Daily Inspiration: Meet Kayla Taylor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Taylor.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story really starts before fashion. I grew up in ballet and the performing arts, so I’ve always understood clothing as expression. The way a costume can change how you carry yourself, how you move through a room. That never left me. I went on to study Apparel Merchandising and Product Development at Bowling Green State University, and from there I spent over a decade in the industry. From retail management, visual merchandising, and eventually styling leadership. Today I lead a team of stylists, and that work taught me how to help women get dressed for their everyday lives.

So many women, smart, accomplished, put-together women had lost their whimsy. Getting dressed had become a chore, or a stresser, or something they’d stopped enjoying altogether. As a fashion professional, that stuck with me. So I built Glow With Kayla, a style and community brand where I help women find joy in getting dressed again.

Glow With Kayla is built on style, joy, and empowerment. I pour into the woman who’s done playing it safe with her wardrobe, or her life. Sometimes that looks like a 30-second video that reminds her she doesn’t have to change her whole outfit, just one thing. Sometimes it looks like a room full of women at one of my Cincy Style meet-ups, where community happens. I’m a maximalist, so there’s always color and boldness in it, but the core of the work is JOY.

Getting here hasn’t been linear, and I’m still very much building. But it’s been affirming to see the work recognized! I was named to Essence GU’s Best Dressed Black Creators and Essence GU’s Creator Radar list for 2026 and featured in Cincinnati Magazine. What I care about most, though, is the woman who watches a video or walks into one of my events and leaves feeling a little more like herself. That’s the whole point.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it hasn’t been smooth. I don’t think I’d trust it if it were!

The biggest one is that I’ve built this while leading a full-time team in fashion. So Glow With Kayla happens in the in-between hours; early mornings, nights, weekends. There’s no version of this where I get to pour everything into it, so I’ve had to get really honest about what actually moves the needle versus what just looks busy. Learning to protect my energy has been its own full-time job.

I’ll also be transparent about something a lot of creators won’t say out loud: I don’t love the content grind. I love styling, I love the community, I love the woman I’m building this for. But the constant filming, the pressure to be “on,” the expectation that everything be over-produced, that’s not the part that lights me up. I’ve had to make peace with showing up consistently even on the days the craft of it drains me, and to let my content feel more like a FaceTime with a friend than a production. That shift actually made it more me, not less.

And then there’s the numbers. For a long time I measured myself by whether a video blew up. That is how you can lose yourself and your WHY. I’ve had to intentionally stop chasing virality and focus to consistency, authenticity, and whether I actually gave someone value. That is the only version of this that lasts.

Building anything from scratch is lonely in ways people don’t talk about. But every struggle on this list taught me something I needed to know to do the work well. So no, not smooth. But worth it!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At my core, I’m a style expert who uses fashion as a way to build community. My online platform, Glow With Kayla, is where most people find me: I share style tips, career insight from a decade-plus in the industry, and joyful, inspiring content for the woman who’s ready to stop playing it safe. But the part I’m proudest of lives off the screen.

I’ve led confidence and content-creation workshops for teen girls, which is some of the most meaningful work I’ve done. Helping young women find their voice and their self-expression at the exact age it matters most. And here in Cincinnati, I’ve built community from the ground up: my Cincy Style Meet-ups, and Style Social, a mixer I created for the city’s creatives. These aren’t just events. They’re rooms where stylists, creators, and fashion-minded people can actually meet, connect, and collaborate. These are the kind of rooms I wished existed when I was coming up.

What I’m most proud of is that community piece. Creating a space where people leave feeling seen, inspired, and connected to each other: that’s harder, and that’s the work I care about most.

What sets me apart is that I’ve spent over ten years in retail strategy, merchandising, and styling leadership. So when I share, it’s coming from real experience, not just good taste. I pair that knowledge with joy. A lot of style content is either informative or fun; I want mine to be both,

And honestly? I have a vision for this city. Cincinnati has real talent and real space to be known for fashion, and I plan to help put us on the map. That’s the long game, building something here that outlasts any single event or post.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was A LOT as a kid, in the best way. Hyper, full of energy, always in motion, and full of dreams. I was one of those kids who could do a little bit of everything: I could sing, dance, act, and draw, and I wanted to do all of it.

I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time alone which I think is where the imagination and the drawing came from. But put me around people and I was a total social butterfly.

I went to a performing arts school, and for the longest time my dream was Juilliard for dance. I was serious about it. I take everything I learned in that space and apply it at my events and my videos online sharing my big personality! And honestly, it was never a dull moment in the house growing up; just me and my mama, and I kept things entertaining. That’s still who I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/glowwithkayla?
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glowwithkayla__

Image Credits
Eden Davis, Devyn Glista, Sparked Vision