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Imani Naomi Ellis (born November 6, 1989) is an American entrepreneur and community leader. She is the CEO and founder of The Creative Collective NYC and CultureCon.

Early life and Education
Ellis was born in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of missionary parents who first met at Bible college, she and her siblings lived in numerous cities in the Southeast before settling in the suburbs of Atlanta, Ga in 2001.

From the ages of 3-17, Ellis danced classical ballet with the hopes to become a professional ballerina. (Glamour). At the age of 15, she made history as the first African-American to play the role of Marya in the Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker performance in the company’s 75 year history. Ellis believes ballet played a huge role in developing her work ethic and instilled in her the value of persistence and perseverance (Excelon Magazine). After visiting New York City with her mother in 2007, Ellis decided that she wanted to work in the entertainment industry one day and quit ballet soon after returning to Atlanta to pursue other interests including drama club and track and field.

Ellis  graduated from Collins Hills High School in 2008 where she competed on the Varsity track and field team as a sprinter and hurdler. She was voted as team captain and led the team to two state wins. She still holds the record for the fastest 300 hurdle time at Collins Hill High School.

In 2012, she graduated from Vanderbilt University with a major in Communications. While at Vanderbilt, she volunteered as a campus tour guide and hosted and executive produced her own television show, “It’s Imani,” where she interviewed fellow collegiate athletes and student artists. Ellis also was a staff writer for the campus publication, “The Hustler.” She founded and was President of the school’s first public relations club, Vanderbilt Public Relations Society (VPRS). In 2012 and 2022, Ellis was invited back to Vanderbilt to speak to Vanderbilt students about her career.

Career
While a sophomore at Vanderbilt, Ellis returned to NYC during the summer of 2010 for her first internship at Nickelodeon in the Talent and Casting department. The following summer of 2011 she decided she needed even more experience in entertainment and obtained two internships, one at Universal Music Group in the talent department and the other with Creative Artists Agency, working with numerous agents to organize files and run errands. During her last week interning at CAA,  an agent told her she should explore a career in publicity and she returned to Vanderbilt to intern with Hot Schatz PR, a publicity firm that handled red carpet arrivals for the Country Music Awards. She also founded and led the Vanderbilt Public Relations Society for students interested in public relations. Upon graduating in 2012, Ellis was accepted to the NBCUniversal Page Program, a rotational learning and development program that gives early career talent well-rounded experiences in different parts of the company. She officially moved to New York City and began her rotation in July of 2012. In September of 2012, Ellis was hired as a communications coordinator for Bravo Media. In her ten years at NBC, Ellis was promoted six times with her final role as Vice President of Communications, handling publicity for Andy Cohen and casts of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “The Real Housewives of New York City,” “Million Dollar Listing” and “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” In 2022, Ellis led the publicity strategy for the highly-successful BravoCon. Additionally, she led the internship program for the Bravo Communications team and prioritized a hands-on interactive experience.

As she continued to grow in her role at NBCU, Ellis began to attend different conferences and networking events and immediately noticed the lack of diversity in both spaces. In 2016, she invited 10 friends over to her apartment in Harlem to network in her home. Each friend was allowed to bring one friend they thought could benefit from the gathering. The format of the evening was inspired by the salon-style gatherings of the Harlem Renaissance. As friends left her apartment, one asked Ellis the name of the event and she responded, “The Creative Collective NYC.”

News about the meet-ups quickly spread and after three more intimate gatherings in her apartment, Ellis moved the monthly meet-ups to different locations around the city. The events grew from one event a month to three events a month and when she realized that the community was growing quicker than planned, she invited a few of her closest friends to help with organizing the events. The events focused on providing resources and networking opportunities to diverse creatives and featured different speakers and formats.

In 2017, Ellis created CultureCon, a culmination of all the previous meetups she had hosted –but in conference form. CultureCon became the biggest event hosted by The Creative Collective NYC and the conference took place on October 14, 2017 at  Samsung 837 and had 212 attendees. Spike Lee was the keynote speaker and the day included fireside chats, breakout sessions and a happy hour. Ellis noticed that although the event was sold out, there were over 400 people on the waiting list. CultureCon grew quickly, tripling in size every year and becoming the fastest-growing conference for Black and Brown creatives. (Black Enterprise) CultureCon’s mission was to celebrate the impact diverse voices have on culture and featured conversations that touched on all aspects of creative and young professional life. Past speakers include Tracee Ellis Ross, Will Smith, Regina King, John Legend, Lena Waithe, and more.

