August 4, 2025

Taylor Clemens: Putting Passion to Work at Amanda the Panda

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA  --  Taylor Clemens knows what suffering loss and living with grief is like for youth.   

“I had personal experience with the loss of a parent when I was a child,” she says, “I’ve always been passionate about working with youth who’ve experienced something that I experienced when I was younger." 

Now in her third year working for EveryStep’s Amanda the Panda as a Program Coordinator, Taylor is putting that passion to work.  From working with participants to find the right program for them, assisting with creating curriculum or even planning the menu for evening grief groups – she does a little bit of everything. 

Taylor’s path to EveryStep and Amanda the Panda started in college.  “When I was a student at Iowa State, I was actually an intern here,” she says, “I was a Human Development and Family Studies major ... and you have to have an internship to graduate.” 

After graduation, she put her degree to use serving hungry central Iowan families in a position with the Food Bank of Iowa.  But she says she kept her eyes open for an opportunity to help even more.  “I loved what I was doing at the Food Bank, but it just wasn’t where my passion lived,” she says. 

As an intern, Amanda the Panda had a staff of just four people.  When the team expanded and added a new position, she didn’t hesitate to act: “When I saw this opening, I jumped on it immediately,” she says, “I was very excited that I was able to make that jump over here and put that passion to work.” 

The career change was exactly what Taylor was looking for.  “I definitely feel fulfilled.  I never dread coming to work,” she says, “I value the work that I get to do when I come here and the people that I get to do it with and the people that I get to support along the way.” 

Taylor says friends often think that her work in grief and loss must be sad – but she says that isn’t the whole story.   

“It is, but it isn’t,” she says, “These people are taking a really big step and a leap of faith to come through the door.  It's extremely brave for them to do that.  To be that person that has helped them find that support or connected them to that support is just super fulfilling.” 

Those connections, Taylor says, are one of the keys to dealing with grief.  “The purpose of our support group here is to bring people together so grief is less isolating.  Just knowing that in my role I got to be just a small piece of that to me is what brings it full circle.” 

A recent trip to Creston helped to reinforce to her the impact that EveryStep makes in every community they serve.  “When we were setting up for our day camp and went out to lunch.  The waitress at the restaurant knew us from the hospice side and she instantly had a connection with a family member that had utilized our hospice services and knew the name Amanda the Panda,” Taylor says, “She just thanked us for the work that we did ...  and all we were doing was eating lunch!”