More Than 400 to Attend BE NOLA’s Virtual Black Brilliance Summit

NEW ORLEANS – Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA) will host its annual Black Brilliance Summit on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dubbed “A Very Black Virtual Education Summit For Visionaries,” the annual summit will cover a myriad of topics surrounding Black education in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, BET News and CNN Contributor Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Mannie Fresh, and PJ Morton are among the speakers and artists who will featured during the virtual summit.

“Providing an outlet for Black leaders to share, reflect, and be vulnerable has always proven invaluable,” said Adrinda Kelly, executive director of BE NOLA. “BE NOLA believes that #BlackBrilliance in New Orleans is always spirited, authentic and familiar. We cannot wait to engage in robust and substantive dialogue surrounding the future of Black education in New Orleans.”

The Black Brilliance Summit schedule is “Black-centered, rigorous in thought, intimate, and joyful. Participants will enjoy a mini-concert, unfiltered, honest chats between brilliant friends, dynamic Black-owned businesses, a diasporic lunch demo, a riveting Ed Talk, a self-care poem and the chance to literally breathe deep amongst participants.”

Additionally, there will be Chromebook giveaways at the summit sponsored by Cox and Connect2Compete, who believe children need the tools to succeed in school, including a home computer connected to wifi. For more information on C2C, click here. 

The virtual summit is invitation-based. To participate in the summit, invitees must register at blackbrilliancesummit.org. Once registered, registrants will need to download the BENOLA Community App. The app will only be accessible to summit registrants. Registration closes Friday.

The Black Brilliance summit weekend will kick off with a special Black Joy Happy Hour on Friday, Aug. 21, at 5 p.m. via Instagram Live @blackedunola. DJ Mannie Fresh and special guests, entrepreneur Gabrielle Deculus, photographer Sthaddeus “Polo Silk” Terrell, and mixologist Deniseea Taylor of Cocktails by POP will be featured in the Happy Hour and set the tone for Saturday’s event.