was just your I don't know like one of your first moments of having to like mentor almost mentor somebody in that type of an environment, because the other work that you did wasn't you weren't working with the branches so you also learned some things about yourself and things that you value. It made you look at yourself and things that you maybe didn't know, that you have qualities or characteristics that you didn't realize you had, and then what you like in a leadership role from other people.

Tara Murphy:

Yeah, what I learned is as a leader. Sometimes you think as a leader, you might need to know all the ins and outs of what you're leading, but as a leader, you don't need to. You need to make sure you have the people underneath you that know what. And being forced to go do what I would call almost damage control, because it was a surprise to everybody Going out immediately and talking to each individual person was and is critical. It's one of the biggest recommendations I make to people when they take over a new area or a new job. You have to learn before you lead.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, you definitely do. You definitely do. And then another thing that you know we were talking about before we started the call is that people want to know that you care about them. So actually, when you were talking about when you went to go visit that employee, you were saying that you didn't sit across from him, but you sat next to him, and that wasn't something where you planned it or anything. It was just something that was just. You were naturally led to do that, and so you learned something about yourself there too that you're just your leadership style and your working relationship with the people on the branches just ended up being really good, because they knew that you wanted to work with them. You didn't want them to work just for you or just for the credit union. So those are really good things. So then, toward the end of that, you decided to start your own business. So where did that come?

Tara Murphy:

in.

Lauri Wakefield:

When did you start thinking about that actually during your career at the credit union?

Tara Murphy:

I started thinking about it probably within I don't know, maybe the last five to seven years, and part of that was I had the great opportunity to be the liaison for a lot of consultants that would come in and I loved that because you can learn something new from each person that you work with and I always thought this is exciting for them. They get to come in, share their magic, right help, and it was really good. And then the other thing I found is, in all honesty, I had the great opportunity to have coaching to potentially become the CEO of a financial institution. That's the protocol when you're in those roles and it was amazing to learn about it and I really thought about is this really what I want to pursue?

Tara Murphy:

And as exciting as it was when I really had to do some soul searching about what was the most important thing to me and what was the most impactful thing to me as a leader in my last decade of working, when I really self-reflected, it was always helping people exceed goals that they thought they never could, positions they never thought they would have public speaking when they were scared.

Tara Murphy:

I get so much joy out of watching other people excel. That really was my passion, and even with horses. I taught riding lessons for years and I realized, wait, this is something about me, and my boss was really open about talking to me about it and he always told me I would make a great consultant and I had a lot of skills to share. So it was a hard choice. But also, after being somewhere, I literally was there for half of my natural born life, and so it was if I was going to make a change, it was time to do that and he was supportive of it and I thought, if I'm ever going to do it, I might as well give it a shot now.

Lauri Wakefield:

So what did you make the decision, or like when to do it, when to leave and to do something else, and what did you decide to do?

Tara Murphy:

So I decided to leave in 2021. My last day was actually December 31st of 2021. I figured ending at the end of the year was good Start the new year off fresh, and that gave me time to make sure I buttoned up everything there and everything was in place and could get my ducks in a row to move forward. So I decided to start my own consulting company focused on executive coaching and leadership development, and I found that really, I think the people that I'm most impactful for, or have been, are new executives or emerging leaders, because even for myself, I did not have leadership training early in my career, and that's where the horses come in. That we'll talk about in a bit.

Tara Murphy:

But nobody really teaches you how to navigate the different levels of leadership, and they're all very different. Managing a frontline employee is different than managing a manager. It's different than a director, vice president and executive manager, and I think that sometimes it's really helpful to have somebody help you navigate. And I had some really great mentors and I again hit the pinnacle of my career. I loved my career. I never even expected that to be the direction I took. So if I can help other people, do that and give what my mentors gave to me, to others, and do that actually as a business. I can't imagine anything that would make me more happy, so I decided let's give it a shot.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, so that's interesting and you like to empower others, but then you also become empowered by that. So you're working trying to build that business and then you had something that kind of halted it.

Tara Murphy:

So you want to talk about that. Yeah, it came to a screeching halt when I left. I took a little bit of a sabbatical and actually started doing. I joined a nonprofit board and decided to have a philanthropic year to get out and be around but take a little time, and then I hunkered down, got my website done, did everything to start my business, was really excited, got my first client and four days later I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. And that was a shock and it definitely just kind of halted, brought everything to a screeching halt from a business standpoint. Because now the thing with a cancer diagnosis is one day you're in your normal world and the next day you are swept up into the cancer cycle because they pull you right in to get going as soon as possible. So your whole life changes.

Lauri Wakefield:

just overnight, right? Oh yeah, there's definitely momentum to that, so that obviously had you had to put your business on hold. But do you want to talk a little bit about the journey and like just maybe what, how you grew from it, things that you've learned? You want to talk about that Absolutely.

