BATON ROUGE – Oprah Winfrey has been added to the list of speakers for the 2016 Essence Festival in New Orleans for the first time in the event's history.

Winfrey is scheduled to speak at the Essence Empowerment Experience Stage at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Saturday at 4 p.m. Admission is free, however space is limited.

Other speakers scheduled to take the stage are T.D. Jakes, Rev. Al Sharpton, Misty Copeland and Tyra Banks among others.

Meanwhile, musical headliners in the Mercedes Benz Superdome include Maxwell set to perform Friday, Mariah Carey set to perform on Saturday and Kendrick Lamar to perform on Sunday.