Director, North Florida AIDS Education and Training Center
Crossing the graduation stage as she earned her PhD in health and human performance is a moment Taryn Rivera Buckley will never forget. The journey to her advanced degree was filled with challenges. She worked full time at Girls Place, taught classes at the University of Florida and balanced life with a toddler at home. Her family, along with a bus of girls from her workplace’s after school and athletics program, celebrated the achievement alongside her.
Ten years later, she remains busy with her career and commitment to youth leadership.
Buckley is the director of the North Florida AIDS Education and Training Center, whose purpose is to train healthcare providers that treat people with HIV/AIDS. She is also an adjunct lecturer for UF and vice president of the board of directors for Family Promise.
Buckley is active in the Junior League of Gainesville, where she has been a member for more than ten years. Her fondest role has been mentoring and training the organization’s new members.
The mother of two volunteers with Food4Kids Backpack program, coaches her son’s soccer team and referees middle and high school soccer games. In her free time, she has committed to running half marathons in each state, already checking 34 off her list.
Buckley believes the best leaders are conduits of change that listen to the thoughts, ideas and feelings of those around them.
She said, “A fierce woman is a combination of determination, passion and empathy.
