Five Towers Media Welcomes Taylor Stone
Five Towers Media is thrilled to welcome Taylor Stone – a talented graphic designer with a unique and innovative skill set – to their team. Taylor’s entrepreneurial spirit and experience running her own small business, combined with her commitment to lifelong learning, makes her a valuable addition to any company. She has already demonstrated her eagerness to grow professionally and has quickly become an integral part of the Five Towers Media team.
Taylor has always been creative, but it wasn’t until her junior year of high school when she really began to think about the possibility of turning her creative gift into a career. While taking a digital media class and working on posters for a local event, she fell in love with the digital design process and all it entailed. She focused her college search on a school that had a creative community of people she could relate to and learn from. Eventually, Taylor settled on the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. “When I toured New Paltz I saw a lot of people that I felt I could see myself around,” she said. Taylor began attending SUNY New Paltz in 2020, the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, so the first few years were a little isolating, but by her junior year she had grown to love the school and community.
In 2022, Taylor received a Cricut, a computer-controlled cutting machine, designed for home crafters. Almost immediately, Taylor began creating different designs for tote bags and t-shirts. Originally, she focused on Twitch streamers and would send her products to the person running the stream. Her designs would get recognized by fans of the streamer and they would inquire about where they could get their own merchandise. Taylor saw the opportunity to create an Etsy shop and thus, “CaptainPawsArt” was born. “A lot of the things that I was selling at that time were for events and for concerts where the artist or the creator did not have other merchandise, so it was kind of like filling a hole in the market there,” Taylor explained. She continued to share that, “They were my interests and the things that I was passionate about so I had a really big drive to do that stuff.” In 2023, her business experienced its biggest year, but she scaled it back in 2024 to focus on her college thesis. Her Etsy shop is still up and running, but she focuses more on book merchandise creating posters and stickers. “It’s still something I do but it’s on a much smaller level now that I’m trying to focus on furthering myself as a professional and seeing how I fit into a more team-like environment,” Taylor said.
Taylor earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in graphic design with a minor in digital design and fabrication during the spring of 2024. After graduating, she already had a job lined up, but it didn’t quite map onto her creative talents, and she was eager to get involved with a more creative industry. That’s when Taylor came across the Five Towers Media posting on Indeed. “When I saw the listing for Five Towers, and I looked into the company and what they stood for, I really got excited about it. It was the first time that I had seen a design position locally that I was excited to apply for and was hoping I would get the position,” Taylor shared. She continued to say, “I really liked the emphasis on supporting small businesses as someone who has a small business.” Additionally, her minor focused heavily on 3D modeling so she enjoyed combining technology with creativity and saw the opportunities that Five Towers provided. “Seeing that there was the intersection between technology and creativity within Five Towers Media made me think about that relationship and that really inspired me,” said Taylor.
Taylor is already a valued team member and continues to grow every day. Currently, she spends a lot of time working on social media posts, podcasts, ad designs, and more. “The teams been very communicative, and supportive, and helpful getting me caught up and understanding all the systems and processes that we use,” Taylor said, “It’s been fun to continue to learn after my formal education because I am one of the people who thinks that we never stop learning. Within a group of creative people everyone has ideas and everyone has innovations that need to get discussed and thrown around to make everything better in the long run.”
Outside of work, Taylor loves traveling within New England. “Everything within two hours is fair game for me,” she shared. She is always willing to explore a unique bookstore, castle, or mansion. As an avid reader, she loves creating illustrations based off of her favorite books. She is also the proud owner of both a dog and cat, spending a lot of her down time with her animals. The Five Towers team is happy to have Taylor and looks forward to watching her grow within the company.