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The 2009 Essence Music Festival took place at its homesite in New Orleans, Louisiana from July 3 – July 5.  This is a powerful event in celebration of African-American music, community, and talent that has such headliners as: Beyonce, John Legend, Ne-Yo, and Maxwell.  The event was opened by a press conference that involved the speakers as pictured in the above image:

Mayor C. Ray Nagin (Mayor of New Orleans), Roland Martin (CNN), General William Kip Ward (US Army), Rosalind Brewer (Division President of the Southeast Operations of Wal-Mart), Crystal Worthem (Multicultural Marketing Manager of Ford), Neil Golden (Chief Marketing Officer of McDonald’s US), and Jonathan Rogers (President and CEO of TV One), Michelle Ebanks (President of Essence Communications), Angela Burt-Murray (Editor-in-Chief of Essence Magazine), Joy A. Collins (Essence Music Festival General Manager), Ingrid Saunders Jones (Senior Vice President of Coca-Cola), Kisha Mitchell Williams (Multicultural Marketing Manager of Proctor and Gamble), and Lt. Gov Mitch Landrieu (State of Louisiana).

This is such a profound event that people from around the world attend annually.  I was honored to be able to attend this event and meet such amazing people. Please view all the images from the press conference by clicking the above image.