How CultureCon Built a 10,000+ Person Festival on Community, Trust & Belonging

What does it take to turn ten people in a Harlem apartment into a 10,000 plus person event and what can brands learn from it?

In this special live episode of Making the Moment, host Aja Bradley Kemp sits down with Imani Ellis, founder and CEO of CultureCon, to unpack the blueprint behind one of the most emotionally resonant creative festivals in the world.

From a vouching-based growth system to a 93% brand recall rate, Imani breaks down exactly how CultureCon has cracked the code on community-first experiential marketing and why the era of belonging is replacing the era of activations.

Whether you're a brand strategist, event producer, marketer, or creator, this conversation is packed with frameworks you can apply immediately.

This is more than a festival story; it's a lesson in building trust, intimacy, and an ecosystem that people never want to leave.

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Transcript

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              00:00                       

My name is Aja Bradley Kemp, and I am the founder and Chief Experience Officer at Conversate Collective. I'm also the host of the Making the Moment podcast. Now, in my 20 years of working in this industry, I have been helping brands build experiences that help them to better connect with their consumers.

And what I've noticed in 2026 is that being a brand steward is not an easy job. The stakes are high. One minute your brand fans are loving you, they're riding for you, and the next you are literally fighting for your life in these comments.

So that is because nowadays our audiences are more discerning, they're more savvy, and they're more mindful than they've ever been. And this is something that's good to know because few people have actually been able to crack the code with CultureCon like Imani Ellis has.

Our audiences today, they really understand when a culture or when someone is showing up for the culture and pouring into it, and when a brand is coming in to capitalize on it.

And so, as I mentioned, Imani has really created this blueprint of creating an experience and an ecosystem that really emotionally resonates with people. And that is why I am so excited about having this conversation today.

We are going to unpack how to apply the learnings that she has gotten from building CultureCon to how we can now use them in our own event strategies.

And the reason why I want to do that, and that is also so important, is because I believe that brands are moving away from activations and environments that just make people feel welcome. And we're moving into what I like to call the era of belonging, the era of belonging.

So before we get started and before Imani jumps up here, how many of you have actually been to CultureCon? Okay, so there's a few of you in the room, but a lot of you haven't. So I'd like for you to see and feel what you've been missing.

CultureCon is where it's at. The creatives are here. The vibes are here. And if you're not here, where are you at?

CultureCon, make some noise!

Take it to the max. Take it to the max. T-take it to the max. Please just rewind, let me shake it to the max. Take it to the max. Take it to the max. T-take it to the max. Please just rewind, let me shake it to the max.

Bad man shallow, bad man shallow. Bad man shallow, bad man shallow. Bad man shallow, yeah. Bad man shallow, bad man shallow, yeah. Oh, you're so fucking on your shirts.

Oh, you dealing with the boys.

Yeah, make your voice cool and never take colors. La caba, I'll pump up you something fast. Fling out, you're sitting for me walking. Gyal, I will make you so bright. Original. Gyal, some of them harder than I have.

And if you hear this on the gong, let the back bong. Let the knees take it, shake it to the max. Let the DJ beat turn up your bass to the max. Please just rewind, let me shake it to the max. Take it to the max. Take it to the max. T-take it to the max. Please just rewind, let me shake it to the max.

That is emotional connection at scale. So everyone, please help me welcome Imani Ellis, the founder and CEO of CultureCon.

A-Town. Yeah.

Okay, let's get into it. And so we didn't plan this today. We are the Blazor twins.

Imani Ellis                                                04:23

Very official. We're the Blazors.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              04:26     

Yes. And I'm going to sit this way. Try not to have my back to you guys. What they said for the audio, I need to be closer to the mic over here. All right. So as we can see, there's been a few people in here who haven't been to CultureCon. So let's just take it back to the beginning, to the origin story.

How did you come up with this experience from ten creatives in a Harlem apartment to this 10,000-person festival that has literally taken over New York, the best city in the world? And I am biased because I am a native New Yorker, so I believe that. But how did this all begin? And what was the why behind it?

Imani Ellis                                                05:05

Yeah, so it was 2018, and I was working as a crisis publicist at NBC Universal for Bravo. Any housewives fans in here? So I was Andy Cohen's publicist. I loved my job. But what I realized was I didn't have community in New York City. And I found that very ironic that the busiest, most amazing city in the world,

I couldn't find a place where you could really ask people not just what do you do, but how are you really? And so I invited ten friends to my one-bedroom apartment in Harlem. And the only rule was that they had to bring someone they could vouch for because it was my apartment. And so ten people turned to 20 people, turned to too many people.

