Dancer, Delta, Howard Grad, Founder: Ayahnna Hines Refuses to Be Just One Thing

Ayahnna Hines wants every woman to know it is not too late. A native of Philadelphia and a proud resident of Maryland, she is your reigning Ms. Black Maryland USA 2026, and at 41 she is living proof of a truth she repeats often, that you do not have to choose just one version of yourself.

For anyone meeting her for the first time, she is a lot of things at once, and unapologetic about it. A Howard University alumna, a national and international dance educator, a mentor, a community advocate, and a beauty content creator, she is the woman behind the platform Be Empowered Through the Arts and the personal brand Divinely Ayahnna. Her career has spanned federal service, healthcare, dance education, and entrepreneurship, while dance, one of her first loves, has stayed the thread running through all of it.

Her story, as she tells it, has never been a straight line, and she thinks that is what makes it beautiful. Dance led her to Howard University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Science while building a life as a dancer and community leader. Then life asked her to reinvent herself again and again. She became a mother, navigated major personal and professional transitions, built a business, returned to her artistic goals, and, in her 40s, did something she had never done before. She stepped onto a pageant stage.

That was the risk. Entering pageantry at 40 with no prior experience, she could have told herself she had missed her window, that it was a thing for her twenties, that she was too established to become a beginner again. Instead, she bet on herself. She walked into an unfamiliar world willing to learn, to be coached, to be uncomfortable, and to meet another version of herself. That bet made her Ms. Black Maryland USA, and at 41 she competed in her first national pageant, finishing as 1st Runner-Up for Ms. Black USA and earning an Honorable Mention for her Not Just Jasmine Initiative presentation.

The setbacks along the way did not always arrive as one dramatic moment. Sometimes, she says, they came as seasons when several parts of life change at once. She has navigated divorce, career transitions, motherhood, financial challenges, and stretches of professional uncertainty, times when rebuilding could have been read as failure. She chose to read it differently, as an invitation to become more intentional, returning to the things that made her feel most alive and taking risks again. That reframe is the heart of what she now tells other women.

There is no expiration date on becoming. Your age doesn't disqualify you. A setback doesn't disqualify you. Starting over doesn't disqualify you.

It is more than a nice line for Hines. It is the entire thesis of her work. She believes there are women and girls full of gifts who have never been given the opportunity, the resources, the confidence, or simply the permission to explore them, and she wants her life to help change that. Her message to women is direct: you are allowed to evolve, allowed to change careers, rediscover an old passion, start a business, or become someone you have not met yet.

If there is a single idea her life argues against, it is the notion that Black women have to be any one thing. Mother, professional, artist, mentor, entrepreneur, queen, and founder, she is all of it at once, and she wants every woman watching to know she is allowed to be too.

Service is another thread that has held throughout her journey. As a member of the North Arundel County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Hines has stayed rooted in a sisterhood built on service and community impact, values she says are deeply aligned with the woman, leader, and advocate she continues to become.

Now she is stepping into one of the most exciting chapters yet, the launch of Be Empowered Through the Arts, Inc., a nonprofit created to empower young girls through arts education, mentorship, leadership development, and confidence building. It is the evolution of work she has already done as a dancer and educator in Philadelphia, Florida, Germany, Maryland, and as Ms. Black Maryland USA. She is building the foundation now, developing programming, partnerships, and scholarship opportunities in Anne Arundel County, with applications for the inaugural cohort set to open in January 2027. She is also taking requests for hosting and public speaking.

You can learn more about Ayahnna Hines and her work at divinelyayahnna.com, or follow her on Instagram at @divinelyayahnna. Her life is the message she keeps preaching, that empowerment is something you create for yourself, and then make accessible to everyone coming behind you.