Teresa Taylor is the Executive Director of the Rotary Club of Austin, which has been organizing business leaders in Austin for more than a hundred years.

Born and raised here, she studied business at UT. Then a $99 spring break roll of the dice took her to LA, where she fell in love with the city, moved there, founded TT.Productions, and spent the next 25 years working with some of the biggest names in entertainment.

To give you just a few examples, she…

She produced one of the first reality shows on Oprah’s network, did the Super Bowl with Stevie Wonder, scooped up 4 LA Emmy Awards, and was generally a badass for quite some time.

Now, she’s back, and writing her sequel here in Austin.

I grew up in Austin during the wonderful and weird 70s and 80s, graduating from the University of Texas McCombs Business School with a degree in Marketing. 

On a whim after a spring break visit, I moved to Los Angeles because I thought it “seemed fun” and I was ready to spread my wings. 

On the advice of my professors, I planned to go out West for a couple of years and then return to UT for my MBA.  That plan had to be modified as I soon found myself fully immersed in the entertainment industry at the tender age of twenty-one. 

Music videos were exploding, and dancers were flooding to the West Coast like it was the Gold Rush. I became one of the very first dance agents representing professional dancers in this new media - and the timing could not have been more perfect.  

My first clients didn’t come from a business plan or careful marketing though. They literally walked through my door - because the need was so urgent.  

Dancers were working 20+ hour days, sometimes paid with a slice of pizza, asked to perform in unsafe or ridiculous conditions. They needed someone to protect them, advocate for them, and help them build real careers.

For reasons I’ll never fully understand, they trusted me.  I had grown up dancing but my claim to fame was being the Captain of the Anderson High School dance team and a teacher/dancer at the Shirley McPhail School of Dance.  

But their need was great and I filled that need to the best of my ability.

Representing dancers and some truly iconic artists in TV, film, music videos, commercials, concert tours, and Broadway, I helped to change industry-wide union standards and working-conditions for the professional dance industry.

The stories are endless – from privately working with Prince on an innovative but controversial MTV Awards performance that changed the landscape of award show performances, negotiating a Michael Jackson video that was shooting in Budapest - while in labor with my daughter. Then being the key witness in a lawsuit against Madonna that settled 20 hours after my daughter was born.  (All I could think about was how heavy I was going to look in the courtroom drawings!)

My career later evolved into television production, including an early reality show for Oprah’s Oxygen network (“Who Needs Hollywood”), for which earned a Gracie Award. I then moved towards multicamera concert and variety specials for television, with some large-scale world events thrown in.  Along the way, I produced everything from “Imagine” for LA Children’s Hospital featuring heart-rending miracle stories…to the LA County Holiday Celebration, broadcast live on Christmas Eve for PBS.  

Though I received four LA Emmy Awards, the amazing stories, performances, and talent truly deserved the recognition.

Somewhere in this wild ride were once-in-a-lifetime experiences like producing the Super Bowl with Stevie Wonder, producing a Royal Wedding in Dubai that was one of the largest diplomatic events of the decade and representing the United States at the Shanghai World Expo. It was an incredible adventure…and sometimes stressful. But, oh, the stories!

After the COVID pandemic - and after a personally challenging 2022, I made the decision to leave my old life behind and begin a new chapter to my story.  

The only place my heart wanted to go was Austin. Home.

I returned in March of 2023 and asked myself, “If my life were a movie, what would the next scene be?” Or in my case, “What would my sequel entail?” 

The answer for me was community…and purpose. 

So when the Rotary Club of Austin (of which I was a long-time proud and active member) opened an Executive Director position, the timing felt almost cinematic. 

I am proud to represent our local organization and Rotary International, building new community partnerships and relationships, raising awareness of all that Rotary does for our Austin community and beyond. 

I work to be both thoughtful and creative about helping others realize the deeper fulfillment that comes from not only doing good business but being a good citizen with purpose. It was utter kismet.

One morning I heard Chris Del Conte (UT Athletic Director) say, “We are not what we do, but who we are,” and it resonated for me: That’s exactly why Rotary - and this career pivot - carries so much meaning for me. 

My careers have always been an important part of who I am, and I pride myself on doing good business and always engaging in thoughtful networking and marketing. But being part of something as impactful as Rotary, where your time, energy, and heart are focused on community – and the world - reminds you that who you are matters far more than any title.

So to answer the original question - I haven’t had “customers” in the traditional sense.  

What I’ve had are people showing up because the need was real and, together, we built a relationship that became valuable for both of us. That’s been true my entire career.  

So my advice to anyone building something: find the need, find your passion, find what makes you feel good at the end of the day - and go for it. And don’t be afraid to rewrite your story when life demands it. 

Sometimes starting over isn’t failure - it’s the beginning of your best sequel yet.

I’m not sure it’s unconventional, but I’ve always asked myself one simple question: What’s the worst-case scenario?

If I can answer that honestly - and live with it - I can usually push past the fear. And by fear, I don’t just mean financial risk; I mean the fear of embarrassment, of failure, or of making a bold move that doesn’t work.

When I moved to Los Angeles and announced that I was going to represent professional dancers, I did something that felt equal parts confident and terrifying - I threw a launch party at an iconic LA nightclub, The Stock Exchange. 

I kept telling myself that if I completely embarrassed myself, I could always pack up, move somewhere else, and start over. That mindset gave me the courage to “go for it”.

