Mary J. Blige has plenty to celebrate right now. On the music side, the “Be Happy” singer was newly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this week, along with honorees Dionne Warwick, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang, Suzanne De Passe, and Big Mama Thornton. Blige is also working on dropping her next album later this year, which she says could be her last. But for now, the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul is gearing up to bring her third annual Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit home to New York City, with special guests like Fat Joe, Lola Brooke, and more on the concert lineup.

Ahead of the May 10-12 celebration, Blige announced the launch of the Pepsi x Mary J. Blige Strength of a Woman Community Fund, the R&B icon’s new initiative to give back to and empower underserved women in her hometown of Yonkers. The fund will make $100,000 available as grants to local organizations whose work elevates and educates underserved women in Yonkers. The funds will be distributed via grants between $5,000 to $20,000 to qualifying organizations supporting programs in education, financial stability, and food security. As a special treat, Blige surprised some women during a Thursday appearance at Westchester Community College. “It means so much because all I ever wanted to do was always give back to the communities where I come from,” she says, “and I'm able to do that."

“Pepsi has been an incredible partner for the Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit since the start. Now, with their support, being able to come home to Yonkers to give back to and invest in the community I grew up in is all I’ve ever wanted. We hope to provide resources for local organizations striving to support and uplift women for even greater impact this year,” said Blige.

In a recent conversation with BET.com, Blige talked about reacting to her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, giving back to her city, continuing her legacy of women empowerment, and what to expect from her potential final album.

BET.com: Congratulations on being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! How honored are you to now have that accolade next to your name?

Blige: Man, I'm beyond [honored]. It's amazing. I'm very, very excited and happy about it.

BET.com: What’s the first thing you did when you got the news?

Blige: I was by myself, and so I just... was excited and played some music. What do you do when you're by yourself? Jump around, run around the house, and scream by yourself? Of course, I started praising God and thanking the Lord, like, wow, this is amazing. 

BET.com: You have a lot more to celebrate right now. You’re bringing your Strength of a Woman Festival home to New York next month, and you have this new Strength of a Woman Community Fund with Pepsi that’s giving back to women in your hometown. What does it mean to have these extensions of your career come full circle where you grew up?

Blige: It means so much because all I ever wanted to do was give back to the communities where I come from, and I'm able to do that. This is very important to me.

BET.com: What inspired the idea for this fund with Pepsi?

Blige: What inspired the fund is just what I stand for. What I've been doing all my life and all my career is wanting to help women. Why not help women and young kids where I'm from? That's basically where it came from, what the Mary J. Blige Movement is.

BET.com: How does it feel to give back to these women in your hometown in such a significant way and empower them to be self-sufficient?

Blige: It's so fulfilling because, wow, we all come from some very hard times, and to share with people what I've lived through and let them see me. People in this world have seen me come through some stuff, but they see me come through it. So that's where the fulfillment comes from because I came through it, and because I came through it, they say to themselves, "If Mary can do it, I can do it, too." That's the inspiration to them, me getting through.

BET.com: You’ve said that you created your Strength of a Woman Festival to give your fans something bigger than you, something that can inspire and help the women who look up to you. How has that mission evolved for the festival’s third year?

Blige: It's the same thing. The summit is the event where all the women speak. We have some powerful female speakers, some powerful male speakers, men [who] celebrate women. This is where everyone [can] each one, teach one something that they learned. Something that can inspire this one, that one. Something that you may have done that I'm doing that I could do better because I didn't think about it the way you did. You know, just different things. The summit is very important.

BET.com: Last year, Strength of a Woman went big with its lineup, especially in honor of Hip-Hop 50. How are y’all topping that this year?

Blige: We're not trying to top it— I guess we are. I hope we can. This year, we have 50 Cent, Muni Long, Jill Scott, Jadakiss… We got everybody.

BET.com: Last year in Atlanta, you treated fans to a nice B-sides set. What can people expect from your performance at the Barclays Center this year?

Blige: I can't really tease [anything]. It really is about the artists that are coming. This is my festival. I will be there in some way, some shape, some form. You're going to see me, and I have some BIG announcements, child. I mean, huge.

BET.com: Anything you can tease right now?

Blige: Nope, I cannot.

BET.com: Fair enough. Speaking of music, you mentioned in a recent interview that you might be recording your last studio album. 

Blige: Every time I say it, people start crying—

BET.com: We love your music, and it inspires us that you're still making music 30+ years later.

Blige: I mean, this [album] might be the last one. It might be.

BET.com: You’ve made incredible music over the years, which has built up your legacy. If this is your last album, do you plan to make it a grand finale?

Blige: I don't know what I'm going to do. All I know is that the music is amazing so far. If it's the last one, oh yeah, I'm going to make a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big deal out of it.

BET.com: Can you share a release date yet?

Blige: No, I can't say. You can definitely expect it this year. But with the way the fans are responding, this may not be the last one.

BET.com: You’re mentoring the next generation of artists with acts like WanMor and Vado through your Beautiful Life Productions company. Is that something you want to lean more into in the future?

Blige: Well, I definitely want to lean into making these artists' dreams come true. They're so talented, and I'm excited to see what they're going to do. 

Applications for the funds can be submitted online by June 1, 2024, at www.uwwp.org/pepsi-saw.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.