BV Special Awards Profile: Susan L. Taylor'Essence' magazine’s editorial director
Susan L. Taylor will be the recipient of the 2006 President's Award at the 37th Annual NAACP Image Awards. Given in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service, the ‘Essence’ front-woman joins past recipients, including
Jesse Jackson, Bryant Gumbel, Alexis Herman,
Lauryn Hill,
Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner, Condoleezza Rice, President Bill Clinton,
TD Jakes and
Venus and Serena Williams.
Taylor was the founder of her own company, Nequai Cosmetics, before becoming the fashion and beauty editor and, in 1981, the editor-in-chief of the Black women’s magazine. To date, she is the author of three books including ‘Lessons in Living’ and ‘Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives,’ co-authored with her husband,
Khephra Burns. A sought after speaker, the Harlem native has received honorary degrees from numerous colleges and universities, including Spelman College, Bennett College for Women, and her alma mater, Fordham University. In 1999 Taylor became the first African-American woman to receive The Henry Johnson Fisher Award from the Magazine Publishers of America, the magazine industry’s highest honor. In 2002, Taylor, was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame.
What does receiving the NAACP Image Award President's Award signify for you?“This award makes me feel even more courageous in standing strongly for disenfranchised and marginalized African Americans, especially for our young people dying spiritually and intellectually in low-grade schools. These schools have a mere fraction of the many needed resources that majority children take for granted, and they are the pipelines to the prisons. This honor strengthens in me the commitment to help make whole Katrina survivors whose lives were turned upside down.”
Looking ahead, what do you think the award presentation that night will be like for you?“What matters most for me the evening of the Awards is the warm embrace of my family and friends who will be with me. Also, that these initiatives that are critical to Black progress that the NAACP is fighting for will be uplifted and fire the heart and passion of young African Americans. As our oldest civil rights institution, the NAACP has won for us so many of the rights we now take for granted. Nothing matters more today than building the NAACP and other organizations committed to achieving economic and social justice for Black people. And to receive an award from Bruce Gordon, a hero of mine, is humbling.“
Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. The 37th NAACP Image Awards will be presented during the February 25 taping at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast on March 3 (8:00 p.m. ET/PT) on FOX.
Click here to view photos from the NAACP Awards Red Carpet. 