Tennessee team captain and graduate student-athlete Charisma Taylor, an All-American in the triple jump and Bahamian national indoor record holder in the event, joins DyeStat editor Erik Boal to discuss her move from Washington State to completing her collegiate career in Knoxville, including her debut for the Volunteers in the 60-meter hurdles and long jump Jan. 14-15 at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Taylor, who earned the Tom Hansen Award at Washington State last year as the top female senior student-athlete based on her performance and achievement in academics, athletics and leadership, is pursuing a Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition, Taylor is continuing to run her business as the creator of The Pastry Chateau, which she started during her career in Pullman. She revisits capturing a gold medal in the triple jump and silver medal in the 100-meter hurdles for the Bahamas in July in San Jose, Costa Rica, before making the transition to Tennessee. Taylor examines the opportunity to challenge herself competing in the Southeastern Conference and the opportunity to focus more on the long jump, in addition to the hurdles and triple jump, in her schedule. She speaks about the depth of the jumps group at Tennessee, along with the opportunity to collaborate with first-year Volunteers coach Nick Newman, who previously worked at USC. Taylor also shares her excitement for the opportunity to train with veteran hurdles coach Ken Harnden and analyzes how much she has improved in her pursuit of eclipsing the 8-second barrier in the 60-meter hurdles for the first time in her career. She also expresses gratitude for the opportunity to have head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan as a mentor and the significance of having four females as program heads in the SEC, including Caryl Smith-Gilbert at Georgia, Connie Price-Smith at Ole Miss and Althea Thomas at Vanderbilt. Taylor, who placed fifth in March at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships by producing the Bahamian indoor record of 44-8, reflects on finishing at the national outdoor final in June at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., and the motivation that performance has provided to achieve her goals this year at Tennessee. She looks forward to the upcoming triple jump showdowns with Florida's Jasmine Moore, Texas A&M's Deborah Acquah and the Texas Tech tandem of reigning indoor and outdoor champion Ruth Usoro and new teammate Ruta Lasmane, a transfer from Florida State. Taylor also recaps her return trip home to the Bahamas during the winter break and being able to reconnect with family, in addition to doing holiday business with The Pastry Chateau.