Beautiful, Bald and Celebrating Five

Anthony David and Others Show Up For Star-Studded 5^th Annual Baldie Con in Atlanta

Atlanta let its soul glow this past weekend as the 5th Annual Baldie Con took over the Westin Buckhead Atlanta from September 24 through September 27, bringing beauty, confidence, sisterhood, and plenty of star power under one roof.

Created by Alopecia Warrior, motivational speaker and beauty philanthropist Felicia Flores, Baldie Con has become a place where women and children experiencing hair loss can walk into a room and immediately feel seen. Through Baldie Con Inc., the nonprofit organization Flores founded, women and children living with alopecia, lupus, cancer and other hair loss conditions are connected with support, resources and a community that reminds them they are not alone. The conference also welcomes those who are bald by choice, making the celebration even bigger and more inclusive.

This year’s fifth anniversary came with an impressive guest list. Celebrity hairstylist and television personality Derek J joined Black Ambition CEO Felicia Hatcher, reality television personality and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Armani “A.C.” Latimer, bald beauty influencer Dash Lopez and bestselling author and speaker Dr. Cheryl P. Williamson. Emmy Award-winning journalist and fellow Alopecia Warrior Aziza Shuler returned for her third year as MC, bringing her warmth and energy to a weekend filled with conversations, panels, vendors, music and moments that felt like one big family reunion.

GRAMMY-nominated singer Anthony David added even more soul to the weekend with a special performance for attendees. “I am honored to perform,” David said. “I heard about Baldie Con a couple of years ago and was amazed by these beautiful bald women.”

That word, beautiful, really is the heart of everything Baldie Con represents. For generations, women have been told that hair is part of what makes us feminine, attractive and complete. For Black women especially, hair has carried culture, identity and expectation. Baldie Con lovingly flips that idea on its head and creates a space where beauty does not need permission, explanation or a wig.

“My mission is to change the so-called beauty norms by empowering women and children who are bald to embrace their unique beauty,” Flores said.

Held during Alopecia Awareness Month, the conference carries even more meaning. For many attendees, Baldie Con is one of the rare spaces where there is no need to explain the journey, answer uncomfortable questions or shrink because someone else may not understand. Instead, the room is filled with laughter, confidence, connection, and the kind of joy that comes from knowing you belong.

Baldie Con has already earned national attention from Good Morning America, The Jennifer Hudson Show, EBONY, VOGUE, ESSENCE, Black Enterprise, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and V-103, but its real magic is still personal.

Five years in, Baldie Con continues to prove that bald is beautiful, confidence is contagious, and sometimes the most powerful thing a woman can wear is simply herself. And as the conference moves into its next chapter, Flores is making sure every woman and child who enters this community leaves knowing that losing hair never means losing beauty, joy, femininity or power.