Exploring Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week: Culture, Entrepreneurship, and Community Spirit

Imagine the pulse of Baton Rouge's culture and entrepreneurial spirit coming alive right before your ears. Our latest episode takes you on a cultural safari through the city's traditions and innovations with special attention to Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week. We wax poetic about our adored BREC parks and debate the merits of the most buzzing late-night haunts, with a toast to the Vintage's vivacious vibe. When it comes to local traditions, nothing is off the table, from the roar of a Southern University Homecoming to the reverent celebrations of the Asian Lunar New Year downtown. This tapestry of community spirit and cultural fervor is a testament to the unique charm of our beloved Baton Rouge.

We wrap things up with a hats-off to the Zachary community and our cherished partners. Our conversation goes beyond mere transactions, embracing the three T's – tidiness, technology, and tolerance – as cornerstones for a thriving community. We share glimpses of Greenwood Community Park and Baton Rouge Zoo's transformations and hint at the intimate gatherings ahead, where the entrepreneurial minds of today will connect and create. Be sure to join in, as we pave the way for conversations that might just spark your next big venture.

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Transcript

Narcisse: 0:04

Hey Baton Rouge. I'm Narcisse Burchell, programs and Events Manager for Nexus Louisiana.

Natisha Natt: 0:09

And I'm Natalia Shannat, director of Marketing and Engagement for Nexus Louisiana. Keep listening to Portion Parish the podcast.

Mike Gennaro: 0:17

What's up, zachary? We're back with another exciting episode broadcasting from the press in downtown Zachary. Now to today's guests. Let's just call them the Brew Crew, because they've got something amazing brewing for Baton Rouge. It's the annual Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week and so much goes into this, and we'll unpack the details for you today. We bring you the best of Zachary and the development in the North region through candid conversations every Monday from our headquarters right here on Virginia Street. This is Portion Parish, the podcast. Stay tuned, we'll be right back with the light near end.

Speaker 4: 0:51

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: 1:09

And we're back All right. So seven lighthearted questions. Anybody can take these, unless I see one person taking too many and somebody's chickening out. You ready? Okay, all right. So I'm going to answer these favorite Baton Rouge Park or outdoor hangout spot, and this can be restaurants too.

Natisha Natt: 1:31

Honestly, the parking Zachary is my favorite outdoor spot. Which one, oh? The break park.

Mike Gennaro: 1:37

Okay, awesome With the lake and stuff yeah.

Narcisse: 1:41

I love it. Yeah, I would say any break park really, because each location has something different. Like you have the parking's location with the skate park. You have the track inside of the North Sherwood Park, so it's just always something different.

Mike Gennaro: 1:53

Yeah, yeah, all right, very good, very good you cheated. You need an answer. Just one spot, but it's okay. You know, thought you were my A plus student in our seats. No, no, no, no, all right. Best place for a late night snack in downtown Baton Rouge or, you know, anywhere in Baton Rouge, okay.

Natisha Natt: 2:16

Honestly, I can't say late night because my late night snacks are at home.

Mike Gennaro: 2:21

They're getting earlier.

Natisha Natt: 2:22

Yeah, exactly, I'm with you, but downtown I love the vintage, I love going there for snacks, for appetizers.

Speaker 4: 2:30

Yeah.

Natisha Natt: 2:31

Fantastic Drinks, really good.

Mike Gennaro: 2:33

Yes.

Natisha Natt: 2:34

And the atmosphere is amazing.

Mike Gennaro: 2:35

Yeah, I like the morning atmosphere too. I'll take the kids and go run the levee sometimes and that place is just insane to me, like dogs are inside and people got cats and ferrets and just like everybody's drinking coffee and yeah, there's beignets there.

Natisha Natt: 2:50

That's amazing, and the chocolate field being gays.

Mike Gennaro: 2:55

The animals are because it's pet friendly. That's what I meant.

Natisha Natt: 2:58

It's like I was going to skip over the ferret comment.

Mike Gennaro: 3:00

Yeah, I was not going to pay attention. I mean, is it dog friendly or pet friendly?

Narcisse: 3:05

Like I think pet it must be a ferret.

Mike Gennaro: 3:08

I'm going to bring my tortoise up in there one day and just like, go crazy. Represent Zachary.

Natisha Natt: 3:13

You have a tortoise.

Mike Gennaro: 3:14

Yes, three, three I'm officially, that's. You know, a group of tortoises is called a creep, so I'm a tortoise creep. So, anyway, there's an annual meetup. I've mentioned this. My listeners understand how strange this is. Rich over here, the cameraman's just about to fall on the floor and the weirdness. All right, let's move on. If you had to recommend one hidden gym in Baton Rouge, what would it be?

Natisha Natt: 3:47

Oh, narcisse, okay.

Mike Gennaro: 3:49

Oh look, wait, you mean, Narcisse herself is a hidden gym.

Natisha Natt: 3:53

She is All right Nice.

Mike Gennaro: 3:55

Wait, skirt around that question.

Narcisse: 3:57

Can we keep that answer?

Mike Gennaro: 3:58

I mean it's your turn.

