Tere thinks of herself first and foremost as an Angeleno. Her LA universe spans from downtown to Venice Beach, from Mulholland to Malibu and beyond.
She spent her teen years going to clubs on the Sunset Strip, particularly the Whiskey A Go Go, to see performances by musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield (a favorite friend she considered an outrageous genius), James Brown and English bands like the Beatles [at the Hollywood Bowl], the Rolling Stones and Cream.
Rocker Jim Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson, discovered Tere and recruited her to design for her boutique,Themis. Tere laughed,"Themis was 'incredibly exclusive' because it was never open. You could count on one hand the times it was open." Simultaneously, she was hired as an apprentice by Young Edwardian, then the most important junior fashion label in the country, to sketch designs in the back room. She proved her mettle in the fashion industry quickly, enjoying early commercial success. Her hallmark became wearable "contemporary" fashion: timeless yet trendy design featuring clean lines, unique fabrics and unexpected detailing.
Tere set trends in her personal life with her idiosyncratic apartment which was featured in Architectural Digest, and as an early collector of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as American surrealist, Joseph Cornell. She emerged from a hiatus to design for the twenty-somethings of the 21st Century. Paris Hilton and many other pop culture icons were seen wearing her latest designs for bebe stores.
While a teenager, she had caught the attention of Andy Warhol in Los Angeles. She was thrilled as she was fascinated by "all things Warhol." She was invited to visit the Factory, then at 33 Union Square West, when she came to New York. Tere began traveling the world meeting new friends from the artist's exotic milieu and being written about and writing for Warhol's magazine, Interview. Her passion for rock music segued into film, which resulted in her interviewing many important filmmakers for the magazine. Although consumed by a demanding fashion career, she enjoyed writing. Next, she was cast in the black comedy, Andy Warhol's Bad (1977), directed by Jed Johnson. In a role expressly written for her she played the mother of an autistic child-- provocative material for film at the time. She never pursued an acting career and appears in just this one film.
She is now writing her first book, a non-fiction work set in Los Angeles. The book is about a seminal, dark, and very controversial figure in Los Angeles history. Working on a large pallette, it covers a swipe of time from the early days of the film business into the late Seventies.