From the multicultural flags waving in the air to the estimated 20,000 people celebrating the sounds of the diaspora, the Festival Grounds at RFK Campus in Southeast, D.C. came alive with culture and celebration at the inaugural Afro Plus Fest (Afro+) on Aug. 31.
The daylong festival, powered by the ethos “Africa – plus more,” was the East Coast’s first large‑scale festival for global Black music and culture, nodding to its future and legacy in tandem with the communities that defined it.
“This is the block party we’ve dreamed about for a decade,” said founder and executive producer Michael Awosanya in a press release ahead of the event. “With the support of Mayor Muriel Bowser and Events DC, Afro+ Fest is bringing the full diaspora to RFK — music, food, culture — driven by the people and sounds that shape us.”
Featuring fashion activations, immersive art installations, and global cuisine throughout the festival grounds, notable performers graced the stage with a toast to hip‑hop, Afrobeats, soca, dancehall, R&B and amapiano, including: Machel Montano (Trinidad and Tobago), Uncle Waffles (South Africa), Shenseea (Jamaica), and more, alongside celebrated headliners such as Gunna, Asaske, and Wizkid.
Black-owned brands and creators thrived in a marketplace where local entrepreneurs such as Thea Browne-Dennis, owner of Asli Pure Natural Body Care, and Debelu Ojukwu, a Nigerian creative tackling mental health awareness, hoisted products addressing pivotal topics and highlighting diasporic connections.
Meanwhile, attendees like Jillien Philber, 60, and 22-year-old Riziki Ndayavugwa saw the event as something more than a day of socializing and dancing.
“Right now, we have a crisis where Trump wants to deport [undocumented immigrants], but the way I see it, [Afro Plus Fest] is a way of understanding [foreign culture], within the community,” Ndayavugwa told The Informer.
While Philber attributed the multigenerational crowd to the longevity of African and Caribbean music, Ndayavugwa touted the festival as a way to spotlight positive contributions from people around the world.
Ahead of performances, the Tanzania native told The Informer he traveled to D.C. from Kentucky to attend with friends, noting his particular excitement to see Asake perform, with the benefit of experiencing other cultural artists.
“I have a lot of friends that are from different countries…I feel like [this] does bring us closer,” Ndayavugwa said, “[as they] can get an understanding of my background and vice versa. It shows we can collaborate and co-exist within each other.”
For Browne-Dennis, who also serves as asset management tech for DC Water, Afro Plus Fest was a refreshing reminder of why she moved back to “the rich culture of D.C.” in 2004, after spending the majority of her life in Berkley, California.
“The family structure, the upward mobility of Black Africans here, [that’s] what I wanted my children to grow up seeing. Positive images of Black people, Black people in power, that had their own businesses, that weren’t struggling, and this highlights that,” she told The Informer. “I hope it continues for many, many more.”
Afro+ Fest: Building Bridges Across the African Diaspora
Beyond her enthusiasm for the festival, Browne-Dennis beamed as she invited attendees to learn more about Asli Pure Natural Body Care, a Mount-Rainier, Maryland-based boutique that creates bath care tools to cleanse, nourish, and promote healthy, radiant skin using nutrient-rich oils, plant botanicals, and therapeutic aromas.
“As you’re nourishing your skin as a daily routine, you’re also nourishing your body and your spirit with nature as well,” Browne-Dennis explained, noting the business model to reconnect humanity and nature. “The intention that I put into the product is definitely felt when people wear the scents.”
In addition to enhancing skincare and adding to customers’ “auric field,” Browne-Dennis said each product–which includes body scrubs, nectar, oils and others–comes with a backstory bridging global and local African American history.
The “Bintou” scent derives from the honeysuckle season in D.C., while “Birthright” coincides with author and founder of The Adinkra Group, Diallo Sumbry, whose former Birthright concert spotlighted annual performances of the Farafina Kan Intergenerational West African Dance Company at the University of the District of Columbia.
Half purple, half charcoal, the popular scent pays homage to both Sumbry and his father, a member of the historically Black Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., with the fitting touch of charcoal to honor the medicine of Sumbry’s “warrior deity.”
Further, the charcoal and Shea Butter used in Asli Pure are directly sourced from Ghana.
“It is basically a direct link through us in the diaspora,” said Browne-Dennis.
Ojukwu’s boost of connectivity comes in the form of uplifting mental wellness, leveraging his clothing brand, Forged Haven, as a place of refuge through mental health-tailored apparel.
A student at Virginia Commonwealth University, Ojukwu told The Informer the project blossomed during a period of depression and anxiety, when the then-16-year-old first moved to the U.S. from Nigeria in 2022. Now, at 19, he shared hopes to see the clothing brand create the safe space he needed during his own struggles with mental health, admitting that, despite an extensive search, “nothing felt right for me.”
“I’m not trying to reach everybody, I’m just trying to reach one person and I’ll be happy,” said the entrepreneur. “I want to create the one that feels right for somebody else. I don’t know who it is, but I know specifically that it’s going to hit…and it’s going to change someone’s life forever.”
If themed apparel isn’t enough to stir conversations, a percentage of sale profits goes towards hosting community events, expanding on wellness practices through “Paint ‘N Sips” for youth and mini journaling sessions with college students.
Lenhle Vilakati, a supportive friend at the booth on Sunday, prides Forged Haven as a catalyst for growth in mental health awareness, a traditionally overlooked topic in African households, making Afro Plus Fest “the perfect audience.”
“Some people are probably here to silence whatever loud noises are in their brains, so for them to be able to come here…even if [they’re] not buying anything, but they look at the hoodie, and they hear Debelu’s story and start thinking, ‘What am I doing for my safe space?’” Vilakati told The Informer. “Everything about this brand is just to help you be you and be okay–even if that version of you is not okay.”
With hopes to see more ethnic festivals bloom, and continued support among Black businesses, Browne-Dennis applauded Afro Plus Fest as a vanguard for unity within the diaspora, particularly expressing pride for the young people “breaking barriers” and continuing to celebrate the cultures and legacies of their lineage.
As for Ojukwu, he said he’ll remember Aug. 31 as a testament to the importance of forging cultural safe spaces, even if that haven is in a crowd of 20,000.
“I haven’t been to an event like this since I came to the U.S., and I think this is the happiest I’ve ever been working on this brand,” he told The Informer. “I’m surrounded by people that come from where I’m from…that just makes you feel safe. I never knew I’d get this far, but…it’s good to be here.”