Art, Cocktails, and a $24 Million Mansion: ArtLeadHER Turns 10

In 2016, ArtLeadHER asked the art world to make (more) room for women. On Thursday, Oct. 29, the organization’s founder, Mashonda Tifrere, held a one-night art exhibition that doubled as a party in celebration of ArtLeadHER’s previous decade. 

September 2, 2026

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Hosted at a $24 million Rancho Santa Fe home by Dubreville Atelier and presented with Soho House San Diego, Through Her was an evening of high joy and unapologetic woman-power. The cocktails kept coming and a DJ set the pace for roughly 100 guests. 

The evening featured work by Los Angeles painters Cortney Herron and Rugiyatou Ylva Jallow (soon to be a San Diegan), and ceramics by Tifrere—an artist and curator herself—who debuted an emotional, thought-provoking body of work. Revelers bounced to the beat through the home’s wide open spaces, taking in the art and congratulating Tifrere on a decade spent identifying and elevating Black women artists. The evolution continues.

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“The biggest change in 10 years is that ArtLeadHER has grown from giving women a place to be seen to helping them build lasting careers,” Tifrere says. “It brought me so much joy to see [Herron and Jallow] meeting new collectors and being admired by a new San Diego community. It reminded me that this was never about one person. It belongs to everyone who showed up.”

The artists agree. Herron, a former graphic designer who started painting full time after a layoff (corporate America’s loss), says ArtLeadHER’s backing has built her confidence. “It’s so nice when someone else sees you,” she says. “They see your work; they see the story that you’re telling, and they believe in you.”

Jallow, a Swedish-Gambian painter has shown with ArtLeadHER in both group and solo exhibitions. “She’s just been the most supportive person in my life,” she says of Tifrere.

Next up for ArtLeadHER: More education and a more global platform. Tifrere is also curating a solo exhibition by street-art legend Swoon at MCASD. That show kicks off in February 2027 and we’ll be there. “The next ten years start now,” Tifrere says, “and I can’t wait to see who we get to lift up.”