The club ended up packed - partly, I’m sure, out of curiosity about who this “mystery girl” was opening a dance agency.  But what truly mattered was that incredible choreographers, and dancers took a chance on me. That one party put me on the map overnight and gave me some pretty fun bragging rights: Toni Basil was there. So was Billy Idol. For a 21-year-old from Austin, that was undeniably cool.

That decision shaped everything that followed. 

It taught me that bold, slightly uncomfortable moves – as long as I can live with a “worst case scenario” – can accelerate your path in ways playing it safe never will.

Fun fact: I spent weeks at home practicing not saying “y’all” or “fixin’ too,” just so my Texas roots weren’t immediately obvious. Some habits are harder to break than others.

I’m a fiction lover - especially sci-fi and mysteries. I love disappearing into other people’s stories - giving my brain a vacation from my own. Because of that, I’ll admit I often follow the crowds and the reviews when choosing what to read.

But the book that truly changed my life wasn’t fiction - and I didn’t find it on a bestseller list. I was assigned it during a public speaking course at UT, and while I can’t for the life of me remember the title (and I’ve tried to track it down), the lessons have stayed with me for decades. It was an easy, practical read that made a powerful distinction between when perfection actually matters, and when it’s perfectly okay to push forward and get things done imperfectly.

It also introduced simple, life-changing concepts like “touch it once” when handling mail, clothes and other paperwork – as well as “do the hardest thing first each day (or the thing you least want to do).  Ideas that sound obvious but completely shift how you work and think. The principles from that book still guide me today, and if I knew the title, I’d hand it out like candy.

I love this question because now I’m on the hunt again - and I can’t wait to discover everyone else’s secret, under-the-radar favorites.

When I graduated from UT with a business degree, I was so grateful for my education - but I also left with a head full of “shoulds.” The right way to start a business. The proper order of things. The belief that success followed a very specific formula.

Then I moved to Los Angeles and found myself staring at a wildly unconventional opportunity - launching a professional dance agency department at a time when no real blueprint existed. 

I’m thankful that instead of waiting until everything looked perfect on paper, I chose to dive in.

I did write a business plan and proudly presented it to the agency owner I was meeting with. She glanced at it, smiled, said, “That’s cute,” and set it aside. We talked instead. She walked me through how unglamorous being an agent really was - and then she took a chance on me.

Ironically, that business plan ended up unfolding almost exactly as written… just not in the order I expected. The timeline was completely out of sequence.

I still deeply value my education and use something from nearly every class I ever took (with the exception of calculus which, to this day, remains a mystery). 

But the belief I’ve let go of is that entrepreneurship has to be done “properly” to be done well. 

Sometimes momentum, community support, and a willingness to leap matter more than perfect structure.  I will recognize that I was incredibly lucky to have an entire dance community encourage me to take that chance early on – proving it’s all about building relationships, trust …and as I’ve mentioned, genuinely filling a need. 

I learned that facing your fears, and recognizing that failure happens - and that is OK too.  We can always write our next movie, and many times the sequel is better than the original.

When I was a senior in college, my roommates and I didn’t have spring break plans. We noticed that American Airlines was running a $99 round-trip airfare special, so we bought a ticket and planned a trip to Los Angeles - without overthinking it.

I never could have imagined that one plane ticket would quietly change the entire trajectory of my life. 

I fell in love with Los Angeles  - the ocean air, creative energy, and eclectic mix of people. 

At the time, I was feeling restless about staying in Austin after I graduated - so one $99 plane ticket decision opened a door I didn’t even know I was knocking on. It launched an unconventional career and set the foundation for my wild ride. 

When I had to rewrite my life’s movie sequel - I was at an age where I had to admit I was pretty set in my ways. 

The world had changed, and if I was going to do the long-term relationship or marriage thing again, it was going to require qualities I honestly wasn’t sure still existed. Little things… like emotional intelligence and critical thinking. (Yes, I said it.)

I also knew that if I were going to build anything meaningful in this next chapter - personally or professionally - I needed someone truly like-hearted and FUN.  

Someone aligned on humanity, family, values, and how we move through the world. I genuinely thought my future might look like a great group of friends carrying me joyfully into the sunset…and I was perfectly okay with that.

And then one night, I got curious, went on Hinge, and fast-forward to this: I’m wearing a wedding ring, and I couldn’t be happier. 

Turns out, he existed. He was my unicorn.

What he’s brought into my life - beyond love and laughter - is a deep sense of support and steadiness. 

I’ve always been independent, but there’s something incredibly powerful about not feeling alone on the journey anymore. Knowing I have someone by my side who believes in me, supports my work, and shares my values has resulted in a feeling of serenity and stability.  

I have someone now by my side, to weather the storms – but also ride the waves. 

I’ve only been back home since early 2023, so part of what I love about Austin right now is that it still feels new to me. I’m happily exploring my “new Austin.” 

Early on, however, I discovered Pershing, and the moment I toured the private club and venue, it felt like home.

What drew me in wasn’t just the space - though the cozy hideaways are perfect for both work and unwinding - but the energy. 

I’m deeply affected by my environment, and Pershing immediately struck that rare balance of being comfortable, creative, and quietly inspiring.

Most of all, it’s the people. The members span so many professions, yet there’s a clear creative energy among them. Many have become close friends, and it’s a place I’m truly glad found me when it did.