Walmart was well represented at the 2013 Essence Festival, with appearances from Nicole Ari Parker, Boris Kodjoe, Chante Moore, and Lil Mo. Rolling out got the opportunity to speak with Dawn Norvell, the associate marketing manager for Walmart. Norvell touched on everything from the planning process, to how important being present in the community is to the company as a whole. Check out our chat below. –christian johnson
What does it mean for Walmart to be a part of the 2013 Essence Festival?
It’s a great time for us; it’s very important for us to be with our people, so it means the world to us to be at Essence. This is our seventh year and we’re super excited to be here. It’s great to interact with the people, to make sure they understand the importance of our brand and what our communities mean to our brand.
How long have you been with Walmart?
Personally I have only been with Walmart two years but Walmart as a partnership has been with Essence for seven years strong. Every year we aim to continually grow our partnership.
What is the process for preparing for the Essence Festival?
For the 2013 festival we started the planning process in 2012. Each year we try to make it better than the last, it’s very important that we have a program that’s about education. This year we brought in a panelist for supplier diversity, to help people understand how to get plugged in with Walmart. We’re always trying to educate, so we had Nicole Ari Parker and her husband, Boris Kojoe, on the panel. She spoke about a product that she has for headbands to help women work out, [and] we know health is super important for our community as well.
