From playing Division I volleyball at the University of Florida to performing improv comedy in Washington, D.C., Taylor Williams has lived many lives. As Haskell’s Manager of Training, she inspires and empowers others in and outside the company with her diverse background, passion and dedication.
Williams, a Gainesville native and resident, never expected to end up in the corporate world. At UF, she earned her undergraduate degree in business administration with minors in nutrition and spirituality. She thought she would end up being an athletic director because of her sports background, but her time in college sports sent her down a different path.
“Once I was seeing how the sausage was made, I knew I didn’t want to run programs like the one I was a part of,” says Williams. “I have so much appreciation for what I learned, but I had a difficult experience. I suffered an injury, and the environment was very anxiety-provoking. That’s what led me to invest in education around mental health.”
She earned her Master of Education in Mental Health Counseling, and college athletics’ loss was, eventually, Haskell’s gain. So commendable are her contributions to the company’s Learning, Development & Education (LD&E) team that her colleague, Barbara Cotes, nominated Williams for the Living the Values Award, given quarterly to team members who embody Haskell’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.
“Taylor builds trust through her authentic leadership style, connecting seamlessly with both domestic and international audiences. Her warmth, sincerity, and deep professional knowledge make her an inspiration to team members she interacts with,” Cotes wrote. “Recognized as fearless by her peers, Taylor brings her whole self to work every day, elevating Haskell’s culture through her focus on leadership, professionalism and personal growth.”
Planning for a career as a therapist, Williams moved to New York City, where she ended up signing up for an improv comedy class on a dare from a friend. The dare, however, turned her on to one of the best experiences of her life. Through Upright Citizens Brigade, an improv comedy group that boasts alums like Amy Poehler and Nick Kroll, she experienced training that sparked a business concept.
“I just saw all of these real-world business applications that I could teach through storytelling and improv,” she said. “That’s how I really started in the business world. I never really had much of a private practice for therapy, but I started using these training modalities to talk with businesses about how they were communicating.”
The business idea became Guts & Glory Creative Consulting, a practice in which she uses storytelling and soft skills training to help individuals, teams, and organizations find their message and voice. Consulting grew into a full-time position on Haskell’s top-rated LD&E team, where she draws on her eclectic background as she develops, implements and conducts training programs.
She has a passion for encouraging the betterment of people. She has taught several classes at her alma mater in mental health and design thinking and written a book about public speaking titled Beyond the Words. LD&E colleague Elizabeth Powell, Haskell’s Manager of Leadership Development, speaks to Williams’ dedication to mastering the development of training classes and working through the process from creation to implementation.
“I feel so blessed to be doing this with Taylor,” Powell said. “It's so much fun because we do get to work really closely together, and we have been able to create content for Haskell specifically and then deliver it, which is pretty unique in the development industry.”
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