Former San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor is starting a new job next month, at which she hopes to help shepherd the careers of people getting their start in politics during times of high political division.

Taylor left her role as president of Rust College in Mississippi in May of last year, and accepted a job as a senior adviser with the University of North Carolina system starting in March.

As part of her new role, she’ll be a professor of practice at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Government, teaching nonprofit governance. In the future, she hopes to assist with some of the university’s programs aimed at training elected officials, she told the San Antonio Report in an interview Wednesday.

“I hope that young folks that are starting out careers in government will think about the possibilities for the future, and not just be kind of discouraged by the current state of [politics] not just nationally, but some locally in some quarters,” Taylor said.

“A lot of folks seem to have lost their vision for the future, so I hope that people who are looking at careers in public service will have a vision that includes opportunity for all kinds of places, people and neighborhoods,” she continued. “That’s what my service in San Antonio was about.”

Taylor was back in San Antonio Thursday for the unveiling of her official portrait at the City Council chambers, where she served as District 2 councilwoman before being appointed to succeed Julián Castro as mayor in 2014. The city’s first Black mayor, she then was elected to the post in 2015.

“I hope that seeing my portrait hanging in the gallery will be an inspiration, especially to little Black girls,” Taylor said.

“Though I was not the first woman mayor, there were about 40 years or so between Mayor Lila Cockrell’s tenure and mine, and I do sincerely hope that is not another 40 years before the next one,” she said to applause.

Her portrait was done by artist Marvin Espy.

In a nod to the heightened political environment, the event drew complaints from a protester who interrupted the gathering and was still unhappy with Taylor’s vote against a non-discrimination ordinance the City Council approved in 2013.

Taylor still owns a home in San Antonio, as well as a farm in Mississippi, where she and her husband, Rodney, have been living. She recently stepped down from the board of University of Incarnate Word, a position that brought her back to San Antonio semi-regularly, due to her new job.

Taylor, who started her career working in housing and development for the city, lost her reelection race to Ron Nirenberg in 2017.

She went back to school for a doctoral degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, with the goal of leading a historically black colleges or university. That dream was achieved in her six years at Rust College, she said.

“My personal life’s mission is connecting people to opportunity,” she said. “I started out doing that as an urban planner, and that’s kind of what got me into elected office, and now, higher education.”

Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) thanked Taylor for advocating for professional salaries for council members, which he said helped make his own bid for public office possible.

Taylor grew up in Queens, New York, and came to San Antonio in 1999 to be closer to her husband’s family.

The move to Chapel Hill will put her closer to some her own relatives and take her back to the university where she earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning in 1998.

“I’m going to be two hours away from my dad and my sister, my niece and nephew and other family members, so I’m really excited about that,” she said.