In some ways, there are two Louisianas. There's the one the tourism marketing folks sell to visitors, centered on New Orleans on one side of Baton Rouge and Cajun Country on the other. And then there's the Louisiana that we live in, which is Baton Rouge. Maybe to tourist salespeople it looks like there's nothing very exciting going on here, but that is far from the truth. Baton Rouge is anything but a civil-service seat of government town like other state capitals. Though we do have a decent number of people who work in government departments, we also have people who create a unique Louisiana culture that's a tapestry made up of all kinds of threads that are drawn together here. This tapestry is created by people like Stephanie's two lunch guests: Oscar Tickle and Kimberly Szuszka. Oscar is a multimedia producer and content editor at Melara Enterprises, which publishes the Baton Rouge Business Report and 225 magazine, among other publications. And in his job there, Oscar gets to help tell some of those interesting Baton Rouge stories through videos and podcasts. Oscar joined the company in 2023, after graduating from the LSU Manship School of Mass Communications as a journalism major with a focus on environmental reporting. He also has made his own documentary – a fascinating 45-minute film about the Hunt for Louisiana’s Swamp Cows. Kimberly Szuszka is adding to the unique cultural tapestry in Baton Rouge with Okki Tokki, the city’s only Korean restaurant. Kimberly opened the restaurant in 2024 in the heart of downtown and specializes in a casual, build-your-own bowls model, with a focus on exposing customers to the kinds of authentic Korean ingredients diners from around here may not be accustomed to seeing. Kimberly grew up in Baton Rouge and opened the restaurant because she said she always wanted to have a Korean restaurant in her city and after graduating from LSU, decided to fill the void herself. She is also active in promoting Asian culture through organizations like the Asian Night market, which we talked about on this show previously. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you’re launching your own business, some of the first questions you have to ask yourself are, who is your target market? How are you going to differentiate yourself from the competition? Are you going to try to be all things to all people? Or go niche? Will you specialize in a certain area, or combine some of your talents and skills to appeal to a particular customer base? Getting these foundational questions wrong can be the difference between making it and being one of those 50 % of small businesses that fails in the first year. Fritz Embaugh, founder and CEO of Baton Rouge's Plus One Design and Construction, figured out nearly 20 years ago what he wanted his company to be. Plus One provides turn-key services on commercial and residential projects – from architecture and design to planning to construction and project management. Among the firm’s varied portfolio are well known restaurant buildings – like Curbside Burgers and French Truck Coffee—churches, apartment complexes and renovations to the LSU Hilltop Arboretum. Fritz is a licensed architect and general contractor, who started the firm in 2005, after more than a decade working with local architectural and construction companies. He is also a veteran of the Gulf War, where he served with the U.S. Marine Corps. Chloe Eick is founder of Chloe Eick Art and Appraisals, a Baton Rouge firm that provides appraisals of arts and antiques. Chloe is an artist herself, with talents in a variety of media. She founded the firm in 2023, after graduating from LSU and becoming a member of the International Society of Appraisers. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We live in fractured, divided times where sometimes even simple facts about basic reality are too much for folks to agree on. Partisan politics, social media and the internet serve to divide us and keep us apart. And experts tell us all the time that even though we’re more digitially connected than ever, we’re paradoxically more isolated and lonely. How do we address this complex challenge? On this edition of Out to Lunch, Stephanie is visiting with two community-engaged local entrepreneurs, one focused on bringing people together, the other on helping them heal. Sean Braswell is owner of Simple Joe Café, a mid-city diner that serves breakfast and lunch and has positioned itself since opening in 2015 as a community gathering spot. The kind of place where neighbors meet up for home-cooked meals or friends meet weekly for coffee, and just linger and visit in a warm friendly atmosphere. Sean began his professional career in the military, serving in the Marines and the Navy simultaneously, later went into sales and mortgage brokering, then nursing. Neither was the right fit. Along the way, he worked as a waiter and eventually worked his way up to head staff trainer at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse here in Baton Rouge. And that’s when he realized that opening a restaurant might be the thing. In the years since it’s opening, Simple Joe has regularly topped the lists of people’s choice awards, like Best of 225. When he’s not busy at the restaurant, Sean believes in volunteering and giving back to the community he loves so much. Amanda Hargrove is Director and Chief Financial Officer of Hope Community Services, a mental health services agency that provides individual and family therapy, medication management, psychiatric support and treatment to children and adults. Hope primarily serves people in East Baton Rouge parish, though in the years since Covid it has branched out to offer telehealth services as well, which has enabled it to reach a broader service area. Amanda and her partner in Hope, Monica Parker, founded the agency in 2014. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"All the world's a stage," as Shakespeare famously wrote, and we are "merely players" performing roles, today as professionals or politicians or teachers in a classroom of students. or parents modeling behavior for their children. In an era when traditional media, social media, and ever-present modes of telecommunications determine how these roles and personas are received and perceived, crafting images, honing messages, and telling stories around them has given rise to entire industries. Stuart Feigley is president of Feigley Communications, a Baton Rouge strategic marketing agency that specializes in creating ad campaigns across a wide spectrum of industries, including healthcare, education and government. Stewart co-founded the firm in 2006, and in the years since, Feigley Communications has handled such high profile local cleints as LSU, the La Dept of Health, and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber among others. Stuart is a native of Baton Rouge with 36 years experience in the field. After graduating from the LSU Manship School of Communications he went off to big national firms in Dallas and Ohio, where he worked for large corporate clients. He came home in 2006 to found Wright Feigley Communciations with the late Jeff Wright, rebranding the firm as Feigley Communications in 2016. While Stuart is helping clients on the figurative stage, Sarah Klocke is working with people on the real stage – as in theater. Sarah is Executive Director of Theatre Baton Rouge, which has been delighting audiences in Baton rouge since 1946 with dramas, comedies and beloved Broadway musicals. You may remember we interviewed Sarah’s predecessor Jenny Ballard on this show a while back. Sarah took her place in October 2023, as the organization was struggling to recover from the pandemic and the financial challenges it wrought on performing arts organizations across the country. Sarah came to Baton Rouge most recently from St Mary’s College in Omaha Nebraska, where she was the program director of theater and communications. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making a business plan is an essential part of launching a new business. But it’s not a skill an aspiring business owner necessarily has. Which is where Camille Terk comes in. Writing business plans is literally what she does for a living. Her firm, Terk Consulting, is a boutique consulting firm that specializes in business planning. Camille founded her firm in 2005 and in the nearly two decades since has served over 700 clients, helping them draft business plans and pitch-decks to present to investors and lenders. All told, she estimates she has helped her clients raise more than $350 million. Camille has an MBA, is based in New Orleans, and is one of the few firms specifically focused on doing business plans for small business. She counts among her clients some of our previous guests on this show, including: Falaya, Marex Services, Resource Environmental Solutions and Speedy Eats. If somebody went to Camille and told her they wanted to open a vegan restaurant in Zachary Louisiana, I don’t know what Camille would say but she might suggest that that doesn’t immediately look like a recipe for success, right? Maybe a poboy shop or a Bar B Q restaurant, but vegan. In Zachary? Well, Neshia Rowe opened Golden Vegan restaurant in Zachary in 2022, after launching the concept from her home in 2021. Was it a success? Sure was! And still is. In fact it’s turned out to be such a success that Neshia has since opened two more Golden Vegan restaurants – one at LSU and the other at Southern University. Neshia will be the first to admit that Zachary was an unlikely locale for her first restaurant. She says she founded it there because the area didn't have a lot of healthy food options and the concept behind her menu is to educate her customers about healthy eating, to help them gradually transition from a diet of fast food and fatty food to plant-based options that don’t deprive and taste great. And, talking of great tasting food, Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.