Lexington, KY - Lexington marketing maven and award-winning author Fran Taylor isn't keen on linear stories.
To really tell a story, "It's about asking the right questions, doing the research and finding out what makes something or someone unique," said the former executive director of the Keeneland Foundation, whose personal narrative is as distinctive in central Kentucky as that of retired American champion filly Zenyatta.
The former marketing and foundation executive for Lexington's premier Thoroughbred racetrack quietly resigned this past spring, but for most Kentuckians, her ability to weave history into legend will live on forever.
Taylor is humble and hardworking, decisive and curious - an unbeatable combination in challenging times on the world's most tenuous sports stage.
"It is a bit awkward to see people around town," Taylor said with a laugh. "Once they hear that I'm not at Keeneland, they wonder what I could possibly be doing now."
Is there life after Keeneland? What does one do after leaving 15 years of work at an internationally renowned Thoroughbred racing and auction sales company?
"Yes, job security is important, but it's so refreshing to leave old issues behind and look for new opportunities and growth," said Taylor. "I took a step back and saw what truly excited me."
Although a career change was admittedly scary, Taylor joined Lexington's My Giving Advisor, LLC, in August as a principal. At My Giving Advisor, a full-service philanthropic consulting firm, Taylor will specialize in strategic partnerships, corporate philanthropy/sponsorship, community engagement and market development with owner/principal Anne Nash.
"I have known and respected Fran for years and was delighted to add her portfolio of skills to My Giving Advisor," said Nash, former CEO of the Blue Grass Community Foundation. "Her expertise, contacts and knowledge of the Bluegrass will be a wonderful compliment to the services already in place."
"Anne is someone that I genuinely like and admire," said Taylor. "It's so important to work with someone you respect and can learn from."
The philanthropic advising duo is currently taking new clients and pursuing projects around the state. Taylor is also taking on some projects independently that she hopes will lead to more publishing opportunities - something she has grown to love.
"The airport (Blue Grass Airport) has expressed an interest in researching and better documenting their history and approached me about it," she said. "The project would involve collecting information from the public and knowledgeable insiders - much like the process I undertook to produce the history and entertaining books on Keeneland," Taylor said.
Keeneland wasn't just a job for Taylor.
"Keeneland has a huge impact on the community, just as the horse industry does on our region's economy," she said. "You live it. It took a lot of emotion and energy. I literally couldn't go to the supermarket without remembering who I was representing."
While at Keeneland, Taylor orchestrated disaster relief efforts and corporate partnerships to net more than $10 million in outside funding for various nonprofit agencies and supervised the corporate sponsorship program as it grew to gross nearly $2 million annually.
"Fran is incredibly gracious and great with follow up," said Bill Samuels, former president of Maker's Mark Distillery. "Her personal style fit the Keeneland style naturally. She didn't have to strain to be part of the culture."
Samuels worked with Taylor on a Maker's Mark-Keeneland partnership for 15 years.
"For those of us that are involved in sponsorships and entertainment, it's nice to lay your head down at night and know that everything is taken care of," he said. "Fran always exceeded expectations. An awful lot of the magic happened because of her."
Taylor also revitalized Keeneland's storied tradition for old and new fans alike.
"In the mid-1990s, Keeneland had become somewhat of an ivory tower," she said. "We wanted to reach back out to the community and reshape Keeneland's image. We brought it back to life."
With Taylor's help, racing fans recognize the history and the beauty of the course and grounds like never before; Keeneland once again reigns as a prime national and international hotspot to see and be seen.
"There was a real need to tell the story," Taylor said, as she explained the painstaking process of creating the 2000 Keeneland legacy video, a film by Michael Breeding that became one of the centerpieces of the track's cultural and community renewal.
After Taylor left Keeneland, she was commissioned by Dennis Alves, the creative director of the Boston Pops, to write a narrative about the connection between man and horse. Working with equine photographer John Stephen Hockensmith and again with Breeding, she created a dramatic photomontage and video to accompany the script.
The production premiered at Symphony Hall in Boston this summer and was performed again at the Boston Pops/University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra concert at Rupp Arena. Taylor was delighted to learn that UK alumnus and nationally renowned sports commentator Tom Hammond was tapped to narrate her script at the Oct. 15 event.
Prior to her work at Keeneland, Taylor was vice president of account services for Lexington advertising agency and marketing firm Meridian Communications from 1982 to 1995, where she specialized in destination marketing, corporate image assessment and repositioning strategies for a diverse client mix. Her clients won more than 30 regional, national and international awards. Since Taylor's departure, she has had the opportunity on a very personal level to return to the agency side of business relationships, evaluating a client and helping to embrace and improve his or her image. This summer, Taylor rebranded her husband's business, Tom Cheek DesignBuild.
"I looked at what he was doing, his corporate identity and how he sells his capabilities and his company; then I re-imagined and reinvigorated," Taylor said. "It was really a lot of fun."
Taylor was born in western Kentucky and graduated from Transylvania University in 1975 but spent her formative years in Connecticut. By the time she graduated from Transy, Taylor never imagined she would live in Lexington, but five years later, as she was passing through, in her own words, she "just sort of stuck here." Before she knew it, she was a mainstay in the Bluegrass community.
"I've made this my home and can't imagine living somewhere else," she said.
The woman who humbly says she did not run Keeneland (and always panicked when people insisted on introducing her that way) certainly has ample knowledge of the Thoroughbred, marketing and philanthropic industries.
In preparation for Keeneland's 75th anniversary in 2011, she published three books on the course and its tradition and history, one of which was the winner of the 2010 Independent Book Publisher's national gold award and a finalist for the 2010 Ben Franklin award.
"I didn't think I liked to write," said Taylor, who recalls switching out of an English major at Transylvania as an undergraduate because of the writing required. "But I felt like I had a muse on my shoulder while writing the Keeneland books,"
As with many inspired endeavors, Taylor doesn't know what lies on the next page.
"I learned in the agency world that if you don't know the next direction to go, you haven't done enough research," she said. "Once you've done the research, the ideas and next steps will come."
And this isn't the last story you'll read about Taylor.
"I still have many priorities, plans and projects squeaking and squawking at me," she said with a laugh. "It's not the end. It's the beginning."