Ellie
Taylor
Aspiring Strategic Communicator
Aspiring Strategic Communicator
Who am I?
Cains Ballroom
Gatlinburg, TN
rain or shine!
How could you not love it?
Hey there,
my name is Ellie!
I'm a Tulsa Native who bleeds orange. I love all things nature, from National Parks to flower farms
(including the one my mom started in my family's backyard)!
When I'm not cheering on my favorite women's basketball team of the week or taking pictures, I'm binging reality TV with my friends. I hope to end up catching every fall in NYC post-grad.
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On the Saturday before Easter Sunday, I had finally worked up the courage to shoot my shot. Thinking I had absolutely no chance of getting a response back, I sent the message at a professional's favorite time: 1:56 a.m. on a weekend.
I closed my inbox, went to sleep, and hoped for the best.
A surprisingly quick 10 days later, while carelessly ditching all my junk mail I found a particularly interesting email.
When I tell you I nearly screamed in my lecture hall. I was in pure disbelief! This journalist I admired for intense and meaningful work had found my email intriguing enough to reach out.
Let me give you a little backstory. Lauren Jackson is the spearhead of “Believing,” a Series of New York Times style pieces about –you guessed it– belief. She interviewed people like Andrea Bocelli and Kristen Chenoweth, but also took submissions from people all around the U.S. who have opinions on belief. She spent the last few years of her professional life pulling together a series of pieces, which launched in April, 2025. Titles can include "America Wants a God" or "Americans Haven't Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion."
I was enthralled by her intricate writings of what belief looks like in our current standings as a nation. She used belief as a way of unification, and finding similarities in a partisan time. While this might not have been her main goal, it was a theme that I found to prevail in many of her works.
After a few months of waiting and conversing back and forth, I was able to schedule 30 minutes with Lauren to pick her brain on her career and projects. Not only did she exceed my expectations career wise, but also personally. She took the time to ask about my career aspirations, and wanted to know what my intentions were for the interview. She was empathetic to my nervousness and made space for me to ask the less pressing questions.
All this to say, what I took away from the interview was not hard skills on how to build a career as a young professional, but instead an introduction into how to be human in a high profile career. Lauren was overly humble throughout our interview.
While this experience was a resume builder and a professional avenue, I took more from her genuine care for the person on the other side of the microphone. Those skills will take you farthest in journalistic work.
What do I bring to
the table?