License: United States Parachute Association D (master) license
Jumps: 1500
Home dropzone: Johannesburg Skydiving Club
Disciplines: Wingsuit flying, Freeflying
Ratings: United States Parachute Association Coach
Parachute Association of South Africa (PASA) Jumpmaster
PASA Coach (Freeflying)
PASA Wingsuit Instructor/Examiner
Birdman Instructor (BMI) SA-003
Why do I do it? There is something about this sport. It changes our lives, our points of view, our brain chemistry. We forge inconceivable bonds across social and economic lines. We risk our lives for the view from altitude - for a sense of possibility that conquers the mundane. For me it is a meditation, the sky a quiet place where my flying is a gesture of thankfulness for the moments I've been given.
Skydiving Projects
The tonto Boogie
Wingsuit Bigway
Raise the Sky
Project XRW
Jumps: 1500
Home dropzone: Johannesburg Skydiving Club
Disciplines: Wingsuit flying, Freeflying
Ratings: United States Parachute Association Coach
Parachute Association of South Africa (PASA) Jumpmaster
PASA Coach (Freeflying)
PASA Wingsuit Instructor/Examiner
Birdman Instructor (BMI) SA-003
Why do I do it? There is something about this sport. It changes our lives, our points of view, our brain chemistry. We forge inconceivable bonds across social and economic lines. We risk our lives for the view from altitude - for a sense of possibility that conquers the mundane. For me it is a meditation, the sky a quiet place where my flying is a gesture of thankfulness for the moments I've been given.
Skydiving Projects
The tonto Boogie
Wingsuit Bigway
Raise the Sky
Project XRW
Skydiving Bio
Taya did her first jump in California soon after graduating from college. The experience of overcoming fear in the door of an airplane inspired her to make some life-changing decisions. She packed up her San Francisco apartment, drove cross-country, and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to pursue work that would change people’s lives for the better. She now has over a thousand skydives out of various aircraft, and she is still an idealist.
She did many of her first thousand jumps in South Africa, where she met the man who became her life partner and fiancé, skydiver Eric “tonto” Stephenson. Eric taught her how to fly a wingsuit. Together, they successfully lobbied the Parachute Association of South Africa to accept and recognize this emerging discipline. They also designed and implemented a Wingsuit Instructor Rating Course and trained many new wingsuit flyers in the region – including four who went on to fly in the first ever Wingsuit World Record formation attempt at Lake Elsinore in 2008.
Skydiving changed Taya’s life again when Eric died suddenly on a high-speed swoop landing in October 2007. She established an annual skydiving and charity event, the tonto Boogie, and dedicated her participation in the 2008 Wingsuit World Record to his memory.
Taya has since been involved in helping to get Wingsuit Formation Records officially recognized by the United States Parachute Association. She was the lead organizer of the 2009 US National Wingsuit Record, a 68-person formation that also raised money and awareness for national charity City Year. She currently serves as an advisor to the International Parachuting Commission's Wingsuit Working Group.
Taya did her first jump in California soon after graduating from college. The experience of overcoming fear in the door of an airplane inspired her to make some life-changing decisions. She packed up her San Francisco apartment, drove cross-country, and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to pursue work that would change people’s lives for the better. She now has over a thousand skydives out of various aircraft, and she is still an idealist.
She did many of her first thousand jumps in South Africa, where she met the man who became her life partner and fiancé, skydiver Eric “tonto” Stephenson. Eric taught her how to fly a wingsuit. Together, they successfully lobbied the Parachute Association of South Africa to accept and recognize this emerging discipline. They also designed and implemented a Wingsuit Instructor Rating Course and trained many new wingsuit flyers in the region – including four who went on to fly in the first ever Wingsuit World Record formation attempt at Lake Elsinore in 2008.
Skydiving changed Taya’s life again when Eric died suddenly on a high-speed swoop landing in October 2007. She established an annual skydiving and charity event, the tonto Boogie, and dedicated her participation in the 2008 Wingsuit World Record to his memory.
Taya has since been involved in helping to get Wingsuit Formation Records officially recognized by the United States Parachute Association. She was the lead organizer of the 2009 US National Wingsuit Record, a 68-person formation that also raised money and awareness for national charity City Year. She currently serves as an advisor to the International Parachuting Commission's Wingsuit Working Group.
With a very talented Board of Directors, she launched a skydiving non-profit called Raise the Sky in 2009 to connect skydivers with charitable and humanitarian causes and highlight a public image of skydivers as superheroes. Her articles are regularly published in Parachutist, Blue Skies Magazine, and 90Percent.