ESSENCE

Dear New Orleans, 30 years ago, we planted roots in your fertile soil to celebrate US and build a home for the ESSENCE Festival of Culture. Since then, you have opened your arms to nurture, love, and support us as we grow. As we celebrate 30 years of loving us, we look forward to the next generation of ESSIES, who will fall in love with the sights, sounds, and soul of New Orleans! We Love You, We Love Us! For our July/August issue, we are celebrating 30 years of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture and paying tribute to the people of New Orleans with a love letter to the city that has become our home! Get your copy on newsstands on 6/25! Writer: @stevie_elem Photographer/Director: @e.buckles Assistant Director: Marcus Brown  Photography Assistants: J. Alejandro Moreno, Peter Philips, and Val Dagrain  Gaffer: Cyr Eugene  Production Assistant & Movement Director: Ammara Khalid  Retouching: Molly Solorzano    ESSENCE, SVP, Creative: @coreytstokes ESSENCE, Senior Content Director: @itsnandibby ESSENCE, Visual Director: @_mq______ ESSENCE, Design Director: @anthonybones_

Dear New Orleans, You gave this country our music, dance, and culture, which sustained us through the darkest times. It all started there, in that sacred space. You birthed the foundations of jazz, R&B, and funk. You are the keeper of the rhythm of our lives, ancient and ahead of our time. And that is the enduring lesson you taught me: In your city, you never walk alone. We walk by tens, hundreds and thousands, in traditions rooted in African rituals. This city has a majestic way of reminding Black folk of who we were before others tried to redefine us. And so we all walk differently: heads held high, bodies swaying freely, and never, ever alone. In this spirit of reverence and remembrance, we gather on Super Sunday, a day deeply rooted in your cultural heritage. We Love You, We Love Us!  For our July/August issue, we are celebrating 30 years of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture and paying tribute to the people of New Orleans with a love letter to the city that has become our home! Get your copy on newsstands on 6/25! Writer: @stevie_elem Photographer/Director: @e.buckles Assistant Director: Marcus Brown  Photography Assistants: J. Alejandro Moreno, Peter Philips and Val Dagrain  Gaffer: Cyr Eugene  Production Assistant & Movement Director: Ammara Khalid  Retouching: Molly Solorzano    ESSENCE, SVP, Creative: @coreytstokes ESSENCE, Senior Content Director: @itsnandibby ESSENCE, Visual Director: @_mq______ ESSENCE, Design Director: @anthonybones_

Dear New Orleans,  Your Vieux Carré streets were reclaimed by Black women, boasting all our shades and shapes, sashaying in colorful, silky sundresses, two-piece linen sets, and hoochie-mama shorts. With our singin’ and sanctified! It felt like I’d arrived in Black heaven. Watching thousands sway together, our spirits intertwined, I realized then that something special lived here—not merely in Frankie Beverly and Maze’s music, but in your essence, New Orleans. Without our ancestors, there would be no New Orleans. This country tries to hide the truth of our genius, but your existence reveals what it means to build, resist, and remember. We Love You, We Love Us!  For our July/August issue, we are celebrating 30 years of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture and paying tribute to the people of New Orleans with a love letter to the city that has become our home! Get your copy on newsstands on 6/25! Writer: @stevie_elem Photographer/Director: @e.buckles Assistant Director: Marcus Brown  Photography Assistants: J. Alejandro Moreno, Peter Philips, and Val Dagrain  Gaffer: Cyr Eugene  Production Assistant & Movement Director: Ammara Khalid  Retouching: Molly Solorzano    ESSENCE, SVP, Creative: @coreytstokes ESSENCE, Senior Content Director: @itsnandibby ESSENCE, Visual Director: @_mq______ ESSENCE, Design Director: @anthonybones_

The countdown has begun! Watch as Essence VP of Branded Content & Video, Stephanie Dunivan ( @nonedunivan )preps for the biggest weekend of the year with @smartwater by her side! #essencefest #EFOC30 #smartwaterpartner

Hurricane Beryl continued its destructive path westward after devastating the southeastern Caribbean after making landfall. As the earliest category five hurricane on record, seven fatalities have resulted, and near-total destruction has been caused on several islands. The island of Carriacou, struck by the eye of the storm, was left “flattened,” with more than 98 percent of the buildings, including the main health facility and airport, damaged, according to Grenada’s National Disaster Management Agency. Grenada Prime Minister Hon. Dickon Mitchell said during a news conference, “The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted.”  To read more about the Hurricane Beryl visit ESSENCE.com.

