What It Was Like At The 2025 Essence Festival?
Essence Fest is where these entrepreneurs take center stage and we show up to celebrate, support, and circulate the black dollar
Essence Festival, famously known as the festival of culture with more than 10 years of experience celebrating the brilliance of black music, art, wellness, fashion, education, food and commerce.
It’s Friday, July 4th – Independence Day. It’s 12:30am when I and hundreds of other Essence Festival attendees land at MSY airport in New Orleans, LA. As much as I wanted to feel excited, I was actually so irritated. Not due to exhaustion but because the flight to get here was so congested and then to walk out of the airport into NOLA’s hot, dry, foggy summer heat, made my attitude even worse.
After about ten minutes of realizing that my irritation was making my body temperature rise which was not good combination with the heat. I decided to switch my attitude and focus on feeling grateful for getting another opportunity to experience another historic black event.
I continued to take it all in and really admire how supportive black people are to be willing to travel from all around the world to celebrate our culture for 3 whole days. Whereas the attendees at the BET Awards were mainly local.
Let me just say, if you’re looking for a place to feel Beyonce rich without actually being Beyoncé rich, come and get an Uber or Lyft in New Orleans. A majority of their cars are big, black SUVs and Escalades. So, when my black Escalade came to pick me up, I was on cloud-9. I was LITTY!!
A few hours later, it’s officially Day 1 for me and there was so much to do. We head over to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and my goodness, it was huge. Inside were amazing DJ’s, booths hosting different educational and film panels, celebrity performances, giveaways from retailers such as Target with their Beats headphones, Amazon Prime, Febreeze, Coca Cola and McDonald’s.
But what really took over the 3-day event was the BeautyCon section. Their lines were never ending, and their booths were visually on the next level.
The production design of some booths were actual hair salons (i.e., Juvias Place, Mielle, L’Oréal) with personnel actually styling the hair of actual buyers of their products. Other booths (i.e., Pedilicous) were giving away free back massages, and there were even licensed doctors (i.e., Beauty Below) giving away free consultations.
The amount of gratitude expressed by so many black women was eye-opening because it made me realize that black women are still fighting to feel beautiful and appreciated. You can only imagine how difficult this must be when the outside world is fighting to make black women feel the complete opposite despite all black women continue to accomplish.
There was still so much more I wanted to do but sadly not enough time. However, I knew I had the upcoming days to take in the rest of the full experience.
Three hours later, my mentor and I attend a private event. It was hosted by American Civil Rights leader Rashad Robinson and the talented Kendrick Sampson spoke about the importance of black wealth, education and entrepreneurship.
The next day, we head to a second private event at Addis Nola hosted by the fitness apparel brand Enda. I must say, Addis Nola and their African cuisine (shrimp and meat stew, and other foods I don’t remember…LOL) was some of the best I’ve tasted outside of my mother’s infamous Cameroonian home cooking.
Just when you think a woman could get full, we head over to Cafe Beignet Canal for New Orleans world-renowned beignets (I think of them like funnel cakes, but others call them African puff-puff). You know I had to top it off with some coffee because those beignets will literally put you to sleep with all its sugar.
About two hours later, we head back to the hotel to get a few hours of rest before heading to the Ceasar’s Superdome to enjoy a night full of celebrity. performances by Davido, Jill Scott, and Lauren Hill. Unfortunately, the experience was short-lived because the Superdome was so cold.
I mean, it was past freezing. We couldn’t take it, and we didn’t want to risk getting sick, so we went back to the hotel and called it a night.
Now, it’s the final day of Essence. My mentor and I head back to the convention center. I ended up meeting a talented videographer who urged me to step out of my comfort zone if I wanted to make my film premiere a success. He agreed to help me record a few reels for marketing (coming soon). He improvised catchy lines for me to say while using some of the booths and props and overall, I was so HAPPY.
Essence was definitely a trip worth taking.
Other posts you may be interested in:
- What It Was Like At The 2025 BET Awards?
- How To Add ADR & Finish A Short Film?
- How To Get Through VFX Challenges In An Indie Film?
Don’t forget to follow @thereelgiaforetia for more film content and updates. Leave a comment below
Subscribe to Stay Updated!
Your message has been sent
Disclaimer:
The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.
Leave A Comment