RESTON, Va., Aug. 3, 2021— The National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF), the philanthropic arm of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), has announced that Taylor Maldonado, RPR, an official court reporter from Dos Palos, Calif., has been named recipient of the first annual Monyeen Black Memorial Grant. NCRA is the country’s leading organization representing stenographic court reporters, captioners, and legal videographers.

The $1,000 grant honors the memory of NCRA member Monyeen Black, RPR, CRR, a deposition reporter from Paso Robles, Calif., who passed away in January. Black held the nationally recognized professional certification of of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR). She was also certified in California and owned MBreporting located in San Ramon. The grant was established to aid new professionals who have passed their RPR certification.

Applications for the grant require that candidates be a current member of NCRA, have passed the RPR certification, be in their first one-to-two years of court reporting or captioning, provide a letter of recommendation, answer a short essay question.

Maldonado, who holds the RPR, has been employed by Heart Captioning, in Mentone, Calif., since October 2020. In answer to the 2021 essay question, How, when, and why did you realize that a career in court reporting was right for you? Maldonado wrote:

“After graduating high school, like many 17-year-olds, I had no idea what career path I wanted to take.  I had looked into cosmetology and teaching special education. After a summer of research and debating, neither occupational course seemed to be the right fit for me. Stenography is something I stumbled upon by chance. My uncle, who is a homicide detective, spends a lot of his time in the courthouse. One day while having a conversation, my uncle jokingly said, ‘court reporting may be something you want to look into because it may fill your need for wanting to know everything about everything.’ Little did he know that little joke would lead to many years of schooling and finding a passion for stenography.

The road began as a 17-years-old, just out of high school, not knowing what career I wanted to pursue. Some might say it happened by chance, but I call it fate. A joke turned into an idea, and that idea turned into a passion. When you go to work every day, and that work makes a difference, it is the most incredible feeling in the world. My journey has been challenging, long, and almost out of reach. I have beaten the odds and will continue to do so regardless of the obstacles ahead. Growing up, I have always been told to do what you love and love what you do and that for me is stenography.”

According to Regina DeMoville, CRC, of Heart Captioning, Maldonado, who is a working mom, has definitely shown she has determination and passion for achieving her goal of becoming certified in California. “Her professionalism is on par, and she is very motivated to learn more about this amazing profession.”