Marked for Death: Essence

From down here, it looks like we're going to be seeing Essence magazine here soon.

Let's see: this is a beauty magazine for black women.

The entire fashion team has gone "AWOL."

Beauty and cover director Mikki Taylor announces her retirement yesterday. NPR is already waving goodbye to her.

Doesn't sound like there will be much of a beauty magazine left, right?

Comments

[David46208]

I disagree with you that the Magazine is marked for death. African Americans have been overall very loyal to African American themed publications such as Ebony, Jet, Essence, and Black Enterprise to name a few. With there being a lack of viable options for African American women to receive viable diverse health, beauty, fashion, relationships, and other cultural aspects of the African American experience as it is geared toward women covered by the mainstream, the magazine has a niche market that continues to seek it out as a source for culturally competent information. Also the circulation date for the magazine continues to amaze with it currently at over 1,089,000. That's not the numbers for a dying magazine. In fact in this day and age where digital media seems to be the wave and other magazines faltering Essence is in as good of position as any successful magazine being published. Mikki Taylor is not the be-ll and end-all of the magazine and was never the main draw for its readers who come first for the ability to connect and read about the world from an AA women's perspective. The beauty and Fashion section of it are also of secondary importance and i'm sure the magazine has someone in mind whom will continue to move forward with what Mikki conceived. Where else will black women get info on makeup for women light, medium, or dark skin all in the same publication? Where else will black women get skincare info tailored to African American's skin and some differences that exist in comparison to their Caucasian counterparts? Not Vogue or Elle. Furthermore the publication is partly successful if not wholly because its availability and is located often in key places where AA women congregate such as beauty shops and/or hair salons. So all that coupled with the large support for the magazine should keep it steady for years to come as long as it stays ahead of the curve and continues to re-evaluate and grow its content with its readers.