Tara Brooke showing off her latest style featuring her favorite fabric: denim (Ashley Zibetti)
Be more. Give more. Live more.
These words inspire Provo fashion entrepreneur and single mom Tara Brooke. Whether she is styling photo shoots, doing hair or funding young girls' education, she makes sure that she lives by her motto.
Brooke's motto has transformed into a brand called Be More. Her brand allows women pursing creative careers to receive scholarships for school. Brooke's long history in fashion is what brought her to creating Be More.
Brooke was born in Tennessee but was raised in San Diego.
When Brooke was studying music as a freshman at BYU—Idaho in 2006, she realized she didn't feel right about aspiring to be a musician. During her break in between semesters, Brooke started her own T-shirt line. She made her own shirts and sold them at consignment shops.
Brooke started back at school in 2007 and changed her major to fashion design and clothing construction. Shortly after starting her classes, Brooke realized she did not need a college degree to do what she wanted to do with fashion. She dropped out that summer to pursue a creative career route instead, including going to hair school.
This was not the first time Brooke considered fashion. Brooke's friend asked her to help out at a photo shoot while Brooke was transitioning from going to school to pursing a fashion career. This was the first time Brooke had the opportunity to put her passion into action.
After this photo shoot, she picked up her bags and moved to Provo.
“I just needed a change,' Brooke said. 'San Diego is amazing, but it’s really expensive to live there, and I wanted to have more of a social life. Provo seemed like the place for me. I just kind of took a chance and moved here.”
Brooke also wanted to expand her fashion experience in Provo. She works as a personal shopper, stylist, hairstylist and an entrepreneur.
'When I moved to Provo I got into the music scene,' Brooke said. 'I started styling Mimi Knowles, and that opened a world that I didn’t know about in Provo. I have styled Ashley Hess, Amber Lynn, Eric Thayne.'
Hess, a local musician and Brooke's friend said she has been influenced by Brooke's styling and has enjoyed working with her.
Ashley Hess (right) and Tara Brooke (left) are friends years after Brooke started styling Hess. (Tara Brooke)
'Tara is so good at what she does. She has her own style, but she's aware that other people have their own styles as well, and she takes that into consideration,' Hess said. 'She's so good at looking at your style and your brand and styling you in a way that best expresses that. She is a natural at what she does and is so fun to work with.'
Brooke's projects don't stop with styling musicians and hairstyling. She works for a few local boutiques doing freelance social media work and is a project manager for The Alison Show event producer, Alison Faulkner.
Brooke has also started her own photography studio called Center Style Studio. She rents out this studio to bloggers, brands and other photographers who need a workspace.
Brooke's clothing line is her current project. Brooke took inspiration from an old friend to come up with the idea for Be More.
'A year and a half ago I was talking to a girlfriend —the same girlfriend that I styled that first shoot with — and I said that I wanted my own brand. I was helping everyone with their projects and their dreams, but I wanted something of my own,' Brooke said.
But Brooke wanted Be More to be more than just t-shirts. Because Brooke encourages other women to have career goals, be self reliant and to go after their dreams, Be More became a scholarship program.
Brooke decided that proceeds from every Be More purchase would go toward a scholarship fund for women going to school for a creative career.
'Whether it was hair or fashion, culinary arts, photography, graphic design, whatever it may be, if it uses creativity then I wanted to give back to people to help them use their talents to be self reliant like I was doing,' Brooke said.
Brooke bought her own screen printer and started screen printing T-shirts in her kitchen in April 2015. This was the birth of the Be More collection and scholarship program.
Brooke and her daughter Q in one of the many fashion shoots that the two do together. (Ashley Zibetti)
On July 1, Be More relaunched. Brooke said she has big plans for the program. The women who will receive scholarships are considered Be More ambassadors. The ambassadors will work with the brand to earn their scholarships by promoting the brand and what it stands for.
50 percent of all sales brought in by the ambassadors will go towards their scholarship funds, as well.
Tara and her Be More models shooting pictures for the Be More website. (Tara Brooke)
This fall will be the first time Be More gives out scholarships to women working towards creative careers. Brooke's hope is that the program continues to grow and expand so more women can be influenced by the Be More program.
The Be More collection is especially inspired by not only Brooke's everyday life, but also her motto, 'Be more, give more, live more.' Brooke expanded on what this motto means to her.
'Something I stand by with Be More is be more, give more, live more. If you are trying to be some kind of a person and you're giving back and serving, you will be living more,' Brooke said. 'Knowing that being a mom or a wife is not all that we have to be, we can be so much more while continuing in those roles.'
Nanny Amelia Dennie and baby Q posing for pictures while Brooke is working. (Amelia Dennie)
Amelia Dennie, Brooke's nanny, has been inspired by Brooke's working mom lifestyle.
'Tara is constantly promoting using fashion and self expression as a way to better yourself and those around you. She is always busy creating something that can help women to feel better about themselves, their roles in life and their style,' Dennie said. 'That has definitely helped me to feel better about myself and look at women as a whole better.'
Brooke's daughter Q is a huge part of Brooke's continued fashion career and relaunch of Be More.
“Q is the reason why I do it. It is so important to me for people to go after their dreams and that’s why I’ve stuck with it even though it was hard. I want to show Q that with determination and hard work that you can go after your dreams even if it is hard,' Brooke said. 'She really is the catalyst behind everything that I do.'