Narcisse: 4:01

I think any relocation in Baton Rouge is a hidden gym, because a lot of people don't take the time to explore our city.

Mike Gennaro: 4:08

Are you running for politics, Narcisse?

Narcisse: 4:10

I might be.

Mike Gennaro: 4:12

These answers are amazing. I love it. Both of y'all All right Football game day or a quiet day by the Mississippi River Game day.

Speaker 4: 4:24

I'm going game day all day.

Mike Gennaro: 4:26

All right, all right, nice, not going to be high school, college, whatever, or your kid's soccer game.

Narcisse: 4:32

Maybe not, yeah, all right.

Mike Gennaro: 4:36

Favorite Baton Rouge tradition or festival. Not everyone might know about.

Natisha Natt: 4:45

But everybody knows about Southern Homecoming so I can't say that, but that's my favorite.

Mike Gennaro: 4:49

I don't know about that.

Natisha Natt: 4:51

Southern Homecoming is just amazing, really.

Mike Gennaro: 4:53

Yeah, now I need to learn about this. What All right Is it? I mean, I know the band's amazing Good football team, it's just a really good community vibe.

Natisha Natt: 5:04

Okay, it's like a reunion, any homecoming is like a reunion yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 5:08

Is there a parade or yes?

Natisha Natt: 5:10

There is a parade, an actual parade, that throws really great candy. Yeah, it has hundreds of people out there.

Mike Gennaro: 5:17

It's on campus.

Natisha Natt: 5:18

No, it's in the Scotlandville community.

Mike Gennaro: 5:21

Yeah, yeah, and I don't know about it, all right.

Natisha Natt: 5:24

Oh, okay, all right, then there you go.

Mike Gennaro: 5:26

Text me when that goes down. Okay, we'll get out there. All right, narciss.

Narcisse: 5:30

And you know about St Patrick's Day, right? Sure, I did. It's a really big deal in Baton Rouge.

Mike Gennaro: 5:34

Yeah, it was Irish, I don't know.

Natisha Natt: 5:40

I mean something that's new. That's really cool, though, is what is it? Market Night BR.

Mike Gennaro: 5:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the what the Asian Lunar New.

Natisha Natt: 5:49

Year.

Mike Gennaro: 5:50

Yeah.

Natisha Natt: 5:51

That was amazing. This year it was a lot of people out there, it's crazy.

Mike Gennaro: 5:55

Yeah, how did they get like? They're saying it was 5,000 people this year, but they started last year with like a thousand, right, and that was amazing. And now it's even better in downtown.

Natisha Natt: 6:05

Five times better apparently.

Mike Gennaro: 6:07

So we are working with Laura Sue Nguyen right now to try to bring something fun like that to Zachary. I mean, it probably not going to have Asian flair or anything, but you know something authentic to us, right, our own festival. You're laughing, I'm sorry. Kind of All right, yes.

Natisha Natt: 6:27

Laura is great. We work with her a number of projects as well.

Mike Gennaro: 6:30

She's amazing.

Natisha Natt: 6:30

I asked both and Kenny. They're great, but I would love to see a festival like that in Zachary.

Mike Gennaro: 6:37

Something similar. Yeah, we're talking about. I know like, do you know about the? But we were talking about how the town burned down downstairs.

Natisha Natt: 6:44

See, and I didn't even know that.

Mike Gennaro: 6:45

Isn't that crazy. The whole town of Zachary burned down in 1903 and three buildings remained I believe it was the fire station, and they formed a bucket brigade and saved the town. What is it? The train station over here. And then the fields house remained, this place where we're at. You know it was rebuilt a year after, out of New Lumber. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were going to do something to honor that.

Natisha Natt: 7:13

I like it. Yeah. Why did the town burn? What was the cause? Chop Dieser.

Mike Gennaro: 7:15

Panella, I swear there is an Italian. There are two Italians probably in the whole town of Zachary at the time, but one of the two burned the town down because they were flame y'all don't laugh ripening bananas. They were flame, ripening bananas. So, like back in the day, you didn't just spray them with whatever they spray them with at the grocery store. So the flame helped to speed up ripening and so the shipment came in from New Orleans all the time of all these tropical fruits and things, and so they would have these little stations where they would flame ripen them, and it just a strong wind caught it.

Natisha Natt: 7:58

And it burned the whole town, the whole town down. I'm gonna have to check your facts on that. Please do, please do.

Mike Gennaro: 8:05

I want more people to know about this, because it's like everybody's always complaining why don't we have this or that? We don't have a really historic looking town anymore. We have this incredible historic village, but where did all our cool buildings go, right? Well, we never had them. They burnt down the Italians.

Natisha Natt: 8:26

See how one person does something and becomes a whole group of people.

Speaker 4: 8:32

Right? Well, I say it was.

Mike Gennaro: 8:34

I'm Italian. I figure I have a certain amount of leeway to make fun of Italians, but there were these two Sicilians that they didn't know, either one didn't admit to, who burned it down with their both green grocers apparently. So yeah, anyway, Okay so is your family.

