Essence Hollywood House is back again as this year marks the fifth year of the impactful event. The event strives to unite upcoming talent pursuing film and television with industry experts who have graced the big screens and/or navigated the television and film industry from a business standpoint from behind the scenes.
The event showcased a series of panel discussions featuring talent who have been featured in some of our favorite television shows and movies. The panels highlighted topics and discussions in TV and Film as one fireside chat featured Oscar award winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph of The Holdovers. While another discussion included actor Da’Vinchi of BMF and actress Layla DeLeon Hayes of The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, as they partook in the Slated to Shine: Fresh Faces of Black Hollywood panel. Another discussion titled, Black on Screen: A Global Dialogue featured actress Phylicia Pearl Mpasi of The Color Purple.
When asked about her experience talking on the panel, Mpasi explained,
“I feel so inspired. It’s rare you get asked questions about the diaspora and truly, what it means to be black in Hollywood, and specifically what it means to be black in Hollywood. It was so great sharing the stage with [Barkue Tubman-Zawolo] and [Osas Ighodaro]. I’m just really inspired to just honestly be the answer to some of the things we talked about. Like, how there doesn’t feel like there’s enough representation, how it doesn’t feel like there are enough parts. You know, the gate keeping of it all.”
“I’m just inspired to kind of help, bridge the gap,”
the actress added.
Industry Experts Who Shape The Magic Behind The Scenes
However, not only did the impactful event feature on-screen talent but the audience was also able to hear from industry professionals who has made their mark behind the scenes. As one panel featured costume designer and wardrobe stylist Tanja Caldwell, while another panel showcased producers, Olivia Charmaine (Morris) Bernardez, and Korin D. Williams.
When Caldwell was asked about her experience working alongside and styling Usher for the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime show, she expressed,
“I felt amazing, I felt nervous, anxious, a lot of anxiety throughout the process.”
“But I had a really, really great team. I feel like the cards were stacked in my favor. There was still a bunch of challenges I knew we would face but we took them head on, and we were optimistic. We really wanted to create a beautiful show,”
Caldwell said.
“Its reassuring and refreshing to hear that people watched it but loved it, and really received all the hard work that we put into it.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
