It was in this moment that I saw my two worlds collide and a new passion was born. I went from monitoring NCAA rules as a compliance administrator and creating content on the side, to being able to use my experiences on social media to teach student-athletes how to maximize their NIL opportunities. Let me tell you, it has been SO much fun! These past two and a half years, I have found a new passion. I want to better the student-athlete experience when on campus. I want to teach them how to use their NIL to build a network and learn how to build a brand. I want them to understand that they are more than a student-athlete. A story I often tell is that when I graduated, I quite literally, did not know what to do with my hands other than hold a racquet. I don’t want that for them. I want them to find things they are passionate about through their NIL opportunities and be able to potentially carry those opportunities into their life after sports.

Just as I teach our student-athletes that “your brand grows with you,” I have also personally experienced this growth. Cue By Taylor Jacobs. My personal brand has grown into much more than just a fashion blog and I want to use it to show who I am today. Whether it is education by Taylor Jacobs, styled by Taylor Jacobs, designed by Taylor Jacobs or advice by Taylor Jacobs, this platform will be a space where all of my worlds live together. I hope you find inspiration for your wardrobe but also learn more about NIL & branding. I hope you find a safe space to discuss all things motherhood but also see how to design and curate the perfect space. Again, as I say to our student-athletes, you can be more than just one thing. Find your passions and figure out how to allow them to cohesively coexist and then have fun with it. 

During the summer of 2015, Jon Luke and I purchased our first home and completed some minor renovations. I had SO much fun designing even that small space and realized that my itch to be creative had been scratched. I suddenly missed my creative expression opportunities (before the job at LSU, I had been painting for fun) and was also in the midst of developing my new personal style. I had graduated from college, moved to a new state and began a new job which meant I was creating a new wardrobe.

Through this process, I fell even more in love with fashion and decided to launch my blog, Gracefully Taylored. This space became an avenue for me to share fashion tips, which then evolved into lifestyle and design, and eventually motherhood. While I worked as a compliance administrator by day, I was a creator/influencer by night (and weekends) and absolutely loved it.

For the longest time, I was very intentional about keeping these two worlds separate. I did not want them to blend for whatever reason. I felt like I had my athletic venture in one hand, and my creative, fashionable world in the other. And I enjoyed that. Until July of 2021 when NIL legislation was passed. If you are unfamiliar with the term NIL, it stands for name, image and likeness and you can read more about it here. The cliff notes version though – it became permissible for student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness. In other words, they became micro and macro influencers overnight.

I will be here, thankfully merging everything into one curated place…