Maggi Spurlock of Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce and the Young Professionals Summit

Discover the heartbeat of Baton Rouge as Maggi Spurlock from the Baton Rouge Area Chamber joins me, Mike Gennaro, to unravel the city's vibrant local scene. We'll take you down memory lane, mourning the bygone havens of our beloved city while revealing our cherished eateries and music joints that keep the local charm alive. Witness how the simple yet impactful endeavors of businesses, like Teddy's Juke Joint, contribute to our sense of community, and prepare to be inspired by tales of urban art, the rejuvenating power of gardening, and the city's cultural treasures.

 We also spotlight the dynamic Forum 225, where young professionals forge connections and find their place within Baton Rouge's rich mosaic of interests and activities. Whether you're chasing a lens view with C.C. Lockwood or eager for the buzz of the Young Professionals Summit, this episode is your map to the Baton Rouge experience.

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Transcript

Maggi Spurlock: 0:04

Hey, it's Maggi Spurlock. Keep listening to Portion Parish.

Mike Gennaro: 0:08

Hey, Zachary, welcome to the booth. Today we're joined by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber's Director of Talent Development, Maggi Spurlock. We'll be discussing their goals in talent attraction and retention and how it aligns with our mission to improve local perceptions and retain our valuable young talent. Let's take our weekly dive into the heart of community and explore the individuals and initiatives shaping the Baton Rouge Area. I'm your host, Mike Gennaro, broadcasting from our downtown headquarters at the Radcliffe de Bretton House, now affectionately known as The Press. This is Portion Parish, the podcast. Keep listening, we'll be right back.

Speaker 3: 0:43

Come explore the past through 4,000 years of recipes. Join the East Baton Rouge Parish Library this spring for its one book, one community celebration, highlighting Max Miller's book Tasting History. It all begins with a free kickoff party at the main library at Goodwood on Friday March 8th at 5pm. Enjoy live music by RJ and Zidaco, smooth, delicious food by Odum's Kitchen, fun kids activities and more. For more information about the One Book, one Community series, visit ReadOneBookorg.

Mike Gennaro: 1:12

All right, let's kick things off with the lightning round. Quick answers no over. Thank you, all right. All right, so I've got some fun questions for you I just got back from the Asian night market. Did you get a chance to go?

Maggi Spurlock: 1:26

I did not get a chance to attend, but very excited about having another really great jewel in the crown for our region.

Mike Gennaro: 1:32

Yeah, yeah, so I'm excited about wings. After that, there are a lot of varieties of Asian chicken wings. So first question Chow Yum, Fat, KOK Cock Wings or Blue Store, and that's K O K Wings.

Maggi Spurlock: 1:48

Oh, Blue Store, for sure, for sure, all right no Asian flair on that one Just straight up delicious. Old school yes.

Mike Gennaro: 1:56

Oh man, awesome. Okay, tacos barracuda, rocks, paper, taco Modesto or other.

Maggi Spurlock: 2:03

Oh God, that's got to be Barracuda. That is my new favorite. Looking forward to these gorgeous spring days to be able to go sit and hang out there.

Mike Gennaro: 2:11

Oh, yes, yes, yes, I would just give anything for them to just come and grace the press over here. I haven't tried marketing to them, but I mean give it a go. I like a Gave Blue in Zachary.

Maggi Spurlock: 2:23

Yes, yes, and they're very good as well.

Mike Gennaro: 2:25

Super, super refreshing Things. That ain't their no mo, that's a New Orleans expression. So sometimes there are these really great nostalgic things that end up leaving. You know they just don't last. So name one nostalgic establishment in Baton Rouge that is no longer there that you used to love.

Maggi Spurlock: 2:43

Oh man, I've talked about this with co-workers many times. There used to be an Italian place on government street called Jiman Co's or Jaman Co's, I guess, depending on how you said it and it was just they were the home of the sensation salad, which I did not even realize was like a local Baton Rouge thing. Yeah, I've heard that before.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:00

Fabulous and it was just one of those things where you could go for something a little fancier or you could go with a family and I remember growing up going with my family and other families and man, when they closed, that was a heartbreaker. And every now and then you just you drive by kind of where it used to be on government and you get a little sad knowing it's gone.

Mike Gennaro: 3:16

But obviously we've got a lot of other great places, but that was a really good one. Yeah, that one seemed like heartfelt, like you're actually sad.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:24

We talk about it quite a bit. Every you know like the old school people were like oh remember how great that used to be.

Mike Gennaro: 3:29

Yeah, you're not an old school person.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:31

Oh, you know, thank you.

Mike Gennaro: 3:33

All right. Oh, I was going to give you an example of Cottonwood books. That was a kind of a cool one that just recently ain't there no more.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:40

That's a, that's another one and I can't think of the other bookstore. But I have really old copies of the like the original Cajunite before Christmas.

Mike Gennaro: 3:49

Yeah.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:50

Clovis Clotile the books that was. Clayters had all of them and it was a bunch of just local books and they're.

Mike Gennaro: 3:55

The catery. That's a good one. That was right next to the cater.

Maggi Spurlock: 3:58

So just some older places that just aren't around anymore.

