Alumni Spotlight: Taylor Jeffers ’13 ’16 MBA

Taylor Jeffers ’13 ’16 MBA began her Montclair journey with a focus on basketball, having been recruited by Head Coach Karin Harvey. Her father, however, made sure that career goals came first.

“My dad is in enterprise sales,” Jeffers explains. “I was interested in public relations – my mom had a friend who worked in PR – but my dad encouraged me to get a good foundation in business as well."

Still, basketball played a big role in Jeffers’ college years. The Varsity forward was named First-Team All NJAC, was chosen to the D3Hoops.com Atlantic All-Region Second Team, and was selected to the All-Tournament Team at the Gwynedd-Mercy Tip-Off Tournament. In her senior year, she and her teammates had a 29-1 season, making it to the Sweet 16. “It was incredibly exciting,” she recalls. “We received lots of proclamations and were interviewed by reporters from News 12 New Jersey.”

Jeffers didn’t skip a beat after completing her degree and pursued graduate study as soon as she could. Guidance from one of her instructors, and a chance encounter with a Montclair administrator, helped her choose Montclair’s Accelerated MBA program. “I met Dr. Terry while working as a desk assistant in Panzer Athletic Center,” she says, referring to Dr. Bryan Terry, associate vice president for Enrollment Management at the time. “He became a mentor. He encouraged me to apply for a graduate assistantship.”

For Jeffers, graduate school meant piecing together a variety of jobs to help make ends meet. In addition to on-campus jobs as a marketing assistant with the Office of Student Financial Aid and an Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach, she was a Production Trainee & Content Coordinator for The NBA Replay Center.

With a well-rounded education, on-the-job experience, strong writing skills and a natural talent for relationship building, Jeffers had all the tools for a successful career in brand strategy. She launched her post-MBA career at Bed Bath & Beyond, where she rose from coordinator, CRM & Omni-Channel Strategy to Brand Marketing and Business Development, before striking out on her own.

“After spending years developing marketing strategy at Bed Bath & Beyond, I wanted to get more involved in designing and content creation,” she says. “My ideal clients are women who are founding their own companies. I want to empower women entrepreneurs, and to help them build their businesses in a strategic way.

Jeffers’ business acumen, brand insight and stellar networking abilities brought her to the attention of The Black Bachelorette, which she describes as the leading digital pre-wedding brand with a community of over 100,000 brides-to-be, celebrating and supporting Black women on the journey to “I do.” She identifies and secures sponsored content opportunities to drive the program’s growth, engagement and monetization. She is also a content creator for Microsoft Start, a mobile news app.

Empowering others, especially those in marginalized communities, remains a passion for Jeffers, however. While at Bed Bath & Beyond, she helped found the company’s Beyond Black Associate Coalition. At Montclair, Jeffers mentors students in the Accelerated MBA program. Recently, she served on a panel organized by the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and she spoke about personal branding to students who are part of the University’s Educational Opportunity Fund program.

“These are full-circle moments for me,” she says. “There were times I struggled to keep my grades up. The advisors and mentors I found at Montclair helped me stay strong and keep going. I want to do the same thing for others.”

Now that she has joined the University’s new Black Alumni Advisory Council (BAAC) as well, Jeffers hopes to increase the diversity of alumni representation on campus. “I think it is important for students to see and learn from successful alumni who look like them,” she says.

She also hopes to inspire her fellow alumni to join her. “There are so many benefits to getting involved and joining the network at Montclair,” she notes. “You become part of a community, and it feels great to give back. The opportunities are endless!”