Making it in today’s business environment isn’t about hanging out a shingle and selling lots of widgets. It’s about constantly reinventing yourself, creating your own unique brand and, in some cases, branding yourself as an expert in helping others create their own brand. It’s business 21st century style, and Baton Rougeans are proving themselves adept…

Baton Rouge is home to a lot of budding entrepreneurs. It’s also home to a lot of just plain interesting people, whose companies and careers have propelled them to be creative forces, influencers and advocates for nonprofits, the needy, and doing the right thing in the community. Ava Leavell Haymon is a poet and author…

Though Louisiana isn’t known for its tech community, Silicon Bayou has produced some pretty impressive tech companies over the years. One of the most impressive is a nationwide industry leader, Watch Systems. Mike Cormaci is president and co-founder of the nearly 20-year-old IT company that is well known to law enforcement agencies around the country…

In 2018, the U.S. wedding industry was worth an estaimted $75 Billion. The average wedding set the happy couple, or their parents, back by a whopping $44,000. That’s nearly double the average cost of a just a year or two earlier. But, for every action there’s an opposite and equal reaction. Today, brides are balking…

In 2018, the U.S. wedding industry was worth an estaimted $75 Billion. The average wedding set the happy couple, or their parents, back by a whopping $44,000. That’s nearly double the average cost of a just a year or two earlier. But, for every action there’s an opposite and equal reaction. Today, brides are balking…

Although we all agree that education is the key to success in so many areas of life, getting an education isn’t as straightforward and easy as we’d like. That’s why Stephanie Riegel’s guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge do what they do. Nancy Cadwallader is owner of Collegiate Advisory Placement Service,…

Crime is one of the biggest problems facing Baton Rouge at the moment.  In 2017, the city had one of the highest murder rates on a per capita basis in the country. It’s a problem that’s holding the community back, and affecting economic development. But efforts are under way to address the crime and the…

Seafood is something we do well here in south Louisiana. We’re fortunate to be blessed with an abundance of mollusks, crustaceans and fin fish that not only keep our local population well fed but have enabled Louisiana cooks and chefs to be recognized around the world for their culinary exploits. So you might think there’s…

The rising cost of health care is one of the biggest challenges facing Americans today. Between 1996 and 2015, health care spending in the United States rose over a trillion dollars. And there is no end to this trend in sight. Locally, businesses and patients certainly feel the pressure. So do insurers and providers who…

Conscious capitalism has become a popular buzzword around the country. It refers to companies and businesspeople who are about more than making money they re about making a difference. Like Dave Treppendahl, right here in Baton Rouge. Dave is a real estate broker in the Baton Rouge area with NAI Latter and Blum and has…