Tara Murphy:

Boy, did I grow. I'm freaking out because I just got this diagnosis and I have a friend who I knew had gone through the same thing, so I called her immediately and she said to me. She said I'm very sorry to bring you into the sisterhood that you had to join us. However, she said you're going to get through this and when you do, she said you're going to come out of it being changed in ways that you can never imagine. That are very positive and, honestly, having somebody tell me that in the very beginning really gave me hope for one. I can make it through this, and seeing that she had it gave me confidence. And then two going what is it? What am I going to be like when I'm done?

Tara Murphy:

Cancer makes you reprioritize in a hurry. You realize the things that really are not important at all and I realized that I was very strong and very resilient. I also realized all the things that I let impact my life. It really didn't matter the negativity I would let flow into my life, the stress I would allow to build in my body, and I did 16 rounds of chemo, which you sleep a lot, so I had a lot of time to sit back, reflect and I really couldn't get that stressed out going through everything. But you have some realizations when all of a sudden you have no hair and no eyebrows and you look like a cue ball walking around and you realize, gosh, I am never going to come back. I told myself I'll never complain about a bad hair day ever again. And I tried to think of those things through my journey and I was very fortunate. My cancer was aggressive but it reacted. I had a complete response to the chemo and radiation so I had the best possible result and I feel so fortunate for that.

Tara Murphy:

I actually, when I left Achieva that first week I had gone on vacation and I was actually in contact with a friend of mine.

Tara Murphy:

My friend Heather had been diagnosed with breast cancer the year before and it did not work for her and she knew she was going to, she knew she was going to die and she was amazingly positive and again talked about all of those lessons. And I looked at her strength and I talked to her up until her last day and I'm like she was so positive and had all the strength and I just looked up to her so much and I really tried to grab on to that and think again what were those most important things? So I call this my second life and I really just want to do things that have a positive impact. I'm a much happier person. I try really hard not to have a bad day and I try to help anyone else that is having one and support people the most I can, because I was really lucky to have a lot of support. But my friend Megan was right I'm a happier and probably healthier person now.

Lauri Wakefield:

So I don't wish it upon anybody, but you can grow a lot from it, which I believe that I have Right and I think you've always been a strong person, but you were talking about this earlier, about the confidence, about how you gained even more confidence, and I know one of the things that we talked about was just losing your hair and you went out in public and just felt you could tell her the reason, or like why you felt that way.

Tara Murphy:

I don't think any woman wants to lose her hair and nobody's comfortable with it. But what I found in the chemo centers and in the doctor's office was this is a really hard part for a lot of chemo patients, especially women, and they're devastated by it and I thought it upsets me. But that was not the most devastating part for me. So I thought if I can go out like this, go out bald, go to all my appointments, maybe it'll make somebody else feel a little more comfortable about it.

Lauri Wakefield:

And it's getting outside of yourself, getting outside of being compassionate towards others and not being self-centered. Because I know when I had the breast cancer diagnosis I didn't have to go through chemo, so I didn't lose my hair. But that would have been really hard for me. I know it would have been, and I just think I admire people, I admire women who can, especially for a woman, it's like you're saying, it's harder, probably for them, because it's just something that it just makes you feel more like a woman, I guess.

Tara Murphy:

Yeah, and this is women will appreciate this too. I spent about two and a half years growing my hair out. I wanted it to finally get long. It did. I got the perfect cut and I'm like, seriously, it's absolutely how I want it now and it's all going to come out. And so in a couple of weeks it started coming out and I honestly just had my husband grab my horse clippers and shave my head.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, the picture on your website that was taken, obviously, before the cancer. But it's just part of the journey and part of just what you can share with other people and help inspire them, because it's not a pleasant experience at all, but there are definitely things that you gain from it, so thank you for sharing that.

Tara Murphy:

I think one of the biggest things it did for me too is it makes you realize that you don't need to prioritize your schedule.

Lauri Wakefield:

You need to schedule your priorities and figure out what's really important and what's not. So your post-cancer treatment how many months?

Tara Murphy:

I finished up my in June.

Lauri Wakefield:

Okay, okay. So it hasn't really been that long, but you started like reigniting your passion for your business.

Tara Murphy:

I did. And one thing that was interesting through the journey is I always wanted to bring horses into the business and what I mean. I don't want to literally physically bring them into the business, but I mentioned before I never had leadership training in my beginning careers and I would always. My team would say you're always giving us horse lessons and what they mean is I learned so much from horses through my life that I didn't realize were really beneficial management skills or public speaking skills, and I just couldn't figure out. How do I marry the two?

