Water is essential for life on earth and indeed water covers two-thirds of our planet. We literally cannot live with out it. But living with it, managing it, trying to control it and make it do what we want it to do is an ever present challenge - especially in South Louisiana where we are surrounded by lakes, rivers, bayous and a Gulf that is eating away at our battered coastline and inching closer to our our inland areas. Scott Nesbitt is a wetlands ecologist and the owner of Natural Resource P...
Sep 22, 2021•27 min
Louisiana faces so many challenges. One in five residents lives below the federal poverty level and nearly half the population is considered working poor. Our health outcomes are among the worst in the nation and so are our schools. How do we change policies to help everybody in the state? And what will it take to turn our schools around? Ashley Shelton has answers to these questions. Ashley is founder, president and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice , a statewide 501(c)3 organiz...
Sep 15, 2021•29 min
Although we live in a digital world today, most of us – both at home and at work – have too many pieces of paper still stored in file cabinets, boxes, and in piles that we have promised ourselves we’ll go through one day soon. But, as we all know, “one day doesn’t” always come. And that’s a problem that not only puts us at risk for information theft, but also clouds our ability to organize our finances, and our lives. Jay Babb has a solution for you. Jay is the owner of Secure Shredding and Recy...
Aug 25, 2021•30 min
It’s not unusual on Out to Lunch to have a guest who’s a star in their own world. Someone who’s well known and highly regarded in a particular field. It’s much less common for Stephanie to have lunch with someone who’s a real star. Someone whose face and name is known nationwide. Matt Flynn was a football player who first found fame as a quarterback for the LSU Tigers. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or just moved here, you’ll know that in 2008 Matt led LSU to a BCS National Championship,...
Aug 18, 2021•30 min
Louisiana, for all its man-made foibles and imperfections, is blessed with a lot of lush greenery, natural wildlife, and a temperate climate that allows for outdoor recreation. We also take our great outdoors for granted, and as a result, have one of the worst environmental records in the country and a host of regulations to deal with it. Diane Baum is owner of Baum Environmental Group , a contract and consulting firm that specializes in helping commercial and governmental clients secure environ...
Aug 11, 2021•27 min
If you’ve been paying attention since the start of the pandemic, you might have noticed a lot more people riding bikes than usual. Indeed, with folks stuck at home, and many activities off limits during COVID-necessitated shutdowns, a lot of folks got back to doing one for the things that wasn’t forbidden and was actually fun : riding a bike. By one estimate, cycling in urban areas was up at least 25% in the first half of 2020, while trail riding increased 100%. Stores that sell bikes and cyclin...
Aug 04, 2021•28 min
One of the most exciting and interesting aspects of entrepreneurship is that there are so many niches, fields and areas of specialty that didn’t exist as recently as just 20 years ago but today provide opportunities for the creative and ambitious to build entire lifestyles and careers. What’s also unique and special about these emerging fields is the way they blend entrepreneurship and business know-how with a higher mission – to help others or to help the environment or just to do things with a...
Jul 28, 2021•27 min
We all lead such busy, distracted lives, and often forget to plan for those who will come after us and pick up where leave off. This is especially true in family-owned businesses, where you see things fall apart round about the third generation. But paving the way for the next generation also means educating today’s young people in newer, better and more targeted ways, so they will be prepared for a future in which they will be productive, engaged and successful. Camm Morton is an expert on this...
Jul 20, 2021•28 min
The country these days seems increasingly divided into two groups: those who look to government for all the answers and those who believe the private sector can provide the solutions. But neither is able to address the many problems facing our communities today - which is where the nonprofit sector comes in. Perhaps at no time has the need for nonprofit organizations that help vulnerable and underserved populations been greater than it is today. And, as more people rely on them, they face ever g...
Jul 14, 2021•34 min
The built environment and the way we design our buildings and green spaces help create our sense of place and determine our character as a community. But it’s not just as simple as putting down good plans on paper. It takes a comprehensive effort and commitment from everyone not only to design livable, smart, sustainable communities but to keep them clean. Green Jeffrey Carbo is a landscape architect with over 35 years of experience in professional practice, and the founding principal of CARBO L...
