Thank you to Joyce Davis, author of Can’t Stop the Shine, for sending this information to me.
According to Richard Prince’s online Maynard Institute column, “Journal-isms,” Susan Taylor has communicated via email from South Africa that she is leaving Essence magazine to build the National Cares Mentoring Movement. Prince reports that Taylor turns 62 next month, has been Essence editorial director for 6 years, and before that was editor-in-chief of the magazine for 19 years. Prince also reports in his column that Taylor describes her National Cares Mentoring Movement as her “deepest passion.”
Publicist Terrie Williams is quoted in the article as saying that Taylor put about 10 young people through college. Williams, who does her own share of community work through her Stay Strong Foundation, often speaks publicly about Taylor’s willingness to let a then-stranger, former Bloods gang member Jiwe Morris, into her home during an elegant and small social event as just one indication of Taylor’s commitment to improving the lives of young African Americans. Since Williams’ and Taylor’s interest in his life, Jiwe has spoken to diverse audiences about his departure from street life and has authored a book about his experiences, The War of the Bloods in My Veins, which has an April 2008 pub date. The article also emphasizes Taylor’s post-Katrina charitable work in the city of New Orleans.
Taylor has given so much of her professional life to guiding Essence magazine through the decades, making the publication the number one magazine for African American women, a Bible celebrating Black female life, and a staple in most of our homes, lovingly spread on coffee tables in virtually every Black living room in America. She has used her visibility to advocate for us all, speaking to women’s groups, launching empowerment summits for Black women, and keeping us all “in the spirit.” It is fitting that she devote the next chapter of her life to mentoring.
The New York Times has also reported on Taylor’s departure from Essence and her extraordinary work as more than just another magazine editor.