Black girl magic was sprinkled all over 2018. Here is a list of 32 black women who lived their best lives in 2018.
Maria Antoinette
Photo Credit: Maria Antoinette for Royal Prerogative
It’s me! Yes, I lived my very best life this year. I did a lot of personal growth that put me on the journey to being the happiest I’ve ever been. To celebrate turning 40 I took a trip of a lifetime overseas. I’ll be sharing how I feel and what I’m looking forward to about being 40 in an upcoming post. I also appeared on TV a few times, attended EssenceFest with my Cantu family, did a bunch of speaking engagements, hosted a sold-out crafting event, and relaunched my luxe wig line Royal Prerogative. 2018 has been good to me and I’m looking forward to continued success and happiness in 2019.
Janet Jackson
Miss. Jackson is ending 2018 on the highest of highs as she wrapped a tour, received the prestigious Billboard Icon Award, scored her 20th #1 with ‘Made For Now’ on the Dance Club song chart, and was just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. While the ceremony is set for 2019 that doesn’t mean she can’t start celebrating now.
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle is no stranger to speaking about her pregnancy difficulties. After 8 miscarriages she and husband Dwyane Wade welcomed their daughter Kaavia Wade via surrogate in November. Gabrielle and Dwyane sat down with Oprah to talk about a wide range of parenting topics from their journey to conceive, erasing the stigma that follows women who have to choose alternative means to have children, and why she’ll be raising baby Kaavia her way.
Simone Biles
Considered by many as one of the greatest gymnasts in the world it makes it easy to see how she grabbed the top spot of ESPN’s Most Dominant Athlete list for 2018. In addition, she also became the first American to win medals for all six categories at the Olympics.
Michelle Obama
Our Forever First Lady’s memoir, Becoming has sold more than 3 million copies since its release in November. The book tour, An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama, sold out minutes after going on sale. As a result, The #IAmBecoming tour has been extended beyond into 2019 with 21 additional cities added. Get a ticket if you can, I heard the event is amazing and inspiring.
Beyonce
Beyonce became the first black woman to headline Coachella. It was a concert that paid homage to and celebrated the beauty and power of black culture. She also dropped new music, went on tour, took full ownership of IvyPark when she ended her relationship with Topshop, and graced the cover of September issue of Vogue penning a deeply personal essay on life, love, motherhood, and business.
Stacey Abrams
Stacey Abrams became the first Black woman to be nominated by a major party for the Gubernatorial Primary for the state of Georgia. While she sadly would lose the chance to be Georgia’s first black female governor, due to voter suppression we know this is not the end of the road for Stacey. Her commitment to policy, justice, and social justice issues ensures that we will be seeing a lot of her in 2019.
Nia Imani Franklin
Nia Franklin hailing from Salem-Winston, North Carolina. She lived and attended graduate school in the state, earning an undergraduate degree in composition from East Carolina University, and a master’s in fine arts from The University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts. She was then awarded the Kenan Fellowship at New York’s Lincoln Center Education and made the move to New York City. Nia is a classically trained opera singer and is an advocate for the arts.
Amy Sherald
Amy is the first black woman to be commissioned to create an official portrait for a first lady. The six-by-five-foot oil painting on linen entitled, ‘Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama’ can be found in the National Gallery. Due to the overwhelming crowds to see the painting it had to be relocated to the 20th Century Americans exhibition (on the third floor) for a better viewing experience.
Niecy Nash
Niecy was honored with the 2,639th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, her hit show Claws will return to TNT for a third season, and TNT also ordered a pilot for “Naked with Niecy Nash”, a late-night love and relationship series that she will host and executive produce. The show will be based on her 2014 book, It’s Hard To Fight Naked.
Supa Cent
Photo Credit: Supa Cent
If anyone was living their best life in 2018 it was Supa! Over the Black Friday weekend, her cosmetic brand The Crayon Case made an estimated 1.2 million dollars in 90 minutes. She is a true entrepreneurial inspiration. She’s so down to earth and hilarious, which makes her success story even more endearing. My blogger boo Lisa a La Mode was the first to cover this story – read it here.
