SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 EDITION VOLUME 05 NO. 01
VIBES ON THEIR OWN FREQUENCY
AMANDA AMANDA BALLARD BALLARD || JULIUS JULIUS DORSEY| DORSEY| PETER PETER JERICHO JERICHO || DR. DR. MILA MILA K. K. MARSHALL MARSHALL || RAJI RAJI VELA| VELA| KUDZAI KUDZAI MUTASA MUTASA || AJA AJA MONÈT MONÈT
E-NOTES Publisher Cheryl Mainor Norman Editor-In-Chief Kai EL’ Zabar Associate Publisher/ Laura Miller Managing Editor D. Hunter Art Direction
The Death of Decorum and the Sidewalk Safety Crisis KAI ÉL ZABAR EDITOR IN CHIEF
Staff Writers
Zada Johnson, PhD Candi McCrary Mila Marshall, PhD C. CL. Blackburn Ryan Willis Mare Evans
Columnists
Sanja Rickett Stinson David Seaton
Cover Photography
Raji Vela, ROQA Productions
Videography Caveroom Entertainment Podcast Production Chicago News Weekly 2147 S. Lumber St. Chicago, IL 60615 (312) 877-5151 Volume 05 No. 01 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026.
If you are a native to America—or anyone trying to take a peaceful stroll down a city block lately—you know that a palpable shift is in the air, and it does not feel good. Everywhere we look, the foundational security that once made daily life feel stable and orderly seems to be eroding. And nowhere is this more evident than on our city sidewalks. The Lawless Sidewalk Recently, I narrowly escaped a near-death physical calamity while simply walking my small dog in Chicago. Sidewalks, as we were all taught, are meant for pedestrians on foot. Yet today, they have devolved into high-speed thoroughfares for skateboarders, motorized bikes, escooters, rollerbladers, and every other mode of transportation on wheels—and all of this is happening right alongside dedicated bike lanes.
Chicago News Weekly is published on Thursday and is a product of the CNW Network. It is a chaotic, "whatever goes" attitude www.cnwmedia.com advertising@cnwmedia.com editorial@cnwmedia.com
CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S ISSUE AT WWW.CNWMEDIA.COM/E-EDITIONS
that completely throws the rulebook (and the baby with the bathwater) out the window. Gone is the basic respect for laws meant to manage public safety. Polite etiquette and common sense have vanished right along with them. On my walk, a silent scooter came zooming up from behind without warning, nearly plowing into me, before narrowly missing a mother pushing a stroller and a toddler on a tricycle. The rider didn’t yell, "Behind you!" and didn't offer a simple "I'm sorry" as he sped off. In what world is that acceptable? It is fast becoming normalized, and it is entirely unsafe.
The Loss of Common Decorum My friends often warn me to hush, urging me not to speak my mind to strangers because "people are crazy" and tensions run high. But I would rather speak up for politeness and common decency than stay silent in the face of worsening public behavior. 2 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
I grew up in an era when community standards mattered. Adults looked out for one another, and public spaces operated with a shared understanding of respect. Contrast that with today, where basic decorum has been traded for vulgarity, poor social skills, and a startling lack of discretion. When basic civility breaks down, dialogue and deliberation go right down with it. A Call to Reclaim Our Culture This cultural decline isn't just about bad manners on the pavement; it reflects a deeper societal unraveling. People chase the trappings of success—wealth, luxury, and status symbols —while discarding the fundamental manners, respect, and culture that keep a society civil. If we don't address this descending spiral of public behavior, we risk losing the very fabric of our communities. Decorum isn't outdated; it is the glue that holds a shared public life together.
What are you willing to do to help bring common courtesy back to our streets and neighborhoods?
FALL 2026 VIBES COLLECTIVE SPECIAL EDITION
What’s your Vibe?
CITY NEWS
Chicago Renters Face a Rewrite of the Rules as City Council Weighs Two Plans Chicago renters could soon see the biggest rewrite of the city’s landlord-tenant rules in decades, but exactly what those changes will look like remains unsettled. CNW STAFF REPORT Two competing ordinances are before the Chicago City Council Wednesday, each promising stronger protections for renters while taking sharply different approaches to enforcement, fees and which landlords should be covered. Ald. Gilbert Villegas, a lead sponsor of one of the measures, said both proposals could be deferred as negotiations continue. The debate comes as housing costs continue to strain Chicago households. Approximately 622,000 Chicagoans rent their homes, and city officials estimate about 40% spend more than one-third of their take-home income on rent. The average Chicago rent reached $1,956 at the end of 2025, according to real estate data cited by WTTW, an increase of 9.5% from 2023. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Protecting Renters Ordinance, known as PRO, would establish a tenant bill of rights, create a citywide rental registry and set up a Bureau of Rental Housing Services within the Department of Housing. The office would be responsible for enforcement and helping renters navigate disputes, including eviction proceedings.
The proposal would also restrict move-in and other fees and make permanent a city pilot program that provides legal assistance to tenants. An earlier version included a controversial “just cause” provision that would have limited when landlords could decline to renew leases and required relocation assistance in some cases, but Johnson removed those provisions before the ordinance advanced out of committee Johnson’s opponents have advanced a separate proposal called the Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance, or FAIR. That measure would also establish a rental registry and strengthen enforcement of existing rules, but it would place a rental services office inside the Department of Buildings rather than create a new bureau funded by landlord registration fees. FAIR would continue allowing some move-in fees, cap security deposits and broaden exemptions for smaller landlords. Supporters argue their proposal would strengthen protections without adding costs that could eventually be passed on to renters, while supporters of the mayor’s ordinance contend a dedicated enforcement system is needed because renters currently have few options outside the courts when landlords violate the law.
Chicago’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance was originally adopted in 1986 and has not undergone a major overhaul in years. Both sides agree the city has an affordability problem, but the fight now centers on who should pay for stronger enforcement and how far the city should go in regulating landlords. Whatever happens Wednesday, renters should not expect the rules to change overnight. If the competing measures are deferred, the negotiations will continue while more than half a million Chicago renters wait to see what the next version of the city’s rental protections will look like.
