In an industry where corporate loyalty has gone the way of the dodo bird, Susan L. Taylor has been synonymous with the Essence brand since the magazine's launch in 1970. After working nearly four decades at Essence magazine, editor and author Susan L. Taylor has ventured out to devote more time to her mentoring campaign. Ms. Taylor is now focusing much of her time to building the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which she founded as Essence Cares. Her goal for the mentoring movement is to have “every able Black adult” mentor an at-risk youth.
Her success is all the more remarkable considering that she was once a single mother of daughter, Shana-Nequai and they were barely scraping by. When she was 24, she found herself separated, with rent due, car broken, and three dollars to her name. One Sunday morning in November of 1970, Taylor was snowed under by pain in her chest and experiencing trouble breathing. The New York City emergency room doctor who admitted her diagnosed her with acute anxiety and prescribed a heavy dose of relaxation. Leaving the hospital feeling fearful and hopeless, Taylor stumbled on inspiration on her way home.
Walking up Broadway, she came to a church and went in. She had not attended church in years, but sitting in a back pew in her jeans and leather jacket, she heard a sermon that changed her life. "The preacher said that our minds could change our world. That no matter what our troubles, if we could put them aside for a moment, focus on possible solutions and imagine a joyous future, we would find a peace within, and positive experiences would begin to unfold," she recalled in “In the Spirit.” She decided to try it and gathered up some of the small pamphlets in the church vestibule. Little did she know she was taking the first step toward replacing her fears with faith. “It was the beginning of my realization that our thoughts create our reality,” said Taylor. She held on, and eventually her part-time job at the new magazine “Essence” became full-time, providing direction for her career.
Born in the Harlem section of New York City to West Indian parents on January 23, 1946, Taylor was raised in a strict yet loving environment. She was taught about the determination of her forebears to make a better life. She heard stories of her maternal grandmother's bravery--leaving a broken marriage and six children in Trinidad in 1916, settling in Harlem, working and saving and bringing her children and mother to the United States by 1925, and doing battle with anyone and anything that stood in the way of her family's forward movement, including racist police, school principals, and even the federal government. "Like the women of her time, my grandmother didn't wait for change; she initiated it," Taylor noted in her column in Essence.
Taylor's father, Lawrence, arrived in Harlem from St. Kitts, West Indies, in the early 1920s and opened a clothing store with Taylor's mother, Violet. But by the early 1960s, the street on which the store was situated had become a "war zone" of drug-related crime and after 30 years, the business closed. Noting the "disturbing sadness" of many Black male youths in the 1990s, Taylor remembered seeing similar “deep, quiet kind of sadness” in her father’s eyes when his clothing store, the family's main means of support, closed.
In her Essence columns, Taylor also recognized a central trait she had inherited from her mother. "My mother always said that one of her greatest frustrations with me was my mouth," Taylor wrote. "But I come by my strong opinions naturally: In that respect I am my mother's child." In fact, Taylor celebrates her power to speak out. "It is not for nothing that Black women have acquired a reputation for speaking out. Historically, our words have been our only weapons, and our voices often our only defense.... But let us not forget the power of our collective voice when it is united--in prayer or in protest or in demand."
In her early 20s Susan Taylor trained in acting with the Negro Ensemble Company. She also founded her own company, Nequai Cosmetics, obtaining a license as a cosmetologist and developing beauty products for Black women. Taylor's experience with Nequai attracted the editors of Essence, which led to her first free-lance articles there.
After divorcing her first husband, William Bowles, Taylor struggled as a single parent in personal and financial crisis. She credits her daughter with helping her remain focused through these hard times. "After the breakup of my first marriage, I realized it was my sole responsibility to feed, clothe and educate my daughter," she was quoted as saying in Memphis, Tennessee's Tri-State Defender. "This empowered me and compelled me to live my life with purpose. My daughter has been my anchor," said Taylor. Her daughter accompanied her everywhere while she pursued her career. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Taylor recollected her early days at Essence, explaining, "I just decided that rather than limit myself because I was a mother, I'd take her everywhere and expose her to everything. She was hanging around these offices when she was two."
Taylor's rise to the top at Essence took ten years. While friends moved from one magazine to another, Taylor stayed on at Essence. "There were some moments of self-doubt, but the bottom line was that I was still challenging myself. And the waiting paid off." Taylor moved from the part-time position of free-lance beauty editor, to the full-time staff position of fashion and beauty editor, and eventually became editor-in-chief, in 1981.
By the late 1980s Essence had a paid circulation of 800,000 and an estimated "pass-along" circulation of some 4 million, of whom about one-fourth were male. When asked what she hoped to communicate with the magazine, Taylor told Cosmopolitan, "We're saying, 'You're beautiful and you're intelligent and you can do [it].' We try to deliver the strategic information and the inspiration to help Black women make a triumph of their lives." Taylor asserted to the Los Angeles Times that Essence was one of the first magazines to consider in print the difficult subjects of incest, drug use, and rape. The publication's coverage has ranged widely, from interviews with figures like Winnie Mandela, a leader in South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, to features on romantic meals for two, male-female relationships, hair-styling tips, and spa and vacations.
In addition to her success editing Essence, Taylor has also excelled as a business executive and in television. During the 1980s, she became vice-president of the magazine's publisher, Essence Communications, and the host/executive producer of the television show Essence, the Television Program, a 30-minute interview series produced in New York and syndicated to 55 network affiliates and independent stations. The show ran for four seasons in more than 60 countries. During this period Taylor also returned to school to finish her degree at Fordham University. She later received an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University.
During much of her tenure at Essence, Taylor has maintained a column titled "In the Spirit." In addition to autobiographical reflections, she has addressed such diverse topics as sexuality, domestic violence, male-female relations in the Black community, the Gulf War, the beating of Rodney King, the meaning of Africa for Black Americans, and Black history. Offering her insights in the form of general advice, Taylor frequently stresses the need for positive and empowering thought--for spirit and faith--among Black women and throughout Black America in the ongoing personal and collective struggle against racism.
In 1993 Taylor collected a number of these essays and new ones for her book, In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor. "In the Spirit is a deeply personal book," Taylor wrote in the preface. "It's about my healing and yours. It contains the seeds I want to plant in our hearts and within our universal garden so that we can uplift our people and ease the suffering in our world." Publishers Weekly commended the book, particularly the author's style, warmth, and generosity in revealing herself. Library Journal highly recommended it, noting that it was written "first of all for Black women," yet still "appeals to common humanity while encouraging transcendence." In the Spirit became a national best-seller. She has also written and co-authored several books including Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives.
Taylor travels widely to address conferences for Black women and to speak on the state of Black America. The African Women on Tour conference, which was held in various cities in the U.S., featured workshops, motivational speakers, and entertainment. In her address as keynote speaker, Taylor urged "quiet time" for focus and critical thought. "We need to know what our needs are and not let others tell us what are needs are," she proclaimed, as reported by Malaika Brown of the Los Angeles Sentinel. "It's just time for us to do the work and we know what the work is. What we have to become are critical thinkers."
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