In the sweltering July heat of 1995, a young Donna Brazile navigated the crowds in the Superdome of New Orleans, drawn in as much by the historic gathering of Black women as by the promise of seeing Luther Vandross and Gladys Knight perform.
That inaugural ESSENCE Music Festival became the foundation for what Brazile calls “our family reunion” —a cultural touchstone that, along with the magazine, has for several generations helped launch and affirm Black women’s voices.
“ESSENCE gave us that moment to be leaders—to be thought leaders, political leaders, wellness leaders, C-suite leaders, geniuses, writers, everything,” reflects Brazile, a veteran political strategist and media commentator. She made history as the first Black woman to manage a major presidential campaign, heading up the run of former Vice President Al Gore. Then, in 2016, she served as interim DNC chair. “ESSENCE was that path for many of us to find another way forward,” she says.
Even before these achievements, Brazile was breaking barriers. At the age of 22, she was tapped by Coretta Scott King to serve as the national youth coordinator for the 20th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. She also worked with Stevie Wonder and others to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday.
“When ESSENCE started, we were still riding the wave of the civil rights and women’s movements,” Brazile, now 65, explains. “In one movement, we were allowed to do the work—and in another movement, we were not allowed to serve as leaders. We had to navigate our own path.”
A generation later, Symone Sanders Townsend rose to prominence
at 25—as the youngest press secretary in U.S. history, during Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. She went on to serve as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and as chief spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris. Her path was illuminated early on when she saw Brazile on television, at a time when few Black women had such platforms.
“Donna Brazile was a blueprint for so many of us who wanted to work in politics and then do television,” says Sanders Townsend, now 35 and cohost of MSNBC’s The Weeknight. “She was the colored girl on TV, the colored girl who was the campaign manager before they were passing out political-commentator jobs.”
Sanders Townsend is now carrying forward lessons learned from mentors like Brazile. “One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from her specifically is, you can never rest on your laurels,” she says. “Who are you without your title? Because the title can be gone tomorrow.”
This wisdom exchange works both ways. “Symone taught me that you have to meet people where they are, not where you want them to be,” Brazile says. “Her generation speaks in hashtags and Instagram stories. I’ve had to evolve how I communicate.”
Both women emphasize perseverance as essential to their political journeys, especially as Black women facing double barriers in predominantly White and male spaces. “You learn at an early age how to survive, how to thrive, how to persevere,” says Brazile.
Sanders Townsend recalls a pivotal moment when she called Brazile, complaining about workplace challenges. “She gave me some good, tough love that I’ve never forgotten,” Sanders Townsend reveals. “She was talking about the ‘isms’—like, ‘If you can’t handle a little racism, little sexism, little ageism, I’m unsure how you plan to go any further.’ ” That lesson fundamentally shifted her approach. “What’s for you won’t miss you,” she affirms.
For decades, ESSENCE has been what Sanders Townsend calls “a Black woman’s bible”—providing a platform for Black women to discuss topics once considered taboo, from reproductive rights to financial literacy.
Now, as the two barrier-breaking strategists look ahead, they see themselves as links in a chain that stretches from Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells to whoever comes next. “I want to instill in every Black child that you might fall in life, somebody might slip you up—but it’s how you get up, how you go forward,” Brazile says. “We took the assignment, and we’re going to continue to deliver.”
This story originally appeared in the July/August issue of ESSENCE magazine — our 55th anniversary edition.