Talking with Tara Schuster is like opening a book where every page feels somehow meant for you. And in this case, it was literally true—I wanted to ask her about nearly every chapter of her powerful, honest, and often hilarious books: Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies and Glow in the F*cking Dark.
Every story she shares—whether it’s about healing from trauma, battling imposter syndrome or navigating messy relationships—feels like a lifeline. You’ll laugh, you’ll nod, you might cry, and you’ll definitely want to grab a pen and start journaling.
Tara doesn’t flinch from the hard stuff. Instead, she invites you to sit with it, name it, and gently move through it—with grace, grit, and a good dose of humor.
This was one of those rare interviews that left me feeling both seen and inspired. Tara’s work is deeply relatable, disarmingly candid, and refreshingly practical. If you haven’t yet read her books, do. And if you’re ready to go deeper, join her for one of her guided journaling sessions—where healing meets action, one page at a time.
TARA’s NEWSLETTER https://www.taraschuster.com/newsletter
TARA’s INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/taraschuster/
Tara Schuster is an accomplished entertainment executive turned mental health advocate and best-selling author of the runaway hit, Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies and Other Rituals to Fix Your Life from Someone Who’s Been There. She has sold over 250,000 books to date in the U.S. alone. With her unique blend of hilarious, poignant personal stories and refreshingly honest, optimistic advice, Tara launched into the book world as the millennial voice the self-help space craved.
In January of 2024, Tara released the paperback edition of her highly-anticipated second book, Glow in the F*cking Dark: Simple Practices to Heal Your Soul, from Someone Who Learned the Hard Way, a relatable, easy-to-follow guide to healing your deepest soul wounds, getting off your “good enough” plateau, developing habits that will give you lasting courage and resolve, and creating the spectacular life that you actually want. Full of practical, free baby steps we can take today, it’s for people who are ready to liberate themselves from their emotional suffering, discover their purpose, and finally sit in the driver’s seat of their experience. Kirkus has called GLOW “an approachable, exuberant combination of memoir and self-help.” It is has been endorsed by thought leaders such as Adam Grant (#1 NYT bestseller), Lori Gottlieb (#1 NYT bestseller), and Glennon Doyle (#1 NYT bestseller and host of the podcast We Can Do Hard Things) who said of Tara, “[She] is a phenomenal storyteller…Glow in the F*cking Dark is a revealing and powerful book that lit me up from the inside out.”
Previously, Tara served as Vice President of Talent and Development at Comedy Central, where she was the executive in charge of critically acclaimed shows such as the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning Key & Peele, the Emmy® Award winning @Midnight (now After Midnight on CBS), and many others.
Over the last 12 years, Tara has spent her “10,000 hours” on the other side of the couch studying philosophy, therapies, religions, and even memoirs of the adults she admired so that she could find emotional freedom from a neglectful and psychologically abusive childhood. Her only hope is that she can make others feel less alone in their experience and also provide free, accessible tools to help readers reclaim their agency and heal without blowing up their lives.
In her free time, Tara enjoys running and weightlifting – a sentence she truly never thought would be true. Tara currently resides in Los Angeles.
JSU is a network of Jewish culture clubs in public and secular private high schools in North America, and it’s a program of NCSY, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union.
Over the last few weeks, Americans and Israelis voted in elections that are consequential to the characters of both countries. For many, these elections represent inflection points, where the outcome signals the directions their respective societies will take moving forward.
The future of the U.S.-Israel relationship will not be secured by winning one more primary. It will depend on whether Americans understand why Israel matters, why Jewish self-determination is legitimate, and why the alliance benefits both nations.
Everyone is entitled to choose how to live, but the state is not obliged to finance every choice. Those who do not complete secondary education, do not serve in the military, and do not work should not receive state support to maintain that way of life.
Carroll, having helped swing Maryland toward independence, was elected to Congress on July 4, and signed the Declaration in August, the only Catholic among the signers and the only one to add his estate to his name.
It is easy to be proudly Jewish when our identity is celebrated. It is harder when Jewish solidarity demands disagreeing with one’s friends or political party.
Rabbi Kushner provides a path for elevating our humanity, appreciating the wisdom of Jewish tradition and practice, and experiencing the divinity residing within all humans, even those who do not yet acknowledge God’s presence.
When Eli Beer ecently learned that Eli Cohen’s widow, Nadia, was still alive at 91, he knew he wanted her to be the guest of honor at United Hatzalah’s annual gala in Los Angeles.
The results will bring the number of Jewish governors to seven in January 2027. The incoming U.S. Senate will have 10 Jewish members, including nine Democrats and one independent.
Raman has called BDS a legitimate form of protest, while her campaign says a boycott of Israel will not be part of her agenda as mayor. I take her at her word, and I will hold her to it.
What’s most troubling is that, much like what happened in Germany on that horrible night, the participants in the bike ride were normal people, your friends and neighbors.
Tara Schuster Isn’t Afraid to Go There—And You’ll Be Glad She Did
Lisa Ellen Niver
Listen to our podcast interview here:
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