Raphael Stevens

Expanding Opportunity

Essence Fest kicks off on Friday, with roughly 500,000 people attending the event in New Orleans. It generates around $1 billion in economic activity, according to organizers.
“Essence Fest is like my Black Friday,” said Rochelle Ivory, owner of beauty brand On the Edge Baby Hair. “It is my biggest sales weekend of the year. It’s where I make all the capital I reinvest in my business.”
Many Black Americans are concerned about the political, cultural and economic shifts that have taken place since President Donald Trump’s election.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage with Essence CEO Caroline Wanga at the Global Black Economic Forum during the 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 6, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Michael Democker | Getty Images News | Getty Images

In a year when the U.S. consumer has been weighed down by economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and inflation, Black entrepreneurs are eager to get to the Essence Festival of Culture to connect with their core customers.
“Essence Fest is like my Black Friday,” said Rochelle Ivory, owner of beauty brand On the Edge Baby Hair. “It is my biggest sales weekend of the year. It’s where I make all the capital I reinvest in my business.”

Essence Fest kicks off on Friday, with roughly 500,000 people attending the event in New Orleans. It generates around $1 billion in economic activity, according to organizers.
“It’s the cannot-miss event for us,” said Brittney Adams, owner of eyewear brand Focus and Frame. She said this year Essence Fest is even more important because she’s seen Black consumers pulling back on spending.
“I would say the uncertainty of just the economic and political climate — that’s giving people a little bit of hesitancy. Should they save the money? Should they buy the things they want?” Adams said.
Ivory said her sales are down roughly 30% year over year, but she’s hopeful people come to New Orleans looking to spend their time and money in the festival marketplace.
“This could make or break some of us,” she said. “It’s one of the few places where Black women, Black founders can really come together and be seen.”

The Global Black Economic Forum aims to bring visibility and create solutions for Black business owners at Essence Fest. This year speakers include Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Last year, then-Vice President Kamala Harris spoke.
“We intentionally curate a space that allows leaders to preserve, build and reimagine how we can collectively increase economic opportunity to thrive,” said Alphonso David, CEO of the GBEF.

Second half shift

While many Black Americans express economic anxiety, the data is less clear.
In the first quarter of this year, according to Federal Reserve data, the median weekly salary for Black workers was $1,192 a 5% increase year over year. Black unemployment stood at 6% in the most recent jobs report, a historically low number, but still higher than the national average of 4.2%.
However, the data doesn’t appear to fully reflect the sentiment for many Black Americans who are concerned about the political, cultural and economic shifts that have taken place since President Donald Trump’s election.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” said John Hope Bryant, founder and CEO of Operation Hope, one of the nation’s largest non-profits focused on financial education and empowerment.  
Bryant said he sees the concerns of Black Americans as an opportunity in the second half of 2025.

John Hope Bryant is the founder and CEO of Operation Hope.
Paras Griffin | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

“This president has done something that hasn’t been done since the 1960s, which is unify Black America. Wealth was created in the early 20th century because Blacks were forced to work together. But instead of Black Lives Matter, let’s make Black capitalist matter,” he said.
Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has galvanized Black consumers with an organized boycott of Target that began in February in response to the retailer’s decision to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Bryant said he is in discussions with Target but is ready to organize a longer-term boycott if the retailer does not fulfill the promises it made to the Black community after the killing of George Floyd. He is urging Black Americans to use the estimated $2.1 trillion dollars in spending power forecast by 2026 to drive economic and political change.
“I would dare say that ‘pocketbook protests’ are a revolutionary activity,” said Bryant.
“I think we have to be very selective in light of the ‘Big Ugly Bill’ that just passed and how it will adversely affect our community,” he said, referencing Trump’s megabill that passed through Congress this week.

Celebrate and educate

Invest Fest, an event that blends commerce and culture created by financially focused media company Earn Your Leisure kicks off in Atlanta in August.
Co-CEOs Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings said the event will remain focused on financial literacy, but this year they are emphasizing the urgent need for education and entrepreneurship in technology.
“It’s definitely now or never, the time is now,” said Bilal.
“The important thing this year is the way technology is going to disrupt a lot of career paths and the businesses, and we have to prepare for that, which is why AI is at the forefront of the conversation, crypto is at the forefront of the conversations, real estate as always and entrepreneurship,” said Millings.
New this year is a partnership with venture capital firm Open Opportunity and a pitch competition where an entrepreneur can win $125,000 in funding to scale their business.
“We need more businesses that can reach $100 million valuation to a $1 billion valuation, get on the stock market. The pathway to that 9 times out of 10 is technology,” Bilal said.