Black Girl Vitamins Donates $6,000 to STEM Programs at Two Chicago Schools CNW STAFF REPORT
Black Girl Vitamins is putting $6,000 toward STEM education at two Chicago high schools, providing funding for science projects, classroom materials and other hands-on learning needs. Daniel H. Williams Preparatory School of Medicine and Corliss Early College STEM High School each received $3,000 as part of the company’s back-to-school initiative. The funding is intended to support students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by helping the schools cover projects, supplies and other program needs. Part of the Chicago donation was funded through proceeds from Black Girl Vitamins purchases made Sept. 6 through Sept. 12. The company also made a donation to Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science in Washington, D.C., as part of the broader initiative. The effort expands on the company’s existing education and health care initiatives. Black Girl Vitamins also operates a $100,000 scholarship fund aimed at supporting Black women pursuing careers in health care. 4 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
Black Girl Vitamins presented a $3,000 donation to Daniel H. Williams Preparatory School of Medicine in Chicago to support STEM projects as part of its backto-school initiative.
With its latest contribution, the company is extending that focus to younger students as they begin exploring STEM and health-related educational pathways.
CHICAGO PROUD Lil Rel Howery Talks Chicago, Comedy and the What’s Funny Comedy Festival With the third annual What’s Funny Comedy Festival underway, Lil Rel Howery talks creating opportunities for comedians, Chicago’s Black cultural institutions and the city that gave him confidence long before Hollywood came calling. LAURA MILLER Chicago gave Lil Rel Howery a room before Hollywood gave him a stage. At 19, he found his first open mic through the Chicago Sun-Times Weekend Plus and eventually landed at a small bar called the Lion’s Den. He does not remember whether he killed or bombed that night. He remembers getting through it. “I was just happy that I went on stage,” Howery said. “I was just happy I went up there, did my time and got off.” More than two decades later, the comedian, actor, writer and producer is investing back into the city that helped shape him through the third annual What’s Funny Comedy Festival, which continues through Sept. 26. What’s Funny was already being built in Chicago by Knowledge Beckom before he and Howery partnered to expand the festival and its reach. Together, they are using the platform not only to bring established comedians to Chicago stages, but to identify and create opportunities for emerging talent. “We wanna make stars,” Howery said. “We wanna make stars and give opportunities. That’s what this is about.” Howery said more than 200 comedians submitted for consideration this year, and he personally watched every submission before comparing notes with Beckom as they selected performers. “I don’t know why people think that I just threw my name on that,” Howery said. “I watch every single submission.”
L-R Lil Rel Howery & Bill Bellamy Photo Credit: CC Lawhon @blkdavincismediahouse
That process has already led Howery to comedians he wants to support beyond the festival. For him, finding new talent and creating opportunities is part of what makes the work worthwhile, even when the financial return is limited. “We haven’t made a real profit or anything from it, honestly,” he said. “We kind of break even.” Still, he keeps coming back. “It’s my love letter to Chicago and my love letter to comedy.” That relationship with Chicago also shaped Howery’s decision to tape his latest stand-up special Sept. 20 at Black Ensemble Theater. He praised founder Jackie Taylor and spoke about the importance of recognizing and supporting the city’s Black cultural institutions. “We just got to do a better job of talking about our historic landmarks and places, especially Black folk,” Howery said.
Lil Rel Howery at The Black Ensemble Theater
Chicago, he said, gave him confidence long before larger entertainment markets did. “Chicago made me feel like a star before I went to any other city,” he said. “It’s just time for letting the rest of y’all know what I can do.” Now, through his partnership with Beckom and What’s Funny, Howery is helping create some of those same opportunities for the comedians coming behind him. Watch the full Lil Rel Howery interview on the CNW Network YouTube channel for more on What’s Funny, his partnership with Knowledge Beckom, Black Ensemble Theater, discovering new comedians and the Chicago confidence he carried into Hollywood. SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026 5
NATIONAL NEWS Federal Review Cancels ACA Coverage for More Than 760,000 CNW STAFF REPORT
More than 760,000 people were covered by Affordable Care Act Marketplace policies canceled by the federal government after health officials and insurance companies concluded approximately 315,000 enrollments were unauthorized. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services canceled the policies Aug. 31 but did not publicly announce the action until Sept. 22. CMS estimates the cancellations will result in the return of approximately $2.2 billion in advance premium tax credits, federal subsidies paid to insurers to reduce consumers’ monthly premiums.
According to federal records, the policies involved agent- or broker-assisted enrollments where citizenship or immigration documentation had not been verified. Insurers also were unable to identify claims associated with the policies or establish contact with the consumers.
The size of the action is striking, but there is an important distinction: federal officials are not saying all 760,000 people personally committed insurance fraud. CMS describes a broader problem involving fraudulent, improper and unauthorized enrollments, including activity by agents and brokers who allegedly enrolled consumers or changed coverage without their consent.
The distinction is significant because having no medical claims does not necessarily mean a policy is fraudulent. A healthy person may have insurance for an entire year without needing medical treatment. The administration has offered several explanations for what investigators believe happened.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the agency’s actions are intended to ensure consumers, rather than unauthorized actors, maintain control over their health coverage. Consumer Complaints Helped Trigger Federal Enforcement Federal concern over unauthorized ACA enrollment predates the latest cancellations. Between January and August 2024, CMS received 183,553 complaints from consumers who said they had been enrolled in federal Marketplace coverage without their consent. Another 90,863 reported that their existing health plans had been switched without authorization. Those complaints led CMS to tighten its enrollment systems and take disciplinary action against agents and brokers. By October 2024, the agency had suspended Marketplace agreements for 850 agents and brokers based on suspected fraudulent or abusive conduct involving unauthorized enrollment or plan switching. The enforcement continued this year. Since January 2026, CMS says it has sent termination notices to more than 200 agents and brokers. Another 569 received notices this summer after the agency identified what it described as implausibly high numbers of applications submitted without identifying information such as Social Security numbers.
Those factors prompted further review. CMS says the agency and participating insurance companies investigated the enrollments through its existing unauthorized-enrollment process before confirming the cancellations.
