Through The RISE Tour, she transformed personal resilience into a growing national platform for recognition, access and opportunity.
Women of Momentum 2026 Honoree | By Christopher D. Thomas | Publisher, inCity Magazine
Between February 3 and October 10, 2026, Dr. Shavonna Herron-Johnson led eight completed editions of The RISE Tour across the United States. The route moved from San Francisco to Miami, the Atlanta area, Raleigh, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans and the Washington metropolitan area.
According to figures supplied by The RISE Tour, those eight experiences welcomed an estimated 600 to 1,000 attendees and recognized approximately 120 to 160 honorees. The programs also included 40 keynote appearances, 48 panelist appearances and about 80 vendor appearances. Two additional editions, Dallas in November and Phoenix in December, were scheduled but were not included in the completed-event totals.
The numbers establish the scale of Herron-Johnson’s 2026 expansion. The leadership story sits behind them. As founder and executive producer, she was responsible for building an experience that could move between markets while creating recognition, access and continued connection for the people invited into it.
A Personal Understanding of Possibility
Herron-Johnson became a mother at 16. The experience required maturity long before adulthood normally demands it and shaped how she understands potential. She learned that a difficult beginning does not settle the question of what a person can become. It can, however, affect whether other people recognize that possibility and whether meaningful access arrives in time.
That understanding now informs the way she leads. Her work centers people whose ability may be greater than their visibility or proximity to opportunity. She has used her own trajectory to shape environments where others can be recognized, introduced and encouraged to move forward.
Her professional life prepared her for the breadth of that responsibility. She is an international speaker, real estate broker and investor, and the founder and chief executive officer of East Coast Property Management Services and Consulting. She also leads Rise Reign Lead and Women Will Win Global. In 2025, TIUA School of Business conferred upon her an honorary doctorate in Humanitarian Leadership and Business Excellence.
From Pilot to National Tour
The RISE Tour was piloted in December 2025. By February 2026, it had entered a national schedule. The first completed edition took place in San Francisco during Super Bowl LX week on February 3, followed by Miami on March 27 and 28. The tour continued to the Atlanta area on May 9, Raleigh on June 13, Chicago on July 11, Houston on August 15, New Orleans on September 19 and the Washington metropolitan area on October 10.
The Washington-area edition was held at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. It followed New Orleans by only 21 days, creating one of the year’s clearest examples of the operating pressure behind the public program. Follow-up from one city, financial reconciliation, partner communication and production planning for the next had to occur at the same time.
Herron-Johnson’s responsibility reached far beyond appearing onstage. She selected markets and venues, helped determine who would speak and be recognized, developed partnerships, managed budgets and production, and carried the financial and reputational risk attached to each decision. Each new market required her to judge whether the local opportunity could support the mission and whether the experience could retain its purpose as the tour expanded.
Responsibility Beyond Visibility
The RISE Tour was designed to place leaders, entrepreneurs and community changemakers in proximity to credible recognition and new relationships. According to the organization, its 2026 network included at least 13 named brand partners, along with sponsors, businesses, media organizations, nonprofit organizations and community collaborators.
Those relationships increased the tour’s reach, but they also increased the number of expectations Herron-Johnson had to manage. Honorees needed to be represented accurately. Speakers and partners needed clear roles. Vendors needed a functional environment. Participants needed an experience that justified the time and trust they invested.
Her defining decision was to continue the tour’s expansion while keeping its mission ahead of attendance or revenue alone. That choice did not remove the commercial realities of producing events. It required her to balance them against the tour’s purpose and protect the integrity of the platform as its visibility increased.
Recognition That Became Partnership
One of the tour’s clearest documented outcomes began during the Raleigh edition. The RISE Tour honored Dr. Jimmy J. Davies, founder of Every.Black. That recognition developed into a strategic partnership between the two organizations and was publicly announced in August.
The relationship extended the tour beyond its event calendar. The RISE Tour and Every.Black began maintaining ongoing engagement through weekly Monday mastermind sessions focused on business development, networking, community events and collaborative opportunities. Their communities have also participated in periodic book discussions, supported local businesses and shared resources.
This progression matters because it shows a relationship moving from recognition to structure. A gathering can create an introduction, but continued engagement gives that introduction time to become useful. The partnership created a recurring point of connection between city stops rather than asking participants to sustain the energy of an event on their own.
Building Institutional Capacity
Herron-Johnson also established The RISE Tour Foundation during 2026. She serves as its founder and president, in addition to her role as founder and executive producer of The RISE Tour. The Foundation is the nonprofit arm of the organization, created to support community outreach, educational initiatives, charitable giving and opportunities for underserved communities.
The Foundation is still developing its sponsorship, donor and partnership base, so its long-term results remain ahead. Its establishment nevertheless represents an important institutional step. It gives the tour a formal vehicle for work that cannot be carried by event production alone and creates a structure through which community impact can continue to grow.
Together, the Every.Black partnership and the Foundation address the same strategic question from different directions: what remains after an event ends. One provides recurring community and shared resources. The other creates organizational capacity for educational, charitable and outreach work.
A Measure of 2026 Momentum
Herron-Johnson’s 2026 momentum is visible in the movement from a December 2025 pilot to eight completed city experiences in just over eight months. It is visible in the people recognized through those programs, the partnership that grew from the Raleigh edition and the creation of a nonprofit arm intended to support longer-term work.
The expansion also demonstrates leadership beyond personal visibility. Herron-Johnson used the platform to direct attention toward other people and their work. Her name convened the experience, but the experience was structured to widen the circle of recognition.
The next test is durability. Dallas and Phoenix were still scheduled at the time of this profile, and Herron-Johnson has identified stronger infrastructure, partnerships, mentorship and media exposure as priorities for 2027. Sustainable growth will depend on whether the organization can preserve its care for individuals while distributing responsibility across systems, partners and a capable team.
“I am no longer building simply to prove what is possible for me. I am building rooms, platforms, and pathways that make possibility accessible to others.”
That statement captures the distinction at the center of her selection as a Woman of Momentum. Her trajectory is personal, but the work extends beyond her own story. She has applied what survival taught her to the design of opportunities for other people. She has also accepted the less visible responsibility of carrying budgets, partnerships, production demands and public trust. In 2026, she moved that work through eight completed markets and established structures intended to continue after the events themselves.
She did not simply rise. She kept the door open behind her.
Dr. Shavonna Herron-Johnson
Founder and President
The RISE Tour Foundation
Recognized for leading eight completed RISE Tour city experiences while building the partnership and institutional structure needed to extend the work beyond each event.
About Women of Momentum
Women of Momentum is an annual editorial initiative documenting women whose leadership creates meaningful commercial, institutional, civic and community movement. The 2026 cohort, The 26, recognizes 26 women whose decisions, work and influence produced measurable impact during the year.
Selection and editorial coverage are independent of sponsorship.
Partnership Opportunities
Organizations interested in supporting Women of Momentum 2026 may review partnership opportunities and request a private conversation.
About the Publisher
Christopher D. Thomas is the founder of Women of Momentum, publisher of inCity Magazine, and founder and president of inMMGroup, a private advisory firm working with leaders whose decisions move people, capital and institutions. His work centers on documenting consequential leadership, strengthening institutional narratives and helping leaders make the significance of their work more visible and understood.
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