For almost a decade, House of Aama led by a mother and daughter has been focused on the fabric of American heritage—weaving its narrative through each meticulously crafted piece. House of Aama, as a narrative-driven label, creates collections based on storytelling cohesion from previous seasons. The source inspiration—family history and Black American journeys—is vast and always ripe for a new take, as demonstrated by the brand’s sequential releases. Like jazz itself, Rebecca Henry, Akua Shabaka and House of Aama are children of the same meditation on expansive Black connectivity, pursuing a body of work that can withstand an unknown future. The label’s pieces provide a glimpse into the Shabaka and Henry family tree—and the designers’ countercultural engagement with African-American aesthetic practice and the American heritage brand. As for what is next, Shabaka and Henry are continuing to communicate with each other with intention and vision, in a way that only the mother and daughter can truly understand. As designers, they are each walking in the steps of a profound familial mission, just like their mothers and fathers before them.   Read more about House of Aama in the latest issue of ESSENCE on newsstands now. Talent: @rebeccalouise1967 @shabakaaa @houseofaama Photographer: Texas Isaiah

Calendar: blocked. Get ready with me and @lorealgroupe before we get boots on the ground at Essence Fest 2024.   
 #ESSENCEFest

Sanaa Lathan gives a masterclass in acting in the new BET+ original movie Young.Wild.Free. @sanaalathan stars as Janice, a mother battling depression and struggling to provide for her kids, including a son who veers dangerously between carefree and carelessness after he meets the girl of his dreams. Watch #YoungWildFree starring Algee Smith, Sierra Capri, and Mike Epps streaming now on @betplus ! ESSIES, let us know if this is your new favorite Sanaa Lathan film.

Our stories matter! If you haven’t been watching “The Bear,” where have you been? We spoke to the star of the FX show, Ayo Edebiri, about why it’s important to show people of color in the food industry on television. ESSIES, are you tuned into “The Bear”?

“This is for everybody that looks like me that was ever doubted.” Alaysha Johnson is heading to the Olympics! Her story is proof that with faith and hard work, anything is possible! Let her story of perseverance be your motivation to do things your way. Alaysha, everyone from the hood to Paris is rooting for you! Congratulations! 📹: @nbcolympics

ESSENCE Festival of Culture by the numbers! What was initially a gathering to commemorate ESSENCE magazine’s 25th year in print would spark a three-decade relationship between ESSENCE and New Orleans, forging an enduring bond. Characterized by the vibrance of the city, mouthwatering Cajun cuisine and the warm, familial energy that happens when Black folks reunite, ESSENCE Fest, as it’s sometimes called, has become more than an event; it’s a homecoming, a family reunion and a revival, rolled into one. And aside from its historical, cultural and generational significance, the ESSENCE Festival of Culture also packs a substantial economic impact. Last year’s event contributed $316 million to the local economy and created 3,605 full- and part-time jobs. Moreover, attendees boosted local spending by an extra $120 million. That’s what we call “The ESSENCE Effect”! Read more about ESSENCE and our beloved history with New Orleans in the latest issue of ESSENCE on newsstands now! Written by: Ebony Flake Video by: @preston_ct

BET feted the creative legacy of Usher Raymond IV with a tribute that included performances from Victoria Monet, Coco Jones, Chloe Bailey, Summer Walker, Tinashe, Teyana Taylor, Marsha Ambrosius, and more. Social media cried foul at the range of talents who came together to celebrate the genre’s heavyweight. They questioned the lineup and argued that other names would have been better suited to celebrate the man who gifted us “Bad Girl” and “Caught Up.” The majority of their suggestions were men. Some of them are popular, some of them used to be popular, most of them had little qualifications beyond half a decent Soundcloud single and penis. Nothing about having a uterus disqualifies you from being able to sing and dance in tribute to Usher. Artists do not have to be the same gender or in the same genre to appreciate one another. That is not how art works. If you find it unthinkable to assume that his influence could be interpreted and celebrated by women, that’s really more of a U problem. Read our full op-ed about Usher’s tribute at ESSENCE.com. Written by: @pennedbykeyaira