Festival attendees sign an exhibit wall during Day 1 of the Essence Festival of Culture on July 05, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Aaron J. Thornton | Wireimage | Getty Images

The National Black MBA Association Conference in Houston in September will have a similar tone. The event is known for its career fair where the nation’s largest companies recruit as well as for networking and vibrant social activities.
This year, interim CEO Orlando Ashford is working to establish artificial intelligence education and financial literacy as pillars of the event.
“Doing business as usual is not an option,” Ashford told CNBC. “AI is something I literally refer to as a tsunami of change that’s on its way. All of us will be forced to pivot in some ways as it relates to AI. Those of us that are out in front, that embrace it and leverage it actually can turn it into a tremendous and powerful opportunity. Those that wait and ignore it will be overtaken by the wave.” More

Delta Air Lines is set to kick off U.S. airlines’ quarterly reports on July 10.
Record travelers are taking to the skies, but fares have dropped.
Airlines have pulled 2025 forecasts, blaming economic uncertainty.

People move through Newark Liberty International Airport following a news conference by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at the airport, where he announced the reopening of a major runway at the airport, nearly two weeks ahead of schedule on June 2, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Millions of travelers are expected to fly over the July 4 holiday period, but the outlook for the rest of the year still looks murky as airlines wrestle with too many flights and not enough demand.
“The summer is on sale, which certainly implies lower fares,” Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview late last month.

Domestic airfare this summer is averaging $265 for a round-trip flight, down 3% over last year and the cheapest since 2021, according to fare-tracker Hopper. Airfare in the May U.S. inflation report was down more than 7% from a year ago.
Southwest and a host of other airlines — Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines — pulled their forecasts for 2025 earlier this year, blaming an uncertain economic backdrop with the Trump administration’s on-again-off-again tariffs and a host of other new challenges, like fewer overseas visitors to the United States.
Things might not be much clearer now as Delta kicks off airline earnings next Thursday, with other carriers set to report later this month.
“We’re stable where we are, but we have not seen an inflection back,” Jordan said.
In response, airlines have outlined plans to cut unprofitable flights, particularly on off-peak days after the major summer travel season. Airlines make the bulk of their profits in the second and third quarters of the year.

From last Tuesday through next Monday, the Transportation Security Administration said it expects to screen more than 18.5 million travelers at U.S. airports, though no single day is expected to top the nearly 3.1 million travelers that went through checkpoints on June 22, an agency record.
While a sharp economic downturn hasn’t materialized, air travel demand hasn’t been as strong as some industry members expected last year or in early 2025. On Thursday, U.S. jobs data came in stronger than expected despite some signs of a slowdown in the labor market a day earlier.
“While the broader macro environment has been more resilient than feared, overall airline industry demand has been tepid,” TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald said in a Wednesday note.

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Debit and credit card spending tracked by Bank of America showed an 11.8% decline on air travel spending last month from a year earlier in June, after five months of year-on-year declines.
“Debit and credit card data for spend on airlines has been down slightly more in June than April/May, so we are not expecting a meaningful sequential improvement in revenue trends,” Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora said in a Tuesday note. “We believe investors will be looking for commentary on any green shoots in demand, and any further commentary on 2H25 capacity cuts could be viewed positively.”
International trips originating from the U.S. have been a strong corner of air travel and a boon for big global carriers like Delta, American and United Airlines.
But fares have eased for trips abroad, too. International flights from U.S. airports are up 4.3% from last summer, according to Hopper. Fares from the U.S. to Europe are averaging $817, down almost $100 from last year, and on par with 2019, Hopper said. Flights to Asia were going for $1,328 on average in June, July or August, down 13% from last year, Hopper data show. More

The prices of beer, outdoor folding chairs and grilling tools may be more expensive at Fourth of July barbeques this year, according to a congressional report.
The total cost of a typical grocery trip for a cookout has increased by a 12.7% annualized rate since President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement in April, according to the analysis.
The report shows six-packs of Miller Lite and Coors Light increased by more than 13% each since April.

Cans of Molson Coors Brewing Co. Miller Lite and Coors Light brand beer
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Americans may spend more on common barbeque items this Fourth of July with prices on products like beer, outdoor folding chairs and grill tools higher, according to a new congressional report.
The total cost of a typical grocery trip for a cookout has increased by a 12.7% annualized rate since President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement in April, according to the analysis by the Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic minority arm. It calculated the price increase using consumer price index data for the most popular food and beverage items for a 10-person summer cookout.

