Latricia N. Taylor has taken the strength she didn’t even know she had and handled life’s lessons and loss with grace. Let’s meet her now.
Where are you based?
I currently reside in Jacksonville, FL
What motivated you to start your entrepreneurial journey?
My family and my desire to work for myself motivated me to start my entrepreneurial journey. I know that I want to work for myself 100% to make my own decisions and my own schedule. The desire to not allow anyone else to determine my financial future.
Tell us about The Chasity Taylor Foundation, its foundational message and goals in the community and how readers can support.
The Chasity Taylor foundation was birth in 2015, after the loss of my daughter 11/2/2014. The initial foundational message was to turn the tragic into something positive. She was an outing person who always kept a smile on her face and a laugh that was contagious to us all. Therefore, the goal was to share the message of don’t drink and drive but help families and youth in the community and put a smile on their face through our works. Our Foundation has assisted over 3K families over the years, via our scholarship program and other programs. One of the programs we host free to the community is our annual Teen Talk Clubhouse Workshop, we share different career options for our youth, we have an open forum with a panel to discuss topics such as bullying, teen pregnancy & more. We also host an annual theme back to school event that is geared around allowing youth entrepreneurs show case their business while providing school supplies and more to families in the community. To end the year, we host a fundraiser theme event that allows us to not only celebrate the life of Chasity but raise funds to help support our endeavors for the following year. We do give back in other ways as well but the best way to find out more about the Foundation is to connect with us on social media Facebook: The Chasity Taylor Foundation, Instagram: @chasitytaylorfoundation, Youtube: The Chasity Taylor Foundation and you can check out our website at www.chasitytaylorfoundation.org.
Were there times where you thought grief would overtake you?
Yes, the first years after my daughter passed, I was not sure I could keep it together and function in this world. I was not suicidal but I definitely did not want to participate in doing anything besides what was necessary as I was not ready to believe my daughter was gone. A parents worse nightmare knocked on my door. I just could not understand why. However, I knew my other kids, grandchildren and others needed me to pull it together. I am the strong one in my family so I felt it was expected for me to stay strong and keep it together. But to be honest every day is a day I have to speak life into myself and reassure myself it’s okay and I have to accept my baby girl is gone. I still deal with insomnia but I don’t allow any of it to overtake me and stop me from being the best I can and building the Foundation was to make her proud of me. I am learning the trauma from losing her did not make me strong but the strength to survive despite all is what makes me strong.
What did your healing process involve?
My process started off with journaling, writing down my thoughts, my fears and my questions of why this had to happen to my baby. Many nights of praying and asking God why did he have to take my baby. I started writing as well as being real with myself and feelings. In addition, I started throwing myself into my community work with the foundation. The Foundation is my grief outlet because every time we host an event, give away anything the smiles or thank you touches my heart and helps heal my soul. Did you have a strong support circle? Yes, I had an awesome support circle each person was there for me for their time. Others have been here for the long haul and still here when I have those break downs and they cheer me up and support me in every way. I truly Thank everyone who has played a part in being in my circle for these past 8 years. I truly appreciate everything anyone has done to help me make it this far.
Tell us about your first book and how that launched your writing career?
My first book “A Mother’s Love / A Mother’s Pain” was dedicated to my family and was strictly about the life I experienced as a mother and what I went through after hearing my daughter was gone and how I started my grieving process. It’s my personal experience and my personal thoughts and I even shared a few letters I wrote to my daughter in my journal and text messages I sent her praying it was a dream and she would return one. After the release of my first book, I had so many people tell me that reading about my story helped them. I had mothers who lost their child years prior tell me my book helped them as they were still in a dark place. Knowing that I was able to help someone through sharing my experiences pushed me to continue writing journals or books with the hopes of helping just one person. I always know when I am doing the right thing when God gives me the dreams of the titles, subject or topic.
Now let’s talk about your real estate career and what services you offer.
This was a skill unlocked, my Real Estate career is still young but I am loving the journey so far. I am a Realtor in Northeast Florida (Jacksonville, FL area) and I assist families with buying or selling residential property. I am able to assist with the purchase of commercial property and investment property.
Where did the interest in RE come from?
I always love going to new build model homes because I love seeing how they staged the homes. I thought about becoming an agent over 20 years ago but because I am a natural introvert, I was told it wasn’t for me. Fast forward to 3 years ago my son found an interest in real estate and for about 2 years he talked about it and I grew more and more interest in it as well. Then one day I saw it as my opportunity to change my life style and here I am now a licensed Florida Realtor.
Have you ever failed at anything?
I have never failed at anything because I don’t see things as failure but as lessons. Only time it’s a failure is because you don’t start or go after something. However, I have started a few ventures over the years and many did not go the way I wanted them to go. However, I think now the business and things I am working on have flourished and taking a life of their own.
How would you handle failure, pivot and move forward?
The best way to deal with anything that does not go the way you envision is to take a look at what went wrong, decided what you could have done differently, and either make changes and start again or make the decision that that thing is not worth moving forward with. I am good at pivoting as I never want to continue doing anything that does not fulfill me, make me happy or make me money.
How do you nurture yourself and your gifts so that you can empower others?
I nurture myself by taking the time to have self-love. Loving me for who I am and everything God designed me to be no matter what others think. Once I got to that point in my life. I was able to walk my journey and along the way help and empower any one that I come in contact with that asked for my thoughts or input. I also, try to keep myself surround by positive and ground people. I keep People in my circle who motivates me and those who inspire me as well. My personal experiences I have gone through I realized now were not meant for me but for those God put in my path to encourage and inspire.
What business lesson did you learn that you had to learn “the hard way?”
The business lesson that I had to learn “the hard way” is trust (still learning). Trust is needed in business when you decide to partner with someone or bring them on as team member/employee. However, once you make the decision, you’re opening yourself up to sharing your business inside and out. But the bad thing is everyone does not come around with good intentions. They pretend to be for you but at the first chance they will stab you in the back. Putting your trust into people that are meant to support your vision but to find out they have their own plans is hurtful. Trusting others with your baby (business) is already hard for many of us, which is why we don’t like to hire people to help or bring people on.
Although I had that bad experience, I learned that it’s important to make your expectations clear and ask the best you can the intentions of others. Make sure they’re a good fit for your business. Yes, people can outgrow a position or want to grow themselves but make sure that communication is there and clear from both parties.
What accomplishment are you most proud of when you look back at your life?
The accomplishments I am most proud of in my life is being a mother, wife, and grandmother. I started my motherhood as a young teen mom and I now stand with all 3 of my children with high school diplomas, with some type of higher education/training and great careers. I am also proud to be a grandmother (GiGi) of four grand babies as well. Outside of that I am proud of my educational accomplishments and the Awards and recognitions I have received for my community work.
How can our readers find out more about you and support?
The best way to find out more about me is to check out my website: www.latriciataylor.com, follow me on my social media platforms Facebook & Instagram @latriciantaylor, YouTube: Latricia “Bossbabe Taylor”.
