Hi, I’m Tarnia Riggs.

I’m a consultant, writer, entrepreneur and lifelong learner with a passion for communication, storytelling, stakeholder engagement and exploring new ideas.

Over the past 15+ years, I’ve worked across infrastructure, energy, government, transport, mining, architecture, water, tourism and community-focused projects throughout Australia and the United Kingdom. My work has spanned strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, social impact, advisory and project delivery, helping organisations navigate complexity, build trust and communicate with confidence.

Beyond my professional work, I’m also a published travel and lifestyle writer, researcher, business owner and curious explorer of people, places and possibilities. I’m deeply interested in culture, history, human behaviour, reinvention and the stories that shape who we become.

My career has never followed a traditional path, and that’s something I’ve come to value. From corporate advisory roles and major infrastructure projects to travel writing, entrepreneurship and creative pursuits, each experience has contributed to a broader understanding of people, connection and the world around us.

What drives me most is making a meaningful impact. Whether through a major infrastructure project, a community initiative, a piece of writing or a business venture, I’m motivated by the opportunity to leave things better than I found them. I enjoy improving processes, solving problems, creating clarity from complexity and contributing to outcomes that positively influence the lives of people I may never meet.

Whether I’m developing communication strategies, engaging with communities, writing about a destination, building a new business venture or pursuing lifelong learning, my goal remains the same: to create value, build trust and leave a lasting positive legacy.

Why I Do What I Do

If I had a superpower, it would be the ability to bend time.

I’ve always been someone who learns quickly, sees connections others may miss and moves ideas into action. Whether it’s solving a problem, building a website, developing a strategy or navigating a complex project, I tend to operate at a fast pace and enjoy turning concepts into outcomes.

My greatest challenge is often the same as my greatest strength. I naturally think several steps ahead, which means I’ve had to learn the importance of slowing down, creating structure and ensuring others have the space, information and support to come along on the journey. The best outcomes happen when momentum is balanced with collaboration.

Beyond the Resume

Right Brain in a Left-Brain World

Before moving into projects and corporate affairs, I spent my early career working across banking, finance, customer service, and business operations, including roles within one of Australia’s Big Four banks as a Security Analyst and in high-pressure operational environments.

Numbers, systems, compliance, debt recovery, restructuring, strategy, and corporate process management became part of my foundation long before communications and stakeholder engagement officially became my profession.  Ironically, I discovered my real strength wasn’t about numbers — it was about people.

I discovered my superpower as a five-star debt collector, not by aggressively chasing people, but by building relationships. I learned that recovering money, navigating difficult conversations, rebuilding trust, and maintaining long-term business relationships are skills grounded in communication, empathy, and understanding.

Those old performance reviews that said I “talked too much” for the finance world eventually became what built my career. Communication became the strategy, and the connection became the asset.

Reinvention & Resilience

Reinvention & Entering Infrastructure

Like many people, I eventually found life pushing me toward reinvention. As a fierce parent raising a spirited son on my Jacks, I reached a point where the traditional version of success no longer aligned with the life I wanted to create. What started as survival slowly became transformation.

I enrolled at university and completed a Bachelor of Management (Marketing), graduating within the university’s top 20 cohort. For the first time, I began to see how my natural strengths in communication, strategy, human behaviour, and storytelling could become a profession.

Shortly after graduating from University, I stepped into my first major role in the construction industry on the Tier 1 new Royal Adelaide Hospital project — a massive leap into the world of infrastructure, construction, and complex project delivery. I still remember a conversation with Simon Ballard, the HYLCJV Development Director, who showed me how communication and stakeholder engagement could genuinely shape project outcomes, influence delivery, and create better human experiences within highly technical environments. That conversation shifted everything; suddenly, all the parts of my background — finance, operations, communication, people skills, strategy, and storytelling — started making sense together.

Soon after, I moved to Melbourne with CPB Contractors, and from there my career continued to evolve across major infrastructure, transport, government, mining, renewable energy, and community-focused programs throughout Australia. While managing Tier 1 projects during COVID, I also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Project Management with Distinction — something that still feels slightly chaotic, but also very true to who I am.

Travel, Culture & Storytelling

Beyond the corporate world, I’ve always been deeply drawn to travel, culture, spirituality, writing, and human connection.  Under the name Zahra Sahara, I’ve documented food, travel, and cultural experiences from Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy, Mexico, the UAE, the UK, and across Australia — often travelling solo and following curiosity more than certainty.

Travel has never simply been tourism for me; it has been immersion. I’ve wandered ancient streets in Cairo, listened to the call to prayer echo through Istanbul, stood quietly inside Orthodox churches in Mexico, experienced Umrah in Saudi Arabia, and shared meals with strangers who eventually became lifelong memories. Some of the most meaningful conversations in my life have happened somewhere between airports, cultures, uncertainty, and complete reinvention.

Today, I write across Substack, Weekend Notes, and LinkedIn, sharing reflections on infrastructure, travel, culture, spirituality, reinvention, and lived experience. I’ve also contributed as a published ghostwriter for EnergyCo NSW through Utility Magazine, helping translate complex renewable energy conversations into accessible public storytelling.

Human Connection

Over the years, I also became a homestay host, welcoming international students and travellers from around the world into my home.  Around my dining table, cultures mixed beautifully — stories, traditions, languages, homesickness, beliefs, laughter, and perspectives shared over cups of tea and late-night conversations.  Those experiences taught me more about humanity than any degree ever could. They showed me that most people are simply searching for belonging, safety, understanding, and connection. That’s why everything I do — professionally and personally — always comes back to people.

My Journey

Some people have called me a real-life gypsy.  At nineteen, I left South Australia and moved to Yulara, near Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory. Looking back, that decision quietly shaped the direction of my entire life: choosing curiosity over comfort, experience over certainty, and adventure over predictability.

Since the N.T., life has carried me across more than 16 countries and through countless versions of myself. I’ve lived and worked throughout Australia, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Mexico, moving through industries, cities, identities, relationships, careers, and reinventions like chapters in a book I didn’t realise I was writing at the time.

I’ve moved more than 50 times — not because I was running away, but because something in me was always searching for growth, perspective, understanding, and experience.  Somewhere between airports, project sites, construction offices, ancient cities, boardrooms, spiritual awakenings, solo travel, and conversations with strangers who became lifelong memories, I learned that life is rarely linear. No one really prepares you for that.

The Real Adventure Begins

This website is the intersection of all those worlds:

• strategy and storytelling
• infrastructure and intuition
• travel and transformation
• professional insight and lived experience

A place where complexity becomes human again, because when you stop living by borrowed timelines, you finally start listening to your own — and that’s where the real adventure begins.

“Love Who You Are
Love What You Do
Love Who You’re With”

-Tarnia Riggs