What happens when a legendary actress and producer, world-renowned chef, iconic television producer and writer, and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist come together to not only curate the ESSENCE Festival of Culture but also grace the cover of the newly imagined ESSENCE magazine? You get a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, rooted in community.
On Saturday, July 4, ESSENCE paused for a moment to exclusively unveil and commemorate the “Culture’s Curators” issue of the magazine, featuring Sanaa Lathan, Nina Compton, Mara Brock Akil and Nikole Hannah-Jones. Seeing how these incomparable women’s work has long shaped how Black stories are told, tasted, and remembered, it is no surprise they were tapped to shape the Festival’s culinary, literary, television, and film programming. But rather than just formally announcing them as ESSENCE’s newest cover stars, the team hosted a “We Love Us” community reception to honor and celebrate them the “Big Easy” way.
Hosted by Eva Marcille, this exclusive experience gathered ESSENCE executives, community partners and sponsors, and the cultural curators themselves, including Chief Curator Teyana Taylor, for an evening full of love, laughter, and gratitude.
“This is amazing. My first ESSENCE cover issue was July 2005, so to be here now in July 2026…this is such a beautiful, full circle moment,” Marcille shares. “Mara Brock Akil and [her husband and creative partner] Salim were one of the first people to ever give me an opportunity in this business. So to see her in the light is amazing. Sanaa, I’ve always looked up to her as an amazing creator…all the culture curators, all the women that we’re honoring tonight, I’m so excited to give them their flowers.”
At the age of 19, Marcille captured the eyes and hearts of millions as the winner of cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model. Now 41, the actress and former Real Housewives of Atlanta star’s timeless beauty and fiery personality has been an integral part of the culture for decades. “Over the years, the culture has always been the culture, the shift has just been the platform. The culture has never changed. What becomes more apparent is the visibility and the platforms in which you distinguish and you let them know, ‘that was ours.’”
According to Richelieu Dennis, founder and chair of Sundial Group, that’s exactly what this new era of ESSENCE represents.
“This particular issue is about transformation while holding down the core values of our community, and that’s what each of these women do. They bring those core values to life in ways that are unique to them. To be able to have them all together, focused on this, working on this, building on this, it’s been nothing short of spectacular, so I’m excited for it.”
This year’s ESSENCE Festival of Culture took a curatorial approach, positioning each woman as an architect of experience. While Lathan and Compton curated ESSENCE’s film and culinary experiences, respectively, Hannah-Jones and Brock Akil co-curated the Book Festival at the ESSENCE Authors stage. Together, they created unforgettable memories and conversations beyond surface-level storytelling into deeper, more intentional dialogue.
“It’s truly special to be coordinating everything,” Compton shares. “Working with the local chefs, spotlighting our culture and highlighting women chefs, women brand ambassadors, and just spotlighting the city of New Orleans.”
“We are so excited and proud because it really just feels like we’re tapping into the soul of the culture across all the industries, the women at different levels, and these women lead the spaces they sit in,” adds ESSENCE Chief Community Officer Barkue Tubman Zawolo. “[Brock Akil] just launched a new book. Nina has an amazing restaurant here [in New Orleans]. Sanaa, I mean, she stays on a project. And Nikole is a global thought leader who’s also launching her new business, North Star Salon. So for them to agree to partner with [us] to ensure we connect with those areas deeply, we are feigning over this cover because we haven’t seen a cover like this at ESSENCE for a long time. It wasn’t about celebrity, it was really about excellence. It’s been brilliant, but it also, to me, signals the future of what ESSENCE is doing. It really is about partnership…about listening…about building. It’s a collaboration, and [we] are going to continue to be super intentional.”
ESSENCE’s intentionality in terms of partnership is evident in this year’s reception sponsors, African Pride and dai+drm, two Black brands who center themselves at the intersection of culture and community.
