Single Mom Strong: Tara Taylor's Mission to Lift Single Mothers

A core part of For Her, By Us is amplifying the voices of single mothers - their challenges, triumphs, and stories that too often go unheard. But supporting single mothers requires more than listening. It requires strengthening the communities, mentors, and organizations that help them thrive. Behind every resilient mother is often a village that chose to show up.

Few people understand that better than Tara Taylor, founder of Single Mom Strong.

At 21 years old, Tara became a mother and left an unhealthy relationship in the same year. For the next 17 years, she raised her daughter as a single parent, carrying both the responsibilities and the isolation that often accompany single motherhood.

"I identified as a single mom more than anything else in my life," she told me. "It's what most affected my journey."

Determined to create opportunities for her daughter, Tara built a successful business. Yet financial stability did not erase the challenges. She remembers feeling alone, lacking the support system many families take for granted. Even in environments centered around children, she often felt like an outsider.

Her daughter played competitive soccer, a world largely populated by two-parent households. As one of the only single mothers on the sidelines, Tara frequently felt judged rather than understood.

"There was a lot of stigma around single parenting," she said. "People weren't aware of what single motherhood really was."

That experience planted the seed for what would eventually become Single Mom Strong, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering single mothers and their children through community, mentorship, childcare, and support programs.

What began as a desire to create a connection soon evolved into something much larger. As Tara listened to the mothers around her, she noticed recurring barriers: unaffordable childcare, limited career flexibility, social isolation, and a lack of reliable support systems. Many women worked tirelessly to improve their circumstances but found themselves trapped between earning too much to qualify for assistance and too little to comfortably afford the resources they needed. Rather than asking mothers to simply overcome these obstacles alone, Tara began building programs designed to remove them.

Today, Single Mom Strong operates multiple preschool centers, affordable summer programs, mentoring initiatives, professional development opportunities, and community events. One of its most impactful programs provides affordable childcare during school breaks – it’s a challenge Tara remembers really well.

For many working mothers (mine included), summer can feel less like a season and more like a logistical crisis or an impossible juggling act. Single Mom Strong's summer camps provide affordable, full-day care while giving children enriching experiences that many families would otherwise struggle to access.

But perhaps the organization's greatest achievement is not a specific program. It is the culture it creates. For mothers who arrive feeling ashamed, exhausted, or overlooked, Single Mom Strong offers something powerful: belonging.

"I have so many examples of moms who came into this space feeling less than," Tara said. "And they leave realizing that being a single mom makes them strong."

That transformation can be life-changing. Tara shared the story of one mother who initially lacked the confidence to step into unfamiliar spaces. Years later, that same woman graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and opened her own law firm. While Tara is quick to give the mother full credit for her accomplishments, she recognizes the importance of having people who believe in you before you fully believe in yourself.

After graduation, the woman shared the phrase that defines Single Mom Strong: "Gritty, determined, and I refuse to fail." For Tara, those words capture the reality of single motherhood far better than the stereotypes that still persist today.

Over the past nine years, she has watched attitudes begin to shift. Conversations once filled with judgment are increasingly being replaced by respect. Communities are starting to recognize what she has known all along: single mothers are not defined by what they lack, but by what they overcome.

When asked what advice she would give a mother newly facing single parenthood, Tara's answer was simple. 

Give yourself space to grieve. Then build your village. "The faster you build that village," she said, "the sooner your trajectory will improve."

Her story is a reminder that resilience rarely develops in isolation. It grows when people choose to show up for one another. Through Single Mom Strong, Tara Taylor is doing exactly that. She’s creating a village where thousands of mothers and children can find strength, support, and the belief that they are capable of far more than society may have told them.