Mike Gennaro: 8:54

No, they were Sicilian, though. All right, moving on, I love the lightening. I could just stay on this the whole episode, but we must get into the core questions after this one. What is your go to food in Baton Rouge? You know what I want to change it. What is Baton Rouge's go to food? What is Baton Rouge really known for? You know, like Austin is probably barbecue.

Natisha Natt: 9:23

The seafood.

Narcisse: 9:25

Seafood still, that's it. Blue store chicken.

Mike Gennaro: 9:28

Blue store chicken, and it's not just chicken, it's just blue store right.

Natisha Natt: 9:31

Right, that's true. I'd give it that. That's true, I agree, it's a staple, it is.

Mike Gennaro: 9:38

So, like regionally, we should be known for our fried chicken wings. I would do that. I would double down on that.

Natisha Natt: 9:46

No, she didn't say everybody's chicken wings, no blue store, she said blue store which chicken wings come in second place.

Mike Gennaro: 9:56

This is not even a close second. I'm glad Keynes isn't sponsoring us.

Natisha Natt: 10:02

I have to go explain that. They don't have wings, they have tenders, they do. Yeah, it's a difference.

Mike Gennaro: 10:07

Yeah, you need to check in on the bone. All right, moving on, all right. So look, let's start by thanking you all for your incredible hard work this past year and leading up to this event. It wasn't until I attended my first brew last year that I really recognized how much just goes into this. I mean, the venue was incredible, the setup, there are multiple displays, the stage was great and it's not just in one place, it's in a few different rooms. Is it in two different venues or just the same spot?

Natisha Natt: 10:43

So you know, each brew has its own unique flair and personality.

Mike Gennaro: 10:49

Okay.

Natisha Natt: 10:49

Last year was really sort of a rebirth, if you will. We had a new group of people organizing it and we just brought all of our ideas to the table and said what if?

Speaker 4: 11:00

Yeah.

Natisha Natt: 11:01

And pretty much no answer was no, it's just let's try it and see what happens.

Speaker 4: 11:05

Yeah.

Natisha Natt: 11:06

And we had, you know, in our season nine we have conversations about brew all the time, of course, with the rest of the team. We had 93 speakers over the course of three 93.

Mike Gennaro: 11:14

93.

Natisha Natt: 11:15

Do you know how many conversations that is?

Mike Gennaro: 11:17

So that means that I'm setting that up to get 93 people to the same spot. How many?

Narcisse: 11:22

cups of coffee was behind that, yeah.

Natisha Natt: 11:27

But this year, you know, brew is different, it's in a different location and we're really excited about it. I know we're going to get into that. But yeah, to your point, though, you know each year for sure it takes on, it's a life of its own, I would say.

Mike Gennaro: 11:39

Yeah, last year we were at the Shaw Center, right? I mean, doesn't get much better than that. What did y'all do to up your game this year?

Natisha Natt: 11:48

So we don't really look at it as up in our game. We're meeting the moment.

Speaker 4: 11:52

Yes, I like it.

Natisha Natt: 11:54

So last year we really focused on, you know, ideation. Like what ideas do we have? How can we just re-imagine the things that we've been working on to do? You know, just try to do things slightly differently to have an even bigger and better outcome.

Speaker 4: 12:09

Yeah.

Natisha Natt: 12:10

So this year we wanted to refine our approach a bit and, you know, instead of me talking about it, I would really like to toss it to Narcisse, who is the person that conceptualized the ideas.

Mike Gennaro: 12:22

Gotcha. All right, take it away.

Narcisse: 12:23

All right. So this year, um, actually we started thinking about the theme at last year's brew, after everyone was kind of worn out by all the planning and the multiple sessions, the multiple days, and by the time we got to maybe halfway through the week, it was like how do we stay alive during, you know, during this whole event? And so we thought about that as a business owner, entrepreneur and that's how they think every single day Like how do I keep this business going? How do I stay alive in my business?

Narcisse: 12:58

And it's all about their resilience, and so this year, we wanted to take that same energy and put it into the theme. Not only that, the venue as well. Um, we are going to be a mid city tower, and it's all about revitalizing Ben Rouge.

Mike Gennaro: 13:11

Oh, I love that Rebuilding Ben.

Narcisse: 13:13

Rouge, you know and so the theme carries throughout the week, it carries throughout the program. It's just a really big deal.

Mike Gennaro: 13:20

Nice, okay, so it went into the venue to introduce us to a different place, right?

Speaker 4: 13:27

Okay.

Mike Gennaro: 13:29

Um mid city tower. I don't know if I've been there when is it the iconic mid city tower? It's all.

Narcisse: 13:34

Florida Boulevard, it's right down from our office.

Mike Gennaro: 13:37

You're talking about. That's a brand new real estate development Right.

Narcisse: 13:42

They've been working on it for a while now and they're ready to move in some tenants.

Mike Gennaro: 13:47

Okay, awesome, awesome.

Natisha Natt: 13:49

So it's a cool opportunity to show off the space, and I must say they have done a phenomenal job of revitalizing that property. Um it's 14 stories. They have very large meeting rooms and an outdoor space. And look, now I'm pubbing the, the, the property but on the 14th floor um, as I understand it