In today’s high tech world, we’re increasingly isolated from one another. And yet, in some ways it’s easier than ever to make connections.

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Stephanie Riegel introduces two guests who are helping us connect. One, through an app that brings people together; the other, through an organization that helps start up businesses connect and find synergies that can help them thrive and grow.

Alayna Dixon is the creator of a mobile app called Redu, which enables its users to connect with someone they’ve actually seen and might like to meet. It’s like a mobile dating web site, but instead of browsing through bios and pictures of strangers, you’re searching for a guy or a girl you’ve actually spotted in an elevator or walking across campus or at the gym. And if that person has the app, too – and here’s the key to its success – then you’re able to find them and make contact.

Alayna and her mom, Marcelle, created the app after one missed opportunity. They rolled out the product earlier in 2016 – a first time venture for a stay at a home mom and a recent college graduate. 

Matthew Wiggins helps local tech entrepreneurs like the Dixons turn their great ideas into products and bring them to market by helping them meet other entrepreneurs and potential investors. Matthew Wiggins is one of the local Baton Rouge organizers of One Million Cups, a national nonprofit organization that is designed to educate, engage and connect entrepreneur. The group meets every week to hear a presentation from one or two start ups. The rest of the time, Matthew is a consultant with the Louisiana Business and Technology Center where he is managing a new prototyping center called Protostripes. 

Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Ken Stewart.