Howard University entertainment law and business development professor Marcus Johnson (B.A.’93) carries the institution with him everywhere he goes, and most recently that has included his debut at the 2026 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 3-5.

Speaking as part of the annual festival’s New Voices “We Love Us” Marketplace Stage at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Johnson said name dropping Howard is always part of his “strategery” (a comedic word coined from an old “Saturday Night Live” sketch). The nod to Howard came during his remarks on a panel discussion on legacy, entrepreneurship, and networking. The jazz artist, author, and owner of FLO (For the Love Of) Brands and FLO Wine told the Essence Fest crowd of an exercise in which he tells his students early on to write down what they value, open their calendars, and prove that what they have written is the truth.

“I absolutely do all that I can to make sure that I mention that I am a professor at Howard University and how you get a differentiated experience, especially in my class,” said Johnson, who was joined on the panel by Tonya Rutherford of Nia Ford Consulting and moderator Lyndsae’ Peele of Kiva U.S.

Johnson said Essence’s Marketplace Stage provided honest, relevant conversation while delivering tools necessary for the African American community to thrive. “That was extremely exciting and fulfilling for me. It was an amazing experience,” he said. 

He made the most of the fact he was not slotted into the Food and Wine Festival portion of the weekend, which looked like the most natural fit. Johnson’s FLO Wine was twice named a “Top 10 Celebrity Wine” by USA Today.

“When you look at my bio and see the things that I’ve done, some people get ‘analysis paralysis. Where do we put him?’ My thing is, put me anywhere you want to put me, I can hold my own. When you build this stuff and you build it the way I have with the support of the people that I’ve had, it’s easy to bounce around.”

Johnson’s main message to the Essence crowd of onlookers centered around the power of legacy. “Legacies can be positive, they can be healthy, they can be unhealthy, they can be material, they can be spiritual, they can be foundational, etc.,” he said. “Leave all the negative stuff behind, all the things that might have scared you. You don’t have to claim that. This is your life. It’s not a dress rehearsal. You are the final say in your life, and you don’t need anyone’s permission. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”

Most of what he covered at the festival were words he also delivers to his students regularly, such as stressing ownership as a key to success and happiness and looking at artificial intelligence in a different light. “We (African Americans) are further behind in understanding the super saleability for us of AI. We are more fear based with it. I really wanted to unlock them from the shackles of fear. How to use AI is one of the things I try to teach my students at Howard.”

Life Lessons Secured

Johnson began teaching at Howard in 2017 with his approach to taking lessons beyond what may appear on the surface. “The old structures are antiquated. For me, teaching entertainment law in a silo without teaching why it’s important and how it is applied is irresponsible. I teach my class from the perspective of what are core concepts to think about. There’s a lot of understanding that goes into what entertainment law is.”

Johnson’s time at the university represented a period not only when he secured some of the best friendships of his life, but also a period of numerous life lessons. “What I was given at Howard was the freedom to not have to worry about whether something happened because I was Black. We all have our issues as brothers and sisters, but that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. If I exceled, I could excel and it may be personal, but it wasn’t necessarily because I was Black. I’ve gone to other places where the opposite is true,” he said. 

Johnson continued: “I needed to be somewhere where people weren’t checking me, trying to keep me down. I’ve had very interesting experiences at Howard but at the end of the day I could get in a corner and do what I needed to do without a side-eye and not ‘what are you doing in this library?’ It’s where I belong.”

While at Howard, he developed the knowledge that he could do anything and demonstrated that looking at his own progression. “You’re talking to a piano major who graduated with a piano degree and went to Georgetown law school and business school. Tell me that’s not doing anything.”

Key faculty such as Dr. Reppard Stone and Geri Allen (B.Mus.’79 ), both formerly of the Jazz Studies program, were instrumental to his early Howard years in helping him discover who he was and how he could utilize that moving forward. “I call myself a jazz artist, but I was always in a weird place. Traditionalists say that’s not real jazz, but I studied under Geri Allen. I know that I know how to play. The idea we have to do one thing one way is crazy. I got those chops at Howard. I had to fight for my right and ability to play what I wanted to play on the steps on COFA when we had ‘lunchtime grooves.’ We would move the pianos downstairs and have whatever little sound system we had.”

But the most key component of his undergraduate experience at Howard was his peers, “seeing those amazingly incredible students doing amazing and incredible things. I didn’t know that was possible, but they were like me and I could do that. What I tell my students now is that anything I can do, you can do better.”

Going with the FLO 

Johnson secured his first demo deal with the famed Blue Note Records while he was a sophomore at Howard, after working on it in the basement of the College of Fine Arts building. Nesta Bernard (B.A.’74), director of alumni affairs at the time and a friend of the family to Johnson, brought him to the attention of well-known entertainment lawyer Larkin Arnold (J.D.’69). “Larkin took me under his wing. He said if you can make it through Howard, you can make it through anywhere.”

The NAACP Image Award nominee has soared since Howard, including releasing several jazz albums that charted on Billboard. His next album,  “Journi,” is slated for release in October. The album is preceded by the current single of the same name. “I’m super-duper excited about what it is, about the next evolution. I grew up with R&B, hip-hop and go-go. You’ll hear what I consider to be the most refined part of that put together.”

Also under Johnson’s company FLO Brands is his book “FLO...For the Love Of: Living the Journey of Life with Intention, Love, Passion and Happiness” (independently published, 2017);  the “For the Love Of...Marcus Johnson” podcast; “Catch the FLO,” the  NPR-distributed radio show; and the  many FLO events across the Washington region at various Busboys and Poets restaurants and far beyond including Los Angeles, the Cape Town Jazz Fest in South Africa, and the Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek in Cape Winelands, South Africa. 

Johnson said FLO Brands are “products you put into your life to make whatever you’re doing just a little bit better. Our candles come with QR codes with curated music that takes you to other experiences. My book is all about doing things for the love of you ... I’m not an entertainer and I’m not in the music business. I’m in the therapy business. People use my music for therapy to feel better, to travel better, to cook better, to love better, and to relax better.”