(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Kindergarten Readiness Ambassador and Community Engagement Coordinator Taisha Ellzey.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born June 4, 1980, in Natchez.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I attended all the Columbia School District schools and went to the University of Southern Mississippi. I majored in business administration and management information systems.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I work for East Marion Elementary and West Marion Primary as the kindergarten readiness ambassador and the community engagement coordinator. With kindergarten readiness I help parents of 3- to 5-year-olds prepare their children for kindergarten to give them all the tools they need to learn what they need to know for kindergarten.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: Last year I was a 2-year-old teacher. I loved my job at Woodlawn childcare. It was the most amazing job, I loved the children, loved watching them learn and loved teaching them, but then the pandemic came. My mom got sick so I had to leave my job to care for my mom. This job presented itself after we got her all on the mend. I thought, “I prepared 2-year-olds so I could do this too.” When they began to tell me about it, I was very interested in it.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: For me it would be going into the community, talking to different people, getting to know everyone and making lasting partnerships.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: With me being new, just learning everything entailed with the job like the paperwork and who to talk to about different aspects for resources for different families, there’s a lot to know. That’s challenging just learning all that.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: It’s about how you treat people because you never what someone is going through. People struggle on a daily basis that we don’t even know about. How you treat them can make or break them. My thing is I always treat people the way I want to be treated. My dad always told us to be overly kind because somebody could be fighting a battle we know nothing about.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a lawyer. Watching all those John Grisham movies and reading all his books, it was a great interest for me.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I worked at Jitney Jungle in Columbia as a cashier.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: My parents, George Washington Jr. and Idelle Washington. I love my parents; they are amazing. When God gave me His love on earth, my parents were the closest thing He could give me to His love.
Q: What is your spouse’s name?
A: Clinton Ellzey. He is a diesel mechanic for Sanderson Farms.
Q: Do you have children?
A: I have three children. Madison is 14, and I have twins, Camryn and CJ, who are 10.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: It would probably have to be a pot of my dad’s seafood gumbo.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I want to go to Italy. It’s a dream of mine. It’s beautiful then there’s the history and culture of everything.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I’m a crafter, and I bake. There used to be a sewing store here, Sew Select, that used to be owned by Mattie Hicks and Paula Matthews. I was making hair bows when Madison was very little, and Ms. Paula asked who made her bows. I told her I made them, and she said I needed to get my hair bows in the store, which started my hair bow business.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: I just love that it’s a small-town atmosphere where everyone knows everybody and is willing to help each other. We always seem to come together to help each other.
Q: What clubs or organizations are you involved with? Where do you go to church?
A: I’m involved with the Junior Auxiliary Club. I go to Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: It would be my grandmother, Mae Ola Turner, because she always had this way about her where she could always make everything better. She would know when I was going through something, and she could just call and soothe me. She could make you think that everything in the world is fine.
Q: What is your biggest guilty pleasure?
A: Doritos and coke.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: One of my teachers, Bill Sweeney, in sixth grade thought I could do everything. He had more confidence in me than I did in myself. He would tell me things like, “You’re like the Oreo, what’s in the middle, because you’re the best,” or “You’re cream; you always rise to the top.” He kept speaking these things to me, and it made me feel like I could do anything.
Q: What is one thing you want to do that you’ve never tried?
A: I want to try axe throwing. It seems pretty fun.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three defining characteristics?
A: Caring, loyal and persistent.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: As somebody who gave my all to everybody.
— Joshua Campbell
