Taro Alexander

Founder and CEO

Taro Alexander has stuttered since the age of five and truly understands the physical, social, and emotional impact of stuttering. In 2001, Taro fulfilled his lifelong dream, establishing SAY to help transform the lives of so many young people who stutter. In 2008, Taro launched Camp SAY to provide kids and teens with another transformative, confidence-building experience. Taro is the passionate force behind SAY and inspires the important work that we all do each day.

Taro was raised in the worlds of performing arts, therapy, and education. His mother, Riki Alexander, is a therapist and educator, and his father, the late Bobby Alexander, was the founder and Artistic Director of the Living Stage Theatre Company, a renowned theatre for social change with a mission to transform individuals and communities through creative empowerment. Taro graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1991 and left his hometown, heading to New York to pursue a career as a professional actor. Over the ensuing years as his acting career blossomed, Taro was afforded opportunities on the stage and screen and crisscrossed the country on two national tours (Lost in Yonkers, STOMP), but he always knew that his true calling lay in working with young people. In 2001, he realized that the time had come to start making his dream a reality, and so SAY was founded, and the very first group of participants (seven teens from NYC and the surrounding area) began meeting weekly to create and perform their own original plays and songs.

For that first year, Taro ran SAY out of his living room in the East Village. With the generous support of many amazing friends who contributed money and volunteered their hard work, time, and talents, the first public performance was a huge success — complete with standing ovations from the capacity audience on opening night and even a positive write-up in the New York Times! Participants, crew, volunteers, and the community alike were transformed by this powerful opportunity to deeply listen to and be present for young people who stutter, giving them as much time as they needed to speak.

Taro is widely recognized for his work with people who stutter and has led workshops, master classes, and performances across the world. Taro received the Charles Van Riper Award in 2002 from the National Council on Communicative Disorders and was the keynote speaker at the 2005 National Association of Young People Who Stutter (FRIENDS) Conference. In 2019, Taro was the recipient of the Annie Glenn Award, bestowed by The American Speech-Language Hearing Association. Taro has also been featured on NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered, The Today Show, WNBC, and in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and Associated Press.

Taro is married to the incredibly talented Leigh Pennebaker and has three amazing children.