Margie Taylor shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Margie, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? When was the last time you felt true joy?
When Governor Abbott signed the Bill on Memorial Day weekend to make Texas House Bill 2143 law effective Sept 1, 2025. This bill names a portion of FM 1097 in Willis, Texas from Interstate 45 to Lake Conroe at Lake Conroe Hills. “The Army Specialist Joey Lenz Memorial Highway”.
The Highway Dedication event will be Friday, Sept. 19 at 9:00am. Location TBD.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Margie Taylor is the founder of Taylorized PR, a boutique Public Relations firm serving the Greater Montgomery County area since August 15, 2014. Taylorized PR works with nonprofits, small businesses, and other organizations to increase branding, revenue, and awareness in the community. Services include social media, relationship marketing, website content, newsletters, community engagement, press releases, positive political consulting, developing marketing ideas, and special events. Taylor is a contributing columnist for The Courier since 2017, past host of a weekly radio show in Downtown Conroe, and past editor of Conroe City Lifestyle Magazine.
In 2015 she was the Volunteer of the Year for the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce and was honored to be the Women of Distinction in 2014 with MCABW. The Woodlands Area Chamber selected Margie as Volunteer of the Year in 2022, and she was awarded the Chairman’s Award for her contribution in the community at large in January 2023. Margie is an alumnus of LMC class of 2015.
With over 30 years-experience in leadership roles and 27 + years in the Marketing/Development arena Margie has “feet on the ground” knowledge of what it takes to make things happen. She was a competitive runner for 30 years ranking #17 in the Greater Houston area, a 100th Boston Marathon competitor, and participated in many other races of all distances.
Jeff and Margie Taylor have been married since 1999 and between them have 4 grown children, 7 grandchildren, and the youngest son lost his life in 2022 while serving in the Army. Margie Taylor is focused on saving military lives by updating medical protocols across the Department of Defense with a bill proposal she created that is now in the House Armed Services Committee in Washington D.C. H.R. 1014 will mandate annual physicals for every branch of the military vs an online Periodic Healthcare Assessment (PHA) performed online since 2016.
Military Strong Starts with Medical Strong. Honor Service by Saving Lives.
If Taylorized PR can can push through the largest government agency in the country to help our military- Taylorized PR can certainly assist you!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I am the oldest of 4 children and was given the role of leader at the age of 5 with siblings 4, 2, and 1 growing up in a single parent household in North Hollywood, California in the 60’s. We moved to Burbank , California when I was in 8th grade, 14 years old. Although I was the oldest of the 4 of us and was left alone to care for my siblings with many responsibilities I was generally very quiet and shy. As a student I excelled in school, and was socially awkward. I did not have confidence in myself or my abilities to amount to anything. Our maternal grandparents were our guiding force since our mother was either working at Lockeed Aircraft or going to school fulltime. She was never home with us and we raised ourselves. We were latch key kids in an area infested with wrong peer support. Life could have turned a different direction-but we took care of ourselves.
As a youth we had what we needed without any frills. But you don’t miss what you never had.
My grandfather, Arleigh Everett Sutherland (Eddie) was a film editor involved in both TV and film productions. We never thought it was a big deal. He was the editor of “Gilligan’s Island”, “The Monroe’s”, “Rawhide”, and “Have Gun Will Travel” as the most popular shows. That is what brought us to Burbank.
I graduated from Burbank High School in 1976 at the age of 17 and then attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 1976-1980 as a Home Economics (Textiles + Child Development) major graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980.
My first job out of college was at Miller’s Outpost stores in Southern California as a manager. This role transferred me to Baytown, Texas to open stores in Texas in 1982. I was still very shy and a rigid rule follower. In this role I hired a team to open this store, the Willowbrook store, and the Galleria store. Married in 1982, I had three boys with my husband by 1989. In 1996 with my boys 7, 10, and 12 years of age- I became a single mom and had to be a fighter for my kids.
This changed my life. I advocated for my kids at school, I knew all their teachers, was involved in their sports activities-soccer, baseball, football, and continued to work a full time job in retail at Palais Royal stores, Oshmann’s SuperSports, and then Garden Ridge Pottery.
I started running. This became my passion and escape from my many challenges as a single mom. Not only did I enjoy the “frollicking”, but I was a strong runner and placed in every distance race as a participant. My leadership started here and made me who I am today.
A mom is the greatest role I will ever have.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
When I decided to SAVE LIVES after the death of my youngest son February 1, 20222. Joey was serving at Fort Hood, Texas and died while sleeping in his barracks. I spoke with him at 9:30pm the night prior and he had died of a heart attack during the night and was dead by 6:00am at the age of 32. I would not find out the reason for his death until 4 months later when I went to the media to get his autopsy.
I provided the autopsy to a civilian Medical Examiner who reviewed the physical investigation of the report and determined my son, Joey, had a heart 3X the normal size for a man his age. He told me to go back through his medical records to find the first cause of a hear condition. I found it.
I asked for Joey’s medical records. After much struggle I received the records and went through 598 pages looking for something. March 17, 2021, 11 months before Joey died, he was in ICU at Fort Hood for overmedication from a Lasik Eye Surgery. The lab report showed he had elevated troponin hear enzyme levels. This is indicative of a heart condition or a prior heart episode. He was never told and it was never investigated, Joey should have been medically discharged. Instead he died thinking it was anxiety from his toxic commanding officer (as told to me by 30 soldiers after his memorial service).
To receive his complete medical records I had to get a judge to sign off that I was Joey’s legal mother and next of kin. How crazy is this? I did it and then got the complete 3,000 pages.
I discovered that the military has not had physicals (and many other atrocities) since 2016. I focused on this one thing that could have saved my son’s life. His online (Personal Healthcare Assessment) was in October 2021, 4 months prior to his death. A REAL exam would have saved his life. How many other service members or veterans could a physical in person affect?.
I knew I needed to use my power as a mom and PR professional to heighten awareness and Save Our Military. My son’s story has been in publications across the country.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
I am transparent with my truth in my professional and personal life.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: When do you feel most at peace?
Being outdoors enjoying God’s landscape brings me peace and spiritually grounds me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.TaylorizedPR.com
- Instagram: @TaylorizedPR
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margie-taylor-taylorizedpr
- Twitter: @TaylorizedPR
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaylorizedPR
Image Credits
Margie Taylor