Mike Gennaro: 4:01

Yeah, yeah. Have you ever like heard a really good music act at the catering back in the day?

Maggi Spurlock: 4:06

Oh, gosh, I don't know about that. I don't know about that I'd have to really think about that one.

Mike Gennaro: 4:12

Chelsea's is a great example of revitalizing your own brand, moving and having that workout for you. I mean, could they have had a better location where they were, and you know?

Maggi Spurlock: 4:23

they're really fabulous to work with. They have donated for some of our young professional events before and they are just all in on the community and we love having them back for sure, yeah that's awesome.

Mike Gennaro: 4:35

I can't wait. My son Max is turning 15 on Sunday and one of these days I'm going to bring him out there, but I think you got to be 18 plus.

Maggi Spurlock: 4:43

Probably yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 4:43

Yeah, but in Zachary it is kind of one of those things where you can bring kids into Teddy's juke joint, as long as they don't get close to the bar.

Maggi Spurlock: 4:55

That's right, like keep them away yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 4:57

Yes, poor Teddy. We don't want to get him in trouble, but have you ever visited Teddy's? I have not, but now I'm going to have to give it a go. It's do it. Do it before that ain't there no more Teddy's getting up there in age, but he still has this, one of the last remaining juke joints in all of the south. I love it. Yeah, all right. Favorite place for a morning walk or evening stroll in Baton Rouge.

Maggi Spurlock: 5:22

So one of my favorite places especially I not discovered it because I knew where it was there, but during the pandemic kind of that area by by the governor's mansion behind the state Capitol, it's veterans park.

Speaker 3: 5:35

Yeah.

Maggi Spurlock: 5:35

It's just really kind of. You're right there by the lake.

Maggi Spurlock: 5:37

There was two lakes by the governor's mansion and there's a lot of green space and, what was amazing, during the pandemic everybody was on the levy, which was great, it was beautiful, but nobody was social distancing. But that area was kind of quiet. You would have people picnicking. Some of our coworkers and I actually met a few times because we missed each other and we would have, you know, work lunches and picnic there and it's just a really good spot. It's one of my favorite quiet spots in Baton Rouge.

Mike Gennaro: 6:03

Yeah, I love that. I definitely love the levy area. Yes, that is one of the things that I missed about leaving Metter in New Orleans is like there was always a levy and there's so much adventure that you can have. That's like, it's like a mountain for kids, it is. But then I really got acquainted with the downtown levy and how fun that is to go for a run, get some food, yes, yeah, so pretty cool, and I think we might be getting a levy in Zachary with the diversion canal.

Speaker 3: 6:33

It looks like one is forming.

Mike Gennaro: 6:34

I'm not really sure I had a game because you're going to bring your coworker in, but I still want to see how many of these events you attended. I was going to give you all points per event attended in 2023.

Maggi Spurlock: 6:45

Oh, my gosh Morgan would be so much better at it than me.

Mike Gennaro: 6:47

Oh no, that's okay All right, so I'm going to toss them out, because we're going to be talking about the development of future talent too, here today. So did you attend any brew talks last year? Baton Rouge entrepreneurship.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:03

I did not. I did not through Nexus.

Mike Gennaro: 7:06

Well, look, we're raising awareness because it's about to happen again this year. Yes, and they're fabulous partners.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:10

Our friend Chris Falleton, with our small businesses work at Brack he does my fellow cohort member. Yeah, yeah, really good friend. He's big with that and we've helped support them in the past, but I have not been able to make it out yet.

Mike Gennaro: 7:23

No sweat. You don't have to give me an excuse after everyone. Okay, it's like you're sweating bullets. Oh my God, I'm like the worst Assembly required.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:33

Absolutely yeah. We're partners working with 368 on our new talent attraction, so we've definitely been to some of those events.

Mike Gennaro: 7:42

Nice, I got to sit by Adam Knapp.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:44

Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 7:44

Who's like the new Adam Knapp?

Maggi Spurlock: 7:46

We are still on the search for that.

Mike Gennaro: 7:48

So we're really excited.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:49

We've got a search firm working on that, so we don't know.

Mike Gennaro: 7:52

Yet you have a search firm. Yeah, like you outsourced it.

Maggi Spurlock: 7:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah so we have Antropae is our interim and she is fabulous. We absolutely love her.

Mike Gennaro: 8:01

Great Like a coach.

Maggi Spurlock: 8:03

Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 8:03

I like interim. Yes, that might just be the one that takes you all the way, no, I think she's happy with interim.

Maggi Spurlock: 8:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 8:10

Yeah, All right. Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Parade.

Maggi Spurlock: 8:13

Yes, yes, which one Spanish town? Okay, yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 8:16

Okay, describe one of the flutes. I'm just kidding. No, don't do that. On there. Attend the YP summit 2023.

Maggi Spurlock: 8:24

I mean I kind of have to, it's my gig.

Mike Gennaro: 8:27

But yes, absolutely yes see a mural by the walls project in the past week.

Maggi Spurlock: 9:03

Yes, drive by a couple of them on our way into work downtown.

Mike Gennaro: 9:07

yes, Cool, which one is your favorite?

