{"id":1917,"date":"2013-04-02T14:18:21","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T14:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=1917"},"modified":"2013-04-02T14:18:21","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T14:18:21","slug":"taylor-speaks-life-and-beauty-at-night-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2013\/04\/02\/taylor-speaks-life-and-beauty-at-night-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor speaks life and beauty at \u2018Night for Women\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Taylor speaks to audience during event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Candace Chambers<\/strong>
\n Blue & White Flash \/ News Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more stars in the universe than are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world combined,\u201d philanthropist Susan Taylor said profoundly to her audience at Jackson State University on March 22, to show just how unique they are.<\/p>\n

At the last event of Women\u2019s Emphasis Week, celebrated from March 18-22, 2013, Taylor, Editor Emeritus of Essence magazine, provided words of wisdom in the JSU Student Center Ballroom A, for relationships, career goals, and for living one\u2019s full potential as a divine creation of God.<\/p>\n

The night began with a welcome by student chair of Women\u2019s Emphasis Week, Kachelle Pratcher, followed by a brief introduction of the captivating speaker.<\/p>\n

Taylor said it was time to focus on women and their contributions. Her message to the women in attendance, \u201cYou are more than enough. You are human and divine, blessed just the way you are.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSometimes we forget that it\u2019s really a gift \u2026to be born black and female is an extraordinary opportunity and comes with challenges as well,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

Throughout her years at Essence magazine, Taylor served as beauty editor for 10 years and 27 years as editor in chief.\u00a0 From a weekly television show to the Essence Music Festival, she helped in transforming the magazine into more than a publication on a coffee table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined Essence, we had 50, 000 readers. When I left\u00a0 we had 8 million,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

As a single mother working at Essence magazine, she spoke of her failed first marriage and told the audience that pain is a natural part of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cPain is natural. Suffering is choice,\u201d she said. When problems arise, she challenged everyone to ask themselves, \u201cWhat have you come to
\nteach me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor spoke passionately about what she said is \u201ca call to action.\u201d The National Cares Mentoring Movement, founded in 2006 by Taylor as Essence Cares, is a mentoring program for African-American youth founded to improve overwhelming statistics in areas of illiteracy, poverty, and incarcerations rates.<\/p>\n

With mentor recruitment circles all across the nation, Taylor stated that \u201cthe movement is a call to action; to our community, to get involved in the lives of young ones\u2026It\u2019s really our challenge to put things back together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor spoke directly to young women about valuing their bodies and being happy because they are a divine original.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappiness is what you host and you bring it with you wherever you go. And I want women to not be doormats for men\u2026 love is a magnet. You want to love yourself just the way you are,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

Taylor answered questions from the audience. Some asked about internships and ways to identify mentors in the community. She encouraged the audience to seek mentors in their own communities and be specific in searching.<\/p>\n

Taylor said, \u201cThere are people that can mentor you in different areas in your life. You want to look at your life and see what you need and move forward and get that kind of information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor left\u00a0 lasting words with the audience about redefining beauty, being healthy in mind, body, and spirit, and embracing the beauty on the inside. When asked about her own beauty she said, \u201cI don\u2019t really think about my beauty. I look in the mirror and I say I\u2019m 67 years old and I\u2019m liking what I see. And that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

JSU students said they truly appreciated the night with Taylor and the motivation to become better women.<\/p>\n

Martha Taplin, a senior biology\/pre-medicine major from Jackson, Miss., said, \u201cI appreciated the female leaders she listed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends Lianna Norris, a sophomore biology\/pre-medicine major from Grand Rapids, Mich. and Arekia Bennett, a sophomore physics major from Jackson, Miss., were inspired by the speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs friends, we inspire each other. We preach this same message almost every week. Until we heard her say it, we said you know what, this is really good,\u201d said Bennett.\u00a0 \u201cI feel that I\u2019ve been at a standstill, and this kind of woke me up. Just to be self-motivated, and not to get discouraged because it happens a lot when you do get discouraged.\u00a0 A lot of what she said today will be a sense of uplifting and it\u2019s good to be able to be there for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett added, \u201cI think the biggest thing would be to step outside of your comfort zone. Be open to try new things and open to listen to people, and open to branch off .\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candace Chambers Blue & White Flash \/ News Editor \u201cThere are more stars in the universe than are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world combined,\u201d philanthropist Susan Taylor said profoundly to her audience at Jackson State University on March 22, to show just how unique they are. At the last event […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-campus-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}