“Beyond the Headlines”: Brandi Grayson Challenges Narratives at Beloit’s 8th Annual Black Herstory Expo

“Let me start here.

Black women are too often visible in our suffering
and invisible in our strategy.

They see the tears.
They don’t see the theology.
They see the protest.”

On February 14, 2026, Urban Triage Founder and CEO Brandi Grayson opened her keynote at the 8th Annual Black Herstory & Black History Month Celebration Expo in Beloit with these words — setting the tone for a message that challenged, affirmed, and reframed.

Hosted at the Eclipse Center, the annual Expo brings together Black women entrepreneurs, leaders, creatives, and community builders from across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. This year’s theme — “Seen & Unseen: Truth Lives Beyond the Headlines” — created space to examine how narratives are shaped and who gets defined by them.

Brandi’s keynote did more than reflect on headlines. It dismantled them.

She invited the audience to consider how Black women are often hyper-visible in moments of crisis, pain, or controversy — yet invisible when it comes to strategy, institution-building, theology, policy, and long-term vision.

The message was not abstract. It was embodied.

Through Urban Triage, Brandi has helped develop programs that address systemic inequities while providing direct support to families across Wisconsin. From housing stabilization and youth development to food sovereignty and economic mobility initiatives, Urban Triage operates at the intersection of immediate crisis response and long-term structural change.

That work is strategy.
That work is leadership.
That work is theology in motion.

The Expo’s theme mirrors a broader movement that Urban Triage is advancing in 2026 through the expanding “Seen & Unseen” initiative, including a public installation designed to challenge how homelessness, leadership, and Black womanhood are portrayed and misunderstood.

Because what lives beyond the headline is formation.
What lives beyond the headline is infrastructure.
What lives beyond the headline is power.

Brandi’s voice continues to resonate across Wisconsin as a speaker, advocate, and systems builder — not simply calling out injustice, but building alternatives.

And that work requires investment.

Urban Triage invites individuals, businesses, and philanthropic partners to move beyond observation and into action:

• Invest in community stabilization efforts
• Partner in expanding housing and agricultural programming
• Support youth leadership development
• Fund the 2026 Seen & Unseen installation
• Invite Brandi to speak in your community

Visibility without investment changes nothing.

If you believe in shifting narratives and resourcing solutions, now is the time to act.

Donation Link: https://www.urbantriage.org/donate

‍Partner Link: https://www.urbantriage.org/become-a-partner

‍Subscribe link: https://www.urbantriage.org

Because beyond the headlines is where the real work happens.

And Urban Triage is building there.

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