Once again, Target was proud to sponsor the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans — our fourth year supporting this iconic celebration of Black culture, creativity and community. As one of the premier summertime destinations of Black women and families in the country, Essence Fest offers a meaningful space for connection, and our presence underscored Target’s ongoing commitment to showing up where it matters most — for our guests, team members and partners.
From hosting two days of impactful volunteer service and engagement activities, to inviting Essence Fest attendees inside a one-of-a-kind beauty-brand experience at the convention center, our sponsorship is one more way we continue to invest in the communities we’ve long supported.
More from Essence Fest
Read Target CEO Brian Cornell’s reflection on this year’s festival, our ongoing commitment to community and more.
A culinary (and community) celebration with heart
In the days leading up to the festival, Target hosted two days of events that blended community service, delicious food and celebration.
On Wednesday, more than 50 team members from Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee gathered to pack over 10,000 pounds of essential meal kits for more than 200 local families. These kits included a thoughtful mix of Good & Gather pantry staples, fresh produce and household essentials from up&up and Everspring. Many volunteers traveled from out of state, bringing energy and compassion to a day that was all about showing up for neighbors in need.
“What we heard from many in the New Orleans community is that they felt seen, heard and appreciated,” said LaKesha B., director of community and stakeholder engagement. “They saw Target’s heart through our team members. The human element: That’s what Target and our team does best.”
The next morning, the impact continued. In partnership with nonprofits Second Harvest Food Bank and Total Community Action (TCA), Target delivered the meal kits packed the day before to families across the city. A $75,000 grant to Second Harvest and a $25,000 grant to TCA helped ensure smooth logistics and wide-reaching distribution. “We’re so proud that the food that was packed by Target volunteers yesterday is in families’ hands today,” said Katheryn Gsell, community relations manager for Second Harvest.
But the day didn’t stop there. Fifty families were invited to a special culinary experience at the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute, where James Beard Award-winning pitmaster Chef Rodney Scott and Second Harvest’s Executive Chef Matthew Taylor hosted a live cooking demo. Guests enjoyed a flavorful fusion of Scott’s signature barbecue and New Orleans’ bold Cajun cuisine, all made with affordable ingredients from Target’s owned brands. Attendees left with more than just a delicious meal — they also received a full Target meal kit to take home, empowering them to recreate the experience and continue nourishing their families.
“Partnering with Target feels great because I’m all about community,” said Chef Rodney. “It takes me back to the old saying I heard growing up: It takes a village to raise a child. This partnership was just that to me. A whole village coming together to raise up so much love and the importance of how community should be.”
Truly yours: Culture, creativity and joy
At this year’s Essence Fest, our team set out to cultivate a space of warmth, ease and connection. A space that felt real, welcoming and rooted, where our Black guests could feel authentically connected to themselves and each other. A space grounded in legacy and joy.
Our goal was to create an environment where our guests would feel welcomed and seen. Each aspect of our activation was thoughtfully curated with their lived and cultural experiences in mind. The hope was to spark a core memory and to make new ones filled with joy and wonder.
This year’s Essence Fest theme, “Made Like This,” inspired our immersive, multi-sensory activation, filled with touchpoints linked to cultural memories, time-honored rituals and rich nostalgia spanning generations. We invited festival attendees to enter and feel at home in a way that only happens when a space is “truly yours.”
Greeted at the door with a welcome gift of beloved products and beauty faves, our guests’ first experience was the Memory Mixtape, where they could curate our DJ’s playlist in real time, submitting songs with the rhythm, beats and sounds that shaped the vibe, their way.
Next came the Touch-Up Bar, offering a quiet, personal moment of care that meant the most to them. There were also surprise demos from founders of two Black-owned brands — Courtney Adeleye (Watch & Sea) and Janell Stephens (Camille Rose) — and pop-up experiences from celebrity makeup artists and hairstylists. The intentional curation of products in the space evoked a feeling of nostalgia, and reflected Target’s longtime commitment to community that’s at the heart of our business and brand.
Up next: The Hub — call it a dance party, call it a special niche carved out for spontaneous connection — before heading to the Blend Counter. Guests entering a fragrance experience were asked one simple question: “What’s a joyful memory you wish you could bottle up?” Based on what they shared, they were matched with one of five pre-crafted fragrances — each inspired by a different emotional theme: Family, self-care, transformation, childhood or love and friendship. While no two answers were the same, each guest left with something familiar and personal.
Our Full Circle activation wrapped up with The Polaroid Keepsake, a fun moment where our guests captured each other in group poses and candid shots, wrote notes and made cherished memories together to take with them until next year. And we closed out the weekend with a Creator Brunch — offering one more moment to connect and build relationships across our team before heading home.
This sponsorship not only reinforced Target’s purpose of helping all families discover everyday joy — it also offered a powerful opportunity to honor the beauty and power of Black women and to celebrate the community through our products, partnerships, and the ways we collectively uplift — and help shape — culture.
