Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is firing back after Earn Your Leisure founders Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings publicly questioned Atlanta’s support for Invest Fest.
Dickens used a July 28 celebration honoring Ciara to make it clear that he believes the city has been putting resources behind Black talent and opportunity. According to an Atlanta Black Star report of the event, the mayor appeared to address Earn Your Leisure without naming the company while speaking during Atlanta’s third annual Ciara Day celebration. Referencing criticism that had surfaced during an interview in New York, Dickens told the crowd, “Somebody said something on the radio in New York about Atlanta,” before adding, “Somebody was talking about support.”
The timing made his response especially pointed. Ciara used the celebration to invest $50,000 into 10 Atlanta organizations that work with young people pursuing opportunities in music, film, fashion, technology, sports, dance, education and leadership. The initiative was organized with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Entertainment and Nightlife, with each organization receiving $5,000 for resources including scholarships, equipment, training and educational experiences.
During the event, Andre Dickens pointed out that the venue was managed by a Black woman and referenced the $50,000 investment while defending Atlanta’s larger record. Dickens described the city as “substantial,” “important” and “consequential,” making his message difficult to separate from the criticism Earn Your Leisure had recently aired.
Ciara also credited Atlanta with helping build the foundation for her career.
“Atlanta has always been home to me and played such an important role in shaping who I am both as an artist and as a person. The city’s incredible entertainment community poured into me and gave me opportunities to dream big,” she stated.
The dispute started publicly during Earn Your Leisure’s July 21 appearance on The Breakfast Club. Millings discussed why Invest Fest has remained in Atlanta and why the team has also considered other possibilities. Millings said the relationship with city leadership has left the founders with questions.
“Its home has been Atlanta for obviously for the six years,” Millings said. “We flirted with the idea just because, you know, the lack of support that we’ve gotten from the city of Atlanta has been something that had been puzzling.”
Bilal was even more direct while explaining what Earn Your Leisure believes is missing from the relationship.
“Atlanta’s done nothing for us,” Bilal said.
His criticism centered on the type of coordination cities can provide for large events, including marketing, accommodations, security and logistics. During the interview, Bilal argued that successful Black entrepreneurs can sometimes be treated as though their success means they no longer require institutional support.
“It’s one of these things I think a lot of times when you’re a Black entrepreneur, a lot of things are just expected. They’re like, oh you got it, like, you good, or you know, and it’s like if somebody else will come like a Forbes or somebody like that and they roll out the red carpet.”
There is also history between Andre Dickens and Earn Your Leisure that makes the current disagreement more complicated than a city leader responding to an outside company. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in March 2024 that Dickens appeared at Atlanta City Hall with Bilal, Millings and other Invest Fest leadership to announce the conference’s fourth year in the city. At the time, Dickens publicly promoted Atlanta as a fitting home for a financial education conference and stressed the importance of financial literacy.
Invest Fest’s fifth edition in 2025 drew 25,000 attendees to the Georgia World Congress Center, with programming covering investing, entrepreneurship and financial education alongside appearances from figures including Magic Johnson, Steve Harvey and Issa Rae.
That history creates the real question underneath the current back and forth. Public endorsement and participation from city leadership clearly existed. Earn Your Leisure, however, appears to be arguing that visibility from Atlanta officials is different from the operational, financial and logistical partnership the founders believe an event of Invest Fest’s size should receive.
DJ Envy was less diplomatic in his reaction to Andre Dickens.
“I think what the mayor of Atlanta did was whack,” Envy said.
He then defended the founders’ request as an appeal for institutional support rather than special treatment.
For now, the disagreement has not changed Invest Fest’s immediate Atlanta plans. The 2026 conference is scheduled for August 7 through August 9 at the Georgia World Congress Center. The event’s official site also says this year’s Open Pitch competition will put five startup finalists before investors with a $125,000 investment available to the winner.
That leaves Andre Dickens and Earn Your Leisure confronting a bigger issue than who won the latest exchange. Atlanta has spent years positioning itself as a home for Black entrepreneurship, entertainment and culture, while Invest Fest has built a major financial education gathering inside that ecosystem. The question now is whether public recognition, city promotion and private event building can become the deeper partnership Earn Your Leisure says it has been asking for, or whether this disagreement pushes one of Atlanta’s recurring Black business events to reconsider where it calls home.
