Meet Taeler Hammond (she/her/hers)

We recently connected with Taeler Hammond (she/her/hers) and have shared our conversation below.

Taeler, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
The short answer, by lots of falling down, failing, and getting back up. I faced a lot of doubt from people in my life who believed that I was not going to excel because I used to not really apply myself. I shifted through phony friends and toxicity around me. I later found out that I was not applying myself or really living up to my potential because I had not discovered my purpose. It was only after I realized that by not living in the light, I was letting myself down, then I found my confidence to get back up learn how to trust myself and my instincts. When I came in to my purpose and discovered who I was and what I wanted to be, I had to let the old version of myself go. After that I learned that the worst thing someone could tell me was “no”. Even a “no” does not mean that it is the end of the story; a “no” meant that I needed to find another way, which was what I did.

I found solace in my parents and my close friends, who never left my side and always encouraged my to do better, be better, and focus on the bright side.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I come from a long lineage of strong women who were fearless leaders, educators, and bold women who were not always the loudest in the room but their message was always heard loud and clear because they commanded respect even if respect was not offered. They did not cower, they did not bow down to anyone. and they knew their worth and how they should be treated. This used to be scary to me! Growing up as a kid in the 90’s, I did not see a lot of scary women on TV. When a woman was scary or loud, it was a bad thing. So I went through most of my life shy, soft-spoken, and flying under the radar. One day, I realized that I had to be my biggest advocate, I couldn’t always expect someone else to save me. Plus, the results of being unseen were less than favorable. It’s hard to advocate for yourself or anyone else when you’re always a bystander and not an upstander. One of my favorite quotes is “Well behaved women seldom make history”, this quote means a lot to me because I think about the adversity that women faced throughout history to make it easier for women like me to be whoever we want to be.

My business is called Nouveau (pronounced new-voh) Paige Consulting, LLC. Nouveau is a French word that means “new”. I chose the name New Paige (Paige after my middle name) because it represents the new version of myself turning to a new page in the book of life, and the newness that can come to your organization by choosing to work with me. I focus on Diversity & Inclusion but navigate it through a learning & development lens, this makes it easy for people of all backgrounds and experience levels to understand the information given. What drives me is creating spaces for people who have felt like they are not seen, heard, or valued, then giving those people a voice and teaching them how to use it. Now, teaching, training, and public speaking is a part of my daily life. I used to be so nervous about speaking in front of people that I would get the shakes, my voice would tremble, I’d start sweating, it was awful! What I learned from being scared on that stage is that the information I am providing is information that people need and want, – I am the expert, as long as I know what I’m talking about I have no reason to be afraid. I had to learn to trust myself and my abilities.

My Bachelors degree is in Psychology and my Masters degree is in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Everything I do is focused on the equitable treatment of people. I love making processes better for people. I consider myself to be an introverted extrovert: I am energized by being out and about, I’m very social and love learning about what drives someone. On the other hand, I love going home at the end of the day and binge watching shows or taking long walks alone to gather my thoughts. I’m a Chicagoan, LA transplant, and love the sunshine. So if there’s any reason to get outside and explore a new place, I am for it. I’m also a foodie, so if there’s an opportunity to try a new restaurant or coffee shop, then you can count me in.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that were most impactful for my journey were learning how to not take failure personally, persistence, and my rebellious attitude. Success doesn’t just come naturally, you have to have the right mindset for it. For me, I believe that success is not an option, it’s inevitable, so I’m going to keep striving for it.

  1. Learning how to not take failure personally: There’s a book that I read called “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz, it was a great read because it opened my eyes to understanding the difference between how other people see me and how I see myself. It also teaches the reader how to not take things personally. This may still be a struggle and that’s normal, but once we normalize failure, it doesn’t become so depressing and final anymore. Failure doesn’t equal the death of your goals, it just means redirection.
  2. Persistence: When I was little, my parents worked with me a lot on my vocabulary. So much so that I went on to participate in a couple spelling bees as a kid. One word hit [me]differently, that word was persistence. This became one of my favorite words as soon as I learned it because it taught me that no matter how tough things get, I don’t have to quit. I can keep going and going because eventually I will get my goal accomplished.
  3. My rebellious attitude: As an only child, although I was soft-spoken and timid, I did not like to be told “no” and I hated the word “obey”. I was also very hard-headed so if there was something that I wanted, I stopped at nothing to achieve that. I am still that way today, I don’t believe that “no” is an ending, nor is someone closing the metaphorical door in your face. My goal is to be a shatterer of glass ceilings, in spite of nay-sayers, haters, and the like. I used to feel very alone in this thought because I felt that no one understood me. I spent 10 years working as a corporate employee in the insurance industry, and it wasn’t until I met a mentor and friend at work who invited me to a conference shortly before I lost my job. I will never forget the way she made me feel so seen. She gave me a book which became my favorite book, “Professional Troublemaker” by Luvvie Ajayi Jones. I started reading the book on a plane ride home to visit family, and that was my first time openly sobbing on a plane. That book read me! It opened my eyes and made me realize that being a rebel wasn’t a bad thing, nor was it just a magnet for nay-sayers. It was a special personality trait that made me unique, it made me someone that people can look up to because I don’t take “no” for an answer, instead I interrupt the status quo. I believe that normal is boring. I speak up when something in life (or at work) makes no sense. I speak up when something is wrong and encourage others to do the same.

The advice I’ll leave with you on this topic is more of a question. What if we all stopped assimilating to what we think is normal? Being yourself is free, not being yourself costs you a lot more.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of improvement has been learning how to trust myself and my journey. So often we get wrapped up in feeling defeated when things don’t work out like we thought they should. I learned how to pivot and change my mind; instead of believing that when something doesn’t work out that the dream is dead, I now view it as, maybe that isn’t the right path. Just because what we wanted wasn’t delivered in a shiny box with a pretty bow doesn’t mean that it wasn’t delivered, it just doesn’t look like what we thought it should look like. I’ve learned to channel that energy and see beyond the shiny packages, or lack thereof and be more optimistic. Sometimes when we look hard enough, we can still find an ounce of hope and believe that what we want is still out there, maybe we’re just not looking in the right place at the right time or we’re overlooking it.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Cover photo – Nicolette J-Pownall Graduation photo – Genesis Falls Photo on stage – Sienna Jackson Close up photo w/ glasses – Roberta Adams Selfies – Taeler Hammond All other photos – Joseph Hammond

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