Tara obtained a degree in Communications and Cultural Studies at the University of Calgary. In 2002, she founded a small marketing brand called "Rogue Strategies." She moved, along with her business, to Toronto, Ontario before moving to San Francisco in 2005. Tara then moved to Montreal, Quebec in July 2009.

Tara was hired by the San Francisco based visual search engine Riya to lead their marketing efforts. She left Riya as of June 5, 2006, a mutually agreed decision as her interests outgrew Riya's while Riya began traditional marketing activities. In June 2006, Tara coined a movement of "post-cluetrain" marketing called Pinko Marketing. Pinko Marketing picked up where The Cluetrain Manifesto left off, changing the focus from company to consumer marketing to consumer-to-consumer marketing.

Tara was instrumental in making BarCamp a worldwide phenomenon, and has also played (and continues to play) a large part in the growth of the Coworking movement. Tara has been one of the lead bloggers on the popular Canadian online portal One Degree.

Hunt was featured with her ex-boyfriend and business partner, Chris Messina, in an article titled, "So Open it Hurts" in San Francisco Magazine. The article detailed their very public and open relationship shared on the internet, and the lessons they derived from that experience.

The Whuffie Factor

The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business was published by Crown Business in April 2009. The book received positive reviews, with CNNMoney.com describing it as "a clear, enthusiastic guide to community building online." An Arizona Daily Star reviewer wrote "Tara Hunt's eminently readable book does a terrific job of explaining this slightly counterintuitive notion, which might be expressed as 'the more you give, the more you can get.'" To promote the book, she traveled across the United States on a "Whuffaoke" tour, driving an RV containing a karaoke lounge.

Tara Hunt