And that was how CultureCon was born. It really started kind of selfishly. I wanted to fix a problem for myself. And it turned out a lot of people had that same problem as well. And so now CultureCon has grown into an entire creative festival. We have workshops. We have peer-to-peer mentorship.

Our brands come to CultureCon and really activate with influencers from all around the world. Thank you, Sheree. And I think, oh, isn't that so much better?

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              06:14

So much better.

 Imani Ellis                                                06:15

I was really going to work my way through that, but this feels so much better. And so ten people turned to 20 people, turned to so many people. And I think that really is the cornerstone of CultureCon, which is if you can solve a very specific problem, turns out a lot of people have that problem as well.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              06:33

Yeah. And that's always where the best companies begin, solving a problem that everyone has. So how did growth compound over the years? So you started in the apartment, and now it's a week-long festival. How did that all happen? And was there any moment where you're like, I don't know, this is too big. It's moving too fast?

Imani Ellis                                                06:54

Yeah, well, I love here that EMS, we're talking about connection because I think it's fascinating, right? No matter how fast technology moves, no matter what tools we're building, I still believe that the best growth engine for any brand is going to be word of mouth.

That really is so important because it has a really sticky factor called trust. And if my sister or best friend or boyfriend tells me to try something, I'm going to go try it because they're vouching for it. And so that vouching system, I didn't even really know what I was doing. But by telling people to bring someone that they could vouch for,

that person trusted that that recommendation was really, really solid. And so that was our original growth engine, was everyone got a token to invite one guest. And if you only have one guest, you're really going to consider, who am I going to give that to? And that's how we grew so quickly. So in the first year of CultureCon, we only had 150 people.

Our second year, 500 people. By year three, we had grown to 5,000 people. Last year, we welcomed over 12,000 people to New York City.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              08:01

And I think that scarcity of you just have one invite, it also makes it feel extra special. And so I think that contributed to it as well.

Imani Ellis                                                08:11

Absolutely.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              08:12

So how did now it become from a one-day festival to a week-long festival? Because that and this is only your ninth year doing it, right? So how did that happen?

Imani Ellis                                                08:23

I think one of the best parts about community and I know community has really become a buzzy word, but it's almost like marriage, right? You got to take the good and the bad. So the good is that when your community loves you, oh my gosh, we go viral every single year. CultureCon does 25 billion impressions in three days because our community feels seen.

But the other side of community is they're going to tell you what they think. And you've got to be open to that. And so our community said, this is amazing. We want more. We want more than one day. We want two days. And a lot of us, Imani, we're introverts. So before that big two-day festival, we want a lot of smaller events leading up to CultureCon.

And so that's how CultureCon Week was born, so that you can come in town, kind of be in small groups, meet people in an intimate setting before you're walking into a 12,000-person festival.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              09:10

And I want to get into that a little bit more later because I really feel like there's just this magic secret sauce with the CultureCon community that's very rare. You can walk into the space and feel like you can talk to anyone, which is a little bit different from many conferences that I've been to by myself. You don't always feel that comfortable just walking up to people,

but you've been able to facilitate networking, so to speak, in a very intentional but also easy way. So we'll get into that a little bit later. From the way that the festival has grown, it almost feels like the South by South, what South by Southwest is to Austin or what Essence Festival is to New Orleans.

Was that intentional, the way CultureCon is just like taken over and it's really a stamp in the city?

Imani Ellis                                                10:01

You know, it's so interesting because I would love to take all of the credit for that. But the truth of the matter was I was living in New York City, and that's where CultureCon was born. And I think so much of the origin of even the kindness, I think, comes from the origin story. It feels like a living room because it was born in a living room, right?

And it feels like not this kind of really sterile place because I kind of grew up in a really warm, cozy, come over, I'm going to make you tacos kind of family. And we want that to extend in our mission at CultureCon, right? That everyone really is welcome. And so the scale, I think, is just the receipt of people feeling seen.

And I love what you talked about, this economy of belonging, right? Because I think as we look to the future, real-life experiences are really going to be the driver of memories, of shared experiences, of you had to be there. And I think CultureCon has become that cultural moment of I want to be in the room where it happens.

It's not enough just to see it online.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              11:02

Now, I want to talk a little bit about the strategy of CultureCon and the programming and the content. So you've been able to attract some of the biggest names in Hollywood and politics. So from Michelle Obama, as you guys saw from the videos, Sierra, Issa Rae, John Legend, we can go on and on and on.

And I always notice that the festival, you always have some programming around the latest film, the latest TV show, when the cast shows up.

Was that intentional to create these moments where, from your background as a publicist, that studios and media can use this as a vehicle to promote what they're doing?