Vice President JD Vance said some of the affected policies involved what the administration calls “phantom” enrollees, while others involved real people who may not have qualified for federal subsidies or may have been enrolled without realizing a policy had been opened in their names. Reuters reported that administration officials pointed to unverified eligibility information, lack of claims and unsuccessful attempts to reach consumers as part of the review. CMS has not publicly disclosed when the specific investigation of these 315,000 policies began or released a case-by-case explanation of how each enrollment was determined to be unauthorized. What Happens if Someone Was Wrongly Canceled? That remains one of the largest unanswered questions. CMS has not announced a special reconsideration or redetermination process specifically for the Aug. 31 cancellations. The agency’s announcement also does not provide detailed information about how each affected consumer was notified. Health policy experts told The Associated Press that while unauthorized and fraudulent enrollment should be addressed, questions remain about how accurately the government identified everyone whose coverage was canceled.
CMS does have an existing process for consumers who discover that an agent or broker enrolled them or changed their coverage without permission. In How Were the 760,000 People Identified? previous unauthorized-enrollment cases, the agency has worked with insurers to restore correct The canceled policies were not selected solely coverage, address eligible medical claims and because an enrollee failed to use his or her correct tax records. insurance. 6 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026 8
The recent announcement does not clarify the process for consumers disputing an Aug. 31 cancellation. Approximately 419,000 additional enrollments will undergo verification for Marketplace coverage and subsidies, assessing immigration status and income eligibility. These individuals are not yet labeled as fraudsters or losing coverage, merely facing further checks. CMS has also limited new agents and brokers from registering for the 2027 federal Marketplace to enhance identity verification, which may inadvertently impact legitimate brokers. In Illinois, consumers should note that the state operates its own Marketplace, Get Covered Illinois, and should not assume their policies are affected by the federal cancellation. Illinois residents face separate changes, including reduced federal premium tax credits and new eligibility requirements, and should keep their information up to date. The situation underscores the challenges of preventing unauthorized enrollments while protecting legitimate consumers reliant on their health insurance.
LIVING CHICAGO Great Lakes senators call on Trump to stop delaying invasive carp barrier Senators from Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are calling for a meeting to discuss the repeated pauses of the Brandon Road Interbasin Project. JUANPABLO RAMIREZ-FRANCO, WBEZ
This coverage is made possible through a Illinois and Michigan are contributing $50 partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit million and $64 million respectively. environmental media organization. The megaproject is anchored on the Great Lakes Democratic lawmakers — Brandon Road Lock and Dam, a choke including Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and point on the Des Plaines River where the Tammy Duckworth — are warning the Army Corps wants to lodge a multilayered Trump administration that any more delays underwater defense system boasting sonic to a $1.15 billion barrier project to keep blasts, bubble walls, an electric barrier and invasive carp out of Lake Michigan could an updated flushing mechanism. put the economy of the region at risk. Lawmakers and policy experts worry that Five senators from Illinois, Michigan, and the delays risk extending the decadelong Wisconsin are calling for a meeting to timeline, potentially increasing the chances discuss the repeated pauses around the that the invasive make it into the Great Brandon Road Interbasin Project and “steps Lakes. the administration will take to ensure the These concerns were amplified this summer project is completed as quickly as possible,” by the discovery that hundreds of juvenile according to a new letter addressed to D. invasive carp found just 80 miles Lee Forsgren, acting assistant secretary of downstream from Lake Michigan, the the Army for Civil Works. farthest north the young fish have been found since the state began monitoring in “We urge the Administration to ensure the 2010. Brandon Road Interbasin Project moves forward without further interruption,” the Adult carp have been routinely seen as close letter states. “We also urge consistent and as 50 miles away from Lake Michigan near transparent communication with the non- the confluence of the Kankakee and Des federal sponsors in the future in advance of Plaines rivers and headwaters of the Illinois any changes to the project.” River. The invasive carp — the silver carp and the Michigan Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary bighead carp in particular — are a voracious Silver carp jump out of the waters of the Illinois River. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times Peters and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin family of fish that can outeat and outgrow The Brandon Road Interbasin Project was first presented as a solution to the advancing also signed the letter. native species. front on invasive fish back in 2014. Congress authorized the project six years later, and then provided an initial $225 million for the first state of construction with an The letter comes after President Donald The decades-long concern among scientists additional $47 million in 2023, and $28 million in 2026. Crews began work on the Trump and the U.S. Army Corps of and policy experts is that if the nuisance project last spring before it was paused just a couple months later. Engineers placed the megaproject near fish make it past the Illinois River and into suburban Joliet under administrative review, Lake Michigan, it could upend the largest halting work at the site for the second time freshwater ecosystem on the planet and the in less than a year. While that most recent multibillion recreational and fishing stop-work order was lifted this month, industries that depend on it. legislators wrote that the delays are increasing the already hefty price tag of the project.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
7
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Calling Chicago's Next Generation of Visual Storytellers
Chicago has never lacked talent. Every day, photographers across our city capture moments that deserve to be remembered. They document neighborhood festivals, family traditions, entrepreneurs building businesses, artists creating culture, young athletes chasing dreams and the everyday moments that make Chicago unlike anywhere else. Some have built impressive portfolios. Others have quietly honed their craft without the recognition their work deserves. At Chicago News Weekly, we believe great storytelling isn't limited to those who already have the biggest platform. Some of the city's most compelling visual storytellers simply haven't had the opportunity to publish their work in a newsroom. That's why we're launching CNW Through the Lens, a new initiative created to discover photographers whose work reflects the heart of Chicago. We're looking for photographers with a distinctive perspective, a passion for visual storytelling and a commitment to documenting the people and communities that make this city extraordinary. Whether you're self-taught, a student, an experienced creative or someone who has simply been waiting for the right opportunity, we want to see the city through your lens. The selected photographer will have the opportunity to photograph an upcoming Chicago News Weekly cover story, receive a published editorial feature highlighting their work and be considered for future assignments as a contributing photographer. This isn't simply about finding great photographs. It's about opening the door for talented creatives whose work deserves a wider audience and creating another pathway into Chicago's media community. Submission guidelines, deadlines and application details will be announced in our next issue. Until then, start curating your strongest work and share this opportunity with a photographer whose talent deserves to be seen. Every published photographer had a first assignment. Make yours at CNW!
