Earn Your Leisure Says Atlanta Hasn’t Stepped Up to Support Their Festival
The hosts of Earn Your Leisure are speaking out about what they see as a lack of support from the city of Atlanta, even as their business festival has grown into one of the largest events of its kind in the country.
A Home Base Without Local Backing
According to the hosts, Atlanta makes sense as a hub — it’s centrally located, close to major cities like Charlotte, Miami, and New York, and sits near one of the busiest airports in the world. But despite hosting the event, the hosts say the city hasn’t offered meaningful support in return: no help with logistics, security, transportation, or sponsorship, the kinds of resources cities typically provide to attract and retain major events.
They contrasted this with New Orleans’ relationship with the Essence Festival, which they say the city actively protects and supports because it understands the direct economic value — millions of dollars flowing into hotels, restaurants, and local businesses each year.
Growing Despite the Gap
Despite the lack of institutional support, the hosts say their event has grown to roughly 25,000 attendees and 400 business vendors, drawing billionaires and high-profile guests. They noted this year’s festival featured Serena Williams, with past years bringing in names like Magic Johnson and 50 Cent. Major corporations headquartered nearby — including Delta, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot — are close by, yet the hosts say sponsorship dollars haven’t followed at the scale they believe the event’s reach warrants.
They pointed out that the festival was self-funded from the start, without outside investment or raised capital, and that as Black entrepreneurs, they feel they operate with almost no margin for error compared to founders in other industries.
The Fanatics and Amazon Comparisons
To make their point about how differently companies are allowed to “lose money” while scaling, the hosts brought up Michael Rubin’s Fanatics, which has reportedly operated at a loss in some years despite a valuation that’s grown dramatically — from around $9 billion in 2008 to an estimated $43 billion today. They argued that visibility and community connection, not just profitability, can drive a company’s valuation up over time.
They drew a similar comparison to Amazon, recalling how Jeff Bezos was once mocked publicly for running an unprofitable company for years before it became a trillion-dollar business. The larger point, they said, is that many companies are given the runway to lose money while they scale — a courtesy they feel isn’t extended to Black-owned ventures in the same way.
The Bigger Picture
The hosts framed their frustration as part of a broader conversation about how Black entrepreneurs are perceived and supported, arguing that events led by Black founders are often expected to already have found major success without the same investment, patience, or civic backing given to others.