Haizlip was born in Stratford, Connecticut. She had two sisters and one brother. Her parents were Julian A. Taylor, a Baptist minister, and Margaret Morris Taylor, both natives of Washington D. C. Haizlip grew up in Ansonia, Connecticut. She graduated from Wellesley College, taught sociology at Tufts University and studied Urban Planning at the Harvard University School of Design. Haizlip was the first woman to manage a CBS television affiliate, WBNB-TV in St.Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. From there she went to WNET TV, Channel 13 in New York City and became one of its corporate officers. Haizlip moved to Los Angeles, California in 1989 to become the National Director of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute, an organization which advocated and distributed funding for more than 139 film archives around the country. Haizlip left the Preservation Center to begin writing her book, The Sweeter the Juice.

Haizlip married Harold C. Haizlip in 1959 and the couple had two daughters. She is a frequent lecturer at colleges and popular speakers' venues. She has also written book reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Wellesley Alumnae Magazine. Her articles have appeared in American Heritage and American Legacy. She has written editorials for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

In the Garden of Our Dreams was a number one best-seller on the Los Angeles Times best seller list. Sweeter the Juice was a "notable book of the year", a best seller and garnered the Gustavus Meyers prize for best book on tolerance and the book was awarded the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Bruno Brand Award as best book on tolerance in 1995. In recognition of the importance of the book, The University of New Haven honored Haizlip an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. The book is regularly taught in high schools across the country, and is required reading in numerous college courses Women and Words including sociology, psychology, women's studies, American studies, black studies and family studies.