Everette Taylor has been finding creative ways to make money since he was a teenager, starting his first businessEZ Eventswhen he had to drop out of college to ensure that he and his family wouldnt become homeless again, as they were when he was in high school.

Taylor, 31, quickly became a serial entrepreneur, starting six marketing and marketing-adjacent businesses, often in the tech realm, including PopSocial, a social media software company, MilliSense, a marketing firm, and ArtX, a platform to elevate independent artists. He also held chief marketing officer positions at start-ups, including Skurt, a car rental company bought by Fair in 2018.

Just three years after buying his first piece of art through a charity raffle, Taylor is now an avid collector of works by Black artists, owning more than 70 pieces. He was named chief marketing officer at Artsy, the digital arts platform, last December.

Penta recently spoke with Taylor about how his life led to a position in the art world. An edited version of the conversation follows.

PENTA: Tell me about your background. Where did you grow up?

Everette Taylor: I grew up in Southside, Richmond, Va. There are not a lot of people who make it out of Richmond, but especially Southside Richmond. I grew up in a lower socio-economic area, with a single mother, who did everything she could to provide for us. Sometimes that still wasnt enough. To see her struggle, and to see the people around me struggle and go through the things they went through, really motivated me and pushed me to want more for myself.

I didnt have a lot of male influences, because the men in my family, the majority of them were dead, or in jail, or addicted to drugs. I saw that path and saw other friends of mine going down that path and I realized I wanted something different for myself. [But] when I was 14, I started to get involved in the streets and things I shouldn't have been getting involved with, and my mother caught me. She told me: Do you want to end up like your uncles, your cousins, or other people in your life? I had a cousin Ricky who was shot and paralyzed, dealing in the streets.

She forced me to get a real job, and the first I was able to get at 14 was a junior marketing associate role. That completely changed my life. When I went into the interview, they actually thought I was a grown man, and they offered me the job, and asked me if I could start that next week, Monday, at 9 a.m. They assumed I went to the local college because I said I had class. In actuality, I was a freshman in high school. But I had that drive, and I knew that I really wanted to do something positive with my life, and so I would go in before and after school and work weekends to get the job done. Ive always been motivated. Thats always been in my DNA. That opened my eyes to marketing.

You became an entrepreneur at an early age. Why?

No. 1survival. Its as simple as that. I started my first company because my family was struggling. I had to drop out of college, and come home and help my family. I was working a minimum wage job and knew I needed more for myself. I knew that if I didnt act fast, my family would be in trouble, and I did not want to be homeless again. Survival has always been a strong element to this day.

No. 2Im a natural creative. Thats something thats not necessarily embraced in the world of tech. I thrive off of creativity and innovation. I thrive off making changes and doing things that Im passionate about. That has guided me through my career. The roles and jobs Ive taken, and companies Ive started, intrinsically have been things that inspired, motivated me, or [where] I saw an opportunity to grow. I dont take jobs just to take jobs.

For instance, Artsy. I come from an entrepreneurial background [but] the reason I took the job is, one, Im thankful for the opportunity. But two, Im waking up everyday to do something I genuinely love, to work with people who I care about and love working with. We are doing something thats changing a space that needs so much innovation, needs so much change, thats not completely equitable yet. Im thankful to be in a position where I can work on things that Im passionate about, and I have that option to choose. I never take that for granted.

How did you become interested in art?

I loved art and I was a voracious reader when I was younger. I was reading about street art and artists like [ Jean-Michel ] Basquiat and Keith Haring when I was very young. In my seventh grade art class I got a C. Its the first C I ever received in my life. I mostly got As and Bs. [The teacher] had a very Bob Ross approach: Paint the trees like this, draw your faces like that. I was doing street art, very abstract. I didnt want to fit in this box in which my art teacher was trying to teach in. Instead of cultivating my interest in art, for my own self preservation I stopped taking it.

Years laterand I tell my ex-girlfriend thank you for thiswhile in Los Angeles, the first time I went to her apartment, she had original works of art. I wasnt used to seeing people under the age of 30 having original works. She only had a few pieces, but I was blown away. One thing we would do is go to art museums, and talk about art, and different artists. That became my escape and my version of self-care, [going to] The Underground Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, the California African American Museum.

In 2017, I was speaking at this event, and there was an Afro-Latino artist, Jon Hen. They were raffling off one of his pieces (The Red Whisperer). I actually won.

I received that piece and brought it back home. For the first time I realized how blank my walls are, and how much cultural significance [there was in] having something like this in my home and how great that felt. I bought another piece from him. Then I started to want to collect more artists, but I wanted to collect artists who meant something, that I felt something from. A lot of times that is from Black and brown artists. The problem was I didnt know where to go to find these artists. Thats why [Artsys Black-owned galleries] collection is important. So many people out there who want to be able to support under-represented artists, or Black-owned galleries, but they dont have the resources to do so.

Who are the artists you are particularly interested in?

One is Kevin Beasley, represented by Casey Kaplan gallery. Hes from Virginia, like me. Im very much a history buff. Im drawn to things that are tied to history and have cultural and historical significance. Hes an abstract artist. He uses polyurethane foam and resin, and like old Virginia cotton, and T-shirts and things that draw back to slavery, and the heritage that is in Virginia. What Kevin Beasley is doing by creating these sculptural works that are made of house dresses, and du-rags, and cotton T-shirts, and creating these powerful images, but deep down, theres a lot of history to that.

Another is Genesis Tramaine, represented by Richard Beavers Gallery and Almine Rech. Her paintings really look at her relationship with religion, her relationship with God, and her own take with that, and its abstract figurative work. I have a piece called Mama Gave me Change for Offering. It takes me back to the days I was going to church, every Sunday. That was meaningful to me.

You have a dream to create a museum in Richmond. Why is that?

Im not in the art world for commercial reasons. Im in it for the preservation of history, the preservation of culture, especially during a time where there has been the commodification of so many artists, especially Black artists. The dream for me is to bring a museum, using my collection, and potentially having other curated shows as well, to Southside Richmond, or, say, North Side, in Jackson Ward, a historically black neighborhood where Black and brown boys and girls can see art and be introduced to the art world. To introduce them to contemporary Black art, and also [for them] to see that theres actually a career path here.

This museum will serve as a place to introduce people to art and the love of art from a young age to old age. There are a lot of people in Richmond who havent left the city, or who havent left the block, and to give them an opportunity to see art, and to see Black art comes in so many forms and facets. I remember going to my first art fair and this person pointing out, thats a Black artist, thats a Black artist. It opened my eyes. I want to open so many peoples eyes to the beauty and culture and history of art, and specifically Black art in this museum in my hometown.

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20 Minutes With: Artsy CMO Everette Taylor - Barron's