Conversations with the Inspiring Taylor DeLaura

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor DeLaura.

Taylor, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Louisville, CO, but fairly quickly moved to Florida and Texas where I spent the bulk of my childhood. My parents were determined to raise my brother and me in Colorado so when I was in 4th grade, we moved to Pueblo West, CO. It was a huge transition moving to a semi-rural area. Pueblo is a challenging part of the state. There is a lot of need for a better education system and public health. I saw a lot of my friends and classmates get into drugs, gangs, and unplanned pregnancies.

Despite this, I owe Pueblo credit for keeping me humble and teaching me that hard work is often more valuable than things like status or pedigree. I was lucky to grow up in a very supportive and loving blue-collar household with a mother who was always telling me “when you go to college…” not “if you go to college’ and a father who always told me what I needed to hear — like it or not. After graduating from high school, I attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. I was immensely homesick for the first three months. I called home every night and found myself missing things about my hometown I hadn’t appreciated, but by winter break, I was certain I was doing what I needed to do. I came to be truly inspired and stimulated by the intellectual curiosity of the University and her people. I graduated with a double major in Molecular Biology and the Classics in 2013. To this day, I credit most of my educational and professional development to the time I spent at CU during those four years. I had decided in undergrad I would apply to dental school and was accepted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. This decision moved me even further from my small town roots and catapulted me a city and region of the US that couldn’t have been more different than my own.

Over the next four years, I created a home away from home in Philadelphia surrounded by even brighter and more inspiring individuals than I had met in undergrad. Then, as I neared the end of my dental training I decided I would further pursue a specialty in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. In 2018, I graduated from Penn Dental with my DMD and matched at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in their six year combined OMFS-MD residency. Earlier this summer, I started my second year of residency and completed my first semester of medical school. Though my life has taken me nearly 2,000 miles away from home I still consider myself Colorado born and raised, and after completing my first metric century this spring, I wore a Colorado jersey so everyone would know just where I hail from.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m very fortunate that I had a family, as well as friends, who understood my desire to get outside of my comfort zone and pursue my aspirations at the expense of missing many birthdays, Christmases, Mother’s Days, etc. The struggles were often balancing what I was being told and what I truly wanted. As a woman, when you decide to pursue a career that will monopolize much of your 20s you are constantly reminded by men and women of all ages and professions that you will be asked to sacrifice your personal life… and though I currently work 80+ hours a week I’ve also been able to find a fulfilling relationship that understands and supports my career. People were always telling me to have perfect balance. Balance is a relative thing and people of all professions rarely have it. It’s important to understand what this concept means to you and make decisions you can live with irrespective of what you are hearing. When I made my career decision, I asked around to get multiple opinions, but in the end, I took all this information, slept on it, and made decisions that ultimately I could live with. To be clear, this doesn’t mean I don’t have a personal life! I still enjoy a variety of hobbies and lovely relationships, but probably more sparingly than if I went with a different career path. Another perceived struggle is pursuing a career that is majority male. Currently, ~15% of training Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons are women, however, I’ve truly encountered mostly encouragement from faculty, co-residents, and patients alike. I’m sure there are bad experiences out there or in my future, but they are not so prevalent that they should prevent anyone in this day and age from pursuing the career they desire.

Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, OMFS, is a specialty of dentistry focusing on treating disorders and diseases of the head, neck, face, jaws, and oral cavity. Most people know local private practice oral surgeons for taking out wisdom teeth and placing dental implants, but the specialty encompasses many types of surgeries for things like cancer, benign tumors, trauma to the head and neck, reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries, and many more. To be an OMFS, you must complete an undergraduate degree, dental degree, and then either a 4-year residency in OMFS or 6-year residency that includes an MD degree as well. Currently, ~15% of training Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons are women, compared to a nearly 50/50 split for dental school trainees. Being a woman in this field is a unique experience in it of itself for me.

It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
Podcasts are my everything. I listen to them when I walk to the hospital in the AM and at night when I’m finally headed home. My AM grind consists of Up First and the Daily. I usually end the day with something more light-hearted or fun like How I Built This or Radiolab. I’m also a true crime junky so I dabble with things like the Sword and the Scale, Root of Evil, or White Lies.

Contact Info:

• Email: taylor.delaura@gmail.com
• Instagram: taylordelaura

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