Introducing Stephanie Taylor, Our New COO

Stephanie Taylor comes to Beloved Community as an equity leader and change agent with 20 years experience serving youth, families, and communities in the nonprofit sector. With expertise in leadership coaching, strategic planning, operations, and board governance, Stephanie has devoted her career to building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and operationalizing strategies to maximize impact. In her role as Chief Operating Officer, Stephanie will support the sustainable growth and expansion of Beloved Community Inc.

Prior to our summer Royal Team retreat, we asked our new COO a few questions to obtain her perspective on her new role, her experience and her vision.

Question: What brought you to Beloved? Can you tell us a little about your personal journey?

Stephanie: This is the right season and time in my life to be proactively doing this work. I have always centered DEI in my work and leadership style, and I am excited to be working for an organization that is truly centering it as well.

I'm originally from MN, but have had the opportunity to live in NC where I attended undergrad, Philadelphia where I attended graduate school and worked in community development and nonprofit management for 16 years, and now I've been residing in Houston for the last three years. Growing up I was the product of a village of community and youth programs that helped my mother raise me, so I always knew I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. However, during grad school I discovered my passion for strategy, maximizing organizational impact, and staff development. My graduate work helped me locate the intersection of effective business practice and mission driven work. The rest, as they say, is history! Since then, my career path has been a journey of seeking, finding and growing opportunities to contribute to the impact of mission driven organizations through operational effectiveness and staff development.

Along that journey, however, I became painfully aware that few organizations understood and/or desired to truly embrace equitable processes and culture shifts that would deepen their impact and strengthen their teams.

Beloved Community entered my universe at just the right time and I'm thrilled to be joining an organization that is not only embracing that work for itself but leading the way in training and equipping others to do the same!

Question: What are you most excited about in your new role at Beloved?

Stephanie: I'm excited about joining [the] Beloved Community at this moment in time. To begin my journey here in a role that is not only new to me, but also new to BC presents so many exciting possibilities! The opportunity to build upon the amazing success and moment the team has created over the last several years and to have the honor of being a part of BC's growth in the years to come! I'm excited that I'll have the opportunity to support such brilliant and passionate people in their work to build sustainable change across this country and around the world.

Question: How do you look forward to effecting change?

Stephanie: I look forward to clearing the path and constructing new roads that will make that work easier for the BD team. I'm excited about partnering with our visionary CEO, Rhonda Broussard, to help bring her vision to life. Though I must confess, I am most excited about how working on a team and in an environment committed to such transformational values will help me unlock the fullness of my potential; I'm most excited to discover what I'm truly capable of when I'm allowed and encouraged to bring the fullness of who I am to my work.

Question: As you prepare to step forward into your next chapter, what are you most proud of looking back?

Stephanie: I am most proud of the fact that throughout my career, I've developed a reputation for being a strategist and truth teller, despite the environment or situation. I am proud that those two things exist simultaneously in me because I've learned and practiced the value of participating in the generation of solutions for the problems I identify. That's the skill / characteristic I'm most proud of.

I'm also proud that I've developed the ability to practice a mindset of abundance that's allowed me to take risks, move across the country alone, travel, take classes and just fully experience life. I'm proud that I've not been hindered by fear of the unknown, but have had faith in myself, God and my community to guide and support me as I pursue my path.

More than anything I've accomplished or acquired, I'm proud that I used the circumstances and experiences of my life to create the person I currently am. And I'm proud to say that person is still growing and taking shape.

Question: What is the one thing that only you can bring to Beloved?

Stephanie: A leadership style informed by my unique life experiences, fueled by my personality and gifts and amplified by my personal values and commitments. That style is one of coaching, strategy and inquiry intended to amplify the strengths and assets of the teams and organizations I serve and clear the path for them to be successful.

Question: How do you plan to approach your first few months at Beloved?

I plan to fully dive into my onboarding within my first few months. BC has designed such a thoughtful process and is doing such amazing work, I plan to be enthusiastically curious and a voracious student, learning and absorbing alI I can! I'm grateful for the time and space to learn so I plan to meet and talk with staff, ask questions, observe and read all that I can with a lens of possibility and discovery!

Please help us welcome our new COO, Stephanie Taylor!