Trell Thomas Built a Movement and It Matters More Now Than Ever
Words by Valese Jones
On a Sunday afternoon in New Orleans, something happened that had nothing to do with brunch. Yes, there were 250 guests dressed in all white. There was elevated hospitality, a second-line band winding through the ballroom at Port of New Orleans Place, and a guest list that read like a who’s who of Black entertainment, business, and culture. But what unfolded inside River City Venue on July 5, 2026, during one of the most politically and culturally charged moments in recent memory, was something closer to a declaration. The Black Excellence Brunch was back, and this year, it brought Patti LaBelle.
The Architect Behind the Moment
Trell Thomas does not stumble into moments. He builds them, brick by brick, with the kind of deliberate intention that comes from someone who understands that showing up for Black people in this industry is not a gesture; it is a responsibility.
Now in its evolution as one of Essence Festival’s most coveted invite-only experiences, Black Excellence Brunch has grown from a gathering into a movement, platform, and cultural institution in its own right.
“Black Excellence Brunch has always been about creating intentional spaces where our stories, achievements, and legacy are celebrated,” Thomas said. “To honor a living legend like Patti LaBelle while partnering with NYX Professional Makeup to champion beauty, authenticity, and representation made this year’s gathering incredibly meaningful.”
When asked how he manages to reinvent the experience year after year while staying true to what makes it sacred, Thomas was characteristically direct.
“I always try to outdo myself and take it up a level,” he said. “I feel a huge responsibility to the people that come and show up and attend this event. So I’m thinking about them, how I can be as intentional as possible with every single piece of the event so that they come and they feel fulfilled, and most of all, they feel celebrated and appreciated.”
That intentionality extends beyond the event itself. Thomas has expanded his brand into podcasting with “How Excellent with Trell Thomas,” a platform built on the belief that the conversations sparked at Black Excellence Brunch deserve to live longer than an afternoon.
“We always have such good conversations at Black Excellence Brunch,” he said. “I wanted a place where those conversations could live a little longer, a way to give people their own personal conversation and really dive a little bit deeper than we’re able to in 20 minutes on stage.”
And when asked about staying rooted in his Southern identity in an industry that has often asked Black Southerners to sand down their edges, Thomas offered perhaps the clearest distillation of his philosophy:
“Authenticity is a superpower. It’s only very recently, in the last 10 years, that I’ve been able to step into my full authenticity. And the more I do that, the more beautiful life becomes, the more things open up, and the more I’m in alignment with what my true purpose is. I’m just trying to show up as authentically as possible, and it’s spilling over into everything that I touch.”
A Legend Honored: Patti LaBelle Takes Center Stage
If there was a single moment that crystallized everything Black Excellence Brunch represents, it came when Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Marsha Ambrosius took the stage.
Ambrosius performed an intimate set of her own beloved hits before doing something that stopped the room cold: she turned to face Patti LaBelle directly and sang “If Only You Knew,” LaBelle’s own signature, back to the woman who made it an anthem. The room rose to its feet.
Patti LaBelle, one of the most enduring icons in American music history, received one of the afternoon’s highest honors for her extraordinary contributions and her decades of influence on generations of artists and audiences. A woman who has spent more than six decades pouring herself into her craft, into her community, and into every stage she has ever graced, LaBelle’s presence alone elevated the room. In a cultural moment that can sometimes feel relentlessly focused on what’s next, honoring what has lasted and who has lasted felt radical and necessary.
There is no one quite like Patti LaBelle. Not in what she has built, not in what she represents, and not in what it means to an entire generation of Black women to see her standing in a room full of people who rose to their feet just to say, “We see you; we love you; we are because of you.”
It was the kind of moment Trell Thomas has been quietly building toward for years.
Why L’Oréal and NYX Keep Coming Back
The partnership with NYX Professional Makeup, part of the L’Oréal Groupe portfolio, was not incidental. It was a statement.
Aubrey Maslen, an executive at L’Oréal, articulated clearly why the brand considers its presence at Black Excellence Brunch not a marketing opportunity but a cultural obligation.
“Whether it’s NYX Professional Makeup or L’Oréal Group as a whole, our mission is to create beauty for all and beauty for each,” Maslen said. “We celebrate all interpretations of beauty, and we recognize the outsized impact that Black communities and Black culture have on the entire industry—whether it’s beauty, entertainment, music, or sports. For us, it’s really about this: if we seek to continue to meet consumers’ needs, both anticipated and unanticipated, we’ve got to be at the center of culture.”
Maslen’s words land differently in 2026, when diversity, equity, and inclusion have become contested terrain in corporate America. As some brands quietly retreat from their commitments, L’Oréal’s continued investment in spaces like Black Excellence Brunch carries weight.
“Trell has really curated and crafted an intentional space — a community of celebration that recognizes the multitudes of beauty that exist within the Black community,” Maslen said. “L’Oréal and NYX are happy to be a part of helping that inner beauty shine outwardly.”
