Faith at the Core: How Narcisse Taplin Leads Business with Kingdom Conviction

What does it look like when a business leader refuses to compartmentalize faith — when belief isn't something reserved for Sunday mornings but is woven into every client meeting, every financial decision, every creative act? For Narcisse Taplin, Founder and CEO of Business SALUTEtions, that integration isn't an aspiration. It's the architecture of her life.

Taplin, who recently celebrated her 56th birthday, describes herself as "Kingdom Single" — a phrase she has carried for six or seven years as a declaration of identity, not a description of lack. It reflects something essential about how she moves through the world: with intentionality, with purpose, and with God at the center of everything.

A Faith Rooted Early, Tested Often

Taplin's relationship with God didn't begin in a boardroom or during a business crisis. It began in childhood. Growing up in a Methodist church, she gave her life to Christ as a preteen — but even before that formal commitment, she was already reading the King James Bible on her own and talking to God in the quiet, unforced way that children sometimes do before the world teaches them to overthink it.

One story captured her imagination early and never let go: Jonah. Not the children's flannel-board version, but the full, uncomfortable account of a prophet who ran from his calling, faced the consequences, and ultimately had to choose obedience.

"When I have a reluctance to share, I'm reminded of Jonah. And I'm like, well, I said I would, I said I will, I have surrendered. The kingdom of God is at hand and souls are at stake every day."

That conviction — that witness matters and that walking away from it carries real cost — has followed Taplin into every season of her professional life. The closer she has grown to God, she says, the more she understands what it means to be separated from him, and the more compelled she feels to share his goodness through her testimony and her work.

Starting the Day Before the Day Starts You

Ask Taplin how she lives out her faith daily, and she doesn't point to a program or a discipline regimen. She points to a posture. Every morning begins with gratitude, prayer, meditation, and time in Scripture — often through the Bible app on her phone, which she credits as a genuine gift for busy leaders who might otherwise let the morning slip away before they've grounded themselves.

But her morning prayer isn't a generic request for protection and productivity. It's a specific, intentional invitation.

"One of my points of prayer is: give me the knowledge, the wisdom, the discernment, and understanding — not just to get through the day, but to get from the day."

That distinction matters. Getting through the day is survival. Getting from the day is growth. And for Taplin, that orientation shapes how she handles the inevitable moments when things go sideways — because she isn't surprised when they do, and she isn't undone when they do either.

"Faith is part of my business model," she says simply. "My business is not a faith-based business, but it is faith-centered. Faith is part of my brand."

When God Gives You a Clear Assignment — and You Add Too Much

In late 2024, Narcisse Taplin became a published author. Her debut collection, The Abasis, a book of 60 poems, was released on Christmas Day — a fitting date for a work she describes as more than poetry. It is, in her words, "a literary work that speaks to humanity."

But the story of how that book finally arrived is one that many leaders will recognize immediately.

Years before she sat down to write it, God had placed the assignment on her heart with striking clarity: 60 poems. Not 80. Not a collection with stories and questionnaires woven throughout. Sixty poems. Taplin, a poet and spoken word artist since her preteen years, heard the instruction. She even started. But then she began to embellish.

"He was very clear — 60 poems. It was as clear as telling Noah how to build an ark. But oh no, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'm adding questionnaires. I'm doing the most."

Life filled in the gaps that her additions had created. The project grew unwieldy, then dormant. But it never fully disappeared. It sat in her subconscious like the one item on a to-do list that somehow never gets crossed off — present, patient, persistent.

Last year, something shifted. Taplin recognized that the many other books living inside her — on womanhood, on championship, on different dimensions of life — could not come forth until this one was complete. So she went back to the original instruction. What did God say? Sixty poems. No additions, no expansions. Just obedience to the original ask.

The Abasis is now available on Amazon in paperback. It arrived, as promised, when she finally let it be exactly what God had asked for — nothing more, nothing less.

Stewarding Resources with Honesty and Trust

Taplin is refreshingly candid about the tension between financial diligence and genuine trust in God. Her mother raised her and her brother with a firm foundation in financial literacy — credit, savings, accountability, building for the future. Taplin took that foundation and built further, educating herself on investing and trading, developing a deep pride in her financial stewardship.

And then she pauses on that word. Pride. She says it slowly, with the awareness of someone who has caught herself in the very thing she is describing.

"I prided myself on credit, on paying things on time, even ahead of time. And pride is the code word — let's not let that escape us."

When circumstances have tested that foundation — when the house needs repairs, when the numbers don't line up the way they should — Taplin has learned to bring God her frustration honestly rather than performing composure she doesn't feel. "He already knows how I feel," she says. "I don't have to hide that from him."

And she anchors herself in a promise: "I desire that you prosper, even as your soul prospers" (3 John 1:2). The enemy, she notes, works hard to make that promise feel distant when circumstances press in — but she has learned to recognize the tactic and return to the word.

"God said the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Financial stability brings me peace. He wants to take that. But then God comes back and says, 'But I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.' I stand on that."

A Word for Every Christian Business Leader

When asked what encouragement she would offer fellow faith-driven professionals, Taplin doesn't soften the message. She has watched too many Christian leaders relegate their faith to the margins of their professional lives — either out of fear of being dismissed or a desire to seem neutral. She pushes back on both.

"Do not put your faith on the back burner. Whether you are a faith-based business or not, God should be the core of your business as he is the core of your person. Our business can be a part of our testimony. How we engage in our work might be the closest thing some people ever get to seeing the Bible lived out."

She is also building toward something new: a community formation she is calling a network for Kingdom Women — a space for women on the kingdom journey to find community, accountability, and support without having to compromise their values or their convictions. It is still taking shape, but the vision is clear and the need is real.

And her perspective on the body of Christ as a resource network is equally direct. "Everything we need for our businesses, our leadership, our communities — all of that talent exists within the body of Christ," she says. "If only we would come together, feed each other, cultivate each other, and then serve the world."

The Foundation Beneath Everything

If you ask Narcisse Taplin for the verses that anchor her, she offers two without hesitation. Matthew 6:33 — "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added" — and the timeless anchor of Proverbs 3: trust in the Lord. She pairs them with a challenge that is both gentle and convicting: if you find yourself falling short of either, ask God to help you grow there. Don't condemn yourself. Grow.

Because here is the thing about leaders like Narcisse Taplin: they understand that seeking the kingdom and conducting your business with integrity aren't two separate commitments. They are the same commitment. You cannot genuinely pursue one without the other catching up to you.

And when it does, the whole enterprise — the work, the witness, the legacy — becomes something far greater than any one person could build alone.

Narcisse Taplin's debut poetry collection, The Abasis, is available now on Amazon in paperback.