Next weekend, thousands of entrepreneurs, culture creators, and socialites will join together at the second annual Invest Fest in Atlanta, powered by serial entrepreneurs Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings.
Bilal and Millings are the two powerhouses behind the business and financial literacy podcast and media company, Earn Your Leisure. Both finance enthusiasts regularly break down the latest trends in real estate, entertainment, and sports sectors and how they impact Black culture and communities. From their podcast alone, they’ve created a variety of business opportunities for listeners, themselves, and fellow entrepreneurs they speak with.
Bilal said, “We did an episode on trucking with a guy named Alix Goodenergy. He’s kind of like a mentor to us in the trucking space … helped us get a truck. We did an episode on vending machines. Kashif, he’s was gentleman out of Philadelphia. He helped us get our vending machines up and running … kind of consulted that situation. Jose Rodriguez, who is in the credit space. You know, he’s been somebody that we talk to about credit questions. So a lot of resources for sure.”
Invest Fest will offer similar resources in addition to an all-star roster of keynote speakers and panelists including Steve Harvey, Charlamagne Tha God, Terrance J, Rick Ross, and billionaire Tyler Perry. In partnership with Harvey, the popular three-day event will also feature additional motivational speakers like Eric Thomas, Wall Street Trapper, and MG The Mortgage Guy.
“Partnering with Steve Harvey this year … really helped a lot. Having Tyler Perry on the bill this year … that takes it to a whole different element, of course,” said Bilal during an interview with Atlanta Black Star on July 21. “Our motto from day one has just been scaling up everything that we do. We just try to consistently scale up, and Invest Fest is no different than that.”
Bilal and Millings connected with Harvey through a mutual associate at Charlamagne’s Black Effect Podcast Network, who suggested Harvey as a speaker for last year’s Invest Fest. It catapulted into Harvey being a guest on the “Earn Your Leisure” podcast earlier this year in March. Their episode currently has over 1.4 million YouTube views and shareable gems on financial planning, becoming a mogul, and more.
“They connected us with Toby Stephens, who’s one of the head business people on his team, and he’s like, ‘Look, Mr. Ace knows who you are. He loves what you’re doing. We’re going to get this done in the first quarter of next year,” Millings shared.
“We just stayed in communication. That’s the power of relationships. And first quarter of 2022, he was a man of his word. He called us over and, like I said, people saw the interview and thought it was an amazing interview. But what was equally amazing was the two-hour conversation we had prior to it and the two-hour conversation we had after it.”
In that conversation Harvey applauded the future “vision” for Earn Your Leisure and willingly expressed interest in contributing to Invest Fest. Millings recalled a visit to Harvey’s house when he asked what celebrity they would like have as a guest speaker. Surprising them, Harvey shared that he was on his way to catch a flight with a Hollywood filmmaker: Tyler Perry.
“He was like, ‘Look I’m gonna talk to him and I’ll see what he says.’ And so it was funny…the next day we went back to his house, and all I could think about was, ‘Did he get them? Did he get them?'” said Millings. “And he kind of told us, ‘Look, when we flew there I didn’t speak to him about it. At the party, I didn’t speak to him about it. On the plane back, I finally mentioned it to him and to his surprise, he said, ‘Yeah, I know those guys.“
Surprisingly, Perry was already aware of the Earn Your Leisure duo and admired how they asked questions during Interviews.
“Tyler Perry will be there,” added Millings. “It’s a rare occasion when he gets to speak in front of an audience of this magnitude or any audience. And so we’re very fortunate and honored to be interviewing him at Invest Fest.”
Attendees can expect this year’s Invest Fest in downtown Atlanta’s massive Georgia World Congress convention complex. The one-of-a-kind festival will offer food and cultural experiences, fireside chats, and live podcasts about investing, entrepreneurship, and more the entire weekend of August 5-7, 2022. There will also be a marketplace highlighting over 280 small businesses amongst a crowd of over 4,000 people.
Tickets start at $249.
