Meet Taylor Keightley | Health Care Professional, Blogger/Influencer, & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Keightley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
That is a great question. I actually started my blog (tailoredbytaylor.net) because I have always been told that people liked my writing style. People have told me that they can hear my voice in my writing and that is what makes it unique. My blogs surrounded different topics around life/relatable things (i.e. faith, traveling, my career as a full-time child life specialist in addition to all my side hustles). With blogging, I feel influencing came with it. I began to partner with brands such as Fabletics, Aveeno, Windsor, L’Oreal, and Dyson to name a few.

Over time, I really became interested in photography again and decided to start a photography line (@tailoredbytaylor_photography). Photography has always been something I have enjoyed since I can remember, but I began to really enjoy it again after influencing. In October 2020, I officially launched my photography line and it has been going great thus far! As of now, I have done a maternity, newborn, human and pet, family portraits, and Christmas mini-sessions and have loved every moment of it! I can’t wait to see what new projects 2022 has in store for me and see where I will continue to grow!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When people ask me, “What do you do?” I tell them “I am a Child Life Specialist…” In response, they commonly say, “Oh cool!” following with “What is that?!” I then try and share the most condensed description of my job because it’s a struggle to explain all that I do in a 40 hour week. Simply put, there are many roles that I fulfill, but a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) is a health care professional that works in a pediatric environment providing support for children and families. We typically work in a multi-disciplinary team that consists of doctors, nurses, social workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, etc.

Here is a list of some of the things that my colleagues and I do as child life specialists:

– Prepare patients for pending procedures or surgeries and promote positive coping while reducing fear and anxiety. Not only do we prepare them for procedures and surgeries, but we help them learn about their diagnosis.
– We provide opportunities for medical play, which help children gain mastery over their medical experience.
– Provide sibling support and explain it in a way that the patient’s brother/sister may understand the reason their sibling is in the hospital. We may talk about what they may see in the patient’s room, explain their siblings diagnosis, etc.
– We provide support to children that are involved in traumas. This may look like supporting a child at bedside as the medical team is completing their assessment, supporting the family or siblings, or providing emotional support during a crisis.
– We organize special events to try and provide a fun environment that makes the hospital less of a scary place.
– Teach patients (& sometimes siblings) positive coping skills in painful and/or invasive procedures with pre/post-procedural support, diversion, guided imagery, or biofeedback. We can also provide support during the actual procedures as well.
– Provide an environment that children can feel like children and play without any medical interventions.
– Provide support for a family during an end-of-life situation or bereavement of a patient. We can help siblings understand the finality of death, how to cope with it, and then help the family complete memory making after the patient has passed.
– After a child has been out of school for a long time due to treatment or hospitalization, we are able to help patients reintegrate into the school system by doing school visits at their school.
– We support other social services such as music therapy, art therapy, K9 therapy, etc.

Also, I get so many questions on “how did you become a child life specialist?” And I just want to start off by saying that it isn’t one of those jobs you learn on the job. This job requires a lot of studying and a lot of experience! First, you have to earn a Bachelor’s degree in some sort of related field. I earned mine from University of Washington (Go Huskies!) in Early Childhood & Family Studies (ECFS). You also need to have some sort of experience with healthy and sick kids (hospitals usually prefer a variety of experience) before you start applying to practicums. A practicum is basically like a job shadow for 120 supervised hours under a CCLS. Then you need to get an internship which is highly competitive. Most hospitals only have 1-2 spots per quarter/semester and they can receive anywhere from 50-90 applicants if not more depending on the facility. Internships are very exhausting as they are full-time, unpaid, and 600 hours. Upon completion, you then have to study for a National boards exam with the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) to become certified.

With all of that said, I am very proud of myself pursuing college and doing something that I was passionate about at the same time. I was the first in my family to graduate and that was my biggest achievement for a long time. More recently, I think something that I am most proud about is starting the pre-operative program at the local children’s hospital for child life. Before I started this program, no one was there full-time to prep patients for their surgeries which is mind blowing to me. Being only one year into my career and being able to say that I started a program is pretty bad a** if you ask me!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh boy-depends what they would like to do and how long they were going to be here!! But if it was only for a weekend, I wanted to have a fun and chill weekend, I would pick them up from the airport and go to Coasterra for some great views, yummy authentic guacamole, tacos, and margaritas. After dinner, I would take them a small local pub down the street that is walking distance to my condo to play pool.

On Saturday, we would wake up and check out the Little Italy Farmer’s Market followed with lunch at Barbusa or Underbelly (depending on mood and preference). After some good grub, we would check out some of the beach towns (Mission, PB, or La Jolla). While walking around, we may stop at little shops, get gelato, stop at local breweries, etc. For dinner, I would try to make a reservation in Gaslamp at a yummy restaurant to give them a taste of our downtown. Once we had some good food in our bellies, I would see if my guest would like to check out the night life in Gaslamp or return home for a game night.

Sunday, my husband and I would make them breakfast at home since we make a killer breakfast spread with all the goods! Then depending on when their flight was, we could continue to explore or potentially relax by the pool until their flight. I like to have a mix of busy and relaxation.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I give all the glory to God. He has done so much work in my life and has helped shape the person I am today. But here on earth, I have an amazing family that supports me and all my endeavors. My dad and stepmom are probably my biggest fans and appreciate them so much. I also want to thank all my friends that have supported me when times were tough and who constantly pushed me to keep going when I wanted to give up. You all know who you are 😉

Website: www.tailoredbytaylor.net

Instagram: @tailoredbytaylor.xo

Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tailoredbytaylor/_created/ Photography IG: @tailoredbytaylor_photography