Despite having always embodied a carefree, fun loving demeanor, Taylor displayed an affinity for intellectual stimulation early in life, foregoing summer activities for vigorous bridge programs and educational enrichment academies throughout her elementary education. Her family moved between East Palo Alto and the greater Fremont/Hayward area before relocating to East Oakland in her 8th grade year.
Mama Sydnei continued her stint in California public schools, transitioning to San Leandro High School. Here she indulged in soccer, earning a place on the Varsity squad while simultaneously holding the captain’s spot on JV. After transferring to Skyline HS in her junior year, she attempted to play on their team as well but was denied the opportunity due to stringent interdistrict bylaws. As a result, she played in a local adult league under the guise of her eldest sister, Ashlei, but was eventually found out and released. Taylor participated in a multitude of extracurricular activities to diversify her interests and serve the community. Such programs include Juma Ventures, College Track, Girl Scouts, Y-PLAN, Black Young Democrats, and others — all of which allowed her to better discern the state of the Black experience, and begin to explore the many ways she could improve not only herself, but our people and their consequent surroundings as well. In the summer after her senior year, Taylor was granted an opportunity to travel to Nicaragua with Foundation for Sustainable Development, sparking what would later be described as “her insatiable desire to travel the world.”
Upon finishing at Skyline in ’13 she migrated back to the greater DC metropolitan area in pursuance of a bachelor’s degree at Howard University, studying Chemistry while minoring in African Studies, as Anthropology was no longer offered as a field of study. While in school, Sydnei yearned to see Black-African history and culture in real time. She soon found herself backpacking across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean in search of Black culture in a more indigenous frame of reference. Her overarching goal was to show her community the Black faces of the world, prior to colonialism and outside interference. Taylor has been fortunate enough to follow the migration patterns of the Arawaks, studying their customs and comparing them to those of our ancestors in Africa, see prized relics of the Maroons, and even live amongst the Nahoas and Xiu-Sutiava people in their rural communities! During her travels she also formed an interest in agriculture and environmental sustainability, ultimately leading her to re-evaluate her purpose in life, become vegan, and seek enlightenment outside of the paradigm of western education.
She left Howard after three years, working between various modalities of outreach within her South East, DC neighborhood and surrounding garden community. In the summer of 2017 Mama Sydnei was then granted an internship with USDA in partnership with the U.S. Forest Services! She moved back to California to reside on a Native American reservation in Orleans, spending the summer amongst the Kuruk and Yuruk peoples, while helping to coordinate a forestry program with an emphasis in cultural education and conservation! Upon returning, she visited Ile Omode to visit her niece and nephew and the rest is history!