FLOWWITH SUSAN
IN THE TAYLOR K. NEYCHA HERFORD T
he column not only satisfied my young mind’s relent- less thirst for stories of triumph, but the woman who pinned
that transformative writing - Su- san Taylor - became for me a living monument of womanhood, creativi- ty, humanity and the certified badass I aspired to be.
It is for this reason alone that I ac- cepted the assignment from my editor to interview Ms. Taylor, who this January is being celebrated for both her 70th turn around the sun and to highlight the National CARES $7 million fundraising campaign - an organization dedicated to mentorship that she founded in 2005 as Essence CARES.
H&S: Having inspired millions of wom- en for decades, at this juncture in your life, what would you deem to be the most important instruction for those who are dreaming of a new life, but are deeply afraid to make any radical changes?
Ms. Taylor:.Life is going to give us repeated opportunities to change, and sometimes it forces change. I think our challenge is to pause and, in the quiet, ask this critical question: What have you come to teach me? Be with that and allow
life to unfold. Life does require us to have unbreakable trust. I call it walk- on- water faith. To know that no matter what is coming my way, it’s for my good.
H&S: How does one develop and sustain faith in the face of life’s day to day un- certainties and disappointments?
Ms. Taylor: Faith is built all the time. If not for the breakups and the shake- ups and things falling apart in my life, I would not know the Holy Spirit. I would not know that life is truly on our side, all the time.
When my first marriage fell apart, I was thrown on my own with a baby, no man, no money, had lost my business, everything. When I look back on that, I thank God all those things happened. I was reminded to count my blessings. We have to trust and look for the divine hand in everything.
It’s always there.
H&S: Would you say that you actually had such optimism in real time while you were navigating those changes back then?
Ms. Taylor: There was no optimism. It took an anxiety attack, and for me to be truly on the ledge. Looking back, I see that if I didn’t have that anxiety attack, I wouldn’t have been in the hospital that day thinking I was having a heart attack. If I had money that day, I would not have attempted to walk home from Manhattan
to the Bronx. I’ve told the story many times - how on that walk I was led to a church where I heard a sermon that changed my life. Things that I thought were disruptive, were actually gifts - they were the changes that I probably needed to make, but may not have had the cour- age to initiate without being pushed.
H&S: Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search For Meaning, wrote, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Have you ever faced a situation that you felt powerless to change and as a result were forced to change yourself?
Ms. Taylor: Probably the most challeng- ing moments in my life had to do with not having the resources that I needed to pay my rent, feed my daughter, and keep a roof over our heads. Not being able to take care of ourselves, more than anything, created depression and fear.
I had to look within myself and get quiet. Once I did that, I had an idea that I should make a phone call to this model- ing school. I asked them if they had any interest in having a beauty editor come and teach some courses there for the young women training to become mod- els. They hadn’t heard of me, but they had just heard of Essence and said, “Oh, we’d love that!” With one phone call, my salary increased by forty percent. That school was there for thirty years before I ever made the call.
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