8
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
HEALTHY LIVING Type 2 Diabetes Is Rising in Kids. What Parents Should Know MOSES HUNTER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Diabetes and obesity continue to rise in the United States, and a growing body of research suggests the metabolic changes that precede type 2 diabetes can take hold much earlier than adulthood. A study published Sept. 17 in the American Journal of Public Health found that diabetes and obesity increased significantly among U.S. adults over more than two decades. Researchers analyzed nationally representative health data from more than 62,000 adults collected between 1999 and 2023. Black adults had nearly twice the odds of diabetes and obesity compared with White adults after researchers adjusted for several demographic and socioeconomic factors. The study focused on adults, but separate research points to an increasingly important concern among children and adolescents. A pediatric study published in September 2026 in the medical journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism examined 4,344 children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. Researchers found that some young people with glucose levels still considered within a normal range were already showing greater insulin resistance and declining beta-cell function, the ability of the pancreas to produce and release insulin. That distinction matters. Type 2 diabetes does not appear suddenly when a blood test crosses a diagnostic threshold. Insulin resistance can develop over time as the body becomes less responsive to insulin and the pancreas works harder to keep blood glucose under control. Researchers also found that glucose thresholds derived largely from adults may not capture metabolic changes in children as effectively. Because insulin sensitivity shifts during growth and puberty, measures accounting for pubertal stage performed better at identifying prediabetes and type 2 diabetes among the children studied. Weight remains an important risk factor, but it does not tell the entire story. Family history, insulin resistance, genetics, physical activity, nutrition and broader environmental and socioeconomic conditions can all influence risk. The American Diabetes Association recommends considering screening for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes after puberty begins or at age 10, whichever comes first, for children with overweight or obesity who have at least one additional risk factor. Those factors can include a close family history of type 2 diabetes, exposure to gestational diabetes during pregnancy or clinical signs of insulin resistance. Screening can include an A1C test, fasting blood glucose or an oral glucose tolerance test. An abnormal result may require additional evaluation, particularly because type 1 and type 2 diabetes can present similarly in young people. Symptoms can include frequent urination, increased thirst or hunger, unexplained weight loss, fatigue and blurry vision, although type 2 diabetes can also develop without noticeable symptoms. The emerging research complicates the idea that childhood diabetes prevention begins only after blood sugar becomes abnormal. Metabolic changes can be underway before conventional thresholds identify disease, making early risk assessment and consistent pediatric care increasingly important as type 2 diabetes appears at younger ages.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
9
O N
VIBES T H E I R
O W N
COVER STORY
F R E Q U E N C Y
BY LAURA MILLER, MANAGING EDITOR PHOTOGRAPHY, RAJI VELA ROQA PRODUCTIONS
Seven people came together for this cover, each with years of work behind them and more than one way to describe what they do. Among them are a poet, a musician, a furniture designer, a studio founder, a scientist, a painter and the photographer who made their portraits. Those descriptions are useful places to start, but they cannot hold everything each person makes.
Their work crosses forms and changes with the questions they ask of it. Some are widely known, while others have spent years shaping Chicago’s creative landscape without always standing at its center. What connects them is not a single discipline or definition of success, but the intention with which they are building lives that leave room for curiosity, community and change.
We have gotten very good at waiting for people to reach the top of the mountain before deciding their stories are worth telling. By then, the work has often been reduced to its most recognizable accomplishment, and the years of experimenting, changing direction, building quietly and becoming are condensed into a polished biography. This issue makes room for something different.
In the pages ahead, they speak about the people who taught them, the places that shaped them and the ideas they are still learning how to bring into the world. We wanted to capture the moment they were in and the frequency they were on, without waiting for the rest of the world to decide it was time to pay attention.
10 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
COVER STORY
AJA MONÈT
KEEPS POETRY IN MOTION The first time Aja Monet walked into a room full of young poets, she knew she had found her people. At St. Mark’s Church in New York, a DJ was playing and young writers waited nervously to share their work. She had won a school talent show with a poem, but here she found a room where everyone knew why a line mattered.
Florida Water reflects on love, belonging and the uneasy overlap between the artist’s life and the organizer’s work. Her music has made another kind of room for the poem: after when the poems do what they do, she released the color of rain this year. Its track “melting” clocks” features Chicago artists Mick Jenkins and Vic Mensa, whom she remembers meeting as a teenager in Chicago.
“This is where I make sense,” Monet remembered thinking. Finding other poets gave her a community and a way to name the life she wanted to build.
Monet said housing insecurity made it hard for her to stay in one place for long. “My hood was the world,” she said, recalling how she had to be ready to leave wherever she lived. She built relationships across cities and countries, and Chicago remained close to her even after she moved away.
Today, she calls herself a surrealist blues poet. Those words name artistic movements and the people who made her work possible. She spoke of Gil ScottHeron, Sonia Sanchez, Sekou Sundiata, Haki R. Madhubuti and Carolyn Rodgers, writers she fears far too many young people still have not been taught to know. To call her work simply “spoken word,” she said, can flatten the history carried in Black poetry. “There’s a responsibility for us to educate our people,” Monet said. “We can’t assume that our schools are going to teach our folks.” She wants the next generation to inherit more than an appreciation for performance; she wants them to know whose voices made the space for theirs. Poets were also her introduction to Chicago. Monet grew up in New York, where she met Chicago poet Ciara Miller and befriended FM Supreme. When she first visited, Supreme brought her across the South and West sides. Monet fell for the city’s poetry, jazz and soul, then returned to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned a master’s degree in writing. Aja worked with the Young Chicago Authors (YCA) hosting workshops for young people with interest in art. After the earthquake in Haiti (2010), Monet organized Every Drop Counts, a benefit that brought Chicago artists together to raise money. She recalls inviting Kids These Days onto the bill and meeting a teenage Vic Mensa through that work. Chicago helped her recognize the organizer within the poet. Her published work carries that belief of connection across forms. Her published work, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter honors women and girls and carries the influence of places that shaped Monet, including Chicago.
