Naturi Naughton, the actress and singer who spent years playing Tasha on the Starz series Power, stepped away from the screen this week to focus on something she considers more pressing than any role. To mark the opening of Black Maternal Health Week, Naughton partnered with the Irth App to host the Power Moms Brunch at Brooklyn Chop House in New York City.
The gathering brought together expectant mothers, experienced parents, medical professionals and digital creators in a setting designed to move the conversation about Black maternal health out of clinical spaces and into community ones. The Irth App, which functions as a review and resource platform for Black and brown patients navigating maternity care, provided the organizational backbone. Naughton provided the platform and the pull.
Black women in the United States face maternal mortality rates that are significantly higher than those of white women, a disparity that has drawn increasing attention from public health advocates and policymakers. Events like this one do not solve that problem, but they build the kind of community infrastructure that supports women before, during and after pregnancy.
Alexia Jayy makes Black joy history on The Voice
The most concrete record broken this week came on NBC. Alexia Jayy, a 31-year-old from Irvington, Ala., became the first Black woman to win The Voice in the show’s run. Coached by Adam Levine, Jayy drew consistent praise across the season for performances that leaned into the vocal traditions of artists like Adele and Aretha Franklin without simply imitation them.
Jayy is also a graduate of Miles College, a historically Black college in Fairfield, Ala., making her win a moment that resonated well beyond the competition itself. Her path through The Voice was not a sudden arrival. It was the visible part of a longer journey.
Willow Smith keeps finding new ways to show up
Willow Smith is 25 and has already worked in more creative disciplines than most people manage across a full career. This week, she shared a video of herself playing acoustic guitar and singing, a quieter moment from an artist whose public persona has shifted considerably since her debut. The clip circulated widely, drawing responses from people who appreciated seeing a different register from someone who built her early reputation on maximalism.
Smith has been deliberate about creating on her own terms, and this week’s moment fit that pattern.
Method Man speaks up for New Edition and Black joy in music
Method Man did not take the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s omission of New Edition quietly. The Wu-Tang Clan rapper, himself an inductee, posted a response this week that went wide on social media, expressing frustration over the group’s continued exclusion from the Hall despite a catalog and cultural footprint that shaped an entire generation of R&B.
New Edition, the Boston group that launched the careers of Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Bell Biv DeVoe among others, has been eligible for induction for years. Method Man’s reaction was pointed and personal, reflecting a perspective shared broadly among fans and artists who feel the Hall has been slow to honor Black artists whose influence on popular music is beyond dispute.
His response landed because it was specific. It named the gap between legacy and recognition that surfaces in these conversations every year, and it came from someone with enough standing in the industry to say it plainly.
Taylor Dannise and the case for everyday Black joy
Not every moment that matters this week was a record or a rally. Dallas-based content creator Taylor Dannise has been building an audience through humor that connects because it does not perform relatability. It simply is relatable. Her presence in the broader conversation about Black joy this week was a reminder that the register does not always have to be serious to be meaningful.
Laughter, when it comes from a grounded place, travels.
