New year, new executive director
It is with great excitement that we announce M. Yvonne Taylor as the new Executive Director for Northwest Education Access.
A Message from Executive Director Yvonne
I am truly honored to step into the role of Executive Director at Northwest Education Access. NWEdA’s mission and steadfast dedication to antiracism align deeply with my values, both personally and professionally. I am inspired by the organization’s continuous and innovative efforts to break down systemic barriers and empower young people to carve out their own paths to success.
The NWEdA team’s enthusiasm for their work is contagious, and I feel incredibly privileged to join such a passionate and mission-driven group. I look forward to connecting with and learning from community members, while also working alongside a committed board to build on the transformative work that has already made such a lasting impact across the Puget Sound region.
Together, I believe we can expand opportunities for Opportunity Youth, deepen NWEdA’s reach, and ensure that every young person has access to the resources and support they need to define their future with confidence. I am excited to begin this journey and contribute to the incredible work ahead.
M. Yvonne Taylor, PhD
More about M. Yvonne Taylor, PhD
Dr. M. Yvonne Taylor is an award-winning intersectional feminist, critical organizational scholar-practitioner, and educator with over 20 years of experience in strategic leadership, equity, and organizational transformation. A former Director of Medical Student Equity Services at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Lecturer of Business Communication at Rice University, Dr. Taylor has dedicated her career to advancing equity through research, teaching, and collaborative leadership. As founder of Equity Within, she has collaborated with education, nonprofit, and ed-tech organizations to co-create trauma-informed, equity-driven strategies that bridge gaps between organizational values and outcomes.
Yvonne’s 2023 dissertation, You Won’t Break Our Souls: Women Knowledge Workers in Higher Education Show Themselves Out, explored the systemic inequities that led to women’s exodus from higher education during the Great Resignation. It won the $20,000 Dissertation Award from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and was featured on NPR’s The Mind of Texas podcast and in The Chronicle of Higher Education. She has presented her research at the American Educational Research Association each of the past five years and currently serves on the 2024 Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Presidential Commission on Service.
A strong advocate for mentorship, Yvonne has taught students from 8th grade through adulthood and published on equitable mentorship practices. Her work includes contributions on cross-cultural mentorship in the book Mentoring While White and on extending mentorship equitably using online technologies. Yvonne’s public scholarship has appeared in The Daily Beast and the Houston Chronicle. Her forthcoming PBS feature on Blackademics will highlight her views on equity’s connection to innovation. Yvonne holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy with a certificate in Women and Gender Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and serves as an executive board member of the Catastrophic Theatre in Houston.
A major Prince fan and astrology nerd, Yvonne and her 19-year-old son Xander and adopted pup, Lexi, are thrilled to be in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where she can also be close to her only sibling, Dorian, who is the disability and equity specialist for King County.