As a child, Monet turned to poetry when she felt unheard. “The poem became the place that I could turn to and that would listen back and care about me,” she said. Later, she gave readings at a substance abuse program and a Bellevue Hospital program for young people. Seeing listeners moved by her poems, or inspired to write themselves, showed her how poetry could help someone feel less alone. She makes time to write amid other demands. That includes making room for her own voice. For years, Monet poured energy into other artists and young people. As she gave more attention to her poems, stories and recordings, more people noticed. She appreciates the recognition but worries about arts funding cuts and the insecurity Black artists have long faced. Her commitment has been to remain steady in her values while allowing the work to grow. When asked about her vibe, she answered with gratitude and love. “I’m on the frequency of love,” she said. When she imagined what her 8-year-old self might think of her today, pride was there, but so was hurt over the state of the world. Monet has been considering how to write about her past without losing the child’s imagination that first helped her picture another life. She wants young people to know those who poured into their communities. Her own story holds poets, teachers, artists and students who helped her find a place to stand. “We didn’t get here alone,” she said, and her work keeps asking what we might make possible when we remember that.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
11
COVER STORY
PETER JERICHO MAKES MUSIC THAT LASTS
At 7, Peter Essoka was in Italy watching Cameroon play in the 1990 World Cup. His father, a soccer commentator, had been calling the team’s games. After Cameroon beat defending champion Argentina, he brought Peter and his mother over to see the rest of the tournament. Asked what that boy would think of him now, Essoka smiled: “Keep dreaming big.” Today he records as Peter Jericho, a singer, songwriter and self-described “vibe maker” whose name has traveled through Chicago’s music circles, even if some listeners have yet to discover his own records. Born in Aurora, he lived in Cameroon before returning to the Chicago area. On the West Side, his sisters introduced him to the neighbors, and he remembers being welcomed as the African kid who played soccer and sang. Those places still meet in his work. Jericho calls his sound Afro-soul. The African instrumentation he absorbed while living abroad meets what he calls the soul of being Black in America. He has made house records, written love songs and socially conscious music, and performed with Mgeni, an eight-piece band. “It’s just who I am as a person,” he said of the music’s African roots.
12 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
Jericho’s music does not stay in one lane, and neither do his collaborations. He has recorded with Chicago rapper Philmore Greene, joined producer Doug Gomez on the Afro-Latin house track “Mixed Feelings,” appeared on Brandon Musa’s “Panoramic” and worked with Twista. Each collaboration puts him in a slightly different musical space without pulling him away from his own sound. He has also worked with Martin Newsongz on “Super Powers.” He values “being a part of the different journeys that other people have for their musical careers.” Invited onto someone else’s record or show, he said, “I’m humbled and I’m grateful for that.” He wants the exchange to make him better, too. “I need those collaborations to sharpen up my tools,” he said. He speaks about the people behind a performance as readily as the person at the microphone. Playing with a band, he said, “I want everybody to shine.” He hears a different demand in the studio. A live performance can breathe through an imperfect note; recording takes more time because, he said, “you want it to sound the way that you heard it in your head. The care he gives collaborators extends to the records he releases.
Jericho grew up in a Christian home listening to Nat King Cole and other music older than he was. He is deliberate about what he puts into the world, often turning to musicians and people he trusts before deciding a song is finished. That care extends to the lyrics themselves. Jericho believes grown-up music can speak honestly about adult experiences without making every meaning explicit, especially when younger listeners may be in the room. He remembers songs in his father’s native language that adults understood differently than the children listening alongside them. That choice also reflects his belief in music’s reach. “There’s no way that I would say that what we hear does not affect how we behave,” he said. “I’m a firm believer that there’s a correlation between those things.” He writes about Black life, affection and the world around him with that responsibility in mind. Jericho thinks beyond a song’s first release. His moves between countries and schools gave him stories he is still processing. Music, he said, lets him put those experiences down so they can live beyond him.
Someone listening years from now might hear a record and recognize “at this point in time, he was probably in this position in life.” That is the legacy he wants his catalog to carry. For anyone just meeting him, Jericho built an “Intro to PJ” mix during our conversation. His five picks, in order: “Black Excellence,” “A Love Like This,” “Lucky Day,” “C.A.P.” with Greene, and “Quiet Time,” also with Greene. He chose them to show “a little bit of the culture, a little bit of the conscious mindset, a little bit of the love side of things” and a more reflective artistic perspective. Five songs offer five ways into an artist who has never fit neatly into one lane. Asked to name his vibe, Jericho said, “being unapologetically Black.” He wants to be heard as an equal and seen as the person behind the records. He asks listeners who believe in independent artists to tell others, too: “If you wanna see me do great, and continue to create great music as an independent artist, I need y’all to be as loud for me as I wanna be loud for you guys on the record.” His first mix is ready when they are.
COVER STORY
JULIUS DORSEY COVERBEYOND STORYTHE FRAME BUILDS
Julius Dorsey imagines an art installation built into a room. Its form would respond to the architecture around it, bringing the work into the space people use every day. The idea gathers what his practice has become: furniture, visual art and interior design meeting in a single piece. People know Dorsey as a furniture designer, set designer, visual artist and the person behind an architectural millwork business. He calls himself a multidisciplinary artist because none of those descriptions holds all of his work. Art, to him, is “a tool for bringing people together and communicating.” He found that out long before he had a business.
He built a table, posted it and began taking custom orders. Chicago Fire Furniture grew out of that turn. Growing the business meant confronting another question. Dorsey saw few Black people working at his level in furniture design and wondered whether clients would buy from him. Some arrived at his studio surprised to find a Black man behind the work. He had grown used to being the only Black face in rooms at school and work; here, no employer stood between him and the customer. He put his portrait on his website so they would see him from the start. The difference he had worried about became an asset, while the work stood on its own. “I’m actually good at this,” he remembers realizing.
