Before I get into anything, let’s be clear about something. CultureCon came from an idea this Black woman, Imani Ellis (a brilliant fellow Scorpio baddie), had, and she started it in her living room, and now it’s a whole weekend where creatives from all over the country, maybe even internationally, are coming together in the same space to commune with each other. So whatever I share about my experience, I’m sharing it knowing this is still a celebration of Blackness, built by a Black woman. And I think sometimes we forget that Blackness comes in all these different shapes and sizes. She’s covering Black in business, Black as creatives, Black as in sisterhood, brotherhood, siblinghood, Black in literature, Black in media, Black nostalgia, Black Afrofuturism, even how to go get a man, which again, I don’t think is necessary information for me, but it was there. With all of that going on at once, nobody’s having the same CultureCon, so I can only speak on mine. People have been asking me how CultureCon was, so this is me sharing my experience. It is not a critique. This was my first time going, and I’d never really had the desire to go, because I don’t do big crowds. I feel a lot of energy from people, and being amongst that many can get overwhelming for me real quick. I actually came out to be an emotional support person for my homegirl, who invited me, and even with spending time with her as my North Star, there was so much going on that I didn’t get to see her as much as I wanted. Someone described Imani’s vision as a homecoming for creatives, and I can absolutely f*****g see that. Fly ass, creative ass Black people, all together connecting, looking hella good. She hit the nail on the head. And when I say homecoming, I mean a proper Black homecoming, HBCU levels of Blackness. If you’ve never been to one of those, that vision could go right over your head and honestly be really frustrating, because it’s still called a conference. But it’s a conference of culture, of Black culture, and that’s vastly different from what other conferences provide. Will I share some ways I think it could grow? Sure. I’ve put on events big and small, I’m a trauma-informed practitioner, I’ve been a creative my whole life, and I’m a native New Yorker who lives out of state now, so I see things from a few angles at once. But none of it comes from having a terrible time. Things weren’t always smooth, and some things could have gone better, but there was never a moment at CultureCon where I thought, this is f*****g awful, I’m never doing this again. Well, one moment, and we’ll get to that AI talk. Everything else, even the bumpy parts, was never a bad experience. Yes, I Came to Get My Fits Off I’m starting with the fashion because I’m really passionate about it, and I grew up in it. I was a fashion model in my early teens, and when you live in New York City, you’re inclined to know about fashion, whether it’s because of Fashion Week or just the incredible style of everyday New Yorkers. Style is key. I know people assume the fashion side of CultureCon is superficial, like oh, you’re just there for the photo ops, and it’s like, yes, and I’m also expressing myself creatively through what I’m wearing, because I’m a creative… So picking out fits was one of the things I was most excited about, because I knew I’d be getting dressed for a room full of creatives who would actually receive it. Outside of my new position as the healing artist at Beaucoup Hoodoo, where I can now dress to my full creative whimsy desires, I haven’t had many opportunities to dress at this level of fashion. Before that, I was working with kids, and there’s only so much you’re willing to wear around children, because they will absolutely destroy everything just by being alive and having sticky fingers. So I appreciate any chance to wear something really f*****g fly, and I planned the weekend around a theme: Saturday was dedicated to the sun, and Sunday was to the moon. For Saturday I wore an oversized, drifty, giraffe-print-inspired halter dress, floor length, with the entire back out and a deep cowl neck in the front to show off my tattoos. Bone-colored thong kitten heel sandals, a cute little red toe, and a dark berry lip. Thick gold hoops, my honey name plate chain, the gold stack of bangles I have on me at all times, and my green jade gold ring. I was shimmering up to the Gods. I looked like an ethereal conjurer who called in the sun. The hair is where it went left. It was supposed to be a fresh braid-out that, in hindsight, I really should have tried beforehand. It was not that. I pushed it off my face and still looked beautiful, but if it had matched what I’d envisioned in my head, that look would have been everythinggg. So Saturday night I got home, did a fresh blowout, and it came out way better. For Sunday I wore an oversized vintage men’s gray suit over a cut-out black crop top with white