The minority analysis found that a six-pack of bottled lite domestic beer from Miller Lite and Coors Light increased by more than 13% each since the April tariff announcement. The analysis looked at Walmart to find the most popular products and tracked their prices from April 1 to June 26 using price checking website AisleGopher.
For imported beers, the minority analysis found a 10.5% price increase for bottles of Peroni Nastro Azzurro and a 9.5% increase for Modelo Especial bottles.
In April, Trump announced 25% tariffs on beer imports and empty aluminum cans. In early June, his administration hiked tariffs on imported aluminum to 50%.
Some beer brands, including Modelo owner Constellation Brands, have said higher aluminum costs have weighed on margins.
The analysis also found price increases for key cookout gear by tracking popular listings on Amazon using price-checking websites Keepa.com and Camelcamelcamel.com.

Since April 1, Amazon listings for a Coleman foldable camping chair increased 47.7% and a 25-piece griddle accessories kit increased 17.7%, according to the report.
Other products saw more modest increases. A Banana Boat sunscreen rose 8.1%, Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil rose 6.9%, a Weber propane grill increased 5% and a multi-pack of disposable plates and utensils rose 3.3%, the report said.
A separate May report from Rabobank, a global food and agribusiness bank, found that the cost of a 10-person barbeque rose 4.2% this year and will hit $100 for the first time ever. Its barbeque index highlighted higher beef prices as a contributing factor. More

Tim Kuniskis was promoted to lead American brands and North American marketing for Stellantis.
The automaker also revived the SRT division for performance and motorsports.
Kuniskis will stay CEO of Ram, where he’s working on a turnaround plan for the brand.

Tim Kuniskis, head of NAFTA Passenger Car Brands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, speaks during the reveal of the Fiat Chrysler 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon sports vehicle ahead of the 2017 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

New Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, who took over the top job one week ago, has made his first major leadership move, promoting Tim Kuniskis to oversee all American brands and lead marketing and retail strategy in North America.
Kuniskis remains CEO of Ram. He now has a broader role across the company’s U.S. operations. Kuniskis, who came out of retirement after seven months, returned to Stellantis late last year after former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares unexpectedly stepped down.

Stellantis is also bringing back the Street and Racing Technology performance division.
SRT will combine engineers from Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler and will focus on high-performance vehicles and motorsports.
“SRT is another box we needed to check,” Kuniskis said in a press release Wednesday. “We’re getting the band back together.”
Kuniskis is also leading a major product launch at Ram as part of an effort to combat yearslong sales declines. The brand plans to launch 25 new products throughout the next 18 months.
Earlier this month, Kuniskis announced the return of its popular V-8 Hemi engines for its Ram 1500 full-size pickup trucks. Ram plans to offer the engine again in early 2026. More

President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy is still hurting Constellation Brands’ beer sales as Hispanic shoppers pull back their spending.
The brewer, which owns Modelo, Corona and Pacifico, says that roughly half of its beer sales come from U.S. Latinos.
Constellation’s earnings and revenue for the quarter ended May 31 fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Bottles of Modelo beer are displayed on a shelf at a BevMo store on January 05, 2024 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Constellation Brands’ beer sales fell 2% in its latest quarter as President Donald Trump’s deportations and consumers’ broader economic fears weighed on demand.
In April, Constellation CEO Bill Newlands said that Hispanic consumers are spending less due to their concerns about Trump’s hard-line immigration policy and possible job losses in industries with high Latino employment bases. During Wednesday’s earnings conference call, Newlands acknowledged that raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were making it difficult to predict consumer behavior moving forward, although he demurred about tying the beer division’s slowdown to Hispanic shoppers specifically during the company’s fiscal first-quarter call.

“When you see a fair amount of change, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers are concerned about inflation and about cost structure,” Newlands told analysts.
Hispanic consumers are a core part of Constellation’s customer base. The brewer, which owns Modelo, Corona and Pacifico, says that roughly half of its beer sales come from Latinos in the U.S.
Constellation’s earnings and revenue for the quarter ended May 31 fell short of Wall Street’s estimates, hurt by weaker beer demand and higher aluminum costs from Trump’s tariffs. Still, the company reiterated its full-year outlook, signaling confidence that it can achieve its financial targets despite economic uncertainty.
Constellation isn’t the only packaged food and beverage company to report weaker demand from Hispanic consumers. Last quarter, Coca-Cola and Colgate-Palmolive were also among the companies that tied a slowdown in U.S. sales to a pullback by Hispanic shoppers.

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