Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has pushed back against criticism from the founders of Earn Your Leisure and its flagship event, Invest Fest, defending the city’s support for Black-owned businesses while highlighting a new $50,000 investment in youth creative programs.
Invest Fest, the popular three-day financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and pop-culture conference organized by the Earn Your Leisure (EYL) platform, is scheduled to return to Atlanta for a sixth year from August 7-9, 2026, at the Georgia World Congress Center. The event typically draws tens of thousands of attendees (around 20,000–25,000 per day in recent years) for panels, networking, a large vendor marketplace, performances, and discussions on investing, real estate, crypto, AI, and business growth. It has become a major draw for Black entrepreneurs and professionals.
The friction arose after EYL co-founders Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings appeared on the nationally syndicated Breakfast Club radio show. They described Atlanta as the event’s home for the past six years but said they had “flirted with the idea” of relocating due to what they called a puzzling lack of support from the city…