photo by: Tanya Malott
Professional Coach
Emily Taylor is the founding director of TayloredFit Solutions, LLC. She has three decades of expertise creating and developing nature based adventure and outdoor leadership programs. She is the creator and independent operator of multitiered teams for the Global Majority. She is a Renaissance woman with a specialty in training coaches, coaching athletes of all abilities and working with people of the neurodiverse spectrum. She is a committed professional coach, experiential facilitator, sports diversity and equity advocate.
As the owner of Taylored Fit Solutions, LLC and creator of projects, Brown Girls Climbing, Spectrum Adventures, and Black Wxm Adventures, Emily provides personalized coaching, climbing training and individual training programs for climbing athletes throughout the United States. Emily shares her experience and knowledge by consulting schools, gyms, and coaches through her unique Coach Approach workshops and clinics designed to strengthen coaches, teams and athletes.
Through years of coaching experience, she has culminated an applicable methodology to learning and training the fundamentals of movement. She has an extraordinary coaching eye and holistic ideologies for athletes and coaches. She is a specialist at the efficiency of movement and mental strategies for competitive performance and has become one of the most sought after technical coaches in the competitive sport climbing and adaptive community. Part of her secret is welcoming, accepting and learning from diverse athletes while establishing genuine connection with climbers and empowering athletes to be self-reliant.
Her coaching facilitator style is personal, compassionate, and boldly expressive. Her clients appreciate a deeper purpose to breath, foundation, movement, and community. Through her dynamic coaching style she brings results in projects and programs for individual clients. Her extensive experience facilitating groups has provided a solid foundation and rich pool of understanding of group processes and intuitive learning approaches.
Emily started climbing in 1996 on a 2 month, multi-adventure Outward Bound course in Colorado. Fervent, engulfed, and thrilled after her first experience, she began climbing, training and competing. While finishing undergraduate school in South Carolina, Emily started working in a gym and found her niche teaching after school programs. After gaining experience as an experiential facilitator and outdoor educator at a hospital for children in rural Georgia, she catapulted with motivation to create her own program. This program aimed at helping children connect through experiential learning, climbing and bring more diversity to the climbing community. She became one of the first independent climbing program coaches in the United States, with four students. In four years her team, Urban Core Climbing, peaked with 70 youth climbers in a multi-tier level team, Top 10 status with USA Climbing and climbers winning IFSC World Cup Championships. She traveled everywhere with her team exposing city climbers to the wonderful world of epic adventures. Inspired by the combination of adventure and excitement of the next challenge, Emily set out on October 2, 2003 to climb and ascend the most famous direct big wall route, The Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite, California. After 6 days of ascent, she became the first black woman to do so.
When she is not working on new projects, Brown Girls Climbing, Spectrum Adventures, Black Wxm Adventures, Experiential Life and R.A.C.E. Institute, she is consulting school curriculums and working closely with impact organizations. Other times she is focused on finishing writing a book about her unique approach to coaching climbing and enjoys nomadic traveling to new places, exploring the world with her 16 yr old daughter. She currently travels to the Big Island, Hawai’i to volunteer coach local children in climbing and experiential enrichment learning.
Visionary Pioneer
Brown Girls Climbing Program - est. 2015
Spectrum Adventure Program - est. 2017
Urban Core Climbing Program - est. 1999
First Summit - Arm & Hammer 5.10- Four Corners, CO 1996
First Gyms - Charlotte Climbing Center, Weatherbys, 1996
First Big Wall Summit - El Capitan, The Nose, Oct 2003
US Climbing Team Athlete : 1998-2005
Coach Approach: Guiding Principles to Experiential Coaching
Professional Leadership, mentoring, coaching
Enrichment and empowerment for the Global Majority
Equity, Inclusion and Access in nature-based, recreation and outdoor industry
Race and gender equity in adventure/youth sports
Independent business owner, leader, experiential facilitator, professional coach
1st Black woman to summit El Capitan, Yosemite, The Nose - 2006
Captivating 30+ year journey
Impact Accolades
Pace & Rhythm | Photo by: Emily Varisco
US Team, Pro Climber World Championship Medalist Pan Am Games, Noah Bratschi (age 15)
Qualifications
30+ years of Program Development and Execution
25+ years of Coaching Individuals and Groups
25+ years Training Coaches on Climbing Techniques
30+ years of Program Facilitation
10 years USA Climbing Regional Coordinator
USA Climbing L2 Routesetter
USA Climbing Team Assistant Coach- 2003 Scotland
Personal Climbing Experience & Professional Coaching
30+ years climbing
25+ years guiding
13 years owner, operator and coach of top ranked Urban Core Climbing Team
1st Black United States professional female climbing coach
1st Black woman to send The Nose of El Capitan- October 8, 2003
USA Climbing (formerly USCCA) Adult Sport Champion 1999, 2000
Sponsors: BlueWater Ropes, Evolv, Organic Climbing, Athleta
Press: Adventure Gap by James Mills, Rock & Ice Magazine, Deadpoint Magazine, Brown Girls Climb Blog, Lady Days Blog, Alpinist 66 Issue, Melanin Base Camp, Highcountry News, American Sports Journal
Visionary Impact on
Author
Speaker
Oaktown Boulders- Oakland, CA current
Outside Educator Institute-Oakland, CA current
Justice Outside- Oakland, CA current
Salted Roots Surf, Santa Cruz, CA 2020-23
Memphis Rocks Climbing Gym, Memphis, TN 2019
Source Climbing Gym- Washington, OR 2019
Triangle Rock Club- Triangle, NC 2010-13
James Island County Park & Recreation- JI, SC 2000-2012
Memphis Rocks Climbing Gym, Memphis, TN 2019
Spectrum Adventure Program 2017-Present
Brown Girls Climbing 2015-Present
Diverse Ability Coaching Program 2002-Present
Urban Core Climbing Program 2002-2015
Climber Athlete Accolades: Kai Lighter-Post Ranking #1 US Team Champion Sport & Bouldering, World Championships-2017/4th, 2016/4th, World Championships 2015/1st, World Championships 2014/4th, Riley Ogier-US Speed Team 2014, Olivia Ogier-US Speed Team 2013, Matt Nunes-US Speed Team 2009-2015, Alex Lawson-US Speed Team 2011-2012, Jason Wills-US Sport & Boulder Team 2010-2012, Jamie Dunlavy-US Speed Team 2010-2012, Joshua Muehring-US Speed Team 2010, Jordan Earle-US Sport Team 2006-2007, Alex Johnson-US Sport, Boulder & Speed Team 2001-2004, 2003 World Championship/2nd
USA Climbing Regional Team Champions 2006-2012
USA Climbing Top 10 Sport Climbing Team-2012
USA Climbing Top 10 Speed Climbing Team 2012
AccessFund Stewardship/Conservation Award 2006-2014
Consulting Projects
Coach Emily Film Documentary
Coach Emily Film Project
Coach Emily/BGC is currently being filmed for a documentary, Coach Emily Film (WT) by Pallavi Somusetty. IG: @coachemilyfilm.
Press Box
BOOKS:
The Adventure Gap, James Mills
Melanin Base Camp, Danielle Williams
MEDIA & PRESS:
NPR.org Climbing.com American Sports Journal Alpinist Magazine High Country News San Francisco Chronicle Melanin Base Camp Lady Days Brown Girls Climb