About Taylor Steele | Founder of Solento Tequila
As a kid growing up on the beaches of Southern California, Taylor Steele discovered a lifelong love for the thrill and serenity of surfing. By his teens he’d begun filming his friends out on the waves, later hustling up an audience by selling VHS copies out of his pickup truck at surf shops along the coast. Soon enough, Taylor turned his two greatest passions into a vibrant career, emerging as an award-winning filmmaker, creative visionary, and vital force in bringing surf culture to the masses.
Over the past two decades, Taylor has immersed himself in the global community, constantly chasing his curiosity about the world around him. Along with making dozens of his own films, he’s served as creative director of Corona Australia and joined forces with such media powerhouses as National Geographic. With his career continuing to evolve, Taylor eventually landed in New York City, where an artist friend introduced him to premium sipping tequila—and quickly sparked an unlikely revelation about reclaiming slowness in an increasingly hectic lifestyle.
In the simplicity of tequila sipping, Taylor tapped into an unforeseen possibility for bringing purpose to pleasure, intention to indulgence: drinking not to disconnect from the everyday, but to slow down and savor each moment. Not only reminiscent of those countless hours spent sitting on his surfboard and finding unspeakable peace in awaiting the next wave, that shift in pace proved a perfect catalyst for conversation that elevates and inspires—an invaluable gift for a consummate storyteller whose work remains closely tied to the circle of friends who’ve graced his films from the start (a bond recently captured in the Emmy Award-winning documentary Momentum Generation).
With the founding of Solento Organic Tequila, Taylor now extends his treasured ritual to like-minded people looking to realign with their own truest essence. Born in New York City but steeped in California soul, Solento embodies the charmed duality that defines Taylor as a global creative, ultimately creating space for more meaning, connection, and much-needed celebration of presence in even the most fast-paced of lives.
