Deon Graham holds the title of the Chief Brand Officer for Comb Enterprises, and with that comes many responsibilities, including curating the panels for the 2022 REVOLT Summit.
On Tuesday (Sept. 27), Forbes shared an in-depth interview with Graham as he broke down “The Future is Now” theme, how the summit panels reflect today’s society and how it affects Black and Brown people. “We have a really dope lead on this named Julian Mitchell, and the way he puts together these panels is just world-class,” Graham said. “I mean, once [Mitchell] gets the topic, and he gets the direction we’re trying to go, he’s really able to pull from everybody in how these panels should look, who should be on, and what the topic should be.”
According to Graham, the theme is based on Diddy’s carpe diem philosophy, “The time is now,” and revealed that many people had landed high-profile jobs at the summit in music, entertainment, technology, and other industries. “There’s been State Farm, Allied Bank, Puma, Motown, all these different big companies that have hired PAs, producers, project managers, and then through what we’ve been doing at the summit,” he said. “We were able to partner with Endeavor to create the Excellence Program and watch that evolve and train aspiring executives. So not only is it the two to three-day summit, but we’d like to make sure [it] extends outside of just those two or three days and turns into lasting relationships, mentorships, and jobs.” The summit has drawn an impressive turnout over the years, and young individuals can gain mentorship, guidance, and personal contacts that can lead to long-term relationships.
After 2021’s REVOLT Summit brought in over four billion impressions across media channels and almost 4,000 people present, Graham explained that this year’s summit participants would experience a fusion of culture, education, music, and job opportunities.
“We bring together like the biggest artists, innovators, activists, industry leaders, members of the community, and obviously, the future of hip hop and different people together in one room to not only just get people knowledge, but also access to information and solutions,” Graham stated. “We wanted the summit to be solutions based. So you don’t just come to see talking heads on a panel, we have office hours where you get access to executives you never would, networking opportunities, a job fair, all these different things that you wouldn’t normally get at a conference. [So] we’d like to have people come [to take] in information, but also leave with a solution to whatever problem they’re trying to solve or employment opportunities, etc.”
He added, “The biggest thing I want to emphasize is that we’re back bigger than ever. [We are] here to empower our community and [to] make sure we get give access and opportunities to people that wouldn’t normally get them.”
The REVOLT Summit returned to Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday (Sept. 24) and Sunday (Sept. 25) with live talks, panels, performances, competitions, and more.