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Born Darnell Taylor into a family of mixed African and Hispanic heritage, new board chair Taylor Neptune grew up in Long Island, New York and New York City, splitting time between both halves of a separated family. As the oldest child in a mostly single parent household, he learned a lot of life skills early on in life and quickly matured beyond his years. He is as proud of his ethnicity and his lifelong thirst for knowledge as he is of his identity as a queer man.
After graduating top ten in his class in high school, where he was also a decorated athlete in track and football, Taylor obtained his associate degree in business with a minor in journalism. He went on to an internship at a local newspaper where he rose through the ranks to become editor in chief. He then started an independent modeling career, founded a personal stylist business and went on to work for years with notable brands like Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers.
After moving to New England, Taylor started performing as a drag king, with his performances focusing on proud representation of his culture and other indigenous cultures. Being well received and acknowledged in the drag scene, he is now able to create spaces for other performers and queer folks to showcase their talents. He started a successful podcast (Tea Wit Taylor) dedicated to being queer and black which has grown into an informative and fun platform for queer folks to be seen and heard. Throughout his life and career, Taylor has created avenues for his own success and the success of others where they didn’t previously exist, and he would like to continue that work as the new chair of the Options Magazine board.
Originally from Southern California and now living in Rhode Island, Alexia Nunez joins Options Magazine as the new treasurer of the board. As the only open trans Mexicana on our board, Alexia brings much-needed perspective and insight to Options. An engineer by trade, she has also previously volunteered at the Billy DeFrank Center in San Jose, CA, as a part-time librarian. When she’s not busy crunching numbers and processing invoices for Options, you can find Alexia out supporting the Providence drag scene. She is also an avid traveler, enjoys pub trivia, and spends her downtime with her fiancée and her two cats.