Hi, I’m Taylor!
I’m a children’s author and, in many ways, a social architect who loves creating opportunities for people to connect, feel a sense of belonging, and participate in impacting their community.
Based in Santa Cruz, CA, my work invites people into stories and moves them through connected experiences across books, community projects, and shared public spaces.
EVERYONE WANTS
TO BE PART OF
A GOOD STORY
Vision
I envision a world where local communities respond to the complexities of 21st-century life by turning shared stories and values into real-world solutions.
Where neighbors have practical ways of being together that cultivate kindness, resourcefulness, and mutual support in their daily life.
A world where people feel part of a modern village where they’re nourished, seen, and motivated by the people and environment around them.
Origin
I grew up at the turn of the century, and in the 2000s I watched stories like Spider-Man break out of the comic book world and explode across feature films, cartoons, video games, and toys. Over time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a global phenomenon. These stories were propelled by social technology and pop culture to become household names in the 21st centure. I marveled at how a single narrative could ripple so widely and deeply—and I accepted it as normal that modern stories could grow larger than life and shape everyday reality.
My work as a graphic designer eventually brought me into the tech world in San Francisco. In 2018, I joined cLabs, a cryptocurrency startup building a token ecosystem called Celo. That’s where I came across a story from Curitiba, Brazil—about a bus token turned local currency through a program called the Green Exchange. The creativity and local impact stuck with me, and in 2019, I pitched a book project to cLabs to experience the program firsthand and explore the story up close.
Then came the COVID years, and like many things, my book project sat dormant. But the experience stayed with me. I found myself holding the spirit of the story and turning toward my own local community for hope. For the first time, I began thinking deeply about what it means to build community—seeing the people around me as partners in growing relationships, supporting each other, and creating something together. After years of telling other people’s stories, I left Celo in 2023 ready to tell my own.
I self-published Câmbio—a project that itself became a community effort. It was designed and illustrated by my friends, and even printed locally in Santa Cruz. As I embraced the story, it also became a vision for the kind of world I want to help create. I started seeing ways to bring the spirit of community exchange from Câmbio into real life here at home and my appetite for my story to break the confines of a book came alive, like the stories I grew up with.
Drawing from what I’d learned in Curitiba, I launched a proof-of-concept event in Santa Cruz called the Bike Exchange. On November 11, 2024, seven organizations came together in a single day to process 70 bikes—through donation, repair, and redistribution to people in need. As a thank you, all the volunteers received e-bike ride passes from the Santa Cruz Bike Share program.
Locally ↔ Globally
Current Work, Upcoming Moves
WHAT I’M UP TO
Here’s what’s taking shape—book readings, projects, talks, and new experiments and more.
Some public, some behind the scenes, all part of what I’m building next.
Available for book events, community projects, workshops, or new collaborations.