A native of Mississippi graduated from Quitman County High School in Marks, MS in 1991.  She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.  Tanya started a career in higher education in Student Development and Leadership at the University of Minnesota, Mankato.  She worked as a manager for the AmeriCorps program and wrote her first million-dollar grant incorporating an AmeriCorps Jumpstart Literacy program within the Student Development Department.  It was the first in the state of Minnesota and became the replica for other programs.  Tanya also worked as the Multicultural Director and Youth Counselor at Leo A. Hoffman Center.

After relocating back to Mississippi, Tanya worked as a program coordinator for Aaron E. Henry Community Health and as a Chief Administrative Officer for Mid-South Hospice and Palliative Care.  Tanya was inspired to attend nursing school.  She is a 2008 graduate of Phillips Community College ADN program in Helena, Arkansas.  After graduating, she began her second career as a correctional nurse but pursued other areas of nursing at the same time: Home Health, Hospice, Administration, Long Term Care, and Inpatient Care/Med-Surg.  Tanya then returned to nursing school and completed a Bachelor and a Master of Science in Nursing between 2016 – 2018 from Walden University and is currently working on her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Northcentral/National University.  Tanya recently opened an online eCommerce Women’s Clothing Boutique called Luxe Boutique luxe-boutique-llc.com

In addition, she authored a children’s book with her daughter called HELP! My Nana Looks Funny.  The purpose of the book is to teach children that are being reared by their grandparents to recognize signs and symptoms of a stroke.

HELP! My Nana Looks Funny can be reviewed and purchased online at Barnes and Noble bookseller: (ISBN: 979-8-88644-802-3) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/help-my-nana-looks-funny-tanya-r-taylor/1143385115 

Books A Million:   (ISBN: 979-8-88644-802-3) https://www.booksamillion.com/search?filter=&id=8738587177457&query=Help+my+nana+looks+funny  reviewed on Goodreads.com, and  previewed/purchased on Amazon using ASIN: B0C3FR33Z2 in the browser.  

Tanya was also recently featured in nurse.com YouTube for Nurses Week along with a blog article about her journey becoming a nurse https://www.nurse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-Nurse-Stories-Collection-by-Nurse.com-and-Relias.pdf

Tanya credits who she is to God.  She believes nothing is possible without first acknowledging HIM. 

Her family has also started the Taylor Memorial Nursing Scholarship https://www.pccua.edu/news/entry/taylor-memorial-scholarship-re-established-at-pccua?fbclid=IwAR2TbPFkVZ39rTIFENnmLXJfm3tQ_qPXMmzszzmakraJutFHvgxaxSas1SM&mibextid=Zxz2cZ for nursing students at her alma mater Phillips Community College.

Tanya is a member of Chi Eta Phi, Incorporated and volunteers in her spare time.  Currently, Tanya works for the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi on the PCU/Neuro Unit.  Tanya is married to James Edwards and has one daughter Ayanna Taylor.  Tanya believes that her work and life journey is for serving others in the Lord.