Mikki Taylor
Mikki Taylor is an award-winning journalist, author, cultural storyteller, and trusted authority on inner and outer beauty for women of color. Taylor, who served as the groundbreaking Beauty & Cover Director at ESSENCE Magazine for over 30 years, has made depicting the stories of women of color her life’s work because of her strong desire to bring the beauty, strengths, and phenomenal achievements of womanhood to life. At ESSENCE Taylor casted and produced over 400 covers as well as its signature beauty pages to affirm and inspire the culture’s definition of beauty. As an advocate for honesty in beauty, her work gave birth to product lines, industry studies, the realization of diversity and inclusion in advertising and retail initiatives directed to women of color. In 2010 Taylor became Editor-at-Large for the publication. In this role, Taylor contributes to various reader-driven platforms, including the ESSENCE Festival’s PowerStage, ESSENCE Hollywood House and stories about the magazine’s history. Taylor scripted and served as host for nearly a decade for the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards which is dedicated to honoring the power and presence of Black women in front of as well as behind the camera. There she brought together such Change Agents as Cicely Tyson, Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Shonda Rhimes, Angela Bassett, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lee Daniels, Spike Lee, and others. She also brought those together who might not meet to pay tribute to them such as actresses Emma Stone and Amy Adams, film director James Cameron and a host of Hollywood’s A-list directors and film makers. In her work to empower young women Taylor served as host and mentor for Disney Dreamers Academy (DDA) with Steve Harvey, an immersive 4- day program at Walt Disney World that inspires and fuels the dreams of high school students. Over the course of 14 years Taylor not only worked to illuminate the achievable possibilities centered within a dream through DDA, but hosted an initiative known as “A Pajama Party with a Purpose,” where she brought in such “Big Sisters” as two-time Academy Award winner Ruth Carter, The View’s Sunny Hostin, Grammy-Award winner, Yolanda Adams, singers Chloe & Halle and others to speak to navigating the challenges young women face while blazing the trail of purpose. Internationally, Taylor has served as an empowerment instructor at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa at the special invitation of Oprah Winfrey. As a Media Personality Taylor documents Black Girl Magic for millions. She played a pivotal role in Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution, filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper’s pivotal documentary on the most iconic moment in fashion history. Taylor is currently featured in such ground-breaking docu-series as Netflix’s Black Beauty Effect, HBO Max’ & OWN TV’s Time of ESSENCE (which chronicles ESSENCE Magazine’s rise to prominence and Taylor’s radical contributions), Vogue Magazine YouTube Originals Supreme Models and A & E Network’s James Brown: Say it Loud, executive produced by Mick Jagger and Questlove. Taylor has appeared on Good Morning America, NBC Today, The View and such networks as CNN, CBS, OWN and BET and has worked with some of the world’s most fascinating and influential people, including President Barack Obama and 1st Lady Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys and more. Taylor has authored such critically acclaimed books as Self-Seduction (Random House), Commander in Chic, and Editor-in-Chic (Simon and Schuster) and her latest, Force of Beauty: A Newark Family Memoir, an Audible Original, co-authored with filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper. The first-person narrative reflects on how Taylor became a “force of beauty” who changed an industry, and a leading trailblazer in the fight for equity and fairness for women of color everywhere.