Alumni Spotlight: Haley Taylor

“I think Spring Arbor University gave me the space to create things in a way I wouldn’t have found if I had stayed home and went to a community college,” says Haley Taylor, a 2013 graduate. “I felt encouraged not only by my professors but by my closest friends, who were motivated to make something, either for school or for fun.”

Following a college career full of creating, producing and writing, Taylor started as an intern with WGTE Public Media out of Toledo, Ohio, before being hired as an on-air host and producer. She currently hosts three different classical music radio programs as well as hosts and produces an art and culture series that airs during Morning Edition called “The Rough Draft Diaries.”

The original idea for “The Rough Draft Diaries” came from an assignment Taylor was assigned in Jen Letherer’s script writing class Taylor’s senior year. When asked to create a short radio series during her internship, Taylor used the original assignment idea and expanded it to 13 episodes. While the format has changed, Taylor still does all of the interviews, and she edits, writes, records and produces the show on her own. The show has won two Touchstone Awards for Excellence in Journalism (2016, 2017) and was voted the 2016 Best Podcast in the city of Toledo by the Toledo City Paper.

“When I’m creating things, I feel like I’m doing what God created me to do,” says Taylor. “I feel like when I’m in the middle of editing, or writing, or creating, God is thinking, ‘Good, keep on going.’”