Jul 07, 2021•32 min
We’ve all heard the alarming statistic: Louisiana loses a football field of coastline every 30 minutes. And we know a lot of money and resources is being put towards the problem. But, is it too late to really change the trajectory we’re on? And what does that mean for where Louisiana’s citizens will live in the years to come? LUMCON Dr. Craig McLain is Executive Director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, or LUMCON , a research institute based on the coast that promotes, facilitate...
Jun 30, 2021•27 min
Sometimes, the idea for a business comes from seeing a need and creating a product or service to fill it. Sometimes, it comes from just doing something you love because, well, you think it’s going to be fun. Although we often hear business advice along the lines of "Find something that makes you happy," is that necessarily also going to make you money? Stephanie's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch are putting that maxim to the test. Diana Raffray is co-owner of The Modern Debutante , a Bato...
Jun 23, 2021•28 min
Have you checked out what happens when you Google Cure For Cancer? You get a lot of information about cancer treatment, but there's not a lot of information about who is working on an actual cure for cancer. On this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge, Stephanie Riegel dives into a cure for cancer, and what's up with Google search. Cure for Cancer We often hear stories from successful entrepreneurs that contain the sentence, "Everybody told me I was crazy when I started out." The reason we only ...
Jun 16, 2021•27 min
Sometimes entrepreneurs find fame and fortune by inventing a new product or service that creates an entire new industry. Bill Gates, for example, invented the personal computer. Steve Jobs created Apple products. Elon Musk is building rockets and electric cars. But sometimes, success in business comes from less ambitious successes. Like addressing bad odors. Or figuring out how to make it easier to make a bed. Bathroom Maria Bhacca is CEO of Aerowest International , a Baton Rouge based company t...
Jun 09, 2021•32 min
It made a big splash in Baton Rouge! Just as everyone was emerging from a year-long pandemic, the Blue Zoo Aquarium opened in the Mall of Louisiana, of all places. This isn’t just any aquarium - it’s an attraction that has a fascinating back story. Nami Haws is the of Blue Zoo Aquarium, a growing chain of aquariums around the country that opened its third location in March 2021, here in Baton Rouge. It's in a 16,000 square foot space in between the men’s and women’s Dillard’s in the mall. The aq...
Jun 01, 2021•29 min
Daulat Shtankey is a leader of the Datta Temple , the only full-time Hindu Temple in Baton Rouge and the only temple of the Datta sect of Hinduism in all of North America, with nearly 1000 members from the entire region. This Datta Temple was formed by an internationally renowned Hindu spiritual leader, and master yogi named Ganapathy Sachchidananda in 1997. He decided Baton Rouge, of all places, should be home to his North American temple because two years earlier, he had performed his first mu...
May 26, 2021•30 min
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while many of us were working remotely through 2020 and perhaps felt like we were putting our lives on pause, ambitious entrepreneurs were plowing ahead with their hopes, dreams and business plans. In the case of Stephanie's two guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge, this perseverance has turned out extremely well. Cool Heads Jack Karavich is owner of Tigeraire , a sports technology start-up founded at LSU’s Innovation Park that has developed an in-helm...
May 19, 2021•28 min
There’s an old saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. That is certainly the case with the Beck family tree. John Beck Jr. is the president of The Assessment Company , a 25-year old firm based outside of Donaldsonville in tiny Belle Rose, Louisiana of all places, that was founded by John’s father, and as its name suggests it assesses the "occupational DNA" of a company’s employees, helping the employer to know who to hire, who to fire and who to hang on to. Emily Beck is founder of...
May 05, 2021•27 min
No matter how educated or open-minded you might be, we all have our own individual take on the world and to that extent we all blinders on that limit our perspective and our ability to see the reality of our world - -and beyond – for what it really is. But, if we accept that there's more going on than we know about, and change the lens we’re looking through, it can open entirely new vistas and opportunities: from big-picture things like a greater understanding of our universe to more practical t...
Apr 28, 2021•27 min
There’s a lot of focus these days on STEM professions—science, technology, engineering and math—but those who were born with an artistic or creative temperament, really have no choice but to follow their passion. How do you turn a creative spirit into a profession that will support you for life? Colleen Waguespack has the answer to that question. In her case it's Colleen Waguespack Interiors . Colleen is a graduate of the LSU School of Interior Design, and started her career in Washington, DC wh...