As a boy, Dorsey held a coloring book against a window and traced the turtles on its pages. He knew he had followed the lines, but the finished drawing still thrilled him. His older sister excelled in school; he was shy and looking for a way to be known on When the pandemic changed what his own terms. “My art became a way to customers needed, he returned to repairs. In their homes, clients saw bring people to me,” he said. that his eye extended beyond a Born in Memphis and raised in Cleveland, damaged drawer. They began asking Dorsey came to Chicago almost by chance. for entertainment centers, built-ins While attending Ohio State, he visited and work that belonged to a room’s during spring break with slides of his architecture. He found himself with designers and artwork in hand. He stopped at the School working of the Art Institute of Chicago, secured a contractors, drawing on what he had meeting and received a scholarship. He had studied in art school. Furniture was walked into admissions to look around; his becoming part of a house, an habit of carrying slides everywhere suddenly extension of the architecture already uses Chicago Fire gave him another path. He transferred and there. Julius Furniture for the furniture brand and has called the city home since 2004. Dorsey Studio for architectural Becoming a father in college changed his millwork and consulting. He resists plans. After graduating, Dorsey set aside a being called only a woodworker, master’s in fine art and went into sales to while making clear his respect for the support his family. Door-to-door work was craft: “It just doesn’t describe what I difficult for the shy artist, but it taught him do.” to read customers. “I learned some stuff,” he said. Those lessons followed him back to art. Creation feels like “euphoria,” he said. The word he chose for his best Between jobs at 29, with money running work was “growth,” a measure that short, Dorsey restored a free Craigslist table keeps changing as his practice and posted it for sale. It sold, and buyers expands. kept asking. He began finding furniture at estate sales and restoring it at a punishing His definition of a vibe has changed, pace. “I was working 18 hours a day, every too. He once thought being cool day,” he said. He hid his unemployment meant staying detached. “My vibe from his family while he tried to make the now is being calm,” he said. He sees calm as the result of grounding new work sustain them. himself each day: “Know who you Each piece taught him about joinery, finishes are. Feel your feet on the ground and the people who bought from him. He beneath you.” He wants to make a recorded details about his clients and noticed contribution through rooms and patterns, drawing on what he had learned in objects he creates and connections ad sales. Eventually he asked himself why he they make possible. had to keep finding old furniture when he could make something new.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 07. 2026
13
COVER STORY
AMANDA BALLARD MAKES VISION A REALITY
At 2138 Studios, Amanda Ballard makes Looking back, she laughs at the ambition room for other people’s ideas to take of it. “There was a little entrepreneur shape. She is the founder and owner of bone in there,” she said. “She was in there the Chicago production house, where all along.” clients have filmed scenes, commercials and music videos and held photo shoots. That openness comes with a rule: “The no Her team can also fabricate sets and take cannot lead before we’ve tried.” She likes a work beyond the studio into events and challenge and does not want an unfamiliar film production. “We also can create request dismissed simply because it has worlds,” she said. An empty space is a not been done in the room before. The starting point, not the limit of what attitude is rooted in what her parents someone can make there. taught her about seeing a commitment through, and in a life that has shown her Ballard is from the Washington, D.C., area how quickly plans can change. “What if and traveled as the daughter of an Army you fly?” she asks when people focus on colonel. She was born in Park Ridge, but what might fail. knew little of Chicago when she decided to move here as an adult. Her fiancé had She speaks often about alignment, the died of cancer two years earlier. She felt it feeling that the work fits a purpose, and was time to leave, considered San credits faith with helping her take the next Francisco and Chicago, and chose the city step before she can see the entire route. she had barely seen. “It was the best That does not make each day easy. “I wake decision I ever made,” she said. Chicago up with audacity and delusion,” she said, became the place where she learned more laughing at how much of both it has taken about herself and began building to build something outside her original businesses. field. She would rather try, learn and adjust than let an idea sit untouched. One of them is E3 Collection, the fashion brand she started in 2018. Its name stands For all that ambition, Ballard does not for “Elevate, Enable and Empower,” crave the spotlight. She prefers privacy and values she connects to giving other brands says being interviewed required its own exposure they might struggle to get from leap of faith. “There’s beauty in privacy,” large retailers. After selling in stores she said. Her answer when asked to name around the Chicago area, she moved E3 her vibe was “reserved,” “laid back” and online and continued appearing at festivals. “under the radar.” She wants to protect She still holds the brand close, and her peace while making room for people imagines ways its work might meet what with bigger public personalities to do what she does in production. they do best. The studio began with a conviction she The pleasure, for her, is seeing others could not quite explain. Ballard, who still grow. “I want to see everybody win,” she works in IT, said she woke one morning said. If she has a resource that could help feeling called to build it. She found a space someone pursue a goal, she wants to share and, with a partner, set about making it it. She said she gets the most joy from work. At first she pictured a content seeing people become “the best versions studio; the possibilities widened as people of themselves.” That impulse gives the brought her requests. She describes the studio a purpose beyond the shoots it expansion from “a four walls operation” hosts: it is a place where another person’s into a production house able to help make vision can find support. an idea real from concept to execution. Asked what she would tell someone who She had tried creating worlds before. At 9, had been waiting to act, Ballard answered Ballard persuaded the children in her without hesitation: “Do it. Do it neighborhood in Germany to build a regardless, do it uncertain ... do it scared, carnival in the woods. They swept the do it broke.” She knows that starting does ground, made rides from wood, offered not promise a perfect outcome. It gives an candy as prizes and charged a small idea a chance to become something, and admission fee. gives the person behind it a chance to learn what comes next.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
14
COVER STORY
DR. MILA K. MARSHALL MAKES WATER EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
When an international organization wanted to talk to Black people about the environment, Dr. Mila K. Marshall had a question: “Which ones?” Flooding lands differently with a homeowner, an insurance agent or a renter. If the people in the room cannot make the decision being discussed, she says, an empty meeting is no mystery. “Who am I talking to and why?” she asks. “Because I’m not wasting people’s time.” Marshall is an urban ecologist, Clean Water Advocate for the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter and, in her own description, an unapologetic water woman. She studies how living things interact with their surroundings in cities, including natural and political systems. She chose water because it touches everything. “Everyone needs it,” she said. Her work moves between flooding, recreation, public health and who feels welcome at the water’s edge. Marshall attended Lane Tech, then Simeon Vocational, and graduated from Morgan Park High School. She speaks protectively of Simeon and the people it nurtured. Moving among schools left her knowing many Chicagoans without always feeling rooted in one circle, yet it taught her to listen across neighborhoods. She became a fellow in the Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Leadership Development Program. “I love my city,” she said.
