ALUM PROFILE: Elheese Taylor

Tenacity and the Winding Road

By Jacob Ashley

So often, when we envision our future and imagine our lives through the dreamy lens of desire and ambition, we see it as a straight path forward. We remember aspiring to something so clearly in our youth, navigating through those years with hopeful ambivalence, marching on tracks seemingly set in stone so long ago, decided by us or by another. Through college, then a career we saw so clear-eyed, consistently just over the horizon. But that’s not how it comes to pass for so many, as no plan entirely survives reality. And that’s okay.

Elheese Taylor, Portland State University (PSU) Bachelor of Science (BS) in Liberal Studies and 2015 Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management (MSGSCM) alumna, hasn’t only traveled the twists and turns of the winding road; she has also blazed a trail or two, discovering new worlds as she goes. She began her academic journey in vocal performance but paused to work in the corporate world and evaluate her goals. She then decided to transfer to PSU and shift to liberal studies. Elheese says, “I like the ability to do both. Through this degree and when I earned my master’s, I juggled work and school together because, for me, for whatever reason, the more I do, the more stable I am.”

After finishing her first degree, she continued working until she figured out her next steps, keeping busy until the next opportunity presented itself. Though she was now working in San Antonio, Texas as a retail relationship coordinator for Davis Vision, she had no idea what those steps would be until a chance conversation with a friend who was working at the PSU School of Business (SB). After hearing her friend describe the new, fully remote MSGSCM program, Elheese recognized it was the right choice and soon after joined the very first cohort. “I did orientation in person, then flew back to Texas,” Elheese continues, “I went into the office daily, did homework at lunch, and read at the gym. Just like anyone who works while going to school.”

Halfway through her master’s, Elheese took an opportunity to work for Oracle in a consulting contracts management position. Both this and Davis Vision provided exposure to business-to-business relationship management and mitigating corporate risks. But as she wrapped up her education in global supply chain, she was looking forward to getting her foot in the door of that industry. The chance came at Hearth and Home Technologies in Lake City, Minnesota, a vast difference from Texas and another incredibly challenging move. “I took a leap of faith,” she explains, “but it was just too cold in Minnesota.” Yet again, in a little more than a year, she found a fork in the road.

Her next move came from a friend who was also a past member of her PSU grad cohort. “Nobody else knew at the time that I was looking for a new opportunity but her,” Elheese continues. “I use LinkedIn, but not seriously at that point in time. So, I honestly could have missed her message. I could have seen it five months later, like what happens so often, and just missed the opportunity.” Her friend and fellow PSU alumna saw the open position posted by Nike and immediately thought of Elheese. Even then, her application might have been overlooked, but the hiring manager was also an alum. Everything seemed to fall so perfectly in place, her hard work coinciding with a stunning mix of serendipitous networking and relationships built through her academics.

“I didn’t think I was going back to Oregon after I left,” Elheese states plainly. “I applied for that role. I got it. So, in April 2017, I moved back and started at Nike.” Coming back to Oregon was like starting entirely over for Elheese. She says, “Day one at Nike was beginning to rebuild my roots. I was on a phenomenal team. At first, we were coworkers, and then we became family.” To this very day, even with those team members moving on to different roles, some on different continents, they stay connected. “When I talk about the power of those friendships from Nike, I mean that I still consider them in my inner circle to this very day.”

Through several promotions and lateral moves, she recalls a time when she made another path-diverging decision: “I come from manufacturing, literally in a manufacturing plant, and I was moving back to a corporate role in planning. I just felt so far from the business. So, I had a conversation with my senior leader.” Elheese explains, “We discussed where I saw myself, and it wasn’t in that role.” Her boss, being incredibly supportive, offered her several choices. She applied and took the one that led her to Memphis, Tennessee, as a planning and analytics manager at Nike’s Shelby Distribution Center. Yet another challenging move, and in March of 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It feels like about once every two years, I look for a new challenge. But I think this was less about that and more about finding a place I truly fit,” Elheese says. Still in Memphis, she has again advocated for herself and promoted to planning operations director, a role she finds as a perfect fit. “Nike is the longest employer that I have been at, and that is for a reason,” she continues, “I’ve had experiences working for some not-so-great leaders and corporate cultures. So, I’ve had to learn the hard way to advocate for myself. I realized that I’m a leader whether they want to acknowledge it or not. And if I have honest feedback about what I need, I should be able to share that with my employer.”

Elheese concludes, “Early in my career, I would just take whatever was coming and pile it on my plate, instead of telling my bosses ‘I’m overloaded,’ or ‘this is what I need.’ I had to pay that cost for the first couple of corporate roles. As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve realized I should be able to share exactly where I am, always being professional but communicating what I need to be supported.”

In 10 years of navigating the corporate world, Elheese has zigged and zagged across the nation, taking opportunities as they come, seeking to find where she feels most fulfilled. Through this time, she has built lasting friendships spanning continents, building again and anew each time the winding road takes her on a detour or differing direction. Through sheer tenacity, bravery, and a little faith, she’s grown into each role, ready and prepared for new twists, turns, or challenges as they may come. She’s an incredible example of how the most straightforward path isn’t always the one necessary to travel by, a lesson we’d all do well to remember.