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Balanced Black Girl

How Imani Ellis Turned a Living Room Meetup into a Cultural Empire

Balanced Black Girl

She's So Lucky

Health & Fitness, #Shessolucky, Balancedblackgirl, Lesalfred, Balancedles

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#291: What does it mean to have true influence, and how can you tap into it?

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Imani Ellis, the mastermind and founder of CultureCon and The Creative Collective NYC, about how a few small gatherings in her apartment turned into a massive cultural movement.

With years of experience bringing creatives together, Imani opens up about what it really takes to build with intention—without all the noise.

She shares her blueprint for staying true to yourself, building real connections, and creating lasting influence in a world that’s often focused on instant attention.

We also talk about…

  • Imani’s journey from corporate PR to founding CultureCon and The Creative Collective NYC
  • The difference between chasing clout and creating a lasting impact
  • What it takes to cultivate trust and build real influence in today’s digital age
  • How to stay true to yourself while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship
  • Imani’s approach to supporting creatives and fostering a sense of belonging in the industry
  • The power of community and collaboration in creative spaces


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

0:22.5

Imani, welcome to the show.

0:24.3

Les, hi, thanks for having me.

0:28.9

I'm so excited because I know this episode has been something in the making for a little while.

0:29.9

Yes, we've been trying.

0:30.5

We have. But I actually feel like every episode, every conversation, everything happens when it needs to happen.

0:36.4

I completely agree because the rebrand is here.

0:39.4

And I feel kind of like, oh, she's so lucky. Like I don't know. This feels like very, very kismet.

0:44.6

It does. And actually, when I think about it, because I know we had been talking about having you come on the show for a while, even with balanced black girl.

0:51.2

And I think even if we would have done that when it was still balanced black girl, we could have had a really great conversation. But I actually do really think that you're

0:57.8

like the perfect guest for she's so lucky and the new direction of the show. And congratulations,

1:02.3

by the way, like building in public, building something so special in public. Like I'm,

1:06.9

I'm a fan. So thank you for having me. I appreciate that so much. So I don't know if you know this.

1:13.5

I went to CultureCon, was it in 2023, like right after I got to New York? I think I'd maybe been here for like a couple weeks.

1:21.5

Okay. And that was one of my first New York experiences. Oh my goodness.

1:27.8

A taste of it.

1:28.5

A lot of pressure.

1:29.6

But it was actually really fun.

1:31.1

Okay, great.

1:31.5

I had a lot of fun.

1:32.7

I also met so many listeners there.

1:35.0

It was kind of my first experience going somewhere and having people come up to me and be like,

...

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