World Travels Allow Journalist to Be Informed
In an age when multimedia journalism is branching out at break-neck speed, one Highland Park High School alumna is championing the elegant art of public radio. Stephanie Martin Taylor is an award-winning journalist and expert storyteller.
Honored with more than 20 national, regional and local awards, Taylor is has proven herself in a myriad of journalistic endeavors. A 1991 HPHS graduate and a 1995 graduate of Colgate University, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and French.
While studying, Taylor worked as an international corporate communications intern for Lafarge in Paris and as a White House Press Office intern in Washington, D.C.
She went on to pursue a graduate degree from Columbia University, where her professors, veterans of NPR, had a profound impact.
“I had thought about a career in journalism for a while,” Taylor says. “I took a class called ‘Voice and Speech’ at Columbia University just on a whim.”
It was there that Taylor realized she had a gift for broadcasting and a voice for it, too.
“I got my first TV job in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a desk assistant,” Taylor says.
Taylor’s career continued to grow, taking her to cities across the country. In 2005, she visited Iraq with the North Carolina National Guard.
Upon her return, the Society of Professional Journalists awarded her with a “Best of Radio” award for the series. Taylor is now celebrating nine years at San Francisco’s KQED, one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation.
Taylor’s endeavors in journalism have taken her on a tour of the world she otherwise might not have seen.
“I learn something new every day,” Taylor says. “It’s taken me to so many extraordinary places that I never, in a million years, thought I would go to — like a war zone, or Maya Angelou’s home, or Ground Zero following 9/11.”
Whether she is crafting a feature on art and culture or reporting from areas of combat, Taylor knows the value of presenting news to her listeners with integrity, intention, and passion.
