When Attia Taylor realized that she and her friends couldn’t find consumer publications that included the health information they needed and wanted, she took on the daunting task of starting her own publication.

“Womanly Magazine” hit the virtual shelf for the first time in 2017. In 2018, she and her 35-member team of volunteer writers, artists, and health and business professionals published two issues, available in print as well as online. Her goal for 2019 is to continue to build and grow, based on readers’ feedback. She plans to make the print publication available in more cities across the country and hopes to begin offering content in Spanish.

Taylor, 29, is not one to shy away from tackling big projects and reaching toward her goals, but admits she is still learning, and the operation, while small and new, is a pretty big venture. “It’s important to take steps forward using stepping stones, to build on what has come before,” she says.

“I love art and I’m a writer and an artist,” Taylor explains. “I saw a need for preventative health education for women, specifically women of color, and I saw the intersection between the approachability of art and difficult-to-digest health information. With ‘Womanly,’ we help people digest it more easily and in a fun way. The magazine is about living a healthy, full, rich life.”

Taylor studied Communications and English at Montgomery County Community College for 18 months before transferring to Temple University, where she finished her degree in Communications. She is grateful to Montgomery County Community College for her career and her journey … for being the resource she needed at the time, and a stepping stone she needed to move forward.

“I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend Montco before moving on to a big university,” she says. “The staff and faculty really cared and were so supportive, and the smaller size helped me.”

I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend Montco before moving on to a big university. The staff and faculty really cared and were so supportive, and the smaller size helped me.

Taylor, who lives in Brooklyn, has been a guest on the College’s radio program, Montgomery County Community College On the Air. Marc Schuster, Professor of English is the show’s host, and taught Taylor when she was a MCCC student.

“I enjoyed having Attia in class,” says Schuster. “She always had great sensitivity and has gone on to make everyone at Montco very proud.”

During the interview, Taylor discussed her own experience growing up without “enough information about health or my body.” She wants to help others learn how to counteract society’s tendency to devalue women through offering health information that makes them think change is necessary.

“The magazine provides the tools for women to break the cycle of not teaching women, and tells us to be proud of who we are and what we look like without someone else deciding that for us. ‘Womanly’ is a vehicle to help people get to where they need to go and raise children with self-esteem, passion and motivation.”