Tara Murphy:

So during my cancer treatment I didn't want to dwell on the surgery I was going to having, so I decided to get a certification. It's good for consultants to be able to do assessments. So I looked into the emotional intelligence assessment the EQI 2.0, and I decided to get certified in that. And once I did, there was this huge epiphany that all those leadership lessons I learned from horses are all based in emotional intelligence, and emotional. They are the masters of emotional intelligence. Horses are, and emotional intelligence is paramount to leadership, and so this was fantastic. I thought, ok, here's the link Because, like I was telling you earlier, when I started in my executive careers, things were going really well and part of me was like I don't know what I'm doing that's making this work well, but it was about engaging with the people.

Tara Murphy:

It was about having empathy, it was about having a genuine concern for them and trust in the recommendations they were giving me. And all of that are traits that I learned working with horses, and not so much riding them, even, but just being around them and interacting with them. So now I've been bringing them in even with my leadership videos. I always have them in the background or they're my subject to talk about. Right, which one taught me resilience? Which one taught me patience? Which one taught me patience?

Tara Murphy:

And I find people like horses for the most part, and it's something a little different. And I am incorporating some of my equine assistant lessons in my leadership coaching and the offerings that I have, the workshops, et cetera. So it's a little different spin. And for me going through cancer, I'm like when I come out of this, I'm going to do the things that make me great. I'm going to take my life experience, my skills and incorporate my passion, which is horses, and bring them all together and try to do some leadership training in a whole different but more fun way, it's fascinating.

Lauri Wakefield:

It really is, and who knows if you wouldn't have gone through what you went through? Who knows if it even would have taken that turn? You know what I'm saying. You may have just kept going in the path that you were on, but, yeah, it definitely adds a different dimension to it. I mean, it's interesting for other people to know that about you and to know just the skills that you had from working with horses can also be used in leadership. Yeah, that is fascinating. So is there anything else that you wanted to add to what we've been talking about? You want to talk a little bit about the services that you offer for companies. You work more with companies right than individuals. Is it more at a corporate level?

Tara Murphy:

I've been working with companies. I am going to be incorporating some programs for individuals, because I'm finding I get a lot of outreach from individuals that might not have training programs or coaches available to them. So I'm going to look at doing some a lot more group trainings, but right now I offer the EQI emotional intelligence assessments, which can be done individually or at the corporate level. There's several options for that, as well as executive coaching and leadership development. I like to empower new executives and leaders with emotional intelligence and business acumen, and I can customize my training. The beauty of my history and the gift that I got from Achieva was being able to run a majority, all different types of business units and work with all different types of people, so I'm very adaptable to customized excuse me, customized training as well.

Lauri Wakefield:

So the group coaching that you were thinking about doing. That would be more for individuals, not for the company itself necessarily. It would be more for the individuals, or how would that work?

Tara Murphy:

That's what I'm thinking. I'd have a lot of individuals asking for training, so I could do. I've done group trainings at companies. That's what I've done for the most part Until recently. I've had individuals reach out, so I think I'm going to create a webinar series or some online classes where individuals can come and do a group training and also be able to interact and brainstorm with people outside of their corporate environment, which is sometimes really helpful, because some of the biggest leadership challenges might have to do with the people we work for. Maybe we don't even know how to communicate with our boss the right way, and so I think giving the opportunity to work with some other individuals could really have a big benefit as well.

Lauri Wakefield:

Yeah, definitely. So it would be leadership training then for individuals in a group setting, which, yeah, that would be something I'm sure that a lot of people would be interested in.

Tara Murphy:

And a lot of it's based, you know, again, founded in emotional intelligence. Having certain skills like knowing how to use particular programs or execute certain things, that's one thing, but again, how do you bring that all together in your leadership persona? That is my, again, when I was reflecting and thinking what have I done that I'm most proud of in my career? That is absolutely what I'm most proud of in my career. Even I look at all the leaders that are still at the credit union that I had the great honor of having on my team for mentoring into their current position. There's nothing that feels better to me than that.

Lauri Wakefield:

Right. So if somebody is listening to this and they're working for a company and they're maybe middle management or some type of management or some type of leadership role, if they were interested in leadership training, they could reach out to you, absolutely, so do you offer any type of free 15-minute consultation for people who want to just get to know you and talk to you and see how you can help them? Yes, absolutely. Okay. I'll include a link to your website, which is Tara Murphy, m-u-r-p-h-y, leadershipcom, and for anyone who's interested in learning more about her services or is interested in leadership or executive training, you can reach out to her there, and I think that's going to wrap things up for today. So thanks so much for joining me today.

Lauri Wakefield:

If you'd like to join me as I continue to continue my conversations with other guests exploring topics for women over 50, please be sure to subscribe to the Inspiring Journeys podcast. Also, if you have your own inspiring journey to share and would like to be a guest on this podcast, you can reach out to me using the contact form on my website. It's on the podcast page. Reach out to me using the contact form on my website. It's on the podcast page. There also the links that I was talking about for Tara's website will be in the show notes and that will be that there'll be listed under a podcast. The show notes are listed under the podcast and this will be episode three. Anyway, thanks again and have a great day.