DWF or Diverse World Fashion is a magazine that is completely run by students at Florida State University (FSU). Taylor Mair is a jack of all trades who just so happens to be co-editor-in-chief of the magazine along with a number of other things. As far as Tallahassee creatives go, Taylor is a pillar within the community.
Her Campus (HC): What is your position at DWF and what prior positions did you hold?
Taylor Mair (TM): Hey! I’m Taylor Mair, and I’m co-editor-in-chief at DWF Magazine! I started out as a BTS photographer and worked with beauty and styling freshman year. The next year, I worked as an editorial photographer and helped out with some other teams, ultimately ending up as editor-in-chief my senior year!
HC: What is DWF?
TM: DWF stands for Diverse World Fashion Magazine, and is based in Tallahassee, Florida. This magazine is completely student-run and non-profit and focuses on prioritizing diversity in artistic spaces at Florida State University. Every semester we create a themed publication featuring photoshoots, articles and multi-media art all created by students and creatives in the area, as well as host events with vendors, artists, musicians and more.
HC: What made you get involved with the magazine initially?
TM: When first coming to Tallahassee, I didn’t know that there were any artistic scenes or environments with space for me. When I learned about some organizations, I didn’t feel I was consuming content that represented me, my family, my friends and the world around us. I attended an interest meeting for DWF, and was immediately amazed by the idea of students running such a powerful outlet with a forefront based in diversity. DWF gave me a safe place to build a community of peers who wanted to prioritize diversity and representation within their work.
HC: What new challenges have you faced since becoming EIC?
TM: Managing such a large team of talented, individual artists can be difficult during the pandemic. We were used to in-person meetings and many people attending all of our shoots and events, so social distancing rules can make collaborating a bit difficult. My favorite part of this magazine is merging ideas and working with others, so we’ve had to get creative when scheduling shoots, combining art and generating excitement for our next issue.
HC: Can you tell me about your other creative endeavors?
TM: I love all things art! I do photography for DWF Magazine and freelance commission work on the side. I’m always photographing people, so anything portrait-based, I love! I’m a Digital Media Production major and enjoy working with video, editing, writing and basically everything digital-based, although I love other forms of art, like painting and drawing. Music has always been a staple in my life, so I find myself working with that, playing some instruments and collaborating with others whenever I get the chance.
HC: How did you get involved with the Eggplant?
TM: The Eggplant is such a fun comedy collective, and a local comedian, Kathryn Clinton, reached out and encouraged me to apply! She and I bonded over hypothesizing that our College Algebra teacher was actually a ghost, so I absolutely trusted her professional opinion and reached out! The team is so much fun to work with, and I have learned so much about collaborating in writing environments, working on live panels and much more. I’m so proud to be a part of such a talented group of people and raise awareness for local issues in a fun way.
HC: How do you manage to juggle all of your hobbies and jobs?
TM: Having a bunch of interests definitely felt problematic for me growing up as people are constantly telling you to hone in on one. I’m against that! Amazing things happen when we allow people to dabble in whatever interests them because you can always teach technical skills in something, but you can’t teach passion or curiosity. Trust the process! I’ve found that a lot of my hobbies end up interacting with one another in weird ways. Within my art, I love to combine text with images, which is putting my writing with photography. I love photographing for artists, which combines my love for music and pop culture with digital media. Everything connects! In terms of technically having time to pursue these, I’m super privileged to be in a time of my life where I can put most of my time toward artistic endeavors and developing these skills. College feels like such a short amount of time, so I’m always saying yes to things, even if I can’t get my seven hours in!
HC: Where can people find you online?
TM: You can find me on Instagram under @taxylor and @taxylorphotography! My online portfolio is taxylor.myportfolio.com and other platforms are under my name, Taylor Mair!
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