For 30 years, Tay­lor served as Essence magazine’s ground­break­ing Beauty & Cover Direc­tor, and is now Editor-at-Large for the pub­li­ca­tion. In addi­tion, she is the Founder and Pres­i­dent of Mikki Tay­lor Enter­prises, LLC, which serves as a hold­ing com­pany for a num­ber of ver­ti­cal busi­nesses, including Satin Doll Pro­duc­tions, a full-service image build­ing and con­sult­ing divi­sion, and MT Communi­ca­tions, a strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tions and brand­ing company.

Tay­lor has offered beauty and style advice through all types of media, includ­ing broad­cast, digital, and print out­lets, which cul­mi­nated in her wildly suc­cess­ful book, Self-Seduction: Your Ulti­mate Path to Inner and Outer Beauty (Bal­lan­tine Books/One World). This tri­umph left read­ers crav­ing more, there­fore the sequel, Commander in Chic: Every Woman’s Guide to Man­ag­ing Her Style Like a First Lady (Atria Books/Simon & Schus­ter), hit shelves in November 2011.

Tay­lor has joined forces with AMBI Skin­care, a divi­sion of John­son & John­son Con­sumer Products Com­pany, as the brand’s newly-appointed national spokesper­son in an effort ded­i­cated to empower, inspire, and cel­e­brate women of color. AMBI Skincare’s 45-year her­itage as the trusted brand for even-toned, beau­ti­ful skin per­fectly com­ple­ments Taylor’s 30-year career as a renowned beauty expert. This alliance will pro­vide women with the tools and resources nec­es­sary to feel beau­ti­ful inside and out.

Tay­lor has been fea­tured on many tele­vi­sion out­lets, includ­ing: The Oprah Win­frey Show, The View, The Today Show, Week­end Today, The Early Show, NBC Nightly News, EXTRA, Inside Edi­tion, E! Enter­tain­ment Tele­vi­sion, CNN, TV Guide Chan­nel, VH1, Style Net­work, Life & Style, WE–TV, CBS 2 Morn­ing News, The Insider, the Style Net­work, Pure Oxy­gen,  BET, Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance, and TV One. View­ers also received a weekly dose of Taylor’s pos­i­tive influ­ence on VH1’s highest rated debut series Fla­vor of Love Girls: Charm School, which pre­miered to more than five mil­lion view­ers. Each week, Tay­lor served as the voice of rea­son and com­pas­sion as she imparted to the women hon­est, valu­able infor­ma­tion, insight and tips to help the con­tes­tants—and the women who watched the show—live a bet­ter, more pro­duc­tive, pride-filled life. She also served as the host of the TV One series Makeover Manor.

One of Taylor’s most trea­sured expe­ri­ences was a trip to South Africa, at the spe­cial invi­ta­tion of Oprah Win­frey, where she served as an instruc­tor to 149 girls ages 12–14 at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Acad­emy for Girls as part of its Arts Work­shop 2007. Tay­lor taught a course called Cel­e­brat­ing Your Unique Beauty & Style, a three-part work­shop that addressed prac­ti­cal and timeless ele­ments of social graces and the essen­tial basics of inner and outer beauty, and Your Best Shot, a ses­sion which taught the skills to ensure a phe­nom­e­nal photograph.

In 2007, the Black Retail Action Group (BRAG) hon­ored Tay­lor at its 37th annual schol­ar­ship and awards din­ner, acknowl­edg­ing those who have pen­e­trated and embraced the world of beauty in a signif­i­cant way both in front and behind the scenes. She is also a four-time recip­i­ent of the CEBA Award, a for­mer indus­try award acknowl­edg­ing excel­lence in African American media, as well as the win­ner of the Asso­ci­ated Black Char­i­ties Image Mak­ers Award.

Another prized accom­plish­ment of Taylor’s was orga­niz­ing an annual beauty event where proceeds from the sale of prod­ucts ben­e­fited home­less and under­priv­i­leged women through the Cos­metic Exec­u­tive Women’s (CEW) Women in Need, a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion that ser­vices shel­ters in and around New York City. Tay­lor is also a mem­ber of the President’s Coun­cil of Fash­ion Group Inter­na­tional, Inc., where she pre­vi­ously served as a mem­ber of its board of directors.

The inter­na­tion­ally rec­og­nized style and beauty expert is author of a new book, appro­pri­ately titled Commander in Chic: Every Woman’s Guide to Man­ag­ing Her Style Like a First Lady (Atria Books Hard­cover Orig­i­nal; on-sale Novem­ber 29, 2011; ISBN: 9781439196724; $26.99 US). A must-have lifestyle guide, it is filled with valu­able infor­ma­tion, prized in-the-know tips, and afford­able go-to resources that serve as today’s work­ing woman’s style hand­book. Read Less ^