This past Sunday, I attended the first annual HULA fest. Founded by Hailey Ji as an app to help concert goers find people to go with, HULA provides an organic and meaningful way to discover new events, submit your own, and create new friends through the power of live events. However, it was only fitting that Hailey brought this community all together in real life, creating the #hulaxcreators initiative and providing a space for all types of creators to be with one another.

From a series of panels, to comedy, to live performances, HULA fest truly had it all. The near 7 hour extravaganza kicked off with a panel focused on building a brand and creating a presence on social media, moderated by Kayvan Daragheh and featuring Nayah, Nichelle, mynameisntjmack, and Jaleh. The second panel, moderated by Hailey herself, centered on entrepreneurship and building communities in real life, and featured Grant Plotkin, Bobby Pinckney, Miranda Martell, and Susan Huang. If that was not enough, the show had only just begun, as gracing the floor next were a series of amazing performances. 

Kicking off the second half of the event was Ann Chun with a comedy set. It wasn’t long before Tommy Richman and mynameisntjmack brought the energy up a notch, performing a dual set including a couple unreleased songs, even playing yet another incredible collaboration between the duo. Dre Wave$ took it even higher during his set, even doing a shot in the middle, while I fell in love with a new artist. Regal Jason and Justin Starling closed it out, capping off an amazing first installment of the HULA fest.