Next week, the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture will take over New Orleans with Janet Jackson’s headlining performance, GU kickback featuring JT, and more. But first, can’t miss panels at BeautyCon will have you on the tip of your seat. This will include everything from important chats about A-Beauty and hair, to conversations with major beauty brand founders on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Below, take a look at what to expect at the panel discussions.
Friday 7/5
The State Of Beauty: The Power Of A-Beauty
This panel will focus on how A-beauty (aka African Beauty) is slowly gaining more and more traction. Industry leaders share why going back to our roots is the best thing for our skin.
Hair Tok: Ask a Curl Expert x Social Arthouse
NaturallyCurly‘s Ask a Curl Expert franchise joins leading stylists in the industry to discuss the latest trends, products, and hair care tips for all textures. Hair experts will show off their texture expertise with a range of tips, guidance, and advice for protective styling. This conversation will focus on short and long-term protective styles, scalp care, and using key products like edge control, oil, gel, and custard.
Passion To Profit
The Passion To Profit series celebrates Black beauty entrepreneurs and their legacies via a conversation about their career and success journeys. Each day of Essence Festival, you can expect one of our editors to be in conversation with a major beauty brand founder.
Saturday 7/6
Beauty Looks Like Me
From the texture of our hair to the bridge of our nose and color of our skin, texturism, featurism and colorism tells us beauty does not look like us. In this panel, an important conversation is had about reshaping traditional beauty standards to build a more inclusive industry, the impact of being told we’re not beautiful, and the art of being unafraid to define beauty on your own terms.
Beauty Interrupted
Beauty and fashion go hand in hand––and Black women are allowed to experiment. Some of today’s top entertainers will join us in discussing the importance of owning your personal style, how style influences beauty, and more.
Passion To Profit
The Passion To Profit series celebrates Black beauty entrepreneurs and their legacies via a conversation about their career and success journeys. Each day of Essence Festival, you can expect one of our editors to be in conversation with a major beauty brand founder.
Sunday 7/7
In The Lab
Amid the viral Youthphoria scandal and conversations around “clean” beauty, the question of how our favorite beauty products are made remains unanswered. This conversation top Black product formulators will gives us the inside scoop on how beauty products are made before they hit the shelves. Where are these chemicals sourced? Why are certain formulas trending? We’ll find out In The Lab, moderated by ESSENCE’s senior beauty editor, Akili King.
Beauty After Motherhood
This panel will feature new mothers within the beauty space who share how their routines have changed after having a child. Moderated by ESSENCE’s senior lifestyle editor, Victoria Uwumarogie, the conversation is a safe space to discuss motherhood and what beauty and recovery looks like after bearing life.
Passion To Profit
The Passion To Profit series celebrates Black beauty entrepreneurs and their legacies via a conversation about their career and success journeys. Each day of Essence Festival, you can expect one of our editors to be in conversation with a major beauty brand founder.