ESSENCE Festival 2023
At this point, ESSENCE Festival and I go together real bad.
ESSENCE Festival, as usual was a great time. To sum it up, I got invited to Missy Elliott’s birthday party, attended all 3 nights of the concerts at Mercedes Superdome, reunited with friends and my mom and her bestie came for the first time. I spent the last day with them. I even went to the Black Excellence Brunch where Sheryl Lee Ralph was honored and dropped so many gems on what it’s like being a Black woman in the industry. Shout out to Trell for the invite!
So many trending moments Megan Thee Stallion made a major comeback, Janelle Monae was showing her areola, Lil Wayne surprised us on stage and Jill Scott left no crumbs with the National Anthem.
Here’s a few tips for the festival as well.
Make sure you study the ESSENCE app. It will be your best friend to navigate for the week. The panels discussed a little bit of everything from women’s health, music, voting and so much more. Beauty Con was giving out so much free hair and beauty products. The lines were insane. You should totally get to the Marc Morial Convention Center early if you want free items.
The New Orleans Marriott was the best! It’s located right on Canal Street. I racked up so many points by staying there as a Bonvoy member and it’s in a great location to everything.
I interviewed people like MTV’s TRL host, Ananda Lewis, BIA, Pretty Vee, Muni Long, Terrence J, Remy Ma and so many more.
To end our trip, we went on a steamboat cruise down the Mississippi river and visited a plantation. Check out Creole Queen for more information.
I think everyone should do this at least once in their life. Next year they’re celebrating 30 years and I am sure it’s going to be insane with the line up. You should book your trip now for next year! If you’re new to Nicia Travels, I have a few more posts from my past experiences of attending. Check them out below and my TikTok for this year’s experience.
