At the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans, the Black Heart Association screened more than 700 attendees, but founders Tara and Frederick Robinson’s work extends far beyond one weekend. Through free screenings, health education, local partnerships, and a commitment to meeting people where they are, the Black-owned nonprofit is working year-round to help underserved communities better understand their heart health and advocate for the care they deserve.

Three-time heart attack survivor and her husband bring their heart health initiative to the community hub at the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture

“Can you imagine waking up April 10, 2014 and telling your husband something is wrong? Can you imagine your left arm being numb, your neck bothering you…your chest feeling like you swallowed a pill but didn’t drink enough water? Can you imagine feeling sick to your stomach and having to go to the emergency room, just to be told, ‘You’re too thin,’ ‘There is nothing showing on your EKG or in your blood work,’ and, ‘Just follow up with your primary care [physician]?’

Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in the Black community, especially women, when it comes to healthcare. For Fort Worth, Texas native Tara Robinson, this was the beginning of her finding her purpose. But it didn’t just end there.

“Can you imagine being released, going to work (don’t judge me), and having that happen again in your classroom in front of your students? And then going back to the ER and being told that insurance would not cover what you ‘claim’ you’re having because nothing is showing up on their tests? Having to go back and forth with a white female cardiologist trying to get her to just keep [you] overnight? Can you imagine having to advocate for yourself during a crisis? Can you imagine being released at 11:00, going back at 12:00, having a massive heart attack, then going into cardiac arrest?”

Thankfully, God sent her an angel in the form of a New Orleans-born ICU nurse who was by her side every step of the way, telling her it was going to be okay. “God saved my life on that day. I died on that operating table and went to heaven. And it was in my ICU bed that I knew this fight belonged to me. That’s where my journey started. But I don’t want our people to have to imagine these things, and that’s why [my husband and I] started the Black Heart Association.”

Tara and Frederick Robinson founded BHA together in 2016 after her third and final near-death experience. Recognizing that the Black community faces a 54 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, it has become their life mission to help individuals understand the causes, effects, and symptoms of heart disease and take meaningful action to prevent it. Staying true to this mission, BHA has traveled to more than 50 cities, serving 300 different communities and providing over 20,000 screenings to those who need it most.

For four years, Tara and Frederick have brought BHA’s year-round mission to the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans, offering free heart health screenings to attendees. Screenings include A1C testing, which measures one’s average blood sugar, as well as kidney function and a complete cholesterol panel.

“Since we started serving at ESSENCE Fest, I remember year one, we served right on the street outside of the Le Meridien Hotel,” Frederick recalls. “We had our mobile unit with myself, my wife [Tara], and maybe two other team members. We were super small then.”

At the 2026 festival, they expanded their presence inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, fully immersed inside the community hub located directly next to the Coca-Cola stage, one of the biggest across the entire daytime experience.

“Having the expanded space was really, really, really beneficial,” Frederick says. “Anytime you have more space, you can be more creative with what you come up with in terms of how to engage the community.”

Sponsored by Amgen, the festival activation brought BHA’s community-first approach to life with their “Drop the Beat, Not Your Health” activation, giving folks headphones to jam out to the music of their choice while they wait in line to be screened.

“The idea is that they can be entertained while also waiting to learn more about their health,” Frederick explains. “That’s always good for us because we never want to lose people. That’s the beauty of ESSENCE Fest…there’s so many people, and they want to take advantage of all of the free services. But when you’re providing a service that’s so important, as a provider, it kind of makes your anxiety go up a little bit because you’re so afraid somebody’s going to become impatient, or they’re going to walk away and not come back around. And, who knows…that could be that one person that you really, really needed to have that conversation with that you missed out on just because you weren’t able to hold them there, or because there were so many other things that were pulling at them that they walked away.”

The interactive setup helped BHA keep attendees engaged long enough to connect them with care, as they were able to screen over 700 attendees, while overall educating and informing double the amount of people screened.

“This space allows us to do that. This location allows us to do that. There are other things happening right here in the vicinity that people are able to engage with without having to leave our booth,” Frederick continues. “And they can pop right back in and get their screening done and have these conversations. This is amazing.
It’s a great time, as always. We’re meeting some great people, having some great conversations. We know that what we do matters, so we know that the impact is great.”

That emphasis on trust extends beyond the festival. Frederick credits BHA’s community engagement to its ongoing collaboration with phlebotomists, labs, universities, and public health organizations local to the communities being served. The organization had four screeners who directly interacted with attendees every day, and all of them were from the city of New Orleans.

“You never want to pull up into somebody’s backyard and set up and start cooking…that’s how we look at it,” Frederick shares. “Our team [from Texas] is here with us, but we always try to partner with people who are in the city, who know the people…because we understand how big trust is with our community, especially when it comes to healthcare. If I know you, and I trust you, then I’m more likely to have a conversation with you, and I’m more likely to engage with you. Those are the things that we want to always make sure we are keeping at the forefront of how we serve. If they need me for support, great, but I get out of the way and just let love lead, and we never go wrong.”

Even after BHA and its partners complete the heart screenings, their engagement doesn’t stop there, demonstrating their commitment to providing top-notch health service to communities who may not receive that from other healthcare providers.

“One thing we make sure we do is stay engaged and stay locked in. People just want to know that you are listening and that you’re acknowledging what they’re saying,” Frederick says. “We like to communicate and talk them through the process so that they’re not in the dark.

“We expect five-star service from everywhere…our restaurants, our hotels, but we don’t expect that service from our doctors, and we should,” Tara shares, encouraging people to advocate themselves by any means necessary, even if that means switching primary care providers. “Get to searching for somebody else because there are doctors out here that care about us, and you deserve to be heard. Anything else is unacceptable.”

The reality is that cardiac disease is the number one killer of Black women. With that in mind, Tara also says it is critical to use your voice and  “know before you go.”

“When I say that someone dies [from cardiovascular disease] every 36 seconds, I don’t want that to be you,” Tara shares. “They tell us not to be bold or not to, you know, raise our voices because that’s one of the ways that they kind of suppress us…but I say raise your voice, and then know the chain of command within the hospital. We teach our Black kids how to deal with being pulled over by the police. We have to know the exact same steps when we’re going to the healthcare system. So when you go in there, already know what you’re asking for, and be demanding. You know your body better than anyone. And a lot of it is sometimes just getting to a heart specialist. Sometimes you can’t get past your primary care physician about it, so you have to insist on speaking to the person that knows the heart better than anyone.”

For Tara and Frederick, the festival is one stop in a much larger mission. The disparities facing Black communities—and the family histories that can compound cardiovascular risk—are why BHA continues this work across the country year-round.

“Invite us to your cities. That’s why we exist…to come pull up in your city,” Tara says. “We will come to your family’s house. We want to do the house parties. We want to do your family reunions and all the things, and all of that is free.”

“As long as there is an ESSENCE Fest, there’s going to be a BHA at ESSENCE Fest, but we understand that there’s a need all day, every day,” Frederick adds. “We don’t just want to be a yearly vendor at ESSENCE Fest; we want to be a permanent presence in the city. We want to be a resource. We want to be a connector. We want to be a part of whatever people need in order to live out their best life because at the end of the day, all we got is each other, and we want people to be here. We want people to be well, and we want people to be happy and not just for themselves but everybody that they’re connected to because we are all at the end of the day, we’re one, and we’re better together.”

Read the original article on Essence.