Today, we begin Blue Chippers, a new content series focusing on students who have caught our attention.
Taylor Tokarz from the University of Georgia is a storyteller. Recently, we spoke with Taylor and dove a little deeper into her life – past, present, and future. Though she considers herself a storyteller, the designer genes still make up part of her creative DNA. Currently, Taylor is on pace to graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree in Advertising and a certificate from the New Media Institute. You can peruse some awesomeness Taylor’s created and then read the transcript of our conversation with her:
What’s your primary startup role?
Storyteller.
What kind of things do you do as a storyteller?
I craft my company’s message so we can connect with our consumers.
What startup are you working for?
Women@TheFrontier. And I work with Susan Fonseca who’s the founder.
If you had any mentor in the world, who would it be?
Neil Gaiman, he is a fiction writer.
What’s appealing about him? Why Neil?
I actually just read his most recent book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It was about childhood, but he spins things in a way that are very unexpected which I like.
What 3 websites do you like to go visit on a regular basis?
Facebook, first and foremost primarily for photos I would say. Buzzfeed because I like to think I have a great sense of humor and it’s a hilarious website. And, lastly I would say, oh God, I don’t know, can I come back?
What’s the one thing missing from your college experience?
Personally, I’m an advertising major, but I really like design. And at University of Georgia there aren’t any design classes for Grady [college of journalism] kids. So, that’s what I would really like to see, I want to get more into the graphic design part of storytelling.
Growing up, what was your favorite TV show and why?
I would say “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” I don’t know [laughs] I don’t know why it was exactly. I think it’s because my older sisters watched it and I just followed their lead.
What are your 3 favorite apps?
Flipboard, first and foremost, just because you can get everything at once. I love the design of it. I would say Tumblr, oh which should have been my other answer for a website. And probably Twitter.
Finally, what’s the best thing you’ve gotten out of the Summer Startup Academy so far?
I would say, it’s like bits and pieces of information. We were just talking in the other room about storytelling. Something I thought was interesting was some one (Luigi Montanez from Upworthy.com) came in here the other week and was talking about how for Twitter they come up with 25 different lines before they pick the one they think people are most likely going to click on. So it’s just like little tidbits just like that which I think are really valuable.
To thank Taylor for her time, we’ve created this infographic summarizing her answers. Enjoy.
