Hello,
I'M TAYLA CHRISTENSEN
A college fling once told me, "I liveD life with no handbrake" — which probably explains why I broke six bones before the age of 12. A little naive, a little overconfident. Turns out those traits would serve me pretty well later on.
“RESUME” AKA “Why should I trust you?”
(Because apparently a lot of people need the highlight reel before they'll go any further — fair enough. Here's mine.)
Three FIFA Youth World Cups with New Zealand Football. Division 1 college in Texas (go frogs). A degree in Sociology, Graphic Design and Sustainability - cough cough jack of all trades, master of none. Built a website for a women's org in Bali. Dehorned rhinos on a safari in South Africa. Got a Masters in Business Leadership. Professional football in Spain, where I spoke approximately zero words of the language - turns out not speaking Spanish in Spain makes the entire experience quite challenging, who would have thought? Won a championship and MVP with South Melbourne. Code-switched to AFLW, tore my calf in preseason, made the grand final despite it. Back to football for the Asian Champions League in Vietnam. Volunteered in Nepal. Moved to the Gold Coast to pursue AFL. 30 countries, 6 continents - Antarctica is very tough to tick off.
In between all of that: bartending, coaching, babysitting, jobs in architecture, start ups, gyms, support work and a ski season in Queenstown during COVID… Honestly, as a poorly paid female athlete I did whatever it took to keep the dream alive. I was very tempted by the feet pic economy, but I haven’t give in…yet.
My favourite compliment was when someone told me they thought I was a trust fund baby because of how much I had travelled - my bank account cried, but my ego was cheering from the rooftops.
STILL Curious?
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As an athlete, it can feel like there's one path set out for you. Sometimes we don't even stop to think about who we are or what we like outside of sport. And even if max squatting and getting turf burn every weekend is genuinely your lifelong passion, most of us are forced into retirement before we're 30 - that's if injuries don't get us first. And even when we are competing, there are bills to be paid and off-seasons to fill.
That sounds like a whoooooole lot of living to do.
Piggyback is here to help you connect the dots of your own life - figure out who you are, what you're interested in, and what actually matters to you - so you can live a juicy life, both during and after your career. There's no time like the present to start building a life you're excited to write home about.
The most important thing?
That THIS life is yours. No one else's. -
(No One Rides Alone)
Some believe in god, others believe in the universe, whatever is out there was working for me that day as I sat in my graphic design class thinking of a name for fictional my women’s skateboard brand.
My favourite Thing about design class was getting to imagine up different brands and put things into the world that we wished were real. I had the concepts of a women’s skate brand that was inclusive and badass. The girls rode together, they brought people with them and no one was left behind.
The name Piggyback came to me - I designed a full website for this brand, copy, tag lines, the whole shabang.
I have always wanted to work in the personal development space but wasn’t sure what it would look like. I realised this fictional skate brand embodied everything I wanted to be, how I wanted to live and the world I wanted to be apart of.
“We must build off of the foundations of the people that came before us, and we must take people with us when we go forward”.
Piggyback was born.
This isn’t just about helping one person live a fuller, more intentional life, it’s giving people the permission to live exactly how they should, with confidence, wholeness, embracing all the ups and downs. With so much (apologies for the language) bullshit going around on social media these days, it’s important to have people that genuinely show up and own their story, all of it, not just the shiny parts.
It’s a journey, and I’m right there with you, but life is better together - that’s one thing I know for sure.
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The first time my brother ever baby sat me he pushed me off the trampoline and I broke my arm.
I hated my name growing up and for some reason wanted to be called Frankie? She became my alter ego. I had a blog in college called ‘It’s Frankies World’. Frankie walked so Tayla could run.
The 2014 U17 World Cup was an absolute nightmare - I injured my ankle (stupidly) doing hurdles 2 weeks before we flew to Costa Rica, I was lucky to still be taken after I got a cortisone injection. My Nanna passed away after the first game and I got food poisoning. Safe to say I was happy to be on a flight home by the end of it.
I’m a product of my parents - my mum runs an art gallery in Whanagamata in New Zealand, will get caught talking to any and every one and loves a funky outfit. My dad owns a fishing boat factory and can be found in his shed building and/or riding anything that goes fast. He loves to tell a story (normally after a couple of whiskeys, which, I unfortunately also inherited his taste buds).
