CultureCon · First-Timer's Guide
I almost left CultureCon before I really experienced CultureCon.
My first day started hot, crowded, and overstimulating. The general admission line felt endless, there were people everywhere, and for a second I genuinely questioned whether I wanted to stay. Thankfully, a friend I ran into told me not to leave. She was heading to one of CultureCon's career-focused experiences, so I decided to stick it out.
By the end of the weekend, I understood why people keep coming back. Here are the seven things I wish somebody had told me before I went.
1. Give the event time to become the event
Don't let your first 30 minutes decide your whole weekend.
Day one was a lot. Part of that was the first-day check-in. There was more happening at entry, including getting wristbands situated, so everything moved slower. By day two I already had my wristband and getting inside was much quicker.
Once I was actually inside and settled, the day changed. I got some water, found somewhere to sit, and ended up at the Culture Stage listening to conversations from people like Taraji P. Henson, Alex Wolf, and members of the Bel-Air cast. Suddenly, I wasn't thinking about the line anymore.
2. Make a plan, but leave room for the unplanned
CultureCon has too much happening at once to freestyle the whole weekend: panels, activations, career opportunities, vendors, and friends dragging you toward things they swear you need to see. Download the app and look at the schedule. Pick a few things you genuinely care about and let everything else happen around them.
You will miss something, and that doesn't mean you did CultureCon wrong. Some of my favorite moments weren't planned at all. Also budget for transportation, food, and time. The food lines were long both days.
3. Say hello first
Most of day one, I was on my own. No friends in sight yet, just me moving through panels and activations. Being on my own meant I couldn't lean on anybody to make the day happen for me, so I talked to people. Across the weekend, I probably spoke to close to 100 people, and I'd guess I approached almost all of them first.
That included CultureCon founder Imani Ellis. At one activation, I made a nametag that said: "My name is Tunde and I'm looking for sponsors." Imani saw it and took a picture. I also told her I was going to write about CultureCon, so technically this article is me keeping my word.
Most of those conversations wouldn't have happened if I had waited for somebody to notice me. There are thousands of interesting people in the room, and everybody has somewhere to be and somebody they already know. Sometimes you have to be the one who says hello first.
That doesn't mean pitching yourself to everyone. People can feel when you're only talking to them because you want something. Talk to people because you're genuinely interested in them. Tell them what you do, ask what they're working on, be memorable when it makes sense, and then keep moving.
4. Look for access
I attended CultureCon for free through BLAQ Reunited. Events like this can look expensive from the outside, especially once you add getting there and feeding yourself. Before deciding something is outside your budget, look around: community organizations, partner programs, student opportunities, giveaways, newsletters. Sometimes the opportunity is already circulating in your community. You just have to know where to look.
5. Let each day be its own experience
Day two had its own energy entirely. I saw my friends, and once the talks wrapped for the day, it turned into something closer to a party on the yard: people lingering, no urgency to be anywhere else, just vibing. I ran into more seasoned creatives, caught the founder of Ami Colé, spent time in Activation Alley, did arts and crafts, and felt much more settled.
Going from mostly solo to fully social in 24 hours taught me not to assume one day tells you what the whole weekend is. The crowd, the programming, your energy, and the people you meet all change. If you're attending both days, let them be different experiences.
6. Treat networking like a relationship, not a transaction
Creative industries are businesses, but they're deeply interpersonal ones. An introduction can become a collaborator, a referral, a client, a resource, a friend, or somebody who invites you into another room. Sometimes it becomes nothing beyond a good conversation, and that's okay too.
We talk about networking like every introduction should produce an immediate result, when some of the most valuable relationships take time to reveal what they are.
The room gives you proximity. What happens afterward depends on what you build.
7. Sit down and listen
Events this large can easily become one long networking mission: looking for people, checking your phone, walking to the next activation, trying to catch your friend. At some point, sit down.
Some of my favorite moments happened when I stopped moving long enough to listen. One conversation that stayed with me came from Alex Wolf, who spoke about culture as something alive, created through activity, participation, preservation, and change. CultureCon felt like an example of that. Culture isn't only the finished song, campaign, movie, outfit, or product. It's the conversations, the rooms, and the people connecting, building, documenting, and teaching each other what they know.
The best part was seeing us
More than any panel or activation, this is what stayed with me most.
In line for food on day two, I met someone who told me she was moving to Atlanta to start a podcast. I don't even remember how we started talking. I hope she's doing well.
That's what the whole weekend was made of: stylists, artists, brand owners, hair braiders, people already established and people still figuring out what they're building, all moving through the same rooms. There is something powerful about seeing that many Black creatives in one place. For two days, none of that felt unusual.
We weren't the exception. We were the room.
That's part of why networking means so much to me, not as a transaction, but because there are too many of us to fail at anything. It's where my creative phonebook concept came from: a way of keeping track of all the people doing the work, so none of that connection gets lost after the weekend ends. I felt the love of us in the way things were done, and that stayed with me.
Full circle
I went from considering going home in my first few moments to leaving the weekend thinking about how, one day, I'd love for Undrgrnd Paparazzi to help somebody else experience CultureCon too. I got access because somebody else created an opportunity for me, and eventually I want to be in a position to create that kind of access for somebody else.
So if the first 30 minutes of your first CultureCon are kicking your ass, maybe don't go home just yet. You might still have an entire weekend waiting for you.