Imani Ellis                                                11:47

It really was organic. And I think that's the best part, is all of our partnerships are natural extensions of what people are already talking about. And so because we have this very valuable audience, again, we talk about I love how honest our community is. If they love it, you know they really loved it. If they hate it, you know they really didn't like it.

And I think it's really, really brilliant when brands can become a part of that conversation. Because, again, 25 billion impressions in three days is nothing to scoff at. We actually do a survey after CultureCon and ask our community, how many brands do you remember that showed up at CultureCon?

93% can remember more than 90% of the brands at CultureCon. And that recall is super important when you're thinking about showing up. So we did the world premiere of Wicked, and we had Cynthia Erivo there, Standing Ovation.

And so brands are really starting to understand that if you can go to where these niche communities are and meet them where they are, they will show up for you tenfold. And so it really was an organic kind of situation. Secure came out ten years ago. We did a watch party for Insecure for Insecure with Issa Rae. And that's like the partnership of my dreams. Like, I would be watching that for free.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              13:03

So let's talk about some partnerships a bit more, because they really fuel this event. And to have an over 90% recall of brands, that's unheard of, because I've seen the stats from big festivals, and they're not remembering that much. So what is your philosophy in partnering with brands,

and how do you feel you've been able to create this almost the perfect formula of matching the brands with this community?

Imani Ellis                                                13:33

Yeah, you know, when I think of partnerships, I really think of a mixed salad versus a chopped one, meaning you can still identify all the ingredients, but it's come together to make something stronger, right? So we want you to know that it's HBO that's here. We want HBO to get the credit for showing up for the culture.

And one of the things that's very unique about partnering with CultureCon is we start from the very beginning. So instead of starting at like, okay, what do you want to do? It's, what do you want people to feel? What would a win look like? And we built that together. And so partners will come and actually pitch their ideas, and we will be so radically honest with them.

There are times where we'll say, I actually don't think you should do that. And that's not just for our brand partners. It's for CultureCon as well, right? We've built this trust engine. And so if we're just letting everything slide through, our community no longer trusts us. And so that allows our brand partners to succeed and to get that ROI that they want.

And it also allows CultureCon to grow and really kind of maintain the trust with our community. And a lot of times, you know, I'll give a specific example. I remember HBO came to us a few years ago and wanted to do a movie screening. And we were like, we could do that. There's nothing wrong with a movie screening.

Or hear us out. We could do a brunch in an empty warehouse, invite targeted influencers, and watch the screening there. And they trusted us.

We did it and got millions of impressions just because we decided that we really knew our community and that Sunday brunch was going to get hit way harder than a Wednesday after-work screening. And so when our brands trust us to really deliver, it just builds that partnership over time.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              15:17

Now, was there a partnership that didn't go well that you learned something from?

Imani Ellis                                                15:23

It never doesn't go well through execution. We always kind of catch it before that. And so that's why I really love our brand partnerships team, is they really know what our community wants. We are always in touch with our community. And when something slides across our desk, thank goodness, knock on wood, it's never kind of made it out the door. But that's, again, why perspective is so important, right?

That's why you need people in the room to say, I don't know about that, right? And we're there for our brand partners. And we also want to understand, you know, what does a win look like? Because it also can't just be photos for photo's sake. It has to go back to the larger picture.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              15:58

Well, why don't we dig into that? Because you brought a case study to share with everybody. So I'll let you take over.

Imani Ellis                                                16:04

Okay. I can't see, but. I click. There's not clicking.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              16:09

Michael's going to load it up.

Imani Ellis                                                16:12

Yeah. So what we're going to really go through is our partnership with our presenting partner, Chase Inc. They're incredible partners, and they're the presenting partner of CultureCon. And I think a really great example of how you can create a compound sentence in partnerships where you start the sentence and then you allow the brand partner to kind of finish it for you. And then whenever y'all are ready, you guys can just click through.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              16:40

While we're waiting for that, we talked you talked earlier about how it's grown and the attendance. I noticed that you get a lot of new attendees every year. How do you think that continues to grow? Because you're also maintaining your existing community.

So how do you find that balance in continuing to attract new people, but also keeping your existing community happy?

Imani Ellis                                                17:06

Yeah. Last year, over 70% of CultureCon attendees were new. They had never been to CultureCon before, but that was intentional. We had launched CultureCon on campus, so we were doing curriculum on college campuses, and we really wanted to make sure that more and more of the creative community had access to CultureCon.

