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Those impeccably groomed elegant braids. A flawless, unlined complexion-yes, even at age 58. The high forehead and graceful neck, and an easy carnage that makes her appear taller than she is at five feet nine. This is the iconic media image of Susan L. Taylor. And she looks just so when she greets us with that generous smile and mellifluous voice in her recently renovated office suite in the Times Square building where Essence magazine has been headquartered since the 1980s. When she embraces us unpretentiously, we feel welcomed for sure. Here is a woman who is truly comfortable in her own lovely brown skin.
But as longtime readers of her Essence column "In the Spirit" and her three published books of inspirational writing (see listing, page 15) know, Susan L. Taylor hasn't always been so self-assured. She first came to Essence as a freelance beauty and fashion editor in 1971-without a college degree, newly divorced and the mother of a toddler. While working and raising her daughter, Shana, Taylor earned her B.A. from Fordham University, attending evening classes. (Today, daughter Shana is the owner of a thriving beauty supply business, wife to former NBA player and Atlanta-based businessman Bernard King, and mother to their six-year-old Amina Suzanne.) Leading Essence since 1981, Taylor went on to win the magazine industry's highest honor, the 1999 Henry Johnson Fisher Award from the Magazine Publishers of America. In 2002, Taylor was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame. She also found a beloved life partner in writer Khephra Burns, 52, her husband of 15 years. Taylor will tell you that she has struggled and worked diligently to earn this ease with herself that now is reflected in the ease in which she moves in the world.
Essence magazine will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2005, and the guardian of the Essence brand is the woman who served as its editor-in-chief from 1981 until 2000, when she assumed her current role as Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer for Essence Communications Partners. Susan L. Taylor is a major force in the magazine and media worlds, but her tremendous impact in book publishing is largely underacknowledged.
Her inspirational writing has built...