Maggi Spurlock: 9:09

Weirdly, even though it's not like a really overly big fancy one, I actually ironically like the one that's really close to the levee. So I don't actually drive by that one every day, but I do on occasion and it's I think it's the colors it's just the blues and the greens, the purple.

Mike Gennaro: 9:22

What the one? It's the fish that catfish.

Maggi Spurlock: 9:24

It's not even that, it's like really low it's like a side wall almost, and I think people kind of miss it but it's just, it's before the catfish by the it's if you're on, I guess that's River Road, I guess technically, when you're on your way, kind of between, kind of downtown, and like the Pentagon barracks, it's just two low walls that are well-spaced.

Mike Gennaro: 9:46

Yeah, look out for that. Yeah, and look for our Zachary people. The walls project is not as known as it is in Baton Rouge, but we just got one of I wanna say it's the first walls project mural, and do you know where it is?

Maggi Spurlock: 9:58

No, here in Zachary, that's amazing.

Mike Gennaro: 10:00

Yeah, yeah, it's at this massive mobile home community on Highway 61. Awesome, and they just took this fence and boom. I thought I was seeing a mirage one day, because you know it just.

Maggi Spurlock: 10:13

They put them up quickly. I think that's been the work they've done, and there are a few other people that are doing a lot of like art, installation, graffiti, kind of work. I love it. I think it does this. It just brightens up the city in a new way it does, and I love it. So yeah for y'all. I'm gonna have to For something to put a mural on now. Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 10:29

I had one drawn up it was a Tom Petty quote that said you belong among the wildflowers.

Speaker 3: 10:34

I was thinking what is?

Mike Gennaro: 10:35

Zachary known for.

Maggi Spurlock: 10:36

Maybe we get wildflowers and then that's a good song too, so that's a good choice.

Mike Gennaro: 10:40

So I had it drawn up by a graphic designer. I was gonna put it on our old building and then I moved. So now I need some bricks to paint it on.

Maggi Spurlock: 10:47

You gotta find a new home for it. Maybe your friends across the street at the police station will do it.

Mike Gennaro: 10:51

Yeah, they are. They're moving to a new location, so, yeah, maybe El Graffiti, the police station. Does that sound like a good idea? Okay, and finally, I just love the lightning round. I just have expanded it because I have the most fun.

Maggi Spurlock: 11:04

I love it yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 11:07

Plant a vegetable garden.

Maggi Spurlock: 11:09

So I, I do.

Mike Gennaro: 11:11

Or a jungle, oh that counts.

Maggi Spurlock: 11:13

I'm in a townhouse so everything is in pots, but every year I grow some vegetables. I actually grow sunflowers every year. I have like one little flower bed and this year I'm really excited about I nerded out. There's a guy that he was actually on CBS morning news about growing sunflowers and I ordered some from him. So I'm like waiting for them to come in the mail.

Mike Gennaro: 11:34

So cool.

Maggi Spurlock: 11:35

But yeah, I usually grow some tomatoes or cucumbers and for sure peppers every year, banana peppers every year, nice nice on a patio garden. Love it On a patio garden and herbs always that's cool.

Mike Gennaro: 11:43

So you're going vertical like that like that. I read a little article last year on sunflowers for Portsch and Parrish and it was do the sunflower seeds at Ace Hardware for birds grow in your garden? And so I took them. It was like a five pound bag or more and a 15 pound bag and it was like 13 bucks and I bought it and I threw it all in the median around our neighborhood and they just popped up and they were like smaller sunflowers, maybe about five foot, not ginormous, but they're perfect. They're perfect.

Maggi Spurlock: 12:19

And sometimes they'll self seed, so even what you grew last year, if it dried where it was you may have a few stragglers pop up. I had some come up in November and I didn't notice them and I was like, well, I guess I'm gonna have a few stragglers in the fall, so yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 12:35

Also, I highly recommend, if you like that kind of thing, the 3200 pack or 32,000 pack of zinnias on Amazon. Just go crazy, but you don't you know, if you're a biblical, remember, don't throw the seeds onto like rocky ground. You have to at least have some sort of ditch or a hole.

Maggi Spurlock: 12:56

Zinnias, though especially my mom grows those she has really good luck. You really don't have to do a lot with those. They don't need a lot of care, but that is something I love that you threw them on your median.

Maggi Spurlock: 13:07

I love quality of places, something we talk about a lot, but I wish that we did more of that on our medians. I think about when you drive through parts of Texas and it's the. You know the flowers there and everything, and I'm like we've got such great native flowers and plants and grasses here that we could do so much more. So I do a little bit with my little bit of land that I have.

Mike Gennaro: 13:29

That's perfect if everybody did that.

Maggi Spurlock: 13:31

And they're cheap. I mean sunflowers are cheap, like you bought a big bag. But even if you buy, you know 32,000 zinnias, and that was.

Mike Gennaro: 13:40

They're small and then they self seed, so you can get at least 100 seeds per zinnia.

Maggi Spurlock: 13:46

Yes, that may be exaggerated, maybe like 30. It seems like a lot. And they do they self seed and they're always around and they're beautiful.

Mike Gennaro: 13:54

So so, with the risk of repeating guys out there, you could seriously change the whole environmental landscape of Zachary if you as an individual just went and got zinnias and sunflowers and this year you found a place that was, you know, pick up a little trash, go into the ditch, throw them out If that ditch isn't cut, and you could seriously brighten up the whole community. We'd all be hippies, I guess. I love it.