“Culture is our cloth and what we’re made of…and I’m big on pouring back into the community and Black and Brown people,” says Romel Murphy, founder and chief executive officer of dai+drm, an independent record label, management, consulting and marketing firm. “It was very important to be part of this because if we don’t build on and support ourselves, who’s going to do it? To be able to be part of something with a brand like ESSENCE – that I know helped my mother be a strong, Black woman – means a lot. Without ESSENCE, without the culture, without community, we cannot continue to grow.”
“When ESSENCE told us they were moving into a new era with their new special release and all of that, we felt like it was a perfect match,” adds Tori Davis Artis, chief commercial officer at Strength of Nature, parent company of African Pride. “We’re a household of legacy brands…we hold that legacy, and we always say we sit at the point of bridging legacy and relevance because you can have a legacy brand, but you have to keep it relevant and keep it evolving, and it feels like that’s the same mission ESSENCE is on, so it’s like our paths are kind of synced in that way, and it just makes sense for us to support it.”
African Pride has been a staple in the Black hair community for 30 years, and they have continued to show up in New Orleans for the ESSENCE Festival of Culture throughout its tenure. “When I think of culture and community, I think about the impact that we can have,” Davis-Artis says. “Because at the end of the day, we set the trends. Globally, they lean on us on what the hair trends are…whether it’s our corn rows, or even our crochet braids, all those things start with us. So it’s really great to be able to facilitate and help push that forward and make sure we’re bringing those trends and setting the vibes.
Thinking about the legacy and impact of ESSENCE’s four cultural curators, it’s Lathan’s critical depiction of the importance of Black women’s hair in Netflix’s 2018 film Nappily Ever After particularly stands out to Davis-Artis. “In that movie, Lathan pushed forward a critical conversation about good hair versus bad hair and what does that mean. Because at African Pride, we believe whether you’re natural, or rather you’re still doing relaxers, we want to celebrate however you choose to step up and celebrate yourself. That movie was so critical, and even with me being the mom of a daughter, it’s one of those films we watched together to have those critical conversations about being proud about what you have.”
A consistent theme throughout the celebratory evening is the overall importance of supporting each other and coming together in community.
“It means support. That’s really why I’m here,” says Danielle Brooks, award-winning actress and Friday night host of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture evening concert series. “I’m just proud, being a Black woman. Just showing what’s important and what’s cool and what’s in. It’s always started with us, so I’m not shocked at how successful it has been with all these women curating. It’s been fun watching all the activations, being part of the activations. Being on stage last night with The Aunties…I’m just very proud to be supporting.”
“Community is the only way we can get through,” Compton says. “Community is about embracing each other, celebrating each other, and that’s because we are community. We are that in so many different aspects. And it’s important that we support each other, we are real with each other, be truthful, and uplift each other, most importantly.”
Dennis credits this year’s cultural curators with helping not just think through strategies but to execute. He believes they have “the right play” and “the right strategy” and now, “it’s time to stay in the pocket…and win.”
“The most important thing I will do in my lifetime, and I try to tell my team the most important thing they will do in their lifetime, is make sure their granddaughters have an ESSENCE around to keep them grounded, to help them grow, to help them grow, to help them achieve, and, most of all, to help them dream,” Dennis adds. “So if I’m dreaming of being a fiction writer, there’s no bigger dream than Mara Brock Akil. If I’m dreaming of portraying that fiction, there’s no bigger dream than Sanaa Lathan. If I’m dreaming of being a chef, there’s no greater dream than Nina Compton. If I’m dreaming of telling our history and contextualizing our story, there’s no bigger person to do it than Nikole Hannah-Jones. And if I’m thinking of how I bring all of our culture together…who’s going to inspire them more than Teyana Taylor. Community is important to Black women, and Black women are important to the ESSENCE brand. So what ESSENCE is doing is creating every environment where community can thrive…where community can become the glue, once again, to what holds us together.”
Inside the Celebration
The Visionaries Unite
The Big Reveal
The Celebration Begins
A Collective Vision
Welcoming the Celebration
In Good Company
Building What’s Next
At the Heart of the Festival
