out to lunch

Comedian Mark Norman from the popular podcast "Tuesdays With Stories" and his hit comedy special "Out To Lunch" is our guest on TDCP.
This is a classic episode that aired  last year.
Worth a listen if you missed it.

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Comedian Mark Normand of Tuesdays With Stories Podcast graces our pod with some great inside the comedy world stories. Including opening for Jerry Seinfeld at New York City's  Beacon Theater.

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How’s the social distancing going? Are you managing to keep 6 feet away from everybody else? How do you figure out what 6 feet is? We’ve heard people describe it as the length of two supermarket shopping carts, or the same height as Drew Brees, if you can imagine Drew lying on the ground in front of you. 

If you’re working with other people in industry, in construction, on a factory floor, or even in school, it’s now become vitally important to know what six feet looks like. Getting within six feet of another person greatly increases the chances of catching or spreading Covid 19.  Once someone in the workplace or at school tests positive for Covid 19, and you have no idea what parts of the building they’ve been in or who they’ve been in contact with, the whole place has to shut down while it’s cleaned, and everybody has to get tested. So it’s vital – not just for health, but for keeping businesses open – that we know what 6 feet looks like.

A Baton Rouge company, Enginuity Global, is solving this distancing problem, with a product called the Proxxi Halo. The Halo is a wristband that alerts a user when they’re within six feet of another Halo wristband. The wristbands cost $100 each and since May, Enginuity Global has shipped tens of thousands of them to customers.

Dan Ducote is the owner and Managing Member of Enginuity Global.

Doctor Referral

This has probably happened to you: You go to your doctor, and she refers you to another doctor. A specialist. Do you know how your doctor decides who to refer you to? You might be surprised to learn that there is no established method. It’s more or less like recommending a restaurant.

When someone recommends a restaurant to you, it’s usually because they’ve been to the restaurant. But when your doctor recommends you go see a mental or behavioral health professional – like a psychiatrist or therapist - there’s a very good chance your doctor has never actually seen this person professionally herself. So, what is your doctor basing this recommendation on?

Maybe the therapist is someone your doctor knows personally. Or maybe she’s heard good reports from other patients. Don’t you think there ought to be a better way for medical professionals to find and refer each other? 

That’s what Trevor Colhoun thought too. Trevor’s company, Trusted Provider Network, transforms medical referrals and recommendations into a more medically sound and logical system.

Trusted Provider Network is not for consumer recommendations. It’s not like a medical Yelp. It’s for medical professionals only. But it’s not LinkedIn or Facebook for doctors. So, what is exactly is Trusted Provider Network? How does a doctor use it?

Find out more about telehealth here.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website.

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Down on Silicon Bayou, local Baton Rouge companies are carving out an amazing space in the tech sector. They’re designing impressive software platforms and tools that are attracting worldwide attention.

Steve McKinney  is the Chief Operating Officer of Cell Control, a Baton Rouge company that, in 2009, came up with technology to help eliminate distracted driving. In the years since, Cell Control has become the global leader in this field by selling its services to companies—big Fortune 500 companies—that have huge fleets of potentially distracted drivers. One reason the technology is so popular is because it is simple. It pairs a Bluetooth device with your cell phone to disable texting and Web surfing from the driver’s seat while still allowing a passenger’s phone to have full function. With over 100,000 users, Cell Control is saving big companies with fleets of drivers a lot of money, time, and frankly, lives. 

Calvin Fabre, CEO of Envoc, a Baton Rouge based digital agency that does custom software development, mobile applications, advertising and branding campaigns, web design, web applications, intranets, and portals. Calvin founded the company in the early 2000s. In the years since, Envoc has grown to more than 30 employees, a second location in Hammond and a reputation as one of the go-to software development firms in the Capital region. One of Envoc’s most innovative new products is is LA Wallet —a digital drivers license that you have on your phone and that serves as a legally accepted form of ID. As an added feature LA Wallet has a Verify function so you can check the background of an Uber driver  or, even the status of contractors who come to your home to do repairs. 

Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Karry Hosford.

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"Your new Car and New Job" might at one time have been the subject line of a targeted marketing email. We have left those days behind. Way behind.

Today, if you spend any time online – and specially on social media – you’ve no doubt noticed what’s going on with personalized advertisements. Ads seem to be getting increasingly specific. Targeted. And timely.

At one time we were able to explain this by assuming Google knew what we were searching for, and was selling our search information to advertisers. Then it started looking like advertisers weren't sending us email, they were reading our email! And lately personalized ad targeting has gotten so specialized that we’ve begun to wonder if our phones and other voice activated devices are listening to us.

Whether or not they are, the truth of what is going on with online marketing is even more unsettling. Online marketing people are reading our minds. For real. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Or A.I.

When applied to marketing, A.I knows when you want to buy a product – before you do. This is not some sort of futuristic science fiction. It is science. But it’s not fiction. And it’s not the future. It’s here now.

Perhaps surprisingly, one of the leaders in the field of A.I. marketing is from Lafayette. His name is Frankie Russo.

Frankie’s venture capital, company Russo Capital, invests in startups. And Frankie is founder and CEO of the A.I marketing company, 360 IA.

Whether an automated bot decides it’s time for you buy something new, or you decide it for yourself, you’re still going to need money to buy it with. For most of us, the only way to get that money is by having a job.

Latest estimates are that around fifty percent of us work in a small business. If you’re a part of that 50%, you know that the way you get hired and get trained on the job in a small business is different from the way you get hired and trained at a bigger company.

And if you own a small business, you know that hiring good people and retaining them can be a major headache, and a drain on resources. Which is where a company called HR NOLA comes in. HR NOLA steps in for just a few weeks, days, or even hours, to give small businesses an HR department with the same advantages of big business.

The founder and CEO of HR NOLA is Amy Bakay.

Out to Lunch is recorded over lunch at Commander's Palace. Find photos by Jill Lafleur and more at our website https://link.chtbl.com/LYuaasWe

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Even if you know nothing about business – if your only link to business is listening to this show – you’ve probably heard about the distinction between working in your business and working on your business.

Working in your business is what you have to do to get it up and running. Working on your business is what you have to do to keep it running -- and specially to grow it.

How you make that transition - from starting a business to running a business - is vital. It’s the pathway to success. And that pathway is not always easy to find.

To help you, there are a wide range of books that might best be described as self-help literature for business. There are business gurus. And there are whole companies of business consultants. All of these options offer various techniques for working on your business.

Now there’s a new product that pulls a lot of these threads together. It’s a piece of business development software, appropriately called Align.

Align was founded in 2014. So far it’s been used by over 15,000 clients in 64 countries. The company is headquartered in New Orleans, under the leadership of CEO Doug Walner.

Bill Hines is a prime example of a person who moved from working in his business to working on his business.

For 20 years, Bill worked as a corporate attorney. He specialized in transactions and financing for public and private companies, both domestically and internationally.

You might have heard at the beginning of this show, some information about our sponsor, the law firm of Jones Walker. That announcement says, "Jones Walker has over 375 attorneys in offices throughout the US." Well, the person who manages all of those attorneys, and most other aspects of Jones Walker’s business, is none other than Bill Hines.

Bill started at Jones Walker in 1982. In 2006 he stopped working in the business and started working on the business as the company’s Managing Partner.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans. Photos by Jill Lafleur.

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"Retail apocalypse" is a term we’re starting to hear frequently. It suggests a coming meltdown of retail reality due to the impact of Amazon and other online retailers on brick and mortar stores. Stephine Riegel's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge are, in two very different ways, fighting it out on the front line of retail apocalypse.

