Our Team

FOUNDER
BOARD CHAIR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Brooke Clay Taylor is a keynote speaker, small business owner, and chief operating officer and partner at Empire Ag, a national agricultural consulting firm serving farmers and ranchers.

Raised in a farming family in Franklin, Indiana, and later on a ranch in Perkins, Oklahoma, Brooke was told as a high school senior that she was not college material. With scholarship support and family backing, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and built a career in strategic communications serving nationally recognized agriculture brands.

She later founded Rural Gone Urban, a strategic communications firm rooted in rural storytelling and business strategy. In 2019, on the day she gave birth to her daughter, she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. After achieving remission, the cancer returned in 2022 as stage 4 disease.

In response, Brooke launched the Rural Gone Urban Foundation to formalize the kind of backing she had received throughout her life. Her work centers on funding rural women with discipline, initiative, and vision.

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Ashleigh Gibson serves as Managing Director of the Rural Gone Urban Foundation, overseeing day-to-day operations, program execution, financial management, and organizational strategy.

A Payne County native, Ashleigh earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Arts in counseling psychology from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is a licensed professional counselor and LPC supervisor with more than two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership and organizational development.

She is the owner of Renegade Therapy and Renegade Productions, where her work spans clinical counseling, leadership development, and systems design for mission-driven organizations. Her background includes program development, budget management, grant administration, fundraising strategy, volunteer coordination, and curriculum design.

At the foundation, Ashleigh translates vision into structure. She leads operational systems, grant oversight, and program implementation with an emphasis on accountability, sustainability, and measurable impact.

Her leadership strengthens the foundation’s commitment to backing rural women with disciplined, well-managed support.

VICE CHAIR

Stephanie Sharp Gibbs is a Perkins, Oklahoma native and lifelong community advocate. A licensed cosmetologist and entrepreneur, she co-founded Flourish & Fitness and Tulsa Blooms, organizations focused on wellness, connection, and encouragement.

She brings operational experience, relational leadership, and a steady commitment to rural women and families. Stephanie and Brooke have shared a friendship since sixth grade, a relationship that now extends into service through the foundation.

TREASURER

Leah Beyer was raised in rural Illinois and built her career at the intersection of agriculture and communications. She holds degrees in agricultural economics and education and has led marketing, communications, and public relations initiatives within the international agricultural industry.

Her financial oversight, communications expertise, and understanding of agricultural systems provide disciplined stewardship for the foundation’s growth.

SECRETARY

Cindy Blackwell serves as Director of Academic Faculty Development at Texas A&M University, where she leads university-wide initiatives that advance teaching excellence and faculty development.

She previously served as an academic director with the Association of College and University Educators and spent nearly a decade on faculty at The University of Southern Mississippi. Earlier in her career, she taught in the Agricultural Communications program at Oklahoma State University, where she worked closely with students developing expertise in agricultural storytelling and critical inquiry.

Cindy earned her doctorate from Texas A&M University and her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

A breast cancer survivor, she brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to the foundation’s work supporting women navigating cancer. She serves on the Rural Gone Urban Foundation Scholarship and Love Bomb committees, contributing academic rigor and thoughtful evaluation to program oversight.

BOARD MEMBER

Kenyatta Wright serves as GM and Director of Football Business at Oklahoma State University, where he oversees business operations and strategic initiatives within the athletics program.

He is the founder and CEO of SE7VN Sports, a business development and brand consulting firm serving teams, coaches, and athletes. In addition, he serves as executive director of the Vian Community Foundation and owns multiple Oklahoma-based businesses.

A former four-year starter at Oklahoma State University and veteran of the National Football League, Kenyatta has translated his athletic career into entrepreneurial and community leadership. His work centers on business development, brand strategy, and expanding opportunity in rural Oklahoma.

He brings operational discipline, fundraising experience, and a deep commitment to community advancement to the Rural Gone Urban Foundation board.

BOARD MEMBER

Ree Drummond launched her career blogging about life as a cattle rancher’s wife, home chef, and homeschooling mother. Now better known as The Pioneer Woman, the self-described “accidental country girl” first met Brooke in the late ’00s before cookbooks, magazines, or ad space on personal websites.

Following graduation from her Bartlesville, Oklahoma, high school, Ree left the plains for the University of Southern California. The Windy City called her name next, but fate had other plans: a ranch in Northern Oklahoma’s Osage County.

Sharing her crash course in ranch life with the internet may have launched a global brand, but today, Ree’s impact is palpable at home. Her dedication to rural development has transformed the 3.8-square-mile town of Pawhuska and inspired countless others to invest their time and energy in the area’s betterment.

BOARD MEMBER

Damon Taylor serves as refuge manager for the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where he oversees federal conservation operations across protected lands in eastern Oklahoma. His career with the agency has included leadership roles in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, reflecting more than a decade of experience in wildlife management and land stewardship.

Raised on his family’s ranch in Perkins, Oklahoma, Damon earned a degree in wildlife ecology from Oklahoma State University. His professional life has centered on conservation, habitat management, and responsible stewardship of rural landscapes.

He brings both professional expertise and personal investment in the foundation’s mission as the husband of founder Brooke Clay Taylor.

BOARD MEMBER

Jonathon Haralson is a sixth-generation Texas farmer and rancher and the founder and CEO of Empire Ag, a company that blends agricultural heritage with advanced financial strategy. His work with farmers and ranchers across the country reflects a commitment to rural prosperity. Jonathon’s leadership in business and community aligns with the foundation’s goals to support rural women, education, and small business growth.