Taylor Heeden is an award-winning journalist from Goldsboro, North Carolina, located in the eastern part of the state. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated with a double major in journalism and communications studies, with a concentration in rhetoric and argumentation. While a student, Taylor worked on staff at The Daily Tar Heel covering municipal government in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, eventually becoming the state politics senior writer.

After graduation, Taylor went back to Eastern North Carolina to cover Johnston County for the Johnstonian News in Smithfield. Later, she joined the Chatham News + Record as a municipal government reporter, covering Pittsboro and Siler City. While there, she made it her mission to place an emphasis on community reporting, including expanding coverage of Chatham’s Black and Brown residents. As a reporter for the News + Record, she won five individual awards through the North Carolina Press Association, including two first place prizes in news feature writing and business writing.

Taylor joined the Qnotes team to cover the LGBTQ+ community at a point where discrimination is at an all-time high, and she hopes to raise awareness of what’s impacting North Carolina’s queer population. In her free time, you can find Taylor listening to music (most often Taylor Swift or SZA), a cup of chai in hand, brainstorming ideas for her next story.

Stories

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Contact

Have questions, need answers, or just want to say hi? Reach out to Taylor.