Chris Russo Blackwood is co-owner of Russo Ross, a popular women’s boutique on Jefferson Highway here in Baton Rouge. Chris didn’t start out in the retail sector. She was a journalist with The Advocate and then later with In Register Magazine, which she headed as publisher. In 2011, Chris sold the magazine and wrote a true crime book about the murder of local businessman Ted Kergan, then, in 2012, before the retail apocalypse got started, she and longtime friend Susan Ross decided to take their careers in a different direction and opened Russo Ross to offer classic, well-made clothes at a reasonable price. 

Kevin Langley is on the other side of the apocalypse. Kevin is a Baton Rouge based entrepreneur and entrepreneurial expert. He's President & Co-founder of Entrepreneurs Across Borders, a global nonprofit organization that helps high potential entrepreneurs in developing countries, and in the retail sector he's working with the Ebay Retail Revival program, an anti-apocalypse initiative launched by Ebay a couple of years ago that came to baton rouge in May 2019. The program is a way to help small businesses learn how to compete in the digital marketplace by training them over a 12-month period, providing them with individualized coaching and promotional support so that they can learn to succeed on platforms like Ebay. 

This episode of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge was recorded over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard restaurant in Baton Rouge. See photos from this show and learn more about Out to Lunch Baton Rouge here.

Hear more about Baton Rouge retail here.

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Technology is all around us today, making possible things we never even imagined. Here's two: an app that is the Uber of medical care, and Virtual Reality that  makes it possible to train employees to work in a chemical plants or recreate the battle of Okinawa. Perhaps an equally surprising fact about these innovations is that they are being created here in south Louisiana.

Vashon Craft is Director of Community Relations at a company called Ready Responders, a New Orleans-based startup that expanded into the Baton Rouge market in 2019, bringing with it its unique service of on-demand health care to your door – or wherever you are. 

Ready Responders dispatches medics on-demand to provide non-emergency medical care—then offers follow up care with nurses and physicians assistants. It’s all done via a smart phone app using software the company developed.  

Cody Louviere is the founder of King Crow Studios, a local software development firm that specializes in virtual reality and video game development. Virtual Reality isn’t just a gimmick; it’s a tool that King Crow is using to create training experiences and platforms for customers that include LED FastStart, ExxonMobil, The Department of Defense, and The Alliance Safety Council.

This show is recorded over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard in Baton Rouge.

You can see photos from this show, and more, here.

Check out other Baton Rouge tech developers here.

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We talk a lot about business on this show, and what it takes to be successful in business. On this edition of Out to Lunch Stephanie focuses on an aspect of business that doesn't typically get so much attention: ethics.

Aaron Beam is a former executive who travels around the country lecturing on ethics in business. It's a topic he knows well. In the late 1990s, Aaron participated in a 2 billion securities fraud scandal at Health South, the extremely successful Fortune 500 company he had co founded in the 1980s and helped lead as CFO. When the fraud was discovered, Aaron had opportunity in prison to reflect on what he had done. In the years since, he has taken those lessons learned and now tries to help others avoid making the same mistake.

Tom Ryan is Professor of Theology and Ministry at Loyola University in New Orleans, and Director of the school s Institute for Ministry, which has an extension program in Baton Rouge. Tom is an expert on the Catholic Church and its teaching and has been nationally recognized for his research on the history of biblical interpretation, the history of spirituality and faith, and popular culture.

Professor Ryan also speaks regularly on Pope Francis, who recently published a document on the Call to Holiness in Today's World. In that document, the pope makes a special point about the call to holiness in business and the marketplace.

Stephanie Riegel takes an unorthodox but fascinating pause for reflection in this lunchtime conversation at Mansurs on the Boulevard.

Photos by Karry Hosford and more information is at our website -https://link.chtbl.com/6MIjfVRb 

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How often is it that we aim for one career and land in another? You go to college to be a painter and you end up a graphic designer, or you study philosophy and end up a lawyer. For most of us, we're lucky if we can do work we love on nights and weekends. Finding meaning in your work and the opportunity to express yourself - and get paid - is the career path less traveled. 

