It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

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...

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 c...

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...

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...

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 prepar...

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...

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...

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 L...

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 O...

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 entrepreneur...

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 t...

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 thi...

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,...

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 Tig...

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 comp...

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 vi...

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 Waguespa...

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 disast...

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...

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...

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...

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 firm...

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...

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 gues...

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 abi...