"Our crowns are not earned through acceptance. They represent our responsibility to our families, our communities, and future generations. We are not asking to lead, we are remembering that we have always led."
— Dr. Ayanna Balogun, Founder, Emerging Beauty, Inc.
An Ancient African Leadership Legacy Returns to the Inland Empire
INLAND EMPIRE, Calif. — Black women from across Southern California gathered this past spring March 28th, for A Queen's Meeting 2026, an inspiring cultural and leadership experience hosted by Emerging Beauty, Inc. This year's powerful theme, "Crowned Without Permission," called Black women to reclaim what has always been theirs: their inherent worth, authority, wisdom, and leadership.
Inspired by the enduring institution of the African Queen Mother, A Queen's Meeting is more than an annual gathering—it is a movement of cultural remembrance. Long before colonialism disrupted African societies, Queen Mothers served as respected political advisors, educators, healers, diplomats, and guardians of their communities. They helped shape public policy, selected kings, mediated conflict, preserved cultural traditions, and ensured that leadership remained accountable to the people.
The 2026 theme, "Crowned Without Permission," reflects this ancestral truth.
It is a declaration that Black women's leadership does not require validation from institutions, systems, or gatekeepers. It affirms that their crowns were never bestowed by external approval but inherited through generations of resilience, wisdom, stewardship, and sacred responsibility.
To be Crowned Without Permission is to reject the notion that Black women must wait to be invited into leadership, recognized for their expertise, or deemed worthy of influence. Instead, it is an invitation to remember that leadership is an inheritance—not a title granted by others.
Speaking of leaders, a defining moment of the 2026 celebration was the very first ceremonial recognition of seven extraordinary women, including the Honorable California Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley N. Weber, whose lifelong service, visionary leadership, and unwavering commitment to the Inland Empire embody the spirit of the African Queen Mother tradition. Their collective impact spans education, public service, civic leadership, philanthropy, advocacy, and community transformation.
A Special Thank You to Our Honorable Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Shirley N. Weber
Dr. Shirley Nash Weber is California's first Black Secretary of State and only the fifth African American to serve as a state constitutional officer in California's 175-year history. She was nominated to serve as California Secretary of State by Governor Gavin Newsom on December 22, 2020 and sworn into office on January 29, 2021. Voters elected her for a full term on November 8, 2022.
Dr. Weber was born to sharecroppers in Hope, Arkansas during the segregationist Jim Crow era. Her father, who left Arkansas after being threatened by a lynch mob, did not have the opportunity to vote until he was in his 30s. Her grandfather never voted as custom and law in the South, before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which systemically suppressed voting by Blacks.
Although her family moved to California when Dr.
Weber was three years old, it was her family's experience in the Jim Crow South that has driven her activism and legislative work. She has fought to secure and expand civil rights for all Californians, including restoring voting rights for individuals who have completed their prison term.
Dr. Weber attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees by age 26. Prior to receiving her Doctorate, she became a professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) at the age of 23. She also taught at California State University at Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College before coming to SDSU. She retired from the Department of Africana Studies after 40 years as a faculty member and serving several terms as department chair.
Before her appointment, Dr. Weber served four terms as an Assembly member representing California's 79th Assembly District, which includes parts of the City of San Diego as well as several cities and communities in the San Diego region. During her tenure in the Assembly, Dr. Weber chaired the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety, and Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health. Dr. Weber was the first African American to serve as the chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. She also served as a member of the Standing Committees on Education, Higher Education, Elections, Budget, Banking and Finance. In addition, Dr. Weber chaired the Select Committee on Campus Climate, which was created to examine and mitigate hate crimes on California's college and university campuses. The committee also explored student hunger, sexual assaults, homelessness, and freedom of expression.
From 2018 - 2020, Dr. Weber served as Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), which consists of the state's African American legislators and has the goal of promoting equal opportunity for California's African American community. Dr. Weber broke records during her tenure by garnering extraordinary support for CBC's efforts and its projects.
Dr. Weber's genuine passion and tireless quest for equality and fairness in all sectors of life have resulted in her pursuit of reforms in education and criminal justice. Her equity-oriented legislation includes: school finance and accountability, classroom safety, ethnic studies, early learners, attendance and dropout rates, quality instruction, law enforcement's use-of-force and body camera practices, reparations, the CalGangs' database, Affirmative Action, inclusive jury selection and instruction, predatory lending, resources for exonerees, restorative justice, racial profiling, among others.
Dr. Weber has also pursued public policy changes related to health, senior citizens, veterans and military families.