Christiaan's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana both thrive in careers that are perhaps only slightly different than the ones they imagined for themselves. The basic elements of their ambitions and skills are in place — artfulness, creativity, compassion and taste. 

Virginia Goetting wanted to be an art therapist. She got her degree in fine arts but left school a nomad. She hitched a ride to a brief career in Louisiana’s film industry but ultimately landed in cosmetology and has worked in aesthetics for the last 10 years.  For every client in her chair at Salon NV in Downtown Lafayette, she gets to sculpt new looks and lend a sympathetic ear. Sounds like art therapy, wouldn't you agree?  

Mia Sandberg got her start in interior design, but she didn’t find her calling till her husband bought her flowers. The arrangement was a funky little thing, unusual and earthy. It spoke to her. When they landed back in Lafayette, Mia needed a new gig. "Why not flowers?" she thought.

Mia launched Root Floral Design in a shack behind her parents’ house in Carencro. The firm has grown into an in-demand florist for weddings and big events. Mia has a knack for unconventional arrangements with rich textures and unusual blossoms. This is interior design with living, breathing materials. And business is growing. 

This edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded at Spoonbill Watering Hole and Restaurant in downtown Lafayette.

You can see photos from this show by Lucius Fontenot at It's Acadiana.com

Find a very different perspective on happiness and the wedding flower business, here.

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Everybody likes a pretty picture, and a good cheese. Well, maybe not everybody likes cheese, but when you team it up with grapes, chocolate, and other goodies it becomes something altogether different - an edible work of art.

Running a startup in any industry is building a plane in midair. You might think you know how fly, but then you hit turbulence. Or you figure out that you need to also know how to sell plane tickets. These days, it’s not enough to know the work, you’ve got to know how to sell it. When you're an entrepreneur that means selling yourself - more often than not on social media. 

Christiaan Mader's guests today have both taken the plunge into startup life, in their own ways. What they have in common is that they both sell whimsy and imagination, and in most cases they have to sell it themselves. 

Denise Gallagher got her start in advertising, working for 15 years as the art director at BBR, a well-established ad and marketing firm. She bet on herself and left the company in 2013, pursuing a second act as an illustrator for hire and a children’s book author. Her most recent book, Peg Bearskin: A Traditional Newfoundland tale, was published earlier this year. 

Mandy Osgood co-founded Graze Acadiana in early 2019, in partnership with her mom.

Graze Acadiana creates what they call "foodscapes" - custom, seasonal sharing platters for social gatherings, corporate thank yous, or maybe an evening at home with a big appetite. It’s food that makes you feel good, and the designs are beyond appetizing.

The contents of the foodscapes are all fresh and wherever possible locally sourced, but the Graze Craze itself is imported from Down Under — New Zealand and Australia. 

Out to Lunch is recorded over lunch at Chopsticks restaurant in Lafayette.

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Teach For America is a nationwide initiative to address the shirtage of teachers in the US. A recent study estimated that the nationwide shortage in 2018, which was around 110 thousand, is expected to nearly double to 200 thousand by 2025.

Teach For America is an organization that seeks to enlist and mobilize bright, motivated future leaders and put them to work for two year stints, helping improve some of the nation’s poorest performing and most under-served public schools.

Laura Vinsant heads the South Louisiana region of Teach for America. Laura is an alum of LSU and its Manship School of Mass Communications, who was drawn to TFA’s mission after graduating in 2007 because of her positive experience as a volunteer tutor. Laura spent the next two years teaching second and third grade students at a school in North Baton Rouge, and became so invested with the organization she stayed with it. Since 2016, Laura has led the South Louisiana TFA region, which was one of the six original regions the organization served. Today, Laura oversees a cohort of more than 200 teachers, who last year impacted more than 15-thousand students in the four parish region, which includes Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana and Pointe Coupee. 