Maggi Spurlock: 14:24

You know, and I think there's so much conversation about pollinators and we've got some really great local beekeepers in town that would definitely love for us to put more pollen out there and it just helps everybody.

Mike Gennaro: 14:38

We're just nerding out on this.

Maggi Spurlock: 14:39

I love it, but you know it's one of those things like even our farmers would appreciate it, right, because it helps them too in the long run and the more we do it it's. And, ironically, I'm allergic to bees and I still do it, so I'm like, just as long as they keep their space, we're good.

Mike Gennaro: 14:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. On this last thing I'll say on it is Max came home the other week and his environmental science teacher had them watching this beautiful documenter called Kiss the Ground and it just re-energized so much of that old, I don't know environmental hippie and me I'm 41 now and I had kind of given up a little bit, but I was like y'all are learning this seriously, I'm all in.

Speaker 3: 15:18

Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 15:19

Like I'm gonna farm my backyard.

Maggi Spurlock: 15:20

I'm ready to go. I'm gonna run through a wall, tilt up that backyard and put clover down inside the grass, oh, don't tilt. That's the Right you don't have to, oh don't tilt, but dig up that grass and put dunk clover, and then you don't have to cut it. Your grass is often, which is good, and then you've got clover for pollinators.

Mike Gennaro: 15:36

Yes, I love it. Let's take a quick break. Keep listening, we'll be right back.

Speaker 3: 15:41

Invest in you. The East Baton Rouge Parish Library connects people to information, resources, technology and experiences to make a positive difference in their lives. Stop by one of our 14 locations today or visit us online at ebrplcom.

Mike Gennaro: 15:57

Moving on to the core questions. That was so fun. You're running best friend. So the Baton Rouge area chamber is actively working on talent attraction and retention goals. Can you share some of the initiatives you're pursuing to increase young professional talent in the area? And you know, I think this piggyback is perfectly off of increasing quality of life because when you do that, when you got good coffee and pizza and Flowers yes here come the, the talent, yeah, so what?

Maggi Spurlock: 16:24

that's one really great thing about the work that we're doing at BRAC that I'm really excited. The first thing that we Can for sure talk about that we're excited about is our young professional conference coming up in April. So it is in its third year this year and we are finalizing speakers actually this week, and so that information and ticket sales will launch the first week of March. Yeah, so we're really excited about that. I think it's another opportunity to bring in Folks from around the region, so we would love to have some of our friends from Zachary come in.

Speaker 3: 16:55

Oh yeah.

Maggi Spurlock: 16:56

BRAC serves the nine parish region, so y'all are a part of us, y'all are part of the work that we do and thank you.

Mike Gennaro: 17:01

That means it's on, because sometimes it's confusing because we have, like, our own chamber here. Is that like, how does it work? To the layman, you don't know who really serves you.

Maggi Spurlock: 17:10

Yeah, so we're definitely. You know we look through, we kind of work with our local chambers but over overreaching. But BRAC is a little bit more of an economic development agency. So a lot of times when businesses are growing and looking for places. We do absolutely talk about Zachary. We talk about the quality of life that you have here. We talk about the schools. We talk about the parks and your access to everything. Y'all are super close to that airport, which we love to also promote that is an understated thing.

Mike Gennaro: 17:37

Yeah, it's huge.

Maggi Spurlock: 17:38

It's huge, and so you know we we love having y'all be a part of that. We've had some of our friends even from Lafayette, new Orleans, come to our conference. I think what's exciting about that is is while we are sharing the things that we're excited about in our community how you can grow as a leader, how you can serve your community, how you can work with the different generations within your community, those kind of things. It's also how we all work together as a state and do what we can to grow and promote Young talent our region. We know there's a wealth of talent.

Maggi Spurlock: 18:10

Yes, we have so many schools here, um, we are producing some really great, amazing talent. We want to keep them here, and so that is something that has been really exciting. That first year that we we launched the yp summit. It was a little tentative of is this going to work or people going to come?

Mike Gennaro: 18:26

you know, did you have Kenny Nguyen? We did.

Maggi Spurlock: 18:28

Oh, you're smart to get that yeah he was our keynote, our first year, and, um, it was really exciting and you know you kind of watch the registration numbers.

Maggi Spurlock: 18:35

You're like, oh my god, people are really coming and it was really exciting and so the next year, last year, we launched our call for proposals so we could really see what local people wanted to share with us, and it was Overwhelming the response, like we had. It was so unfortunate we had to say more no's than yeses because we had so many great submissions, and the same this year and it's it's Grown. We're looking at 300, 300 plus attending that, and so we're very excited about that. Again this year is having Folks come to that. It's open to you know, college interns, if you know, if you have somebody working for you that's an intern. Have them come. It's a great chance for them To kind of feel attached to the community before they ever leave, right. So if they're in college, they've got an internship. We've kind of got our hooks in them, right.

Maggi Spurlock: 19:21

Which is probably an awful thing to say, but we've got our hooks in them and and if they feel just get them married right, you know, let's just get them a mortgage, or you?