Apr 21, 2021•28 min
Over the next few years, the disaster management industry in the United States alone is expected to top $122 billion dollars, which points to a lot of problems with our climate, but also to the many opportunities that exist for companies able to respond to the needs of city, state and local governments when they’re hit hard by natural disaster. Louisiana has a growing expertise in the disaster management arena and is home to a handful of companies that are carving out a space in the field and he...
Apr 14, 2021•27 min
With the technology explosion that seemingly never ends, there’s never been a more exciting time to be an inventor, an innovator or a creator. But the same tech that brings an inventor’s ideas to life also open us up to complications, and challenges that make us vulnerable to threats from competitors who may want steal our great ideas. And that’s why we have Intellectual Property laws. Michael Leachman is an attorney with Jones Walker who specializes in Intellectual Property: patents, trademarks...
Apr 07, 2021•31 min
Food is such an important part of our culture in south Louisiana and there’s no shortage of entrepreneurs who try their hand at launching a food-related business. But just because you can make magic in the kitchen, doesn’t mean you can run a successful restaurant, catering operation, or packaged food company. In fact, 80% of restaurants don’t make it five years. What makes it so tough, and how do some people managed to pull it off? Stephanie's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge h...
Mar 24, 2021•27 min
One of the keys to successful entrepreneurship is figuring out how to build a better mousetrap. It’s not so much about inventing something new or different but just doing it in a new or different or better way. The impetus for this kind of ingenuity and creativity is finding a novel way to exploit a known market, but how do you (a) do that exactly and (b) convince people who already have an established purchasing preference that they ought to dump their old habit and switch to your product? Meet...
Mar 17, 2021•27 min
As healthcare becomes more complicated, complex, and expensive, some providers are getting frustrated and fed up. Others are finding opportunity in the challenges and creating new ways of delivering care, providing benefits, and making sense of the industry for those who are stuck paying the premiums. Whether it’s through holistic health and wellness programs or sophisticated consulting firms, the business of healthcare is booming for free-thinking alternative healthcare entrepreneurs in Baton R...
Mar 10, 2021•28 min
There’s an old adage that says: If you catch someone a fish, you feed them for a day, if you teach them how to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. Mentorship matters, especially today, where there are so many needs and so many people are looking for role models. Trey Godfrey is executive director of 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge , a nonprofit organization that mentors and empowers young Black men, starting in middle school. Through a variety of programs, 100 Black Men helps boys and young m...
Mar 03, 2021•30 min
Have you ever pondered the awesome power of the Internet and wondered, "How can I use this tool to come up with something that will revolutionize a certain sector of the economy?" If you were born before the internet era, like a lot of us, you probably have. And you probably haven’t been able to come up with anything. Which is what separates you, and the rest of us, from Stephanie's two guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge. Stephanie Hoskins created Debtle . It's a cloud-based plat...
Feb 24, 2021•28 min
Although we live in a digital world today, most of us – both at home and at work - have too many pieces of paper still stored in file cabinets, boxes, and in piles that we have promised ourselves we’ll go through one day soon. But, as we all know, "one day doesn’t" always come. And that’s a problem that not only puts us at risk for information theft, but also clouds our ability to organize our finances, and our lives. Jay Babb has a solution for you. Jay is the owner of Secure Shredding and Recy...
Feb 17, 2021•30 min
Necessity is the mother of invention, so the saying goes. And while it may be a quaint adage it’s as true as ever today. Whether it’s brewing a better homeopathic cough syrup or designing duck hunting garb for female duck hunters, local entrepreneurs are building successful startups around products that the market was crying out for. Andrea Leyerle is a Baton Rouge-based entrepreneur who has created an online and retail nutraceutical business, Andi Lynn’s Pure and Custom Formulary . The company ...
Feb 10, 2021•29 min
According to latest estimates, the U.S. wedding industry is worth over $60 Billion annually, and the average wedding sets the happy couple – or their parents – back by a whopping $44,000. Weddings are big business today. And this has created all sorts of opportunities for creative entrepreneurs who have figured out how to offer goods and services to satisfy the fancy and both the modest and lavish budget of every bride. Blooms Lauren Bercier is co-founder and CEO of Something Borrowed Blooms , a...
Feb 03, 2021•27 min