Serena Williams
This year Serena returned to courts following the birth of her daughter, won the Grand Slam, named Champion of The Year by GQ, and released fall fashions for her Serena fashion line. In addition, Serena made big societal impacts on and off the courts. She sparked much-needed conversations surrounding the maternal health crisis facing black women and called out unfair treatment of female players by the league following her controversial loss to Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open. She also on the cover of Teen Vogue where she speaks with Naomi Wadler about power, activism, and black girl magic.
Tessa Thompson
If you think you’re seeing Tessa everywhere, that’s because you are. She appeared in three films this year, including Creed II with 3 more films slated for release in 2019. She graced a number of magazine covers and set the internet ablaze after she was featured in Janelle Monae’s ‘Make Me Feel’ and “Pynk” video shorts.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex
In May Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex joined the British royal family when she married Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Then she became a bestselling author with her co-written charity cookbook ‘Together: Our Community’ (proceeds benefit those affected by the Grenfell Tower Fire). Followed by announcing she was expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. She’s just starting out in her royal duties and I’m looking forward to even greater things from HRH.
Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany has been living her best life this year. She took home an Emmy for guest hosting Saturday Night Live and made it to TIME magazine’s Most Influential People list for 2018. Tiffany currently has an endorsement deal with Groupon and most recently Lawry’s seasoning salt. She truly is ready.
Rhianna
While she didn’t release any new music this year that doesn’t mean wasn’t putting in that work. She killed it on the big screen with her summer blockbuster Oceans 8. It grossed almost 300 million worldwide, it also had the best opening weekend of the Ocean franchise. She launched Savage X Fenty lingerie line, had an amazing runway show at NYFW, won a slew of awards, graced countless magazine covers, named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Barbados, dropped new Fenty Beauty products, oh, and turned 30. I can only imagine what she has in store for 2019 – I hope one of those things is music.
Issa Rae
Issa inked a multi-year deal with Columbia pictures that will give her the opportunity to promote up and coming writers. She will serve as a mentor in which she will help new writers develop their talents and original ideas. Participants of the program will be announced spring 2019. She was also one of TIME magazine’s Most Influential People for 2018.
Janelle Monae
Janelle has had quite the year. She released Dirty Computer, which was nominated for album of the year. Starred in Welcome to Marwen, accepted the Trailblazer award at Billboard’s Women in Music, and had a show-stopping performance at the BET Awards. We’ll see even more of Janelle next year as she has four films in the works, two of which she will star alongside Tessa Thompson. It’s going to be epic.
Shonda Rhimes
While accepting the L’Oreal Paris Luminary Award at Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood celebration Shonda declared that she was the highest paid showrunner in Hollywood. Her statement is on the heels of her inking a deal with Netflix to create new original shows and move her production company, Shondaland to the streaming service which is said to be worth more than 300 million dollars. Whoa! Highest paid indeed.
Victoria Mahoney
For the first time in Star Wars movie history, a black woman will serve as a director. Victoria was chosen by J.J. Abrams to be his second unit director for the next Star Wars installment, Star Wars: IX due out December 2019.
Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige was honored with the 2,626th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also saw her long divorce battle finally settled, released a new song ‘Only Love’, and made history at the 90th Academy Awards by being nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Song ‘Mighty River’ for the Netflix film Mudbound.
Angela Bassett
Anglea stay living her best life. This year she starred in Black Panther which grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. Her hit show 9-1-1 got renewed for a second season, which is already airing on FOX. And she turned 60, y’all – yes, SIXTY! Then she blessed all of us by sharing her formula for looking for great. I’m sharing it with you, cause sharing is caring.
Naomi Osaka
Naomi is the reigning US Open champion in women’s singles. She has a career-high Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of No. 5 in the world, which she achieved in September 2018 when she defeated Serena Williams at the US Open. But that would be her second title win for the year. Her first took place at the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open where she defeated Daria Kasatkina. She is expected to compete in the upcoming Australian Open so we’ll have to see if she’ll claim that title too.
