October 11, 2026
Shalonda Smith Didn’t Wait For An Investor To Believe In Gorgeous Kaos: She Became The First One Herself
There is a particular kind of conviction required to build something no one else has agreed to believe in yet. Shalonda Smith knows it well. Before Gorgeous Kaos became an independent luxury fashion brand, there were no investors waiting to validate the idea. No celebrity endorsement creating instant visibility. No outside financing making the next collection possible. There was Shalonda; funding every collection, every milestone, and every runway herself. “I didn’t wait for someone to
For years, viewers watched Iyanla Vanzant sit across from people willing to confront the parts of their lives they could no longer avoid. Now, she is returning to that work in front of a live audience. OWN has announced two new OWN Spotlight primetime specials featuring the Emmy Award-winning spiritual teacher, bestselling author, and life coach, airing October 9 and October 16 at 9 PM ET/PT. The timing follows the #1 premiere of Iyanla: The Inside Fix among African
IMPACT Magazine was in Washington, D.C. to ask a question that can no longer be treated as rhetorical: What happens when Black deaths are repeatedly classified as isolated incidents, while the evidence points to a larger pattern? As part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference, “STOP THE LYNCHINGS: A Panel Conversation” continued the national conversation around recent hanging deaths in the Black community and the questions surrounding how these deaths are investigated and classified.
When the labor market stopped recognizing what Keisha McCotry had spent more than two decades building, she faced a choice: wait for another company to choose her, or choose herself; she chose herself. After losing her position during a labor market downturn that disproportionately affected Black women, McCotry turned to a problem she knew personally. Her own experience navigating ADHD, emotional overwhelm, and rejection sensitivity had exposed a gap in the wellness technology available to
Fashion has always been about more than clothing. It shapes ideas about beauty. It establishes cultural standards. It influences who is considered desirable, marketable, visible, and worthy of a place within the image of an industry. Bethann Hardison understood that early. Long before diversity became a corporate talking point, Hardison challenged the structures determining who could enter fashion, who could succeed within it, and who would be allowed to define its image. Her career has
September 6, 2026
Lamman Rucker: The Man Behind The Evolution
There are characters audiences remember long after the credits roll. Sometimes it is because of what they said, represented, or because somewhere between the first scene and the last, audiences began to see a little of themselves in them. For Lamman Rucker, Troy is one of those characters. Nearly two decades after audiences first met him in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?, Lamman is stepping back into the role for Tyler Perry’s Why Did I
September 5, 2026
What Happens When Black Boys Grow Up Without An Economic Pipeline?
A new Virginia State University report led by Dr. Wes Bellamy examines the economic conditions shaping Black boys and men, and asks what happens when the systems connecting education, employment, income and wealth begin to break. There is a familiar way of telling stories about Black men and boys in America. The numbers are presented. The disparities are listed. The challenges are described. Eventually, the story becomes about what Black men supposedly lack. A new