Tarah is from Raven, Virginia, and is a graduate of Emory and Henry College.

She interned in the WCYB news department while she was a student, and moved to a full-time position in the newsroom after graduating in 2003.

Tarah reported and produced the weekend newscasts before being promoted to a weekday reporting job in August 2005, covering several counties in southwest Virginia.

Tarah took over as anchor of the News 5 At Noon newscast and joined Johnny Wood on the morning newscast, covering the update desk, in 2008.