There’s nothing quite like HBCU Homecoming season and although we won’t be able to cheer on our football teams, stroll with our sorors, or link up with the friends we haven’t seen since graduation this year due to the pandemic, HBCU pride is still as strong as it ever was.
For the second year in a row, ESSENCE is teaming up with Pepsi to bring you the She Got Now HBCU homecoming experience, this time as a two-day virtual celebration of HBCU culture and the brilliant women whose HBCU education has propelled them to great opportunities around the world.
Last year, ESSENCE and Pepsi launched She Got Now, a multi-tiered platform that connected with HBCU students nationwide, to celebrate the innate entrepreneurial spirit of young Black women and shine a spotlight on the fantastic culture of the nation’s top HBCUs. The platform also led to the creation of the She Got Now Internship Program, which saw 12 stellar young women from the country’s top HBCUs take impactful internships within the larger PBNA – South Division business.
“As a young single mother pursuing higher education, my HBCU experience at Texas College offered a Single Parent Program that afforded me the opportunity to pursue my bachelor’s degree while being a full-time mother. My 15-year corporate career started on-campus and as a trustee at Talladega College, I am proud to be a manifestation of what HBCUs are, the global leaders they help shape, and the passion those of us that matriculated through have for preserving the HBCU experience for generations to come,” said Caroline Wanga, Interim Chief Executive Officer of ESSENCE Communications, Inc. “ESSENCE is honored to partner with Pepsi once again for the return of She Got Now to recognize and celebrate the role HBCUs play – incubating the principles and practices of social justice in this urgent societal moment while molding the past, present, and future cultural catalysts that have been a part of the ESSENCE legacy for the past 50 years, and will be for 50 more. Together with Pepsi, we are excited to celebrate the She-Got-Nows and the She-Got-Nexts.”
Happening October 24-25 and hosted by proud North Carolina A&T alum Terrance J, the weekend-long virtual experience will feature appearances from other HBCU alum and cultural icons like Monica, Keisha Knight Pulliam, Jonathan McReynolds, DOE and many more. Plus, because no HBCU homecoming weekend is complete without an after hours alumni turn up, the incomparable Doug E Fresh and a few special guests will close out Day 1 of She Got Now with a 30-minute old school party.
“We are honored to partner with ESSENCE again to bring back She Got Now during homecoming season, which is such a crucial moment culturally and socially for HBCU alums and students,” said Hampton University graduate, Derek Lewis, President, South Division, PepsiCo Beverages North America. “To be able to provide this experience to the HBCU community, and simultaneously extend our work to provide opportunities to HBCU graduates at PBNA with the expansion of our Internship Program, is incredibly special, and we can’t wait to kick it off on October 24.”
For more information and to register, visit the official website HERE. See you there!