Background on my youth-driven social impact venture Own Your Narrative 54:
• Own Your Narrative 54 seeks to help close the gap in youth unemployment by building the next generation of young storytellers and teaching them how to tell their own stories in sustainable ways and equipping them with skillsets in this area that will increase their employability, as well as expand their base as entrepreneurs and changemakers.

• Own Your Narrative 54 pairs Black, African and Caribbean youth with professional mentors, organizers and educators. We also provide capacity building trainings in storytelling, TV production, filmmaking and photography, as well as a focus on leadership development and peer-to-peer advocacy. Own Your Narrative 54 encourages youth to lead and advocate for positive change and own their narratives as change agents and future global leaders.

Background on Me:
Aziza Taylor
Expert storyteller, culture cultivator and brand/content strategist.

Bio
Aziza Taylor seeks to live in and help build a world where the untold narratives of the past and present “everyday” heroines and heroes from marginalized and minoritized communities are amplified. She is also dedicated to creating and contributing to spaces that help cultivate young people as future leaders and connects them with equal access to quality education, employment, professional training and socio-economic justice.

This life-long passion for empowerment, especially youth empowerment has inspired her as founder of Own Your Narrative 54 to travel to several countries and across 6 continents to create and lead national and international workshops for organizations and groups which uplift, enrich and encourage youth to own their narratives as change agents and future global leaders.
Aziza recognizes that the narratives of a nation are like a quilt and when the stories of some underrepresented groups remain untold, that quilt has holes and gaps which render it incomplete. This is why she remains committed to seeking out such peoples and creating platforms for them to tell their story.

Over the course of her professional career in media, Aziza has developed a unique range of highly sought-after skillsets and in-depth knowledge across branding, marketing, social media, television, film, non-profit and corporate communications.

She previously served as the inaugural Communications and Marketing Manager for the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Center for Health Equity. During her time leading communications for the center, she ensured the center’s mission was executed by launching innovative external initiatives and events, building communication channels across multiple business units, highlighting authentic narratives and developing digital media and tools that fostered pathways for truth, reconciliation, racial healing and transformation. She has also held positions as the Interim Press Information Officer and Director of Social Media for the New York City Department of Finance and as the first-ever Senior Talent Branding Specialist for the Talent and Acquisitions division at NBC Universal.

As a communications expert with a diverse range of experience, Aziza has worked with Emmy Award-winning television programs on PBS, Telepictures, 20th Century Fox and CBS Paramount to cover pertinent topics of national and international proportions. Her work as a Producer has been aired on national and global networks and applauded by many in the industry for its strengths in in-depth storytelling and multilayered characters. Aziza is also co-creator and co-host of the global podcast, “The Voices of Influential People (The VIP) Podcast” on Spotify and YouTube.

Her work as a documentary researcher, field producer and editor has included a variety of projects such as the historical docu-series “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise” from PBS and Henry Louis Gates Jr., and the environmental doc, “The Capital Buzz”, which snagged top honors, including the DC Shorts Film Festival’s “Golden Pineapple Award” and the La Jolla Film Festival’s coveted “Best Shorts Award of Excellence”. She has also used her work as a filmmaker to advocate against issues like gender based violence through the film, “Give Dreams”. “Give Dreams” was a part of a national campaign for the Mary Kay Foundation and helped raise a significant donation for domestic violence shelters across the U.S.

She was also recognized in 2023, by the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in collaboration with the United Nations “International Decade for People of African Descent” in the “Global Top 100 under 40” category, for her activism and humanitarian efforts. Aziza was invited and served as a U.S. delegate and featured speaker for the African Youth SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) Summit and for the African Continental Free Trade Area’s inaugural youth symposium in Zambia, Africa.

She remains a dedicated NYU alumni through her service as a volunteer member of the NYUAA Fundraising Committee and Board Engagement Subcommittee, Co-chair of the NYU CGA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging, Equity and Accessibility (IDBEA) and as a NYU Center for Multicultural Education Programs FOCUS Mentor to a first-generation college student.

Aziza holds a Master of Science degree in Global Affairs from New York University, a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Mass Media from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a graduate certificate in documentary filmmaking from The George Washington University.