Susan L. Taylor, author and founder of Essence magazine, speaks at the YWCA Leaders Luncheon, which each year presents awards to women leaders in the community. Taylor told women to take care of themselves first, as a way to get ready to tackle the world's problems. (Leah Hogsten / The Salt Lake Tribune)

A new world is on the way, but that world has to come through us, said former Essence magazine editor Susan L. Taylor, keynote speaker at Friday's Salt Lake City YWCA annual Leader Luncheon.

"The all-arching message today is that 'It's all good,' as the young folk say. Everything that comes your way, the shake-ups, the break-ups, even the emotional and physical challenges," Taylor said. "It's all good."

Taylor is considered a legend in the magazine publishing world after building a brand as the former fashion and beauty editor, editor-in-chief and editorial director of Essence magazine for nearly 30 years.

Taylor is a sought-after speaker and cofounder of Future PAC, the first national political action committee aimed at helping black women seeking state and federal-level political offices. She is also the co-chairwoman, along with actor Danny Glover, of Shared Interest, a capital campaign to raise money for housing in rural areas of South Africa.

In her speech at the Grand Hotel ballroom in downtown Salt Lake City, Taylor said she felt honored to be born in an extraordinary time in history when is no longer dangerous for women to speak up. But the world is messy, she reminded the crowd of about 900 listeners, most of them women, because of personal doubt and fear.

She advised women to stop knocking themselves down and comparing themselves to others, in her speech that explored the theme of women creating balance

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and meaning in their lives. "Love of self is the charity that begins at home," Taylor said. "When you take care of you, then you have courage. Then you can do anything. You have to learn to love what God made."

She related her own story of self-doubt and fear. She had only a high school diploma when she left her first husband, struggling to provide for herself and her infant child. She had doubts as she working to prove herself at the magazine, with a background, not in journalism or writing, but the cosmetics business.

"Have quiet time," she advised listeners. "Give yourself a break. Our recovery requires our time and our energy. Give yourself to yourself before you give yourself to anybody else."

She urged women to make a plan for their day, and then for the next year, and the next five, and so on, planning everything from what to eat to how to keep their hearts strong.

Once women begin to take care of themselves and build inner courage, gratitude and acceptance, they can being to work on needed changes in public education, war and society.

Taylor's speech provided a good message and good energy at the nonprofit's 21st annual event honoring women community leaders, said YWCA CEO Beth Burkholder. This year's honorees were: Judy Kasten Bell, executive director of the Utah Domestic Violence Council; Ann Miller, Weber State University president; Elaine Pace, Girls Scouts of Utah chief executive officer; Sanchaita Datta, Fat Pipes Networks chief technology officer and vice president of engineering; and Marjorie Chan, University of Utah geology professor.