Ep 67: 12 Months of Giving with Jordyn Taylor
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Ep 67: 12 Months of Giving with Jordyn Taylor
Episode 67: Show Notes
Like many people who were stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordyn Taylor began to reflect on her purpose in life. She’d had a career in music, she had worked in real estate, and she was very good at both of those things, but she realized that she didn’t feel fulfilled.
She started volunteering with a man named Joseph Bradford, who you may remember from Episode 47. Joseph was the one-man food bank who started a nonprofit called the B.A.R.E Truth, which provides supplies, food, and transitional housing to people living without homes.
Jordyn volunteered with Joseph in Los Angeles before taking a leap of faith and starting her own nonprofit, Twelve Months of Giving, which spotlights 12 noteworthy nonprofits every year, shining a light on the incredible organizations that are using their time and energy to create lasting change.
In today’s episode, Jordyn starts by sharing her favorite activity as a child, swimming, and how that created a sense of freedom for her. We dive into her career journey, which started at the age of 14 when she started singing which took her all the way to Japan, and Jordyn shares her common interest in speaking to and connecting with people, which she believes has driven her throughout her life.
You’ll learn how a campaign for the Be The Match bone marrow registry sparked the idea for 12 Months of Giving, what it felt like for Jordyn to finally connect with her purpose, and some of the unexpected benefits she has seen from the project, and Jordyn shares her advice for anyone wanting to start their non-profit. If you can relate to feeling unfulfilled, we hope that hearing Jordyn’s story will inspire you to seek out opportunities to give back or to leave the world a better place than you found it, in whichever way resonates with you. Tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
Jordyn’s favorite activity as a child: swimming in the pool with her brother and her cousins.
Learn more about her family dynamic and what she saw herself becoming: a newscaster.
The moment she found her first career and discovered her passion for music.
Her first taste of internet fame on MySpace, which led to her testing out of high school at 16.
How she knew it was time to move on from music at the peak of her career in Japan.
The imposter syndrome she struggled with, even at the highest point of her success.
What Jordyn would do differently if she had the opportunity to go back now.
Hear about her transition into doing auto shows in the States when she returned from Japan.
Jordyn shares her love for speaking in front of people, which she says she always had.
Her shift into real estate in New York with her childhood best friend, Carissa.
How her business, her personal life, and her mental health were impacted by the pandemic.
How Jordyn’s relationship with Trevor Noah inspired her to be more active in social justice.
Where her anxiety stemmed from during the pandemic and at the height of the BLM protests.
How a campaign for the Be The Match bone marrow registry sparked the idea for 12 MOG.
Jordyn reflects on her purpose in life and what it felt like to connect with it.
Find out how she decided on the 12-month structure for Twelve Months of Giving.
Some unexpected benefits of the project, including what it has taught her about her friends.
The workshop Jordyn did with Dan Hill that helped her pinpoint her passion for connection.
Jordyn’s advice for anyone wanting to start their own nonprofit: ask for help!
How her idea of success has always revolved around never having to work a nine-to-five.
What you can do to support Twelve Months of Giving, from volunteering to donations.
Tweetables:
“I never felt like I deserved to be in the rooms that I was in or on stages I was on. [I] would meet so many hungry musicians that were starving for this thing I had, and I just felt like I was taking their place.” — Jordyn Taylor [0:25:39]
“I started learning about culture and I started realizing that some of my favorite people and what made them my favorite people were these differences, these things that they can teach me that I never seen before.” — Jordyn Taylor [0:40:30]
“Do my friends know about this? Surely not. Does my family know? Absolutely not. Why not? How many other incredible groups are there, doing these incredible things that I don’t know about? Surely my people don’t know about it, so let’s find them.” — Jordyn Taylor [0:46:21]
“I’m just surviving. I’m just figuring it out. Purpose? I don’t know what my purpose is. It never would have dawned on me that I could have a purpose.” — Jordyn Taylor [0:48:40]
“That’s been the coolest thing, is to see how everything I’ve done leading up to [12 MOG], whether that’s music, whether that’s auto shows, whether that’s my life in New York, real estate, is all helping and all bringing me further into what this purpose is.” — Jordyn Taylor [0:54:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Twelve Months of Giving (12 MOG)
Twelve Months of Giving on Instagram
Operation Blankets of Love (OBOL)