Meet Angie Taylor

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angie Taylor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angie below.

Angie , so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
As a leader of multiple schools that I co-founded around the world it is easy to fall prey to imposter syndrome. The biggest lesson I have learned over the years is to anchor my faith and identity in God. I have learned to take Him at his word when He says in Jeremiah, He knows the plans He has for me, plans to prosper me, not to harm me and give me a future. I have learned to place my life, my success and reputation in His hands. In Psalms it says a man can make his plans, but it is God who establishes them. In Revelations we find that no man can shut the doors God has opened and no man can open the doors God closes. When we recognize our responsibility is to lean into the Father listen and obey, all of our insecurity falls away. I recognize it is critical to work like it depends on me and pray like it depends on God, but at the end of the day the results are His, the glory is His. However, it is not enough simply to say this, I had to learn to act on this belief. It meant taking bold, audacious steps that without God showing up would result in failure.. It meant I had to walk through my fear of what others would think and fear of what they would say. It meant trusting Him when it did not look like I could be successful on this path.. It meant that I had to dig a little deeper and push a little harder.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I have been in education for over 30 years. About 8 years ago I started a new model of school for Christian Education. Today Valor Global Foundation has 6 partner schools and an online school for students in 6 countries. Our hope is to turn student apathy into impact as we enlarge their perspective to the call of God on their life and the world around them. I believe in disrupting the status quo and education as we know it. I am the co-founder of Valor Global Foundation, a non-profit which has started brick and mortar schools in the USA, South Korea and the Philippines. In addition, we have funded schools in Kenya, Guatemala and Haiti. I have co-founded and serve as the Head of Valor Global Online, a digital learning school which has students in 4 countries and 35 states. I have been in education both public and private for 30 years as a teacher and head of school.

God gave me a vision for a movement in education that could transform student’s lives in both affluent and impoverished areas. Our students are being positioned as creators not simply consumers. We understand that creators are the real change agents in culture and if we are going to help our kids lead they must not simply be the consumers of content. Most education is built on stuffing content into the learner, they simply consume it and regurgitate it. However, Valor’s model is different, we look to call out the divine destiny, strengths and abilities of our students. We see them as unique, created by God for plan and purpose. It is our job to help them discover this and build up their confidence. We give them opportunities to practice adding their unique value to the world. We help them realize they must take personal responsibility and be solutionaries rather than simply problem finders. The most unique thing Valor does is our one to one model. For each student enrolled in our school, we sponsor a student who does not have access to education in to school. It is more than simply sponsorship, we have relationship with these kids, our students travel the world to participate on our global campuses. We are seeing lives transformed every year as kids enlarge their perspective and take personal responsibility for the call of God on their life.
Just eight years ago I shared with an audience of families about this vision for a new Christian education movement. That night I let our families know I did not have money to start a school, nor did I have a school building, but if they wanted to walk Jericho with me and believe that God was calling us to start this they should pay money and enroll their child that night. That night we had 85 families enroll their children in the first Valor school outside of Portland, Oregon. Through that courageous community God has grown our global community to almost 2000 in the last eight years and he is just getting started.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The greatest quality that launched this movement was courageous faith put into action. Many people profess to have faith, but live in their own self sufficiency often forfeiting the power of God in their life. We have no need of Him if we have it all figured out. I have a firm belief that God is faithful to His promises. However, what I have discovered is most people won’t step outside of their comfort zone or self sufficiency to encounter His faithfulness. The reality is fear of failure and fear of what people think often keep us playing small, and keeps us from our potential.

The second quality is a clear vision for the future and willingness to communicate it in as many places and as often as I had an opportunity. Money follows vision. I did not have the resources to start this. I had to jump in with both feet and share with as many people as possible. It was exciting to see how it all came together in miraculous ways.

The final quality is perseverance. I had a lot of people who were critical of my ideas and plans. I had a lot of people that said no and closed the door on me. What I recognize today is the closed doors were a gift that helped me to keep moving until I found my people. I had to wake up everyday and ask the question, what one thing can I do today to move this ball down the court? Somedays it was just a phone call or a new connection. The biggest thing I determined was daily I would make forward progress and move towards my goals.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am always looking for folks to collaborate with. The reality is a lot of believers are concerned with our education system for their own kids, grandkids or simply the future of our country. I am looking for people who are interested in starting their own school, parents who are looking for a new way to educate their child, investors who want to be a part of changing the broken education system. People can connect with me through email; [email protected]

They can check out the following resources to learn more:

Home


https://valorglobal.online/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-way-of-valor/id1583658224
To follow Angie Taylor and The Way of Valor
Instagram: @MrsAngieTaylor
Facebook:@MrsAngieTaylor
Watch on YouTube: The Way of Valor on YouTube

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Personal photos

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made