A Laurel Hill Productions Publication
LEGACY
Magazine
Savannah Rose
Cover Story • Portrait in Motion
Her Story. Her Strength. Her Legacy.
In Memoriam
Candace Murphy Sissac
March 1, 2026
ear Reader — this edition of LEGACY carries a heavier heart than the last. We lost one of our own on March 1, 2026. Candace Murphy Sissac — attorney, co-host, associate executive producer of The Shelia New Comedy Show, and a woman whose laughter lit up every room she entered — left this world before any of us were ready. This edition is dedicated to her memory, her brilliance, and the indelible mark she left on everyone privileged to know her.
Yet Candace would not want us to stop celebrating. So we do. We put Savannah Rose on our cover — a dancer whose every movement is a declaration of power and grace. We celebrate Erica Campbell of Mary Mary and Get Up! Mornings, with a special tribute from co-host Griff. We celebrate Dr. Shondra G. Williams, CEO and President of InclusivCare FQHC. We honor women reshaping power in global politics, the writers and filmmakers who gave the world its greatest stories, Cardi B and the rising national voice of The Shelia New Comedy Show — because LEGACY belongs to every woman, everywhere.
"Community is not a location. It is a commitment — a daily decision to show up for one another, to bear each other's grief and amplify each other's glory."
To every woman in these pages and every woman reading this — your story belongs here.
LEGACY is not a regional magazine. It is a global celebration of women — in every city, every country, every walk of life — who lead, create, heal, build, and refuse to be forgotten. Every woman’s story deserves to be told. Every legacy deserves to be honored.
Laurel Hill Productions • Winstrategics • The Rose Smalls Brown Initiative • March 2026
There are people who enter your life and immediately expand it — who make every room brighter, every conversation richer, and everything they touch more meaningful. Candace Murphy Sissac was that person. From the moment she entered a room, something shifted. The energy lifted. The laughter came easier. And the work — whatever the work was — became better for her presence in it.
An exceptional attorney, Candace wielded the law with precision and used it as a tool of advocacy, justice, and protection. She understood that legal expertise in the right hands is not just a profession — it is a form of service. She never forgot who the law was supposed to serve. She served them brilliantly, consistently, and with a care that went far beyond what any title required.
As Co-Host and Associate Executive Producer of The Shelia New Comedy Show, Candace brought her full self to every episode — her razor-sharp wit, her infectious warmth, her deep intelligence, and her unshakeable belief in the power of Black women telling their own stories and making the world laugh along the way. She was not just a voice on the show. She was its heartbeat.
She was a friend in the truest, fullest sense of that word — the kind who shows up before you ask, who speaks truth wrapped so completely in love that it never stings, who remembers what matters to you and checks on it without being prompted. The kind of friend whose loss you feel not just in your grief but in the small moments — when something funny happens and you reach for your phone to tell her, and then remember.
Candace Murphy Sissac left this earth on March 1, 2026. She left behind a community of people who are fuller, braver, and more joyful for having known her. She left behind a legacy that no measure of time will diminish. And she left behind the echo of her laughter — which, if you listen closely, you can still hear in every room she ever entered.
We carry her forward. In every episode. In every laugh. In every woman who dares to take up space and be fully, gloriously, unapologetically herself. That is the Candace way. That will always be the Candace way.
Long before the alarm clock became optional, Erica Campbell was already up — and bringing everyone with her. As the host of Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell on the nationally syndicated Reach Media network, she starts millions of mornings with laughter, faith, and a boldness that only comes from a woman who has been tested and come through stronger on the other side.
Erica Campbell is one half of the legendary gospel duo Mary Mary — the Grammy Award-winning sister act that changed the sound, the look, and the reach of gospel music for an entire generation. With hits like "Shackles (Praise You)" and "God in Me," Mary Mary brought contemporary gospel into mainstream radio, pop charts, and living rooms across the country. Erica's voice — rich, powerful, and unmistakably anointed — became the soundtrack to countless people's faith journeys.
"I wake up every morning knowing that somebody out there needs to be reminded that they are loved, they are seen, and they are not alone. That is why I do this work."
But Erica is more than her music. She is a mother, a wife, a faith leader, and a morning radio host whose warmth, humor, and spiritual depth have made Get Up! Mornings one of the most beloved programs in gospel and inspirational radio. Every day she brings her whole self to the microphone — the joy, the struggle, the faith, the laughter — and listeners feel it. They feel seen. They feel lifted. They get up.