Mike Gennaro: 19:29

know, get them at least and they'll stay.

Maggi Spurlock: 19:30

But you know, once they Start understanding what's here and local they're in, and I think a lot of times college students Don't leave a small radius of space that it's campus and their apartment and whatever other establishments for me it was just like louis and back to right, to the classroom, right and so we want them to know there's so much more.

Maggi Spurlock: 19:51

There is baton Rouge, but there's also you know, zachary, you can go to the zoo, you can go Some of y'all's great recreational spaces that you have here and some of the really good restaurants y'all have out here. You know, we want them to know about. You know, maybe, some of the parks out in Ascension or Um, you know st Francisville and just really know that there's so much more than just that one mile radius.

Maggi Spurlock: 20:12

And so that's we're excited about, you know, definitely having those interns come. But I also think for a lot of young professionals that maybe did stay or that are new, it's hard to kind of get hooked in, and that's where coming to the yp summit it's a great chance for them to um Network and get to meet other people, and so that's one of the first things that we're really excited about the work that we're doing. Um, another thing that we do, kind of going along with that college trend, is and we actually just had some really great um news coverage Inside higher ed just did an article about the work that we're doing with Our higher ed partners and we've got another one coming out soon but, um, we work with the five local institutions in baton rouge. So, um, I always try and do them alphabetically, so baton rouge community college, um, franciscan university, lsu, river, parish community college and southern university.

Maggi Spurlock: 21:03

So we serve and we work kind of every time I'm like kind of do all five, but we work with all the rc in there, brcc. Yeah, so yeah, they're, they're in there um, and so those are the five that we work with. They're cut their um. Career centers on handshakes. That's kind of the local. Oh, yeah, yeah that's the hiring platform that our schools use for. Um high school or high school for college students.

Mike Gennaro: 21:27

And so don't go buy linkedin premium for 80 bucks.

Maggi Spurlock: 21:29

Yeah, just get on handshake, because that is where we are pushing our businesses Um to really go to find that talent, to share those internships. And we have seen, since we've started that work with our higher ed partners, we've seen businesses grow using the platform Um tremendously. So Definitely go in and use that. I think the more that we keep that talent here again, the better. So if you have a business that has an internship or is thinking about doing an internship, reach out to us. We want to help. I think a lot of people think, oh, I can't do this or I don't know how to do it, and there are resources we can get you set up, we can get you taken care of. So that is where those partnerships are really handy with helping keep that awareness again of there's so much opportunity here. Don't look elsewhere. There's opportunity for growth here where I think a lot of our peer cities you know, students think I need to go to a bigger city, but it's going to take you longer to advance, going to take you longer to be a homeowner.

Maggi Spurlock: 22:25

It's going to take you longer to kind of get to that place that you want and there's opportunity here and we are seeing, which is really great A lot of those students are looking for jobs here. The numbers are going up here. We're competing with, you know, houston, dallas, atlanta, new York they're looking here. So if you've got something, share it on handshake and you can always reach out to me and we can get you help with that, and so that's another piece that we're really excited about. With the work with local talent, I think the biggest thing that we're excited about we gave a little bit of a preview at our annual meeting is a new campaign, a talent attraction campaign that we're starting and it will kick off also in April.

Mike Gennaro: 23:03

Yeah, this is going to be so cool.

Maggi Spurlock: 23:05

I'm beyond excited, so this is something that it makes so much sense.

Mike Gennaro: 23:10

Finally, it's not just like crawfish and cajuns and soul and all that. Yeah, and it's not just I mean like we love our sports.

Maggi Spurlock: 23:17

I mean I'm an LSU alumni.

Maggi Spurlock: 23:19

I love my sports too, but we are so much more than that and so we were really lucky that some American Rescue Plan funds came to the city and they were specifically designated for job and attraction tourist attraction. So we love to share that part of it. That it's this was dog-eared specifically for this when we got it, and so the mayor reached out to us and visit Baton Rouge and we have kind of taken up the helm. We've worked with, we sent out a call for bids and we ended up picking a local agency. So 368 is who we're working with locally Good pick, yeah, really great partners. And so it's going to be. It's a website to attract talent. So it's going to be live here, work here, play here, and it's going to kind of cover all of those things, but we're highlighting stories.

Maggi Spurlock: 24:08

So we want to hear the stories of locals. We want to know why you choose Baton Rouge, whether to stay, or why you chose to come and then stay, and we're sharing all the different things about our region. We're very excited about it, but there's going to be a small part of it that's also local attraction and I think one thing that we and when we were emailing about doing this, was, I think a lot of times it's really easy to kind of talk about our community in a way that we see the challenges, but we really want to start encouraging our locals to talk about the positives.

Speaker 3: 24:43

Yes.

Maggi Spurlock: 24:44

And I think it's so important. We do have our challenges, but every city has its challenges. Every city, every state, everybody's got them. But we have a lot of really wonderful, great things, and I think it's important that we talk about ourselves in the good ways.

Mike Gennaro: 24:59

It's hard to kind of get that train moving. At first it seems Like when Portion Parish was not here Imagine this dystopian world of there was this thing called Ranson Raves.

Speaker 3: 25:13

Everybody in.

