This year, Glamour honors Serena Williams, Taraji P. Henson, Allyson Felix and Tina Knowles with its annual Women of the Year awards.
What do Serena Williams, Taraji P. Henson, Tina Knowles, Allyson Felix and activist Kaitlyn Joshua have in common? Beyond their notoriety, they are all honorees in Glamour’s Women of the Year issue for 2024.
This week, the publication released the honorees featured in its annual list, highlighting women across industries — including four Black women. Each receiving exclusive covers and profiles, Glamour celebrated actress Henson who, beyond her stellar performance in “The Color Purple” and amplifying the dangers of Project 2025, went viral last year for speaking on the pay inequalities Black women face in Hollywood.
“I think I was triggered,” Henson told Glamour, reflecting on her viral moment. “This big movie is coming out, and I am Taraji P. Henson, and I have this incredible track record and all this work that I’ve done, and people are putting it all together, and people are telling you, ‘You’re so amazing!’ And it’s like, Yeah, but I still am struggling with the same thing I was years ago.”
Though Henson does not consider herself a spokesperson for the matter, her industry peers, like Gabrielle Union, commended the star for her bravery. In addition to her acting career, Henson juggles leading her nonprofit, the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, a popular haircare line, and production company, TPH Entertainment — and most importantly, finding and protecting her peace.
Like Henson, Williams, tennis legend, mother, and founder of Wyn Beauty, is trying to juggle it all. For the former tennis star, retirement looks different as she works on her growing beauty brand, partnerships, appearances, and a venture capital fund designed to support female and BIPOC founders while simultaneously raising her two young daughters, Adira and Olympia. In addition to being a businesswoman, Williams is known for her outspoken role in the public discourse about women, especially Black women’s maternal health.
It’s an issue fellow Women of the Year honoree and mother Kaitlyn Joshua can relate to. After experiencing a traumatic miscarriage following the Supreme Court’s abortion ban, Joshua’s decision to share her story led her to become an activist for reproductive justice and a part of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.
In addition to honoring Williams and Joshua, this year, Glamour crowned the mothers of some of the world’s biggest superstars. Among the matriarchs selected was Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange. Sharing her experience raising two superstars, Knowles revealed that she was very protective of her children stepping into the entertainment industry.
“I started doing the girls’ hair to earn my keep so that I could travel with them because I wanted to protect them — not because I wanted to go and be on planes every day, because there was nothing glamorous about it, but it was to protect my kids,” she told the publication. “The industry can chew you up and spit you out. And I was determined that there were not going to be certain elements around them and that they weren’t going to get eaten up by that. It just became my mission. Those are your kids, and you want to protect them and they need protection.”
Just as the Cécred chairwoman protected her daughters, she is now protecting her grandbabies as they are being raised in the spotlight. While she enjoys tapping into her inner child when around her grandchildren, she’s very serious about online trolls and critics attacking her family.
“You mess with my grandchildren, though, I’m coming,” she added. “Because they’re minors, and they didn’t ask to be in this. I have gotten [online] and let people have a piece of my mind several times, but I take a lot and then there’s certain things that I just have to draw the line on.”
This year’s Women of the Year honorees will be further celebrated at the Glamour Women of the Year gathering on October 8.
