Rashad Bilal of Earn Your Lesiure sounds off on Invest Fest backlash, reiterates its not a ‘Black’ conference
Over 30,000 people attended this year’s event with guest speakers such as Serena Williams, T.I., Steve Harvey and more. But the Earn Your Leisure co-founder is hitting back at critics he feels mischaracterized what the confernce is and how it benefits everyone.
The discourse around Earn Your Leisure‘s Invest Fest and its relation to the city of Atlanta isn’t dying down.
Days after the highly publicized festival concluded, Earn Your Leisure co-founder Rashad Bilal and Ian Dunlap shared their thoughts, celebrating that the festival welcomed more than 30,000 people to the Georgia World Congress Center from August 7 through August 9 and was well received by attendees.
However, Bilal singled out individuals who felt that Invest Fest didn’t truly separate itself from other conventions of its ilk.
“I seen somebody say Invest Fest is not sustainable,” Bilal began during a live episode of the “BlackOut” podcast on August 12. “It’s been around six years, it’s already sustained. It’s 30,000 people, that’s a fact. How are you even qualified to give an opinion? You can’t even manage your family.”
Bilal went on to say that Invest Fest was never a convention or festival specifically marketed to Black people as a “Black” conference, has always been inclusive and will likely bring more speakers from other races when it’s held in 2027. He also called out critics who appeared to only wish for the conference’s downfall.
“One thing you’re going to notice if you do anything for Black people, you’re going to get crucified,” he said, while Dunlap considered the slander toward the festival was a coordinated attack. “When the hate don’t work, they start telling lies.”
He added, “I’m not even on the Black thing no more. I never was on the Black thing. ‘Not a Black event.’ I seen somebody say, ‘Oh there was white people…’ yeah, they’re qualified to be there. You think I’m going to just cater to Black people just to get torn down by Black people? You’re out of your f–king mind. It’s gonna be even more white people next year. And the Spanish and the Filipinos. I’m done. It’s been real. All you’re gonna do is criticize and tear it down and not pay and want to get in for free anyway.”
Throughout its history, Invest Fest has sought to differentiate itself from similar conferences. With discussions about financial literacy, investing in the Black community and discovering ways to transform one’s fiscal standing, it has also grown into a larger conversation about Atlanta culture, the oversaturation of conferences and more.
Multi-hyphenate Mike Jordan raised questions about financial conferences in Atlanta a week prior to Invest Fest, citing the founders of the festival’s discussion with “The Breakfast Club” about whether Atlanta truly supports the conference. Earn Your Leisure invited Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens on stage during the conference and made peace.
However, Jordan pointed out how financial conferences typically book the same guests, who repeat the same information, namely around “generational wealth” and questioned if it was beneficial.
“At a certain point, it can feel like the city is a tank for sharks to feed upon,” Jordan said. “Obviously we cannot invest into every festival that comes to Atlanta. We’re not just another stop on your ‘generational wealth’ tour. Atlanta doesn’t make it rain for everybody.”
Still, as Invest Fest weighs if it will remain in Atlanta going forward, Bilal is adament that it isn’t a conference to be minimalized strictly because of who founded it and who are among the main attendees.
“I never called it the Black Investment conference,” he said. “It’s not a Black financial literacy conference. It’s a business conference. That’s how they minimize you. It’s not a financial conference. It’s a business investing conference. It’s not a Black financial literacy investment community based or-no. Compare it to Davos. Compare it to Milken. No disrespect, it’s not the NAACP commmunity give back for charity.”