15 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
At Chicago State University, she studied environmental biology, taking independent studies when classes were unavailable. Research on crops led her to questions about soil and nutrition. “Food got me into water,” she said. She earned a doctorate at the University of Illinois Chicago, then had to learn something her degree could not guarantee: how to speak with people without assuming she understood their lives. “I’ve had to acknowledge that I’ve forgotten or maybe I never knew how to talk to my people,” she said. Her course correction begins with recognizing the different circumstances within Black communities. She wants to get someone’s attention “without shaming or diminishing where they currently are.” Marshall points to Cahokia Heights, Illinois, where residents have contended with sewage flooding. Why, she asks, can Chicagoans celebrate Black excellence while another Black community in the state lives with that problem? Her questions follow the water into housing, public safety and the everyday decisions people must make about where they live. Marshall also works to make water a place of belonging. She sails from Jackson Park Harbor with the Chicago Sailing Academy and leads the Chicago chapter of the Black Women Boaters Club.
At Chicago’s Finest Marina on the Little Calumet River, which she helps manage, a memorial marks the site’s connection to the Underground Railroad. The place holds Black history alongside recreation and care for a shoreline. Her goal, she said, is to “heal our relationship with water.” She is CEO and co-founder of the Chicago Area Waterways Heritage Awards, which honors people connected to the city’s maritime life. She wondered why there was so little archive of Black people in that history. The awards give those stories a public place. Marshall was a Chicago News Weekly columnist beginning with its first issue. She helps manage Eden Place Nature Center and creates gatherings, including an environmental festival and a beer event that makes clean water a subject people can approach over something familiar. “I can’t just lecture about climate change,” she said. Her next stretch of water is farther away: Marshall plans to join eXXpedition Caribbean II in January 2027, an all-women sailing voyage studying marine microplastics. She will carry Chicago’s water stories into the Caribbean. Yoga and meditation help her bring that attention home. A mother of three, she began practicing to manage stress and be present for her children.
“I am a big relationship person. I am a big, 'my problem solves your problem' person.” Dr. Mila K. Marshall It helped her listen and ask whether a reaction came from evidence or an assumption. That habit belongs in her science and her relationships alike. Her grandmother’s life gives the work another measure. She lived to 103, came to Chicago from Louisiana with a fourth-grade education and told Marshall what it felt like to make that one-way trip. Marshall became the first person in her family to earn a Ph.D. “I want to do something with it, and I don’t want it to be self-serving,.” she said When I asked Marshall to name her vibe, she hesitated, then offered “cool.” Elsewhere in our conversation, she gave me something more revealing: “I am a big relationship person. I am a big, ‘my problem solves your problem’ person.” From a Chicago riverbank to a Caribbean boat, she keeps asking who needs to be included in the story of water and who gets to experience it for themselves.
COVER STORY
KUDZAI MUTASA IN FULL COLOR
Years ago, Kudzai Mutasa had paintings in her trunk when she visited a Chicago gallery. An artist there asked to see her work. She carried it inside, unsure what to expect. Within a week, two pieces were on their way to New York, where they sold. Mutasa went into a bathroom and cried. “It was both,” she said when I asked whether the tears came from happiness or having to let the paintings go. One piece, “But God”, began as a selfportrait at DePaul University. She painted her younger self with her head bowed and an older self looking outward. She described building the younger figure through crosshatched marks that gave the portrait texture. The other belonged to her “Rose Petals” series: a woman with her hands raised as petals fell around her, each one representing a blessing or promise. “I literally use those pieces to minister to myself,” she said, painting toward the hope that better days were ahead. “That wasn’t supposed to be for you,” she remembered thinking when someone bought them. “That was supposed to be for me.” She kept returning to those ideas. Rose Petals grew through multiple paintings. In Faith Walk, now more than a dozen works by her estimate, paths lead through darkness toward light. One took her three years to make. She sought materials and worked out how color, surface and distance could tell its story. “You just have to keep on walking believing that it’s gonna get better,” she said. She wants viewers to feel that passage. Mutasa trained as a portrait painter but developed a language of her own, layering fabric, found objects and bright color into her pieces. Texture carries memory, feeling and changes in the story. She carries those textures into handmade fashion greeting cards, using leather and feathers. Those bodies of work have reached beyond Chicago. Kudzai has shown in New York and had art in Venice, Italy. She has brought paintings to the Black Women’s Expo and made portraits on commission. In her first “Faith Walk” painting, the path brightens toward its center, reversing the way a real path might darken in the distance. She painted the light deliberately. She knows what changes when she paints only for a buyer. After the first gallery sale, Mutasa tried making work without getting attached to it.
16 SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
The feeling went out of the paintings. “They didn’t feel them cause I didn’t feel them,” she said. She calls herself “very much an emotional painter,” working through moments of great joy and low points when she needs to find her way forward. Mutasa came to Chicago from Zimbabwe at 4 years old. Her mother raised her as a single parent while helping family back home. An only child, Mutasa built dollhouses from what she had. Teachers displayed her artwork, though she did not begin painting seriously until after high school. At DePaul, a counselor warned that art and business would be too much to study together. “I’ve always enjoyed both,” she said. She later earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and spent roughly two decades working with beauty brands, helping develop hundreds of consumer products. Today she introduces herself as both a visual artist and a marketing consultant who helps small businesses and entrepreneurs with branding and social media. In campaign meetings, she asks a question the sales figures cannot answer: “What is the consumer doing that the numbers are not telling you?” Her eye belongs there, too. She graduated from the Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Leadership Development Program. I have known her since high school, and she arrives dressed to be seen. But she was candid when I asked about that confidence. “I don’t see myself as that confident,” she said. “I think I put it on.”Looking back at her time at Kellogg, in a classroom of executives with vast budgets and decades of corporate experience, she sometimes wondered, “How did I get here?” She would not let them see her fear. “I can just continue to show up regardless,” she said. Faith gives her a way through that doubt. “I went with my little mustard seed of faith,” she said, describing times she lacked everything she thought she needed. When I asked for her vibe, she called herself “anything but chill”. She loves dressing up, going out and will “pop out and just act up.” The bright entrance and the private uncertainty meet in her Faith Walk paintings. She keeps moving, even when she cannot see the whole path.