Mike Gennaro: 25:14

Zachary knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Mike Gennaro: 25:15

The Zachary Ranson Raves was like it was a place that people went to feel heard and engaged is what somebody told me locally, because I was like it's just horrible and they're like, no, they just care and they want to feel heard.

Mike Gennaro: 25:29

And so what would happen is they would dog, pile on a local business and everybody would just gang up and then the business would basically be run out of town on a log tar and feathered and just say forget this place. So when we came around, it was really about this, encouraging people to speak positively, and then once you start doing that, you kind of realize that you don't want to just fluff things up. You actually have to be a problem solver yourself. So it gets into this really hard question for you about how do you help the disengaged young male out there which is the source of most of the crime in Baton Rouge. How do you? That young man out there that just doesn't know how to apply the His skills into the job market.

Maggi Spurlock: 27:02

Yeah. So I mean, I think what's really interesting about that is that's a really long setup. Okay, the the interesting thing is the research that we've done with this talent attraction is that's the thing kind of nationwide with Mm-hmm, young men that are considered young professionals, and so for those of y'all listening, that's 25 to 45.

Maggi Spurlock: 27:30

But that kind of bracket is. It's really a loneliness pandemic, essentially with Young adults, especially young men, and connectivity is a big piece of that and we know that's a big piece of it and one of the things that we've talked about what this work is Louisiana specifically, but Baton Rouge, zachary, our area, we're the. We are really nice people.

Maggi Spurlock: 27:53

I mean that sounds very kind of like you know, self-promoting, but we are I mean, think about how many times you've talked to a stranger in a grocery store or in line somewhere, or just in public, but how welcoming are we? So are you inviting them to have coffee? Are you inviting that person maybe your home, your church to your, your service organization, your sporting club to play golf with? Whatever those things look like? And I think that is one of the things that we really want to work on with this local piece. Of this is how are we welcoming people in, and whether they're local or newcomers?

Maggi Spurlock: 28:29

Yeah it's how do we get them connected? And so you know so, for maybe some of those younger demographic that are male here locally, what are we doing? You know, what are those organizations that are maybe already out there and available, with mentorships available to them, and so you have organizations like club blue that does some really great work with that. You've got form 225, which is a local Young professional organization.

Mike Gennaro: 28:53

I want you to talk about that a little bit later.

Maggi Spurlock: 28:55

Yes.

Mike Gennaro: 28:55

I want to know people to know more about that.

Maggi Spurlock: 28:57

They're amazing, and I think getting hooked into those things is a really great way to start that connectivity piece. I think that's for men or women it's it's. It's important to kind of find your thing. I think that is something that we have talked about a lot too. With this is, ironically, I used to work at LSU as well, and I used to work with students and I used to say people aren't gonna come knock on your door and invite you to come to things. You make it lucky, but that's not gonna happen nine times of ten. You've got to put yourself out there a little bit right, yeah you may.

Maggi Spurlock: 29:29

You know, ironically we were talking about you know flowers and gardening earlier and maybe that's something you're interested in. So are you maybe going to some of the master classes at the public libraries? Are you finding a local community garden? Are you going to the plant sale that they do it over at burden, over at the Hilltop Arboretum, like? Are you getting involved in going to those things and finding that community and, I think, doing those things? I have a co-worker who her husband loves to fish and so he's gotten really involved with one of the local um Fishing groups here in town and and so it's like a little fly fishing.

Maggi Spurlock: 30:03

Yeah, I'm fishing yes, and so like he found his thing and he's involved. Yeah, he's gotten some, some, some people to connect with, and so I think that's the biggest thing right now is really kind of finding that passion, and that's something that our talent attraction site wants to work with is how do we, how do we show people what those options are?

Maggi Spurlock: 30:22

because I think there's. It's really easy to be like, well, I don't know and just give up, and so, yeah, you want to be able to have this place, this website, where you can go and find some Of those options.

Mike Gennaro: 30:31

Excellent and in the meantime, meetup comms. A pretty fun website. It really is. I'm laughing at my own absurdity here, but I I really like tortoises right, and mention this a lot, so folks know. But I wanted to know if there were other people in the world that liked tortoises as much as, because it's like you just want to share it out. So I found we have a southern regional tortoise meetup at Highland Park annually. I love that. I go to Blue Store, I get chicken. I bring my kids like love it. It's a big picnic and everybody just lets their toys I that's.

Maggi Spurlock: 31:05

That's fabulous. And now I kind of want to go, even though I don't have one invited, just like that would be so fun to see it.

Mike Gennaro: 31:11

It's it and it's growing a little bit. Um, yeah, it's anyway there's. There is a weird for everyone.

Speaker 3: 31:17

They're a pig for every barn.

Maggi Spurlock: 31:19

They're really a barn for every pig.

Mike Gennaro: 31:23

Um, talk more about forum two to five and kind of the age parameters on that as well. Like when I was 25 I thought about joining that and I thought maybe I'm too young or am I too old? For this, and so I never did. It was just always a little bit like, yeah, uncomfortable.