In 2018, CultureCon grew to 800 attendees and was hosted at the Knockdown Center in Queens. Guests included John Legend, Charlamagne tha God, Remy Ma and Taylor Rooks. In 2019, CultureCon was hosted at Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, New York and had 3,000 guests. The conference expanded to host Activation Alley where brands could build experiential activations and CultureCon Week, a series of different intimate events leading up to conference day, was introduced for the first time.

The Creative Collective also launched the first-ever Creative Class, a celebration of brilliant Black artisans that utilize their talents to drive impact through performance and artistry.

In 2019, Ellis was named an Event Innovator by BizBash and in 2021, she was included on the Ebony Power List, Black Enterprise 4o under 40 and named an Adweek Champion of Diversity and Inclusion.

In addition to community events, The Creative Collective provides countless resources and workshops. In the height of the pandemic in 2021, The Creative Collective NYC launched CultureCon At Home, a virtual campus that reached over 22,000 creatives in over 131 countries around the world, and Creative Curriculum, a series of digital masterclasses touching on everything from entrepreneurship to navigating the corporate world.

In 2022, CultureCon was presented by HBO Max and went on tour in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City. CultureCon Atlanta was hosted on Saturday, May 7 and CultureCon LA Pop Up was June 16-19. On Saturday, October 8, CultureCon New York welcomed Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Waithe, Angie Martinez, Meagan Good, Elaine Welteroth, Kendrick Sampson, Kenya Barris, Terrence J, Lexi Underwood, Phoebe Robinson, Kalen Allenand more to the Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn for a day filled with conversations, events and activations from sponsors. Attendees were able to take part in a range of experiences, such as shopping at a small business market and attending skill-building workshops.(People)

In December 2022, Ellis left NBCUniversal to work on CultureCon full-time. Andy Cohen invited her to say farewell on Watch What Happens Live.(Getty) In 2023, CultureCon announced they would be activating in Los Angeles, New York City and more markets.

Public Speaking
Ellis speaks at varying conferences and corporate events including Women of Power Summit through Black Enterprise magazine. Additionally, she’s also been invited to speak at NBC, Bank of America, Columbia Business School, Meta, Google and more. During these events, she has spoken on topics ranging from the intersection of culture and technology, the power of diversity and the future of the creator economy.

Press
2019 – Forbes: Meet Imani Ellis, The Visionary Behind The CultureCon Conference

2021 – Forbes: How CultureCon Founder Imani Ellis Pivoted Through The Pandemic: CultureCon At Home

2022 – Insider: CultureCon founder Imani Ellis climbed company ranks to become a vice president within 10 years. Now, she's helping young professionals of color do the same.

2020 – Essence: This Black Woman Is Building A Community Of Creatives In NYC

2020 - Side Hustle Pro: Meet Imani Ellis, The Side Hustler & Visionary Behind The CultureCon Conference

2020 - SquareSpace: From a Founder: Imani Ellis on Building Community for Creatives of Color

2021 - Yahoo: CultureCon CEO Imani Ellis dishes on 2021 virtual event CultureCon At Home

2021- Grio: CultureCon CEO Imani Ellis dishes on 2021 virtual event CultureCon At Home

2022 - Excelon Magazine: Imani Ellis: The Diversity Queen

2022 - Yahoo: The Creative Collective NYC Continues To Be A Place Where Creatives of Color Thrive

2022 - The Edition: Follow The Leader: A Conversation with CultureCon’s Founder, Imani Ellis

2022 - Madame Noire: Cheers To The Swift: Imani Ellis On Building Brave Spaces and Creative Community

2022 - Her Agenda: A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Imani Ellis CEO & Founder of CultureCon and The Creative Collective NYC

2022: UGG: FEEL YOU FEATURES WITH IMANI ELLIS

2022: In Club Magazine: NBC, taps CCNYC founder Imani Ellis to be Vice President of Communications

2022: XO Necole: How CultureCon Founder Imani Ellis Prioritizes Self-Care

2022: More Than My Title: Imani Ellis= Founder + Creative + Publicist

2022: Vanderbilt Magazine: Imani Ellis BA’12: From Dreams to Reality

2022: People: CultureCon Founder Imani Ellis on the New York Conference, a ‘Celebration of Joy and Freedom’

2022: Forbes: CultureCon CEO Imani Ellis Makes Creating Space For Black Entrepreneurs and Creators Her Business

2022: Glamour: Imani Ellis Is Making Space For Creatives Of Color

Awards and recognition
2019 - BizBash’ Event Innovators

2021 - Ebony Power 100

2021 - Black Enterprise 40 Under 40 list of “featuring an illustrious group of young black leaders making waves”

2021 –  Adweek list of the 18 Champions of Diversity and Inclusion

2022 - Ebony 2022 Breakthrough Creative