We recently had the pleasure of working with bestselling author and disability advocate Tara Moss to showcase some of our latest Spring/Summer ’23 styles. Among them is our new Vogtalk shoe family featuring the sole message “Walk the Talk” — a mantra that Tara Moss embodies to the fullest.
Check out the video below and read on to learn more about this inspiring Canadian/Australian author in her own words!
“Every body is different, and everybody matters.” — Tara Moss
How or when did you first get introduced to Fluevog?
When I was younger I worked as a fashion model in Milan, Paris, Barcelona and New York, but growing up in BC I always regarded Fluevogs as my favourite shoe and frankly, everything else they put me in was boring by comparison. My first pair of Fluevogs were a pair of 1960s-style boots bought in the Granville store with some of my modelling money 25 years ago. I travelled the world in them, and later became a collector of sorts, and now own perhaps 20 pairs of Fluevogs, bought from the late 90s to today.
How did you get into writing?
I have been writing since I was a child, and it is a natural form of expression for me. In fact, when my first novel was published in 1999, my father found a handwritten horror story of mine from when I was 10 called Black and White Doom, and he sent it to me. It’s quite a grisly read. I have written in four genres now — mystery, historical, paranormal and non-fiction — with 14 bestselling books out in 19 countries and 13 languages, as well as several short stories. I have always regarded writing as a kind of discovery. I am not a builder of tales, per se, but more of an archeologist, carefully uncovering stories and sharing them with my readers, whether fiction or non-fiction, contemporary or historical tales. I believe we each have a deep well of creativity within.
Tell us a little bit about the advocacy you do for those with disabilities and accessibility concerns.
In 2016 my hip was injured, and I subsequently developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which is considered a rare condition and one of the world’s most painful. It means I have variable mobility, and use a walking stick or wheelchair, and I am in 24/7 pain. This has brought huge challenges in my life, but also brought me into contact with an immense reserve of inner resilience, strength and spirit. I spend a lot of my time working as an unpaid advocate for better accessibility, pain management and awareness for people living with disabilities and chronic pain. I am a newly announced Pain Champion for the Canadian Pain Society, as well as Pain Australia, and I continue work with UNICEF. I am also passionate about de-stigmatising mobility aids, ambulatory wheelchair use and invisible, dynamic disabilities. Disability is diverse, and simply nothing like the mythologized version we have seen in (most) movies. Thankfully the disability community includes a wealth of amazing advocates paving the way and changing the narrow view of disability. It’s an amazing community to be part of.
What’s next for Tara Moss?
I am a writer at heart and never stop, so I am writing my 15th book at the moment, which will follow on from The War Widow and The Ghosts of Paris, set in the 1940s and starring kick ass PI Billie Walker and her beautiful disabled war vet assistant, Sam. I continue to be dedicated to work as an advocate for disability and chronic pain, and I will see where life continues to take me. I am always learning and trying new things. After all, life is too short to live the same day twice.
