[1] Campbell-Sharp began to work with Irish Tatler magazine, buying it out in 1979,[9] using a company established with Kilkenny People editor, John Kerry Keane.
[4][5] With her main residence in Killiney,[5] she purchased a property in the coastal area of Ballinskelligs in County Kerry in the late 1980s, having it renovated under architect Alfred Cochrane.
[10] Having heard of a risk of a road widening project destroying famine village remnants at Cill Rialaig in Ballinskelligs, she organised fund-raising with some local and Dublin-based friends, and a small grant from the Irish National Lottery, purchased the ruins, and commenced what grew into the multi-part Cill Rialaig Project,[2] an Artist Retreat[5] and nearby Arts Centre.
She later sold her Killiney house and made Ballinskelligs her main base,[10] and she continued as the driving force of this project,[11] which has hosted over 5,000 artists on residencies as of mid-2019.
[3] Campbell-Sharp launched her first gallery, on St. Stephen's Green, dedicated to work from Cill Rialaig – this was opened by the Tánaiste Dick Spring, with the Ambassador of the US, Jean Kennedy Smith in attendance.
Married to avant garde photographer Bernhardt von Spreckelsen, holistic therapist Tara has three children, born within a three-year span.
[4][16] Campbell-Sharp was an active collector of Napoleon-related memorabilia, and member of the Napoleon Society of Ireland, for decades, but in 2019 announced plans to auction off her collection.