COVER STORY
RAJI VELA
STEPS INTO THE FRAME
Thirty minutes before our VIBES shoot, the location changed. Raji Vela, responsible for every photograph in this package, had to shoot the group portrait in a different space while appearing in it himself. “You got to be able to adapt and bring in positive vibes to a scenario that might be unconventional or not ideal,” he said. The resulting photograph holds a roomful of people who do different work. It also holds the person who brought them into focus. Vela is a photographer, filmmaker, creative director and musician. Born in Evanston, he grew up moving between Chicago neighborhoods and St. Paul, Minnesota. As the eldest of six, he changed diapers, babysat and learned to read unfamiliar rooms. “I was just quiet and observant,” he said. Yet when a new idea or challenge appears, there is a childlike wonder about him. He recognizes it, too: “I reclaimed my childhood by just staying youthful in the sense of retaining my energy.” Drawing gave that watchfulness somewhere to go. He sketched portraits of Aaliyah and Left Eye, designed shoes and drew Dragon Ball Z characters. In high school, a theater class he called Black Box Theater let him write and perform plays; audio classes gave him a recording studio. After graduation, he told an alternative school he still needed credits so he could use its free studio and editing resources. He was finding another way to keep learning. A demo and MySpace outreach brought him into Trey Songz’s circle at 19, working as a songwriter and engineer and later singing on tour. He built his own music catalog before asking who he could become beyond it. The answer eventually led him behind a camera, though he still hears a scene as much as he sees it. “I enjoy scoring for my documentaries,” he said. He finds his “sweet spot” putting dialogue over music in a film. Around 2010, Vela attached makeshift lenses to an iPhone and started recording life on tour. He wanted a private visual record of where he had been. “It wasn’t for the world to see in my mind,” he said. At a beach gathering the following year, his camera caught a woman he would later marry. He began taking photography more seriously, discovering that an image could hold something whose importance he did not yet know. ROQA makes photographs, films and brand work across subjects. For the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, his team compressed 120 years of history into a short documentary. For a Target campaign, they photographed and filmed North Minneapolis designer Houston White and Black women in golf. Vela also spent four years filming agricultural life in Wisconsin. Each assignment asks him to enter someone else’s world, listen with curiosity and find the image or sound that carries it. His work requires solitude, too. He may manage a client conversation one moment and edit a film the next. He puts on music, sometimes his own, lights incense and gives himself 90 minutes to concentrate before moving to another task. “I try to reclaim my time throughout the day as best as possible,” he said. Yet he lights up talking about what a team can do together. “I get excited to work in teams,” he said. “I think oftentimes I stay in a silo.”
When I asked about his vibe, he answered with an image: ostrich leather Tecovas boots, wide-legged pants, a collared shirt, braids under a hat and a Jeep Gladiator with the roof off, playing his own music. “Sometimes I’m in Chicago, other times I’m flying or I’m driving in and out,” he said. He can bring energy into a room, then retreat to replenish it. “My mind is always somewhere else,” he said. Vela took every photograph in this VIBES package, then joined the people before his camera. “Coming together as a collective and creating a vibe that transcends the individuality that we will bring to the table is what moves a room,” he said. A man who once recorded his life without thinking anyone would see it has given us images of people worth seeing, himself included.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
17
FOOD & WINE Lemon-Herb Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Garlic Butter MARE EVANS - STAFF WRITER We’re on the cusp of the end of summertime, and the living is still easy… So let’s make sure we prepare an easy-to-do recipe that is also tastefully satisfying. One of my all-time favorites that I am excited to share with you is lemon-herb grilled shrimp. It is the ultimate taste of summer as the hot sun begins to fade into Fall. These vibrant, easy-to-make grilled shrimp skewers will bring a fun touch of high-end flamboyance to backyard cookouts or warm weeknight dinners. The best reward is that you can pull it all together in under 20 minutes. You heard me, 20 minutes! So let’s do it!
Ingredients 1.5 lbs large shrimp (peeled and deveined, tails on) 1/4 cup olive oil 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (plus lemon wedges for serving) 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted, for brushing)
The Directions 1. Prep the Skewers: If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes to prevent burning on the grill. 2. Make the Marinade: In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, parsley, oregano, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. 3. Marinate the Shrimp: Toss the shrimp into the bowl, ensuring they are evenly coated. Let them marinate at room temperature for about 10 to 15 minutes (don't leave them much longer, as the citrus will start to "cook" the shrimp). 4. Thread the Shrimp: Thread the shrimp onto the skewers, piercing them near both the tail and the head end so they stay flat and secure on the grill. 5. Grill: Preheat your grill or grill pan to medium-high heat (about 375°F to 400°F). Lightly oil the grates. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until the shrimp are opaque and pink. Finish and Serve: Brush the warm shrimp with the melted butter right as they come off the grill. Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges on the side.
Pairing Suggestion Wine Pairing: Pour a chilled glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Pinot Grigio to cut through the rich garlic butter and complement the bright citrus notes of the shrimp. 18
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
FASHION EMERGE! Made Way for NYFW with a 15th-Anniversary Celebration of Black Design Excellence C.L. BLACKBURN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
We talked about it, we shouted about it, and it delivered on every front . Undeniable energy, the EMERGE! Fashion Show returned for its 15th anniversary to showcase a brilliant lineup of Black designers on one of the industry's most influential stages and it lived up to every bit of the hype. What started as founder and producer Dionne Williams’ vision to fix fashion's lack of diversity has become a premier NYFW fixture. The celebration combined fashion, music, culture, and curated elixirs while honoring industry pioneers and legends who paved the way. Adding true icon status to the night, legendary music powerhouse Chaka Khan was honored alongside a distinguished group of fashion innovators, entrepreneurs, and designers. The runway put the remarkable range of Black design on full display, moving effortlessly from elevated streetwear and razor-sharp tailoring to dramatic haute couture. Fifteen years in, EMERGE! continues to honor fashion legacy while propelling fresh, visionary talent forward.
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
19
SEPT 24, 2026 - OCT 7, 2026
20