EBONY NAMES 2026 POWER 100 HONOREE COURT FEATURING BRANDY, BYRON ALLEN, FLAU'JAE JOHNSON, KEITH LEE, LENA WAITHE AND VICTOR GLOVER

Grammy Award-Winning Artists T.I. and Kirk Franklin Take to the Hollywood Palladium Stage for Live Music Performances

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- EBONY today named the six members of its 2026 Power 100 Court - the special honorees who will be celebrated on stage at the EBONY Power 100 Gala on Monday, Nov. 9, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

Spanning space exploration, finance, media ownership, music and sports, this year's Court includes:

• Grammy-winning singer and actress Brandy
• Allen Media Group founder Byron Allen
• Seattle Storm WNBA player Flau'jae Johnson
• Digital influencer and culinary tastemaker Keith Lee
• Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe
• NASA Astronaut Emeritus Victor Glover

The Court represents the honorees whose work most fully embodies this year's theme, "The Stories We Shape." Each member will be presented with a dedicated tribute and accept their honor in person on the Palladium stage.

"For more than 80 years, EBONY has kept the record of the people moving Black America forward, and the Court is that record at its most vivid. They wrote it themselves, and that is exactly what this year's Power 100 celebrates," said Eden Bridgeman, CEO of EBONY.

The program will also feature live musical performances from 20-time Grammy-winning artist Kirk Franklin, who will open the show, and Grammy-winning rapper, entrepreneur and member of this year's Music Innovators class T.I., who will close out the ceremony.

While the Court takes the stage, every member of the 2026 Power 100 will be recognized during the ceremony, and honorees will be photographed in the gala's portrait studio, adding the 2026 honoree class to EBONY's eight-decade visual record of Black leadership.

The evening will unfold inside "La Cour," the gala's immersive creative world, which reimagines the grand royal courts of history with Black excellence at their center.

Produced in partnership with Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE), the private, invitation-only gala begins with a 5:00 p.m. red carpet and cocktail hour, followed by the 7:30 p.m. awards ceremony and a 10:30 p.m. post-reception. The 2026 Power 100 recognizes leaders across 11 categories, from the Junior Bridgeman Business Vanguards, named in honor of EBONY CEO Eden Bridgeman's late father, to STEM Trailblazers, Media Mavens and Generation Next.

This year's honors are supported by category sponsors including:

• BMW, sponsor of Community Crusaders
• Mielle Organics, sponsor of the Court
• United Airlines, sponsor of STEM Trailblazers
• Walmart, sponsor of Influential Creators
• Sela K.
• Tiffany & Co.

The complete list of 2026 EBONY Power 100 honorees is available at EBONY.com/Power100. Follow EBONY on social media for additional Power 100 updates: @EBONYMagazine on Instagram, @ebony_magazine on TikTok, and @EBONY on X and Facebook.

ABOUT EBONY

For more than 80 years, EBONY has served as a leading voice of the Black American experience and a global authority on Black culture. Through its commitment to storytelling, cultural coverage, entertainment, lifestyle, commerce and community, EBONY continues to illuminate the Black perspective and celebrate the people, ideas and movements shaping the past, present and future of the Black experience. EBONY Media Group is a division of 1145 Holdings LLC.

ABOUT JESSE COLLINS ENTERTAINMENT

Founded in 2012, Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE) is a full-service, Emmy-winning production company behind many of television's most memorable moments, including the Emmy Awards, the BET Awards, the Soul Train Awards, and multiple Super Bowl Halftime Shows. Emmy Award winner Jesse Collins is Founder and CEO; Emmy winner Dionne Harmon is President.

MEDIA CONTACT

EBONY
Jeana Edney, Manager of PR & Experiential
[email protected]

Alford + Co. Public Relations
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SOURCE EBONY Media Group