So that was a huge win for us because we want to make sure that the community is growing over time. Thank you all so much for pulling this up. So what we're looking at now is first our opportunity. CultureCon and Chase Inc. both really love championing entrepreneurs who are actively building and scaling their ideas. And so Chase Inc.

debuted as our presenting partner last year in 2025, giving founders direct access to high-impact community so we could deliver tools to them, community, and really supporting them as they grow. And so when we really think about what it looks like to partner with CultureCon, again, we really wanted to start at the beginning.

And so we wanted to make sure that it wasn't just one touchpoint, but a ton of them. And so their partnership had undeniable impact, from powering a main stage conversation to launching our first ever Founder Summit. It was a huge success. So you can kind of see here the ecosystem that we built with Chase Inc.

There's the Chase Inc. Small Business Marketplace where you could shop small business right directly at CultureCon. Sierra came and was our keynote speaker. She's also an entrepreneur and had recently launched a liquor brand, so was able to talk about her journey. We launched the first ever Founder Summit,

a dedicated summit for founders where you really could really understand what it looks like to go from 1 to 100. We had the Chase Inc. Cafe where you could network with other founders. And then, of course, logo attribution to all of our portraits that came out across the weekend. So we kicked off the week with a CultureCon Week event.

I really love that we start intimate in this way before you go to large CultureCon. So we invited 40 founders to really talk and break bread with Chase Inc. being the hero to that conversation. And then we moved into CultureCon proper, where Sierra took the stage. We did the one two step. But more importantly, you saw what I did there.

Yeah. But more importantly, we talked about what it means to be a founder, really from the beginning and the messy middle that comes in between. And then our Creator Stage Founder Summit was a huge success. This took place on the Creator Stage, again, really allowing Chase Inc. to be the hero of the founder journey. And last but not least,

it would not be CultureCon if we didn't have our activations. So Chase Inc. showed up in a huge way, sponsoring our talent and press lounge, which again garnered over 25 billion impressions, our Chase Inc. Marketplace where you could shop small at CultureCon, and then our networking cafe as well. And CultureCon went viral.

Everyone from Jesse Williams to Portia Williams. Jennifer Hudson was there doing her Happy Dance Tunnel. It was an incredible success, and Chase Inc. got a lot of credit. We also exploded in the press. We understand that from a brand perspective, it's not just social, but earned media as well. We had coverage in Forbes, Variety,

Revolt, People, Ebony, just to name a few. And CultureCon 2025 was bigger, bolder, and undeniable. Over 12,000 impression attendees. Excuse me. 25 billion total impressions, over 100 activations across the weekend, a sold-out experience. And again,

70% of our attendees said this was their first CultureCon ever. And so what worked? We really focused on aligned values, so supporting entrepreneurial growth through tangible teaching and not just fluff. We understood the audience. So Sierra served as a keynote speaker, and Joe Freshgoods led a conversation.

We really met our community where they were, and we had multiple touchpoints. So everywhere you looked, you could see that Chase Inc. served as the hero. Multiple touchpoints allowed consumers to view the brand in a very organic way. Thank you.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              21:16

Excellent. So we'll have a little Q&A after where you guys can ask some questions. And I know we have just a few minutes left. Imani has created a playbook that I believe is in the app that you guys can download and take with you. But I wanted to ask, there's a couple of key pillars that you focus on when creating CultureCon.

And one of the ones I thought was really interesting was about follow the data. And you have an interesting take on the types of metrics to follow. A lot of brands would consider the likes and the comments as vanity metrics, but you feel they're more than that. So can you give us a little bit of insight into that?

And then also maybe an example of how you were able to take those metrics and understanding them and implement results from it?

Imani Ellis                                                22:03

Yeah, sure. So to your point, I think a lot of people look at likes and comments as vanity metrics. But at CultureCon, we love the comments. I think there's so much data in the comments, and a lot of those comments drive our insights for the following year. So 2025 was a huge success. But one of the recurring things we saw was, I wish I had more time to eat.

I want more food. I love food. It kind of floated to the top in a way that said, you know what? There's a pattern here. And so we're going to be bringing back food truck row. But the same thing happened with fashion. CultureCon really is built for learning, but people were serving the looks. A lot of fashion shows. So we saw those comments and launched the first ever CultureCon fashion show.

The winner got a $2,500 prize and got to meet a lot of fashion designers. So don't overlook those comments. A lot of insights are there in terms of shaping your experience.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              22:54

I love that. That's great. And another important pillar for you is scaling intimacy intentionally. So a lot of festivals ask their communities to vote on the content, vote on the programming. But how do you guys do it?

Imani Ellis                                                23:06

Yeah, I love the term scaling intimacy. How many introverts do we have in the room? Raise your hand if you're an introvert. You guys are all extroverts. Wait, raise your hand if you're an extrovert.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              23:17

I'm an introvert.

