Taylor Washington (nee Ellis-Watson) joined the UCF athletic staff in August 2019 as coordinator of executive operations. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was an American track and field standout as a member of the United States Olympic team gold medal-winning women's 4 x 400-meter relay for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Washington first attended the University of Pittsburgh and after two years transferred to the University of Arkansas, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. During her college career, she was an 11-time All-American and was part of the first two national championship teams in Arkansas women’s sports. Washington was honored with multiple awards including Arkansas Student-Athlete of the Year, NCAA woman of the year nominee and NCAA Top-10 Award.
Washington ran professional for two years with Adidas while attending Saint Leo University (Saint Leo, Florida), attaining her MBA in sport administration. She worked for one year at the Kennedy Space Center on the test operations support contract as a NASA support specialist.