A little over a month has passed since Zach Wilson’s Lumina Festival set out to make financial literacy simple and accessible.

The Dockyard event offered straightforward guidance on money management — how to understand it, use it wisely, and make it work for you.

Students, young professionals, and those planning for retirement all loved it. The great news for anyone who couldn’t get there in September: it’s coming back next year.

For Zach, however, Lumina was more than just a gathering. It was a first step in giving back to the community that shaped him.

Based in the United States, where he built a career as a digital marketing consultant and songwriter, he only began thinking seriously about how to make his money work for him after receiving royalty cheques and realising he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

He began reaching out to friends working in finance and venture capital, as well as contacts from the music industry, drawing on both worlds in his search for answers.

“Working in music, you're dealing with trust fund babies, drug dealers, gangsters … it's just this large spectrum of different types of people, all there for one cool reason of bettering themselves through music. It wasn't any different with financial literacy, in my opinion,” he said.

“In seeking answers, so many different people, I found out, were seeking the same answers.

Family back in Bermuda who understood the business world connected him to local investment groups.

When he started sharing what he learnt, it struck him how many others — especially people who looked like him — didn’t have access to that kind of information.

“Bermuda, in some cases, it’s very limited. Young people can't necessarily see people that they identify with, professionally.

“Moving to New York and just seeing all sorts of success, the possibilities are endless of what I know people can do,” he said.

That realisation was strengthened by a CNBC report showing that just one financial literacy course in high school can translate into more than $100,000 in additional lifetime earnings.

Zach got to work. The September 26 line-up included finance leaders and entrepreneurs such as Curtis Dickinson, Dulani Williams, Neville Grant, Mandela Fubler, Nyla Maharaj, Kimwana Eve and Imani Cherry.

“Ultimately, I just want to continue to get young people to see people that look like them and identify with their stories, so that they can be inspired to just dream bigger and be more,” he said.

It’s an effort that impressed Eugene Dean, a well-known advocate for community empowerment and grassroots change, who helped connect Zach with key people here.

“He’s come back to the island to bring a gift, and leverage the relationships he’s had to bring a programme that adds value to the community.

“He’s focused on the Black community in particular, and he brought this event around financial literacy because he's recognised that that's an area we can really improve on,” he said.

“When we started talking, it was obvious that this is somebody who's not just coming to do an event, but is invested in the community.”

That commitment was shaped by the years of creative and entrepreneurial work that gave Zach a different perspective on connection, opportunity, and business.

As a songwriter at Warner Music Group he worked with top entertainers including Grammy Award-winning production team Justice League.

He then made the move back into marketing with Blind Barber, a barbershop and speakeasy concept that had grown into a national lifestyle brand.

When the pandemic hit, Zach relocated to California where he would be close to family members, and got involved in a project with Henry Fambrough, the last living member of the American R&B group, The Spinners.

It’s around that time that someone started calling, inviting him to collect a royalty cheque.

“I thought it was fake. During that time scamming was prevalent so I just ignored it,” he said.

As it turned out, the cheques related to a song he’d written for an artist named José James, which was featured on a Now compilation album, and went on to hit the Billboard charts in Japan.

“I wanted to come home originally and throw a music festival but it just really dawned on me — Bermuda didn't need another music festival, party or concert, or anything like that.

“We needed something that empowered us through financial education,” he said.

Invest Fest, an annual event in Atlanta combining “investing, entrepreneurship, pop culture, and entertainment”, set the example he needed.

“I wanted to create a boutique version of that for Bermuda and make financial literacy education fun and cool and cultural for our people,” Zach said.

“That's kind of where the idea was brought from. While figuring out what I was going to do with those royalty cheques while sustaining myself, I wanted to do something incredible for the country, and that was the start to Lumina.

“The same way I would have designed a music festival — by getting the best talent, the biggest draws — I wanted to find the best people that look like us and identify with our stories to really get the respect of the people.

“So that's why we reached out to local superstars of business and entrepreneurship.

“That started the journey to figure out who was who in Bermuda. Just having Black people that were superstars in the field come out and be on one stage to inspire a younger generation.”

The result was nearly a year in the making. Zach, who hadn’t lived on the island since he was 15, made many trips home to meet people and let them know who he was and what he was trying to do.

About 500 people made their way to The Shed in Dockyard. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

“I’m honoured to hear so many ‘thank yous’ just from people within our community. Different financial institutions have reached out to sponsor for next year.

“So many people have reached out to life insurance companies or investing firms to learn where to put their money — conversations that typically weren't popular for our community.

“So just the yearning for information, it's a hunger for it within our community. It's been very rewarding.”

• Next year’s Lumina Festival will take place May 20 and 21. For more information: zach@luminafest.com; luminafest.com. Follow@theluminafestival on Instagram