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Mary J. Blige is a master of knowing what the people want and serving it to them on a silver platter.
The Queen of Hip Hop and R&B just announced that she’ll be putting on an event during Mother’s Day weekend this year called the Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit, which is named after her thirteenth studio album released in 2017.
The event will be a celebratory, uplifting and educational meeting ground for Black women and culture in Atlanta, Georgia.
Musical acts set to take the stage in addition to Blige over the course of the three-day event include Chaka Khan, Ella Mai, Xscape, Queen Naija, Baby Tate, Omerettá the Great, Sevyn Streeter, the City Girls and more.
“These are some of my favorite singers. They move the culture and have made us dance all of our lives,” Blige told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s about women who want to elevate and keep moving forward.”
The festival will also host a comedy show on its first night featuring Ms. Pat of The Big Tigger Morning Show and The Patdown podcast, Wanda Smith, Just Nesh and Erica Duchess at the Buckhead Theatre.
At its essence, the Strength of a Woman three-day event was “curated for and by women” with a focus on “music, wellness, tech, beauty and financial literacy,” the AJC details.
With the hope of becoming an inaugural festival, this year’s event will shed light on dozens of Atlanta-based minority and female-owned businesses and vendors — including the ATL’s most noteworthy chefs, designers, artists and creatives.
“Atlanta has been doing this for a while,” said Blige, who is collaborating with Pepsi and Live Nation Urban for the festival. “It’s a big Black entertainment hub. If we’re doing it for the culture and we’re doing it for us, do it there.”
“Atlanta was always the most fun place to party and still is for me. I remember Jack the Rapper, and don’t get me started on Freaknik,” the Good Morning Gorgeous singer added.
“Get dressed. Get decked out. Let your hair down,” Blige advises attendees. “The Strength of a Woman [festival] is about us coming together to heal, to be examples for each other and to do some partying.”
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Moreover, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens emphasized in a press release that, “For generations, the foundation of Atlanta’s resilience has been built and fortified by women.”
“The Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit lifts up our local minority and women-owned local businesses and amplifies the voices of the women in our lives who continuously make our communities better through their lens of courage combined with compassion,” the ATL official added.
The Strength of a Woman Festival will take place from May 6 to May 8. Presale tickets are already on sale, and general sales begin on Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m. Check out soawfestival.com for more information.
We can’t wait!
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