Formerly Assistant Editor of the Dallas Times Herald and Promotions Director for Dallas Alley, Lisa Taylor brought her press relations and promotions skills to her own business in 1990. Lisa earned two bachelor degrees from Southern Methodist University in journalism and foreign languages (she speaks French and German). She also obtained her Masters of Liberal Arts from SMU before completing a year of study towards a Master of Theological Studies from Perkins School of Theology also at SMU. Lisa is the owner of Taylor Made Press, a Dallas publicity firm dedicated to promoting arts and culture.
Her clients have included the Dallas Museum of Art's Arts & Letters Live Literary series for which she was the Literary Cafe producer, the tour producer and the marketing director, DNA Productions (the creator of the Academy-Award nominated "Jimmy Neutron" film), KERA-TV, Meadows School of the Arts, Nasher Sculpture Center, Amphibian Stage Productions, Echo Theatre, The Dallas Art Dealers Association, The Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas Theater Center, Undermain Theatre, Echo Theatre, Watertower Theatre, Amphibian Stage Productions, Pan American Art Projects, The Dallas Architecture Forum, filmmaker Quin Mathews, playwrights Tom Sime and Vicki Cheatwood, The LifeWorks Group, and author Melanie Wells.
Since 1993, she has served on the Board of Directors of Texas Winds Musical Outreach, which uses professional musicians to perform at nursing homes, senior residences, hospitals and Head Start centers. For 14 of those years, she was Board President. She resigned after creating an endowment. She is also the secretary of the board for La Reunion Artist Residency in Oak Cliff and serves on the board of the Video Association of Dallas. She also served on the Board of Directors for three years for the Texas Music Association and the Board of Directors for The Dallas ChildrenÍs Theater for six years.
She is now a Big Sister for the second time and a Faith Hospice volunteer at Grace Presbyterian Village. She was a state-certified ombudsman for Greater Senior Citizens of Dallas from 1997-2004.
Her honors include recognition by the Dallas Business Journal in its annual "Forty Under 40" Awards and a nomination for the Golden Rule Award from JCPenney. As a freelance writer, she wrote for the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram, D Magazine, Dallas Observer, Document, Buddy and Jam. Her background also includes three years as a reggae disc jockey at community radio KNON 89.3 FM, where she organized bi-annual benefits.
She has taken many acting classes and many playwriting workshops and continues to take literature classes. She is also an accomplished triathlete, a near winner of the Durango Tango at the State Fair of Texas, and the founder of The Others Feminist Book Club.
She was born Jan. 4, 1961 in Pasadena, Ca. and lived in Tifton, Ga., Pittsburgh, Pa., Richmond, Ind. and Frankfurt, Germany before coming to SMU and remaining in Dallas as a a "Dallasite-by-choice." She shares her Oak Cliff home with her producer hubby (and hottie) Scott Sura, one rescued dog - Marley, and one cat, Ziggy, aka "the stud."
