00:00I'm a tall girl so I got to put this up. Good morning everybody. All right. All right. Have
00:12everybody recovered from last night? I know it was a night right with Nikki. Tonight we have Janet.
00:17All right. I hope you enjoyed the festivities and now it's time to kick off day two wealth
00:23and power stage. All right. So I'm Tamika Lee, anchor of Good Morning New Orleans right here
00:28in this beautiful city and on Bravo's Southern Charm New Orleans. I'm really happy to be here
00:35with you guys today. All right. So today is going to be great and an informative day. I promise.
00:41For starters, we have Kiki Palmer, Tabitha Brown, Lala Anthony, Terrence J. They will take the stage.
00:50The ever outspoken Michael Eric Dyson will be here to drop some knowledge on us, of course.
00:55Reverend Al Sharpton will be here to moderate a panel with a few civil rights leaders about the
01:02future of black America. We are also gathered with three local leaders, including New Orleans
01:09own Mayor Cantrell for our mayor's panel. And I'm absolutely thrilled to be here. And we're going
01:16to be joined by the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia. Stacey Abrams will be here. I got to give
01:22up for her chair of the Democratic National Committee, Jamie Harrison, and guys, Vice President
01:28of the United States, Kamala Harris. That sounds good, right? All right. Well, while you're out
01:34tweeting and posting on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, whatever you're doing, creating beautiful
01:40stories, take the pictures. We want you to hashtag Essence Fest. All right. So I hope you have your
01:44tickets for tonight's show, too. Tonight's another great night on the main stage. You don't want to miss
01:49our cover girl and overall legend Janet Jackson, R&B powerhouse Jasmine Sullivan, plus Summer Walker,
01:58Stephanie Mills, and a very special tribute to Miss Patti LaBelle. All right. D-Nice has invited some
02:04friends on stage as well, too, to join tonight. So it's going to be fun. Don't forget the super
02:09lounges and be sure to stop by Essence after dark. All right. So it's going to be another good day,
02:14another good night. We're going to get this party started. And to officially kick off the day,
02:20I want to welcome New Orleans' very own Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
02:33All right. Good morning. On behalf of the city of New Orleans, we are just so excited to have the
02:41Essence Festival of Culture return to our great city. We're excited to celebrate. It is the joy,
02:51the black joy for me. And I know that that means that it truly is the black joy for us.
02:59Essence has always been there, lifting up black women, ensuring that we collaborate, that we love on
03:07one another, that we come together to celebrate our joy. I'm excited to even announce and to state
03:17that the numbers that we're seeing in our city mirror that of 2019. And we do expect to exceed
03:25what we saw then. So thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful festival.
03:32I always thank the leadership of Essence, Mr. Richelieu Dennis, our CEO, Caroline Wenga.
03:40And the love that is filled throughout the city of New Orleans is real. The investment is second to
03:48none. And it's not just the investment in the city of New Orleans. It's an investment in black America.
03:55So I thank you, welcome, and enjoy.
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