Lucas Spielfogel is a Teach for America alumnus, who taught 7th grade at Baker Middle School during his tenure with TFA from 2010-2012. Lucas was born in New York, raised in south Florida, went back up north for college, attending Yale University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in history. Lucas joined TFA to give something back and after two years was so hooked on his new community that he joined the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, an organization that helps high-achieving, under resourced teens prepare, excel and graduate from college. Since 2013, Lucas has led the organization as Executive Director, growing the number of students it serves from 50 to more than 250 across nine school districts.

Although many of us pride ourselves on how many generations back we can trace our Louisiana roots, we can be equally proud of the caliber and contribution of young people like Laura and Lucas who make the choice to move here and who are making such a significant contribution to our region.

Photos over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard.

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If you live in New Orleans, you know one thing for sure: Summer here lasts a long time. It can start getting hot as early as Jazz Fest and some years it’s still hot at Thanksgiving. Because of the long Summer, we’ve gotten pretty good at dressing for the weather here.

Did you know New Orleans is the home of the seersucker suit? Seersucker was originally a lightweight fabric that was used in India to make clothing for laborers. In 1909, New Orleanian Joseph Haspel designed the first men’s suit made of seersucker. The seersucker suit went on to become a fashion staple. The label in the suit simply said, Haspel.

Today, the company is still called Haspel. They still make seersucker suits, and other menswear items. Haspel is still a family company, and Joseph Haspel’s great-grand-daughter, Laurie Haspel Aronson, is its President and CEO .

When it comes to the creation of local men’s summer weight clothing, the clock didn’t stop in 1909. In 2018 Claiborne Schmidt was inspired by the traditional Guayabera shirt and created a New Orleans version.

The traditional Guayabera shirt is sometimes called the Mexican wedding shirt, though it’s widely believed to have originated in Cuba. It’s a short sleeve shirt that’s worn untucked, and traditionally has two rows of closely sewn vertical pleats that run down the shirt, mimicking the look of a scarf if it was hung around your neck.

Claiborne has given his guayabera shirt a New Orleans twist. The pleats are replaced with an embroidered pattern. There are a bunch of different styles. One with crawfish and trumpets, one with a Saints theme, one with a festival theme, there’s a Mardi Gras one, and more.

The label on the shirts say, Dat Mambo Shirt. In the short time they’ve been in existence, Dat Mambo Shirts have become a local fashion success story.

You can find more info including photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, over lunch at Commander's Palace, here.

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Your grocery and drug store purchase cards allow the stores to predict when you're going to need laundry detergent and Advil, and when you don't buy it in time they send you a coupon to get you to come back in. Then there's an even more advanced (some might call it "insidious") form of Artificial Iintelligence (A.I), like Frankie Russo's. Frankie's A.I knows you want to buy a car before you do.

 We humans have an uneasy relationship with algorithms and robots.  Sure, we create them. But there is a general sense of foreboding about a world where humans and algorithmic-driven bots co-exist.

Part of that fear is rooted in a Hollywood science-fiction vision of the future, which is more fiction than science. And then there’s the all-too-real truth about the advent of driverless cars; the massed DNA information database that Ancestry.com is building; and how much Facebook knows about you already.

When you consider this growth of Artificial Intelligence, you might start to realize that a science fiction future isn’t going to look like a Will Smith movie - where we’re fighting humanoids in the streets - but it’s also not futuristic. It’s happening right now.

Even right here in Acadiana. In fact, one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence in the world of marketing is Lafayette’s own Frankie Russo.

Frankie Russo is a pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence in the world of marketing. Which is why Frankie’s company, 360 IA, knows what you want to buy, before you do.

If you think that’s fascinating, listen to this conversation.  If you think someone who can accurately predict your purchasing future is just too freaky, you might want to skip this.

You can see photos by Lucius Fontenot from this show, recorded at Spoonbill Watering Hole & Restaurant in downtown Lafayette, here.

You can hear Frankie's previous appearance on Out to Lunch here.

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