Maggi Spurlock: 31:39

Yeah, so I think it's another really great organization to Be a part of. I think what's really exciting is there a couple of different avenues that you can get involved. There is a college level membership, so I don't think you get access to everything, but you get access to most things. And then there's the full blown membership and again young professionals are considered. You know, 25 to 45. I don't know how many members a forum has in there in their 40s, but you know, I definitely think you know you're 20s and your 30 year olds definitely look into it, get involved If you're not too sure about paying that membership fee and you just kind of want to see it was a lot, it's not.

Maggi Spurlock: 32:20

actually it's not too bad, I don't know.

Mike Gennaro: 32:21

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare everybody.

Maggi Spurlock: 32:22

That's all right. Um, I can tell you off to have my head it's not good doing it right now.

Maggi Spurlock: 32:26

Um, but I can tell you that there are. They do have different events where you can kind of go Um see what they're all about before you make that commitment. So I know they have mixers and happy hours and, um, they do some fundraisers and things like that. So there's there's always opportunities to kind of go check it out. Yeah, and again, if you have interest in forum tt5, they are kind of one of our co-partners and our young professional summit, and so there will have plenty of members that are there participating in the event. Their leadership will be a part of Um kind of explaining who they are and, of course, there is an opportunity to join on site for 35 dollars for a student membership for students.

Mike Gennaro: 33:06

So that's nothing and 75 dollars for a standard and 75, that's how much a coffee costs.

Maggi Spurlock: 33:10

I mean literally like nowadays it's, I mean that's dinner out. I mean basically Um. So definitely check those out. Go to those events. Um, uncorked is an event that they do that's really popular. It's a fundraiser. Um, definitely check out some of those things. I think that's a great way to get hooked in.

Maggi Spurlock: 33:27

But like, you said maybe tortoises are your thing. Go to tortoises Um somebody. The other day my parents was having a conversation with somebody and they were talking about photography and it's something I've dabbled in, and they were like, oh, she needs to get hooked up with the Louisiana photography society. I had no idea.

Mike Gennaro: 33:43

Oh, I'm sure that's very cool. No idea, it was a crazy lock would used to take people on tours to go on like swamp photography, excursions and such.

Maggi Spurlock: 33:52

So you know there's like you said, there's something for everybody. Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 33:54

I'm laughing about cc lockwood. I had a chance encounter with cc and like I think I really built it up in my head and then he wasn't like as excited to see me as I was.

Maggi Spurlock: 34:04

He was a very. I got to meet him one time when we were in high school. He was a very he's reserved, very chill guy.

Mike Gennaro: 34:10

Yeah, yes, I was like I think I was a little bit over exuberant.

Maggi Spurlock: 34:14

Yes.

Mike Gennaro: 34:14

And it kind of like frightened him.

Maggi Spurlock: 34:16

I think he kind of forget a lot of the work he does. He does solitary you know he did very solitary and so yeah, no right 100% same experience.

Mike Gennaro: 34:25

Love you, cc. Yeah, okay, can you elaborate a little bit more on what attendees can expect at the YP summit, and that's the young professional summit? Yes, and exactly who is putting it on.

Maggi Spurlock: 34:40

So it's um Brad puts it on, we work with form 225. So they're one of our co? Um I guess you could say co-presenters, co-sponsors, on that event. Um, we do have some sponsors that have come on board. So visit Baton Rouge is one of our sponsors. Who and I'm going to forget some um Turner Cox communications um, the US army is actually going to be one of our sponsors, which is super interesting and cool, makes sense yeah. And so we are always open to more sponsorships. Okay, so anybody that's interested, that helps.

Mike Gennaro: 35:08

Yeah.

Maggi Spurlock: 35:09

But essentially what it is. The day we'll start off, we'll have an opening panel, I mean an open keynote speaker, which um you can learn more about on March 4th when we release that Um. It's somebody we're super excited about coming in, that has done some really remarkable change in their community. Um, and so more about that March 4th. Don't want to spoil it. I mean I'd love to give the the leak here, but you know.

Maggi Spurlock: 35:30

I got to keep everybody excited to check it out on the fourth Um. So they'll have that keynote. We'll probably do a speaker panel right after that with other people talking about how they've done things locally here. So kind of like we were talking about earlier how do you make those changes here? So looking at those challenges and finding the way to do things in a positive way to change our community, which we're excited about as well and then we'll probably do another little session keynote session at lunch and then, we will send everybody into those keynote no keynote, sorry speaker sessions in the afternoon.

Maggi Spurlock: 36:01

So everybody that submitted proposals will have those in breakout rooms in the afternoon and you can kind of pick what your interest is. Yeah, so you'll have plenty of options to kind of pick out through the afternoon. What I will share is, once those afternoon sessions are done, in the evening, instead of a happy hour like we have traditionally had in the past, that is probably where we are going to have our launch party for that new veteran Baton Rouge campaign. Yeah, so the really great thing about that is so if you our early registration for YP will be open from March 4th till good Friday, so actually the Thursday before good Friday, that registration will get you the full access for those keynote speakers that lunch and those breakout sessions during the day, but it also gets you into that campaign launch that evening. That's going to be a really fun party.

Mike Gennaro: 36:50

We're very excited about it. Is there a video with it too, like a big, because I'm guessing 368, there's going to be a video.