Black Girl Magic Texas
Photo Credit: Harris Black Girl Magic
In Harris County, TX 19 intelligent and qualified black women ran for various judicial seats, the largest number in history. To celebrate this historical moment and to bring awareness to the candidates, the Harris County Democratic Party created the Black Girl Magic Texas campaign. In the end, history continued to be made with 17 of these women winning their judicial seats.
Cicely Tyson
Living legend Cicely Tyson, made history at the Governors Awards, as she became the first black woman to receive an Oscar in the honorary award category. During her acceptance speech, she stated, “I don’t know that I would cherish a better gift than this,” and that, “This is the culmination of all those years of have and have-not.” I think I speak for many when I say, the recognition was long overdue.
Ava DuVernay
When ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ crossed the $100 million mark Ava became the first black woman to join an elite club of directors whose films also did the same. Ava is currently working on a number of projects that include a Prince documentary and Central Park Five miniseries for Netflix, and The Red Line for CBS. She will also continue her work as Creator, Writer, Director and Executive Producer of Queen Sugar.
Oprah Winfrey
At the 75th Annual Golden Globes Oprah became the first Black woman to be honored with the prestigious Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. HFPA President Meher Tatna stated, “As a global media leader, philanthropist, producer, and actress, she has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world, making her one of the most respected and admired figures today.” And who could forget her acceptance speech? It was timely and awe-inspiring, making it hands down one of the greatest speeches in Golden Globes history.
Kimberla Lawson Roby
NY Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has concluded her “The Reverend Curtis Black” series with a 14th and final book release entitled, Better Late Than Never. But the story doesn’t end there, Reel World Management acquired the rights to the series and will bring it to the small screen with Kimberla as executive producer. There’s no air date as of yet, but I’ll wait for it.
Missy Elliott
Missy is the first female rapper to be nominated for Songwriters Hall of Fame. If you’re wondering why such a thing would take so long, it’s because an artist can become eligible if they’ve been publishing songs for a minimum of 20 years. Missy’s Supa Dupa Fly turned 20 in 2017. She is up against 11 other artists. The ceremony will take place June 2019. We’ve got our fingers crossed.
Lucy McBath
Lucy is a member-elect for the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 6th congressional district. But the journey that led to her win was born out of tragedy. In 2012 her son Jordan Davis was killed by a white man who took issue with loud music coming from the car Jodan and his friends were riding in. He was later convicted of first-degree murder. Since that time Lucy has become a staunch gun control advocate who will now take her fight for issues such as ending senseless gun violence, healthcare reform, immigration, and women’s rights to Washington.
Sonia Lewis
Photo Credit: Sonia Lewis
Sonia, also known as The Student Loan Doctor, is helping people save money on their student loan debt. Sonia’s goal is to help her clients create a plan and understand how to pay off their student loans. Not all heroes wear capes y’all. She was most recently featured Essence.com, you can read it here. Sonia is doing great work and there’s no doubt she will continue to ride her success into 2019 and beyond.
Tarana Burke
The mother of the #MeToo has spent the year doing what she’s been doing since 2006, being the light for survivors of sexual violence. Her goal for the movement is to make sure it’s not considered a moment but a movement. Throughout the year she has continued to work to establish resources and solutions to sexual assault. She won countless awards and was named one of TIME magazine’s Most Influential People for 2018.
Well, there you have it. There was so much black girl magic this year it would have been easy to keep this list going. But I want to take the time to hear from you.
Did you live your best life this year? Do you know of any black women who lived their best lives this year? Share those accomplishments with me in the comment below.
Latest posts by Maria Antoinette (see all)
- 10 Romantic Date Night Ideas For Any Time of The Year - January 26, 2023
- Tips To Help You Reconnect With What Brings You Joy - January 19, 2023
- Planning A Road Trip? Here Are Some Key Tips You Should Know - January 12, 2023
