She appeared in the 19 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and was the cover-model of the 1998 Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendar. A first in history, this was named the 'Niki Six'. In May 1996, Taylor appeared on the covers of the six major American women's fashion and fitness magazines in the same month: Allure, Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire, Self, and Shape.
Taylor remains the only person to simultaneously have six enormous billboards in NYC's Times Square, three of which displayed her image continuously throughout the entire year. Some of her other ad campaigns have been for Thierry Mugler, Escada, Liz Claiborne, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Versus, Anne Klein, L'Oréal, Gap, Lee Jeans, and Pantene. 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. In 1991, at the age of just 16, Taylor became the youngest person ever to be featured as one of People magazine's Most Beautiful People, wearing a bright-orange one-piece bathing suit with long lime-green gloves in the photo spread which accompanied the article, taken on a Miami beach. The following year, at 15, she was photographed for the cover of Vogue, becoming the second youngest person to appear on the cover of the magazine, after Brooke Shields.
Taylor's first magazine cover was an issue of Seventeen (August 1989) at 14. She subsequently won a Fresh Faces contest in New York City and a $500,000 modeling contract. There she met photographer Jean Renard, who later became her manager. When she was 13, Taylor signed with Irene Marie Models in South Florida. She has an older sister, Joelle, and had a younger sister, Krissy (1978–1995). She was raised in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and attended Cooper City High School. Taylor was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Ken and Barbara Taylor, a highway patrol lieutenant and a photographer, respectively.