Maggi Spurlock: 36:55

Yeah, so we're. It's going to be an event. We're super excited about it.

Mike Gennaro: 37:01

We're going to be there, so y'all network with us if you needed a ride.

Maggi Spurlock: 37:04

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Mike Gennaro: 37:06

For sure.

Maggi Spurlock: 37:06

Do that and we're going to start a little bit later. I think we're looking at like a nine o'clock start. That way gives people a chance to kind of drive in or, you know, drop their kids off at school and make those arrangements, cause we do know it's, you know, still school time, but so you'll have all of that included. Now. Registration will go up after the Easter break to a little bit of a higher price, so you want to get those early birds in and get those.

Mike Gennaro: 37:28

Is it like a convention or more of a centralized experience?

Maggi Spurlock: 37:31

It's more of an experience. It's kind of like a conference. So you know most of us if you've ever gone to a professional conference you have to breakout sessions and you're going and learning and you're getting those either hard or soft skills that are going to help you grow as a leader, um, as a person, or as a community member.

Maggi Spurlock: 37:47

Same building, though or same building we're going to be at the Capitol Ooh, I've always get this wrong the Capitol Park, hilton, downtown in Baton Rouge, um, so it's got a really great view of the river and, you know, some really great opportunity to kind of hang out downtown but we will be there all day and um that launch.

Maggi Spurlock: 38:04

So that's one of the reasons we got to get everybody in those breakouts in the afternoon is we're going to flip that ballroom and have everybody in there in the evening for that party, so we're very excited.

Mike Gennaro: 38:13

Sounds fun. All right, I got all your sponsors up here.

Speaker 3: 38:16

Yes.

Mike Gennaro: 38:17

Hey, ladder and bloom. No, they're great, I do.

Maggi Spurlock: 38:20

Yes, that was the other one. Yes, yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 38:22

Turner Industries, us Army, cox, awesome, awesome, and I'm sure many more event sponsors as well. Yes, all right. Well, um, let's take a quick break on that and I want to ask you a couple more questions before we roll. Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back. Brack accelerates economic opportunity in the Baton Rouge area for everyone. We're ready to bring it, are you? On April 25th, the Baton Rouge area chamber in forum 225 will host the third annual YP summit, a day long young professionals conference jam packed with workshops, dynamic panels and invaluable networking opportunities. Learn how to navigate the professional waters of Baton Rouge and how you can level up your career, no matter what position you are currently in. Our keynote speakers will share insights to fuel your professional growth, while hands on skill building sessions will sharpen your professional toolkit. Cap off the day at our happy hour, when we plan to launch a big and better initiative for young local professionals, alongside business and community leaders. All right, and we're back with Maggie spurlock, director or developer of talent director of talent development development.

Maggi Spurlock: 39:31

Yes, okay, thank you.

Mike Gennaro: 39:32

It's a tongue twister, that is. Um, I used to have to speak with a speech therapist for all of you aspiring podcasters out there, so it wasn't completely out of reach for me. Um, anyway, thanks for all the insights today for our listeners interested in attending the YP summit. Where can they purchase tickets and what exciting experiences await them? I think we talked a little bit about that. Uh, all this going down on April 25th.

Maggi Spurlock: 40:00

So definitely go check out our website. So that's brachorg slash events or brachorg slash yp summit and, like I said, on March 4th is when we're going to open registration, and so there will be early bird registration and then an option for if you are going to be a college student. So we're kind of looking at your age when you register there for that college student. So there will be an option for them that's a little bit cheaper.

Maggi Spurlock: 40:24

So, whether you're the actual student, if you're an employer and you want your student to come with you, or you're from a mom and dad that think this would be great for your student, have them come and register and those pricing will go through the end of March. And so once you come back from that Easter holiday weekend, prices will go up to our full registration price. So get in. Get in early, and we'll be excited to have you joining us on April 25th.

Mike Gennaro: 40:49

Nice, nice. Last year they literally sold out and nobody could get in after a certain point. I was just making that up, but you're confirming.

Maggi Spurlock: 40:58

It's pretty. It's correct. We did not do one site registration because we didn't fill up. There is I couldn't get a ticket.

Mike Gennaro: 41:04

I remember I I was trying to get in late because, I didn't want to commit.

Maggi Spurlock: 41:08

We have. You know, you have a room capacity. The fire code puts on us, and so we have says a lot about this event. Yes, yes so we're really excited when we're looking at maybe pulling open and opening up two other smaller rooms right now, but it really isn't going to give us a lot of extra legroom.

Mike Gennaro: 41:26

So get in get in early.

Mike Gennaro: 41:27

Nice, that's for real. Okay, that's a wrap for today's portion parish. A big thanks to the Baton Rouge area chamber for shedding light on the initiatives driving positive change in our community, which includes Baton Rouge. You know, we're a part of it, we're linked up. Remember BRAC is ready to bring economic opportunity for everyone and it's time for us in Zachary to step up and be a part of the solution. Until next time, stay connected, stay engaged and keep making a difference right here in the 225. Remember to help Baton Rouge compete on quality of life by picking up trash when you see it, foster technology and listen to diverse voices, because the minds behind those voices are the creative engines of our future. Thank you and talk to you next time. Bye, bye.