Sound the alarm, cue the choir, and tell the culture to put on its Sunday-best sparkle: ESSENCE’s Black Women in Music is officially back. After last taking center stage in 2018, the beloved celebration returns during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans, bringing with it the kind of star power, sisterhood, and soul-shaking excellence that only ESSENCE can gather under one fabulous roof.

Hosted by Emmy Award-winning actor and producer Anthony Anderson, the private luncheon will honor four women whose fingerprints are not merely on the music industry — they are pressed into the blueprint: Brandy, Kandi Burruss, Missy Elliott, and Mona Scott-Young. Together, they represent the singer, the songwriter, the producer, the mogul, the visionary, and the woman behind the curtain making sure the curtain rises on time.

 Anthony Anderson Courtesy of Essence

 

 

Launched in 2010, ESSENCE Black Women in Music became part of the brand’s larger celebration of Black women’s brilliance, standing proudly alongside signature platforms such as Black Women in Hollywood, Black Women in Business, and other cultural tributes that remind America of a simple truth: when Black women move, industries follow.

This year’s return to New Orleans feels especially fitting. The Crescent City is not just a destination; it is a drumbeat. It is jazz in the pavement, gospel in the balconies, second-line rhythm in the air, and ancestral memory dressed in festival colors. During ESSENCE Festival weekend, New Orleans becomes the cultural capital of Black joy — a place where business cards, church fans, designer heels, brass bands, and family reunions somehow all make sense in the same sentence.

 Brandy Courtesy of Essence

 

At the heart of the celebration is Brandy, affectionately known as “The Vocal Bible.” For more than three decades, the Grammy Award-winning singer, actress, and producer has delivered harmonies so layered they deserve their own zip code. From her groundbreaking television presence to her unmistakable influence on modern R&B, Brandy’s artistry remains both classic and current. Her recent arena run with Monica on The Boy Is Mine Tour proved what longtime fans already knew: the voice still reigns, and the audience still rises.

 Kandi Burruss Courtesy of Essence

Then there is Kandi Burruss, the quiet storm who became a full-fledged empire. As a member of Xscape and the Grammy-winning songwriter behind TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Burruss helped shape the soundtrack of a generation. But she did not stop at the studio door. She expanded into television, Broadway, entrepreneurship, restaurants, production, and brand-building with the confidence of a woman who understands that ownership is the real encore.

 Missy Elliott Courtesy of Essence

Missy Elliott, already honored by ESSENCE in 2018, returns to the spotlight as one of music’s most fearless architects. Rapper, producer, songwriter, performer, visual futurist — Missy did not simply bend genres; she took them to the beauty shop, gave them a fresh cut, added rhinestones, and sent them back into the world walking differently. Her videos changed what music could look like. Her production changed what rhythm could feel like. Her influence still echoes across generations of artists who learned that weird, bold, brilliant, and Black could also be platinum.

 Mona Scott Young Courtesy of Essence

And behind many culture-shifting moments stands Mona Scott-Young, the media mogul and Monami Entertainment powerhouse whose impact stretches across music, television, talent management, and entrepreneurship. From helping guide the careers of Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese, and others, to building the Love & Hip Hop franchise into a reality television phenomenon, Scott-Young has long understood the business of visibility. She helped turn backstage strategy into front-page power.

For Houston Style Magazine readers, this celebration lands close to home. Houston knows the power of Black women in music — from gospel sanctuaries and HBCU bands to R&B stages, spoken-word rooms, church choirs, and business boardrooms. ESSENCE’s tribute is not just about celebrity. It is about cultural labor, creative ownership, and the women who keep turning rhythm into revenue, storytelling into legacy, and visibility into victory.

While the luncheon itself may be private, the message is public and powerful: Black women are not supporting characters in the music industry. They are the melody, the arrangement, the executive producer, the distributor, the tour manager, the brand strategist, and, when necessary, the person reminding everybody that the mic was never theirs to hand out in the first place.

This summer in New Orleans, ESSENCE is not simply hosting an event. It is staging a homecoming for excellence — and honoring four women who made the culture louder, richer, wiser, and undeniably more stylish.

More info go to: https://www.essence.com/essencefestival2026/