Imani Ellis                                                23:19

You guys are an introvert. Okay. So you guys are just like, okay, I am a certified introvert. You guys, I'm an introvert. When I go to an event, I like to observe first. But that's actually a superpower, because when you're observing an event, you can learn about events. And so I look for the people in the margins, the people who are too afraid to kind of introduce themselves.

Then I plan my event around those kind of experiences. So we have icebreakers and all the things that you had to do on the first day of school against your will, but you secretly liked it because you had to do it. We think about all of those experiences for CultureCon, and those are examples of how we scale intimacy so you feel seen.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              23:55

And what about last one before we start to wrap up? World build an ecosystem, not an activation. And so I know I alluded earlier to the way that CultureCon makes you feel welcome, makes you feel like you belong. You can easily talk to people. You guys have a new kind of format called the CultureCon Cafe.

And so we were there on Friday night. And although I was with a couple of people, you made it really easy to just go and talk to strangers. So do you want to talk about that and how that falls into your strategy of building a world ecosystem?

Imani Ellis                                                24:28

Absolutely. I think when you're building a world, you want to think about what happens beyond the event. How can we keep this going all year round? So we launched CultureCon Cafe. It's a nine-city tour where we take really big CultureCon and make it intimate again. So we just had Atlanta. We're headed to Detroit next week.

And it's really all about kind of facilitating the art of communication again. Because how many times do you go to an event, you look around, and we're back on TikTok or Instagram, right? But so much magic is in the margins of meeting people. So yeah, CultureCon Cafe is exciting.

We're also launching CultureCon Business School this summer for creatives to really just bring back the fun of learning again. So we're really prioritizing building an ecosystem so that after you leave this really big festival, you have support all year round.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              25:18

And at Conversate Collective, we are really intentional about pouring back into the communities that we work in for different clients. And I know giving back is important to you guys as well. So do you want to share a new initiative that you guys have coming up?

Imani Ellis                                                25:33

Yeah, we just launched CultureCon Foundation. And so again, it's just another support arm for creatives. We really want creatives to think of themselves as startups, right? So not just what it looks like, but is it scalable? Is it sustainable? And we're excited because brands are really starting to see creators as the creative directors and the future of media.

And CultureCon is excited to be that vehicle. So excited to talk to anyone extensively about the opportunities. But I think that creativity is absolutely going to be the future.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              26:05

Now, as we've heard, you have a lot going on. You are very busy. We see you on the gram everywhere doing all the things. How are you doing? And how are you doing all of this?

Imani Ellis                                                26:16

I have an amazing team. I don't think anyone is self-built. And so my team is incredible. They're the reason I'm able to be in Vegas right now. And I think also I believe in seasonality, right? I did. I ran track once Evander built on a track scholarship. We had seasons where we were conditioning, getting ready, and we had seasons where it was go time.

So I'm not go all year round. It might look like that because of Instagram, but Q1 I was learning how to make short ribs with my mom, right? And so I really believe it's important to have seasons where you rest and then seasons where you can really turn it up.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              26:48

Yeah. And I think that's an important lesson for all of us in this room, because a lot of times in this industry for us, it's go, go, go. So it's important to be intentional about that. So my last question for you, we always ask guests on the Making the Moment podcast, who, what, or where is currently having a moment?

Imani Ellis                                                27:06

Oh my goodness. Who? Have you all seen the girl in the red flat from the Met Gala that's been running all around? Isn't that incredible? I think she's having such a moment. And I saw that a campaign just came out today. Does anyone know the brand? Do you guys know Tory Burch? Ugh, incredible. So Tory Burch really capitalized off of that, which I think is genius.

I think the sooner you can become a part of the conversation instead of fighting it, that's the future. What? I don't know. I feel like what is can? Like, I really am excited about the creators and how creators really are kind of finally getting their due. And then what was the third one?

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              27:46

Who, what, and or where?

Imani Ellis                                                27:48

Where? Guys, don't sleep on Atlanta, okay? I think so much culture is coming out of Atlanta. And because they're so underserved, I think if you can get in there quickly, the return is going to be crazy good.

Aja Bradley-Kemp                              28:02

Yeah, I'll vouch for that. So I'm biased to New York, but yes, I live in Atlanta now, and I definitely think Atlanta is the place to be. Well, thank you so much for coming to Vegas and having this conversation with us. And I think, Kate, we can do some Q&A now.

Oh, okay. Sorry.

Okay. All right. Well, thank you guys. Thanks for coming.

Imani Ellis                                                28:25

Thank you.