piping on the straps and around the breast. Silver pointy-toe stiletto boots that are actually comfy and kept my feet warm in the rain. I took a little baby blue and white silk neck scarf and wrapped it halfway as a belt for detail, with an evil eye charm. My NY beret that I love so much, cobalt blue mascara, my signature dark brown liner, and a glossed lip, an ode to being a New York girl through and through. For jewelry it was all silver: oversized crescent moon earrings with a really cute diamond ear stack, and these fun oversized silver rings, one with blue lapis and one with amethyst. Same honey nameplate chain. I got compliments all day, and it made me really happy. Part Fashion Show, Part Networking, Part Conference Someone said CultureCon is part fashion show, part networking, part conference, and I agree, because Black people and fashion go together real bad. We set all the trends, and we will continue to set all the trends. That’s just what we do. Nobody looked the same. I didn’t see anyone with the same accessories or fit, and that shows you how creative we are in our ability to express ourselves through clothing. I may not know all the fashion houses anymore since I’m out of the modeling world, but I know good style, and I know when someone is expressing who they are through their clothes seamlessly. I saw that everywhere I looked, on the line and inside. Hair laid to the gods. The amount of gold glistening off of well-moisturized Black skin in the m***********g sun will always be tea for me. And everybody was complimenting everybody. “Girl, I love your shoes”. “Y’all are so beautiful”. “Girl, you smell good, what’s that?” Nobody was mean, rude, or had an attitude. I know there’s been talk in the past about it being cliquish, or people just coming for photo ops without giving a f**k about you as a person, and that was not my experience at all. People were kind, sweet and really patient, which could also have to do with the frequency I carry. Either way being Black is an incredible experience when you’re amongst other Black people who love being Black, and that in itself was an experience. Day One: Getting Through the Gate Saturday was hotter than many of us expected. We’d already been given fall weather, and then Saturday was like, psych, it’s actually fall summer, and for those who know New York City has about twelve different seasons, you understand what I’m talking about. We were in line for about two hours with no shade anywhere, and the staff were doing their best to keep the line in order, but when you’re standing in direct sun in an outfit that’s generating its own heat, you just want to step into the shade. Come to find out there was free water inside the whole time, so if I could add one thing, it would be volunteers walking the line with that same water, because people didn’t want to lose their spot and they were thirsty. By the time we got in, we needed to go to the bathroom badly, so the first place we went was the Creative Playground. It was a bit overwhelming when you first walked in, especially after being on line for so long, but the activations were really cute and fun, and it was pretty spacious for people to walk around and mingle. The one thing I’d move is the arts and crafts section. I think the goal was to give people a space to decompress and tap into that creative wellness, and having it directly in the center of all the activations, artists, and vendors made it feel overwhelming and oddly placed. The top floor of the Creative Playground had a smaller stage, which I’m assuming was for another Brain Date, with little standing tables in the back for chit-chatting, and everything up there was so much more calm and quiet. That’s where I would have put it. Now, on Sunday, when it was raining and everybody was essentially stuck inside, that section got very, very busy, and it was super loud. So if the point was to network and commune, it hit the nail on the head, but if the point was a safe space to decompress, that wasn’t quite it, and I’m honestly not sure which one the intention was. Once we made it over to the Creative Business Stage, it was running about 30 minutes behind, which was honestly a blessing in disguise, because getting in took so long we would have missed something we really enjoyed. We just didn’t know at first, so we sat through a session we hadn’t planned on, thought we were in the wrong place, left, and came back. Then someone from the CultureCon staff went up and spoke to the audio and visual guys to clear up where we were in the timeline. Once we knew, it wasn’t a big deal at all, it was just confusing until somebody told us. I also don’t know if that delay was updated in the app. It didn’t look like it when we checked, but I can imagine updating an app in real time is complicated. Personally, I did not enjoy the app. The interface is beautiful to look at, but it overwhelmed me, and it was
