Gamechangers Vol 3: Tina Taylor

To celebrate Black History Month, GIRLACTICO, in partnership with Kick It Out, has spoken to some of the biggest game-changers making an impact across women's football, culture and beyond - both on and off the pitch. 

For Volume 3, we sat down with Tina Taylor, the founder of Aim Sky High Talent, who is redefining representation across sport. Her clients span across television, modelling, social media, and athletes, including WSL players Mary Earps and Gabby George. With a fierce commitment to expanding opportunities for female athletes, particularly wanting to delve further into track and field, Tina has been recognised as Business Insider’s #1 Female Founder of Colour to watch in Europe and was nominated for honours at the Women’s Football Awards.

Her entrepreneurial journey began as a kid, launching her own dance school at 13 years old, securing £70,000 in community funding by age 19. From Bangladeshi and Caribbean roots, she is deeply dedicated to opening doors for individuals from underprivileged and diverse backgrounds. Having won the Havas Boost contest, her ambition is to grow Aim Sky High further to create easier routes for people whose contextual backgrounds may hinder their progress in the industry.

GIRLACTICO: You started in dance and have since built a talent agency spanning sport, entertainment and youth culture. What have been the biggest lessons you've learnt along the way?

Tina Taylor: The biggest lesson I've learnt throughout my journey is just to treat people that you work with well, and that being a good person does pay off. Another thing is, don't lose what you've already got, at minimum maintain it because once you lose it, it's twice as hard to get it back.

Doing the hard things and having those hard conversations are the most beneficial conversations that you'll ever have. They shape your business. I think I've also learnt that infrastructure is super important. No matter how good your ideas are, it’s not worth the stress - if the back end isn't strong, it won't survive.



GIRLACTICO: How has being a Black woman shaped the way you approach business and leadership?

Tina Taylor: Being from a Caribbean background, particularly having a Jamaican mom and living with my Jamaican grandma - having a life rooted in faith and community. Growing up in this environment has really shaped how I do business and leadership, it's very community based. 

During the holidays I’d go stay at all my aunties houses, in particular auntie Lorraine would always have people over. That hospitality means that we're a family where cousins would come and live with us when they needed to. It’s the helping each other to mobilise that's really stuck with me and it's a core part of me.

GIRLACTICO: You've created opportunities for dancers, creatives, influencers and athletes. What do you ultimately want Aim Sky High to mean to the next generation?

Tina Taylor: I don’t know what I want it to mean, but Aim Sky High is more about the legacy. I want it to leave an impact, to be a beacon of hope somewhere, where people can be drawn to, and something people can be part of that will help them and be there for them through the ups and downs, not only in the good times. 

GIRLACTICO: You've spoken about supporting underrepresented talent. Why is representation such an important part of the work you do?

Tina Taylor: Representation is such an important part of the work that I do because I believe in equal chance and equal opportunity. I'm from a care background, I was adopted at 18 months old, so equity and equality is a massive part of my DNA and how I choose to lead. So, I believe it’s so important to bring underrepresented talent to the forefront, to help give others opportunity. 

GIRLACTICO: What do you think young Black girls watching women's football today can see in players that perhaps wasn't visible to your generation?

Tina Taylor: I'm personally loving how I start to see more culture come into the women’s game. You have social media now, so you're seeing players express themselves a bit more, express their interests, even down to the music they upload when posting their day off outfits, so I think there's a lot more to relate to now within these players.



GIRLACTICO: What's the biggest risk you've taken in your career, and how has that shaped you? Would you do it again?

Tina Taylor: In my career, I feel like I'm taking risks all the time, to be honest, so I don't know what I'd say is my biggest risk. I think that it's just having concepts of belief that you can achieve.  

I have a mission. I come from a care experience background, and I want to figure out the formula that makes me successful. My mission is to disseminate it and teach other people that are from disadvantaged backgrounds how to not only hold that ambition, but nurture it and find the right people to help develop it and achieve with it. 

From a business perspective, I don't know if I see risks as risks in that sense because I see what I do as an ultimate purpose, to give back. I guess I have so much belief in doing good will get you places. Maybe I'm delusional.

GIRLACTICO: You were a recipient of the KIO x Sky bursary. How has this support helped you on your journey, and why is it so important to create opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds?

Tina Taylor: Being a recipient of the Kick It Out x Sky bursary has genuinely changed my life, and it changed my life because as a single working mother, it gave me the opportunity to study at a level I would never have been able to study at, because I couldn't afford to pay for that and do it full time whilst having two children.  

I wouldn't have been able to do it without the scholarship, that's number one. I learnt so much about the business of football, which has helped me to create even more change in the space of women's sport.  

The networking was amazing, it has changed the way I work, my mind, people I know. Everything. It was one of the best experiences of my life and has taken me to a whole new level.

Diversity always brings different thought processes and innovation, but it’s just important that everyone gets an opportunity.