Essence Editor-in-Chief Emerita and National CARES Mentoring Movement Founder Susan L. Taylor to Deliver Commencement Address at Cheyney University
(Cheyney, PA – March 15, 2019) – Susan L. Taylor, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Essence Magazine for 27 years and now runs the nation’s fastest-growing mentor-recruitment organization, will give this year’s commencement address at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.
“We are extremely honored that Susan Taylor accepted our invitation,” said Cheyney University President Aaron A. Walton. “This is an individual who gave up her position in one of the highest echelons of journalism to devote her life to building an organization whose mission is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty among African Americans. She is an ideal messenger to address our graduates as they prepare to make their impact on society.”
Taylor describes her organization – the National CARES Mentoring Movement – as “a community transformation crusade dedicated to changing the predictable futures defined for our young men and women who are struggling along the margins and living with the indignity of poverty.”
“For more than a century Cheyney’s leadership has worked with passion and dedication to educate and create the best post-graduation successes for its students,” Taylor said. “A mentee of mine, who was in deep crises, is among the multitudes of young people who have benefited from the nurturing support the university provides its students. It is my honor to return to Cheyney to congratulate and inspire the May 2019 graduating class.”
The National CARES Mentoring Movement got its start in 2005 when Taylor founded Essence CARES. It has grown to now operate in 58 cities, including a chapter in
southeastern Pennsylvania. Local CARES Affiliates recruit, train and deploy caring adults to schools and a wide variety of youth-serving organizations that are desperate for Black volunteers to serve as mentors, tutors, reading buddies and role models. To date, National CARES has recruited more than 130,000 mentors, working with organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
At Essence magazine, Taylor not only served as chief editor, but also authored the magazine’s most popular column, In the Spirit—the first in a mainstream U.S. magazine to champion spiritual growth as a pathway to total well-being and a meaningful life.
Under her guidance, the publication’s readership soared to eight million in the U.S., the Caribbean, Canada, the U.K. and English-speaking Africa nations, and the Essence brand expanded into book publishing, broadcasting, eyewear, hosiery and its own fashion catalogue. But nowhere outside the magazine did she bring people and Black culture together as beautifully as with the launching of the Essence Music Festival and its famous empowerment seminars.
“I plan to tell the Cheyney graduates to have faith in the goodness of life, and to realize that when we strive to be kind and loving and true to our purpose, and leave our world better than we found it, everything we need to succeed in doing the work of life is given us,” said Taylor.
Taylor’s genius has not gone unrecognized. She is the first and, sadly, she laments, the only African American woman to be recognized by the Magazine Publishers of America with the Henry Johnson Fisher Award—the industry’s highest honor—and the first to be inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame.
Word that Taylor will be addressing the 2019 graduating class comes at a very exciting time for Cheyney. The university recently announced partnerships with Epcot Crenshaw, Jefferson University and Starbucks that will bring new programs and investment to the 275-acre campus that straddles Delaware and Chester Counties. In addition, to the partnerships and negotiations over a potential hotel-conference center, academic admission standards have been raised, attracting a wave of applications from high achieving students.
“We’re transforming the trajectory of the university,” President Walton said. “It’s not just change. We are totally redesigning the university to meet 21st Century standards.”
The commencement ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in the Marian Anderson Music Center Auditorium.
About Cheyney University
Cheyney University is America’s oldest and first institution of higher learning for African Americans. It was founded on February 25, 1837 at a time when African Americans were not allowed to study at other universities. Although its current student population is predominantly African American, Cheyney University today receives students from
various races, nationalities and cultures who are seeking a quality higher education. As America’s first HBCU (Historically Black College or University) it is considered a national treasure.
Read more at www.cheyney.edu.
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