I have been wanting to go to Essence Festival for YEARS! Then COVID and Girls’ Trip made that impossible, but this year was my year to stop waiting around for people, like I did with Costa Rica, and just do things. 

My mom ended up joining me on the trip, which was our first adult solo trip together. We timed our flights to get in around the same time and met up in the terminal before heading to the hotel. 

We stayed at The Frenchman Hotel, a cute place in the French Quarter, just a short walk from Decatur. The hotel itself had a rooftop and a tiki-type bar, and there were also bars and restaurants on the street surrounding the hotel. Check out my reel for an inside look. 

First day, we headed down to the convention center, and it took us a while to get the hang of things, but by day two we were pros – or getting lucky. There was so much happening by the time we got there around 1pm on Essence Friday.  We ended up not going back to our hotel before the concert, so day one was LONG. We slept in day two after looking at the schedule of events and decided sleep was a must to prep for the long day that was ahead of us. 

Day three, we were exhausted, and completely skipped the convention center. Instead we got brunch, walked around the scorching New Orleans streets and did some shopping before heading to the concert. 

Overall I had a great time. I saw celebs and influencers who had powerful messages to tell. On site was the cast of Abbott Elementary in a session we randomly ran into, Daniel Ezra, Chandra Wilson, Luke James, Alex Toussaint and we saw surprise performances from Amerie and Keri Hilson. There were a ton of black-owned businesses on site to shop from too.

I have a few tips and tricks for anyone thinking about going, or for if I go back, so be sure to stay tuned!

Until next time…

-Jae Marie