Taylor was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to Afro-Caribbean parents. She grew up in East Harlem, where her father owned a clothing store. She went to a Catholic school. As a teenager, she moved with her family to the New York borough of Queens.

Taylor started her career at Essence, a magazine for African-American women, in 1970, the year the magazine was founded. Her first position at the magazine was freelance fashion and beauty editor. At the time, she was a divorced single mother without a college degree.

By 1981, Taylor had risen to become editor-in-chief, a position she held until 2000. During the 1980s, she attended night school and earned a B.A. from Fordham University.

In addition to her editing responsibilities, Taylor had success building the Essence brand. She was executive producer and host of Essence, the Television Program, a syndicated interview program broadcast on more than 50 stations for four years during the 1980s. In the 1990s, she began Essence Books.

Taylor's monthly inspirational column, "In the Spirit", became a popular feature of the magazine. She published three volumes of selected columns.

In 2000, Taylor was promoted to publications director. She left the magazine in 2008.

In 1987, Taylor received the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications.

The Magazine Publishers of America gave Taylor its Henry Johnson Fisher Award, considered one of the industry's highest honors, in 1998. She was the first African-American woman to receive the award.

In 2002, Taylor was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame for her work at Essence.

In 2003, Exceptional Women in Publishing , formerly Women in Periodical Publishing, presented Taylor its fifth annual Exceptional Woman in Publishing award .

The NAACP gave Taylor its President's Award in 2006.