taylor + maya mason
Taylor Mason is the founder and CEO of Taylor's Tacos Chicago. She met Maya Mason in 2016, and together they officially launched Taylor's Tacos Chicago, LLC. What started as a fun way to bring friends together on a Taco Tuesday in southern California, has blossomed into a catering and events company, an event space named Taylored, and non-profit "Tacos Create Community NFP" where the taco experience can be shared by all!
Taylor was born and raised on the west side of Chicago. She graduated from Whitney Young High School and went on a scenic route through a rural Kansas junior college to ultimately graduate from Pepperdine University. Sunny California is where she always wanted to be and where her love for street tacos flourished. When she wasn't playing ball (she received a full Division I basketball scholarship to Pepperdine), you could find her cooking up meals for her teammates. During her senior year of college, Taylor's mother had unexpected back to back brain aneurysms, and her dad asked her to return home to Chicago to help her mother get nursed to health. Taylor returned to Chicago and worked in the family's sports business (NBU Athletics). As she worked on finding her lane in Chicago, she decided to curate an artist showcase called "The VIBE Collective" where she created and sold the first Taylor's Tacos for $1. After a sell-out event and a line around the corner, she decided to put more effort into building out the Taylor's Tacos brand.
Maya Mason went to the illustrious Chicago Academy for the Arts with a focus on dance and ballet. She went on to Columbia College in Chicago in the hopes of a career in the arts and fashion. She acquired her work ethic from her parents who both had culinary degrees and worked within the food industry. Maya grew up in her mother's garden, learning how to grow and manipulate her own organic foods. She learned recipes from her father who managed and consulted in a multitude of restaurants including Demera Ethiopian. Cooking, the science of cooking, and the art of food was something that was always close to her heart.
Taylor and Maya met in 2016, two years after the first Taylor's taco was ever made. Maya brought on the creative direction, unique flavor profiles and hospitaliTAY while Taylor took on the business execution and branding. Together, they went down to city hall and officially launched Taylor's Tacos Chicago in 2018. They moved into their own private commercial kitchen in The Hatchery in 2019 and scaled the business tremendously. Taylor and Maya tied the knot in July 2020, opened their own commercial event space called TAYLORED in March 2022, and a brick and mortar in 2022.
After three years in retail service, they know that their heart is in catering, events, and bringing the taco experience to all! While they are currently in a private catering space, be on the lookout for some awesome Taylor's Tacos concepts coming soon.
With over a half a million tacos sold and 4000 events completed to date, Taylor's Tacos is reviewed as a place to eat by the Chicago Tribune, the Sun Times, Eater, and Infatuation. The "sexy, crispy SHRIMP" taco holds the crown for the best taco in Chicago on from Good Morning America.
