Niki Taylor

Nicole Renee "Niki" Taylor (born March 5, 1975) is an American model.

Early life

Taylor was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Ken and Barbara Taylor, a highway patrol lieutenant and a photographer, respectively. She was raised in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and attended Cooper City High School. She has an older sister, Joelle, and had a younger sister, Krissy, a fellow model, who died of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia on July 2, 1995, at the age of 17.

Modeling career

When she was 13, Taylor signed with Irene Marie Models in South Florida. There she met photographer Jean Renard, who later became her manager. She subsequently won a Fresh Faces contest in New York City and a $500,000 modeling contract. Taylor's first magazine cover was an issue of Seventeen (August 1989) at 14. The following year, at 15, she graced the cover of Vogue.

In 1991, Taylor was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People, wearing a bright-orange one-piece bathing suit with long lime-green gloves on the beach. The following year, Taylor became the first spokesmodel younger than 18 to sign a major contract with CoverGirl, and she became a feature in their national advertising campaign. Some of her other ad campaigns have been for Liz Claiborne, Nokia, Ellen Tracy, L'Oréal, Gap, Lee Jeans, Rampage clothes, and Pantene. Taylor also simultaneously had six enormous billboards in NYC's Times Square for Liz Claiborne.

In May 1996, Taylor appeared on the cover of the six...
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