Her journey has not been without valleys. Erica has spoken openly about marital struggles, health challenges, and the pressure of public life during deeply personal seasons. And each time, she has turned those moments into ministry — using her platform to remind women everywhere that vulnerability is not weakness. It is a bridge to someone else's healing.
Erica Atkins-Campbell is one half of the Grammy Award-winning gospel duo Mary Mary alongside sister Trecina Atkins-Campbell. A singer, songwriter, author, and television personality, she is widely regarded as one of the most gifted voices in contemporary gospel music.
Nationally syndicated morning radio on Reach Media. Erica brings faith, laughter, and inspiration to millions of listeners every weekday morning alongside co-host Griff.
People ask me all the time what it is like to work with Erica Campbell, and I always tell them the same thing: it is a gift. Not just because she is extraordinarily talented — but because of who she is when the mic is off.
Erica Campbell is the kind of woman who remembers your mother's name. Who checks on you when she notices you seem a little off. Who will stop in the middle of a production meeting to pray for someone on the team who is going through something hard. That is not performance. That is her character — deep, consistent, and completely real.
As a host, she is one of a kind. She walks into that studio every morning like she is walking into a living room full of people she loves. She is funny — genuinely, naturally funny — and she can pivot from a laugh to a word of prayer without missing a beat, because for her both come from the same place: a heart that is wide open and fully surrendered to something bigger than herself.
I have watched her minister to callers in crisis. I have watched her make a studio full of people double over in laughter. I have watched her conduct interviews with grace and a depth of curiosity that makes every guest feel like the most important person in the room. And I have watched her do all of this while carrying her own burdens — quietly, faithfully, without complaint.
Erica Campbell is not just an amazing woman and an amazing host. She is a living example of what it means to use your gifts in service of others. Every morning she gets up — not just for herself, but for every person who needs to hear that today is worth showing up for. I am honored to be in her orbit. I am better for it.
There is a difference between living in a community and being one. Shondra Williams has never confused the two. As CEO and President of InclusivCare FQHC — serving Greater New Orleans across Kenner, Avondale, and Marrero — she leads with a vision that is both strategic and deeply human: every patient who walks through those doors deserves to be seen, treated, and served with dignity.
At InclusivCare, Shondra stewards an organization serving more than 12,000 patients annually — many uninsured, underinsured, or historically failed by a system not designed with them in mind. Under her leadership, InclusivCare has expanded through school-based health centers, Food as Medicine programming, and community outreach that meets people exactly where they are.
"A queen does not wait to be crowned — she shows up, does the work, and builds the kingdom for everyone who comes after her."
What does it mean to be part of a community? It means showing up before anyone asks. It means holding space for grief and joy in the same breath. It means understanding that your success is made of the people around you — and giving that back with everything you have. Every door you refuse to close behind you, every table you expand, every patient you fight for — that is community. That is Shondra Williams. And when New Orleans shows out — with crowns and costumes and music that moves your soul — she is right there in the center of it. Not as a spectator. As the queen she has always been.
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar — known to the world as Cardi B — did not wait for the music industry to invite her in. She built her platform from the ground up, turning social media hustle into a recording career, and that career into a cultural empire that no one saw coming and no one can ignore. She did it without apology, without a blueprint, and without asking anyone's permission.
In 2018, she became the first solo female rapper to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album with Invasion of Privacy — breaking a record held for nearly two decades. She achieved this not by softening her edges or playing by the industry's rules, but by being exactly, relentlessly, unapologetically herself — a Bronx-born daughter of Caribbean immigrants who turned survival into stardom and never forgot where she came from.
Before the Grammys, there was "Bodak Yellow" — the September 2017 banger that made history as the first rap song by a solo female artist to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a moment that changed the game, silenced the doubters, and made clear that Cardi B was not a moment. She was a movement.
But Cardi B is more than her chart numbers. She is one of the most politically engaged artists of her generation — speaking candidly about workers' rights, healthcare, poverty, and the realities faced by women who look like her. She has sat down with presidential candidates, driven voter registration campaigns, and used her massive platform to engage a generation of young people who have tuned out traditional political messaging but will listen to Cardi. That is influence. That is power used with purpose.
She has also been fiercely open about her own life — the struggles, the growth, the motherhood, the marriage, the complicated, beautiful, fully lived experience of being Cardi B in public. In doing so, she has become something rare: a megastar who feels genuinely accessible. Women who share her background see themselves in her. Women who do not see something that surprises and inspires them. That is the gift of authenticity at scale.
"I don't dance now — I make money moves." She has never stopped. Not once. Not for anyone.
