Yahoo News CultureCon 2023 Unites Young Creatives in L.A.: It's About 'Reimagining Community,' Says Founder Imani Ellis
The popular event, which took place on Saturday, featured talks from Sterling K. Brown, Victoria Monét, Coco Jones and more
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
This Saturday, CultureCon had its first full summit in Los Angeles.
The event — dubbed the “biggest creative homecoming” — was founded by Imani Ellis in her Harlem apartment and has been hosted in New York City and Atlanta in years past. This year's attendees included diverse creatives, from social media influencers to young change-makers, tech innovators and entrepreneurs.
“I never could have imagined that it would scale like this. We really thought it would stay very intimate, very small,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “But I think it just goes to show when people feel seen, they want to tell other people about it and it's just grown so quickly.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
The down venue, Rolling Greens on Mateo, was marked by colorful ambiance dreamed up by the team at The Creative Collective NYC, including was a huge “CultureCon" fixture in block letters, a Max “Scene in Black” multi-sided platform for Instagram-inclined attendees and a the central official CultureCon mural designed by creative director and illustrator Laci Jordan.
“I think there's so much that you can extract [at CultureCon] and I think one of [those things] is really reimagining community and reimagining networking,” Ellis explains of her goals for CultureCon. “It doesn't have to be transactional. It really should be human first. And so being curious about other people, understanding that we all have something to learn and something to share. And that everyone is creative — whether you're in finance, whether you're a reporter, whether you're Sterling K. Brown.”
Throughout the day, attendees heard from the luminaries and thought-leaders.
In a presentation called "The Business of How to Tell Your Story," content creator and marketing consultant DonYé Taylor offered tips based on her own experiences about how to create impact through social media.
Actresses Bresha Webb and Skye Townsend joined award-winning TV producer Courtney Whitaker in the “See it Loud: The History of Black Television” panel discussion, moderated by Danielle Young, centered on the importance of representation in TV.
Emma McIntyre/Getty
Jay PharoahSaturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah hilariously took over hosting duties in the afternoon, picking up from four-time Emmy award-winning journalist Francesca Amiker, who emceed the morning session. And SNL's former Barack Obama and Jay Z impressionist did double duty, sitting down with Dwayne Perkins and X Mayo, his castmates from The Blackening, for a discussion of director Tim Story's satire.
Victoria Monét, Coco Jones and And Just Like That... actresses Nicole Ari Parker and Karen Pittman all took part in the afternoon lineup.
And This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown spoke with journalist Brande Victorian his craft and his new film Biosphere.
The celebrated actor and creator's presence was especially heartwarming for Ellis, who tells PEOPLE: “I think it's the definition of paying it forward because Sterling K. Brown is a three-time Emmy award-winning actor and producer, but he still recognizes that he once was still seeking advice and seeking mentorship. And so to take time out of his day to pay it forward to those who are aspiring, I think it's just keeping a full-circle moment.”
Though CultureCon L.A. is barely in the rearview, Ellis and her team are already preparing for CultureCon New York, which is slated for Oct. 7–8.
“New York is where we were born, so we always got to do it bigger and better every time we go back to New York,” she says.
She teases, “New York is going to be [our] first two-day conference. We're also introducing a job fair for the very first time so people can come and meet recruiters and bring their résumés and portfolios. So that's going to be exciting.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Victoria Monet with Imani EllisNever miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
As for what lies ahead for CultureCon, she keeps her focus on the people who make it great: “I think the best part about being so tapped into a community is they tell us what they want. ... We don't have to guess.”
She affirms, “I think when we think about our community and our relationship with them, it's like a compound sentence — we'll start the sentence, and then they finish it. And so the answer to where we are in five years, is wherever the community wants us to be.”
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
