There are conversations that inform, and then there are conversations that reorient you. The latest episodes of The Echo Podcast featuring Tara Fela-Durotoye, Founder and CEO of House of Tara, fell firmly into the second category. In the three episodes, the host Olushola Olaleye drew out a philosophy of leadership, legacy, and life that was as personal as it was practical.
What made the conversation remarkable wasn’t just what Tara said, but how she said it, with the kind of certainty that only comes from someone who has actually lived the principles they preach.
Tara opened with a statement that set the tone for everything that followed. She said, “People don’t care about what you care about until they know that you care about them.” That statement mirrors the operating principle behind how she built House of Tara.
She described how she intentionally built an environment where people could thrive. For her, results were always a consequence of relationships, not the other way around. When people feel genuinely valued, she explained, impact multiplies. She went further, describing leaders as shepherds, responsible for nurturing the people entrusted to them, not extracting from them.
In a business world obsessed with speed and scale, this felt like a deliberate slowing down. A reminder that the most sustainable organisations aren’t built on systems alone, but on the people inside them.
When asked what legacy meant to her, Tara didn’t reach for the obvious answer. Instead, she grounded it in two questions such as Why am I here? And how do I want to be remembered in alignment with that purpose? She spoke about clarity, about knowing her assignment in every season, even as its expression evolved. The calling, she said, was constant, and that is to empower.
She said she would want to be remembered not as the face of a brand, but as someone who helped entrepreneurs across the continent build businesses that could outlive their founders – structured, sustainable, and not dependent on a single personality to survive. Legacy, for Tara, was less about visibility and more about how much others could thrive because she was there.
Perhaps the most intimate aspect of the conversation was how Tara spoke about her marriage and her children. She described her husband as more than a partner, she described him as a thinking partner, someone who challenged her ideas, sharpened her vision, and fuelled her fire.
She said, “Any woman who was going to marry Fela would probably be someone who he would fuel their fire”. When she carries a vision, it becomes his, and vice versa.
That same intentionality shaped how they raised their three boys. What mattered most to her wasn’t achievement but character like kindness, thoughtfulness, awareness of others. She was clear that children replicate what they see, not what they’re told, so she and her husband lived accordingly. They established family values early, kept discipline firm, and never let success create distance at home.
Her philosophy was simple: charity and legacy must begin at home. True success, in her view, was not inspiring the world while neglecting the people under your roof.
In all three episodes, Tara Fela-Durotoye offered a vision of success that was integrated. Not fragmented between the public leader and the private person, but whole. Leadership, legacy, marriage, and parenting weren’t separate topics but expressions of the same underlying commitment to intentionality and care.
Whether you’re building a business, raising a family, or simply trying to lead well in whatever space you occupy, this is the kind of conversation worth returning to.
To listen to all three episodes of this conversation and other insightful conversations, click here The Echo Podcast by Olushola Olaleye.