On the state of the beauty industry more broadly, Maslen acknowledged progress while refusing to declare victory.
“We’ve seen tremendous progress—greater inclusion in shades for various complexions and melanin-rich skin tones and recognition of different skin textures and skin types. But our goal as the largest beauty company in the world is to expand that aperture of beauty as wide as possible so that every single person—from every lived experience, every background, and every dimension of diversity—can find their place within the beauty conversation. We want to continue to be on the leading edge of ensuring that every single person feels and knows that they are worth it. Because they are.”
Erika Guinn, NYX executive and a visible presence throughout the afternoon, spoke with the kind of specificity that cuts through corporate messaging.
“NYX represents all cultures,” Guinn said, “but 100%, we make sure the Black girls have the colors they need—from the darkest complexions to the lightest of shades. We want to make sure they have colors and neutrals that are fitting to their tone. We represent, and representation is powerful. The fact that I can work for this brand and bring it into arenas like this is absolutely amazing.”
When asked what Black excellence means to her personally, Guinn did not hesitate.
“I’m looking at it—a mirror reflection,” she said. “In every lifetime, I want to come back Black. It is excellent. It is opulence. It is something that is in our DNA, that is highly sought after and hardly ever duplicated. You cannot duplicate it; you cannot recreate it. It is part of a heartbeat. You are Black excellence. I’m Black excellence. I look in a mirror and I see myself.”
A Room That Knows What It’s Building Against
This year’s Black Excellence Brunch did not exist in a vacuum, nor did the guests inside it.
Actress Danielle LeRoach, one of the attendees, put the weight of the moment into plain language.
“Black people are naturally resilient because the world is not created for us to win,” she said. “We have to jump through hurdles. We are always going into rooms that are just not built for us to find success in. So when you find something like this—literally curated around the greatness of Black people—how can you not want to be a part of that?”
LeRoach’s definition of Black excellence had teeth: “To me, Black excellence means ownership. Equity matters. God wants us to be owners of things—not just to be the boss, but because if we own the building, you can’t tell me who to let in. You can’t tell me who to give an opportunity to. I’m really pushing for ownership—and loving to see all the thriving Black businesses and spaces. When we own things, the world is different.”
“Beyond the Gates” actress Colby Muhammad echoed that urgency through her own lens. The CBS daytime drama—which has broken ground in representing Black family life outside the framework of struggle—has resonated with audiences in a way that feels pointed right now.
“Representation is so incredibly important,” Muhammad said. “To see Black people who are not only successful but also family-oriented—that put their family first—is going to be huge for young people. I hope they’re watching this show and saying, ‘I can do this.’ Not just be successful, not just be a doctor or a lawyer, but to put the people that I love first.”
Muhammad, who graduated in 2024 and booked the show the same year, was candid about the broader Hollywood climate.
“I went to school with incredible actors who are not working,” she said. “So for me and my husband, working on films and being able to give opportunities to other Black people is what’s so important right now. The opportunities aren’t in abundance. We need to create that abundance. Being so blessed with being booked so quickly after school, it’s my turn to put my hand out and help somebody else.”
Content creator and influencer RaeShanda Lias, who has built her audience by showing up authentically and evolving publicly over the years, offered words that felt written for anyone watching from the margins—for the 20-something-year-olds who wonder if their time will come.
“The whole secret is you don’t give up. You can’t give up. Every time you wake up, it’s another day to get it right, another day to stretch and grow. At 25, I couldn’t have imagined my life would be what it is today. But I didn’t give up. Even though you have to take it moment by moment, second by second—you have to keep going. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. You’re not done.”
What It Means to Come Back
Essence Festival draws hundreds of thousands of people to New Orleans every year. But Black Excellence Brunch draws the room within the room: the people who are not just attending culture but actively building it.
What Trell Thomas has created is something genuinely rare: a gathering that manages to feel both exclusive and expansive. Exclusive in its curation—every name on the guest list, from MC Lyte to Congressman Brandon Claybon to activist Jotaka Eaddy, carries weight. Expansive in its spirit, welcoming, warm, and unambiguously for us. In the current climate, that combination is more than special; it’s necessary.
First-time Essence attendee Daniele Mills Walden, a retired professional tennis player, walked into Black Excellence Brunch with no expectations.
“Honestly, just seeing everybody in white together — I don’t know what to expect. I’m just excited,” she said.
That feeling, the anticipation, the warmth, the sense that something real is about to happen, is what Trell Thomas has been delivering, year after year, with the same quiet ferocity that he brings to everything he builds.
And as guests filtered out of the ballroom into the New Orleans heat, past the second-line band, past the white dresses and the linen blazers and the laughter—the memory that lingered was not the guest list or the décor or even the partnership announcements.
It was Marsha Ambrosius, face turned toward Patti LaBelle, singing the words back to the woman who first gave them to the world. If only you knew!
We do and we keep coming back because of it.
