Melissa Burgess/Staff writer
To kick of its Leadership Lectures series, the Center for Leadership invited African-American icon, best-selling author, columnist and the editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine Susan L. Taylor to speak to students.
Her lecture entitled “Bold, Visionary Leadership: From the Inside Out.”
Taylor’s lecture offered tools for articulating one’s personal path to leadership and encouraged students to be mentors for her mentoring organization, Essence CARES.
“One of the main things about being part of leadership is being your own leader. Holding your own head and mind, knowing things are going to happen but within you,” said Taylor. “You have to have the courage to know that you don’t get a vision to do something without having the capacity to do it. There is nothing in your life that you don’t have the ability to overcome and learn from.”
Taylor believes much of the new generation of students are too caught up with not getting a job, and don’t focus enough on what they want from life.
“Each of us has an assignment, each of us has talents. The important thing is to find out what your assignment is and it’s OK if it changes. It doesn’t mean that whatever you’re majoring in something today, and then you change your mind about it, doesn’t mean you won’t learn from it,” said Taylor.
“You take all the learning along with you. All we have to do is find out what they are and amplify them. This generation worries too much about jobs, and you know what, in the end, it’s all in divine order. Anything can happen.”
Taylor’s lecture presented ways to embrace drawbacks with self-love, spiritual growth, and change.
“When you feel worried, remember that worrying doesn’t solve anything. When you feel sad or or you feel like giving up, just pause for a second. Remember that every single thing that has happened to you, even the most painful things, are of use to you if you understand that in someway, it was sent from beyond,” said Taylor. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Taylor founded Essence CARES, now known as The National CARES Mentoring Movement. The organization’s mission is to break the integrated poverty cycles of African Americans and Latinos.
Taylor says one of the places her organization expanded their vision to be mentor-based was in Fort Lauderdale.
“I was invited by my friend to visit the Seagull School in Fort Lauderdale, and what I saw took my breath away. I saw teenagers, maybe the youngest of 12 to 15 years old getting arrested. They were wrestling book bags, baby bags, car seats and babies into school buses. I couldn’t even imagine being that age with children, living in poverty and having to fend for myself. It was in that moment I knew I needed to do more,” said Taylor.
The National CARES Mentoring Movement is the fastest growing mentor-recruitment organization in the nation with over 130,000 mentors and 58 U.S cities recruiting, training and deploying mentors to low-income communities around the country.
“Mentoring is all about caring. It’s caring enough to spend one hour a week to advise and guide a vulnerable young person. Nothing is more powerful in a child’s lives (sic) than our commitment and love. We are the solution,” said Taylor.
Before Taylor left publishing to devote her life to building her organization, she worked at Essence magazine as a columnist and editor-in-chief for 27 years.
She also authored the magazine’s most popular column, “In the Spirit.”
Under her guidance, the magazine’s readership soared to eight million in the U.S., Caribbean, Canada, U.K. and English-speaking African nations. The Essence brand also expanded into book publishing, broadcasting, eyewear, hosiery and its own fashion catalogue.
Taylor says she started working at Essence as a fashion and beauty editor when she graduated high school.
“My role at Essence when I was the fashion and beauty editor prepared me to where I am now. At Essence, I learned how to write. I learned how to pick great images, how to tell a story, how to write stories. I learned how to create. Everything I learned at Essence has been essential to my life right now,” said Taylor.
Taylor’s keynote lesson was about removing the walls of doubt and living the happiest and best life possible.
“Not everybody is healthy enough to have a front row seat in your life. Life is not asking for perfection. It’s only asking that you try,” she said. “Be excellent for yourself and be clear about who you are. Life is about change. The divine right moments are right here and right now with more to come.”
About Post Author
