by Queen Muse

It’s been an amazing year for black women. From entertainment to politics to sports, black women have slashed records, made history, and stood up nobly for important causes, for themselves and for one another. These are the #BlackGirlMagic moments that made us laugh, cry tears of joy or shout a unified “Yaaasss!” in celebration of our fellow sisters.

by Diana Veiga

Acclaimed author (and Black woman oracle) Toni Morrison once said that Black women are the original girlfriends. “Black women have always been friends. I mean, if you didn’t have each other you had nothing,” Morrison said in a conversation with Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni for Essence.

by Diana Veiga

by Raisa Habersham


What’s not to love about Cookie Lyon, the hood matriarch at the center of FOX’s hit show, Empire?

Played by Taraji P. Henson, Cookie is street-smart, fierce, and unapologetic, while still managing to be a sympathetic and vulnerable character. Everything about Cookie is bold—from the way she dresses to her quick-witted snaps at Lucious (Terrence Howard), her ex-husband and semi-nemesis, who built the successful Empire Entertainment using initial investment money she provided by dealing drugs. It is her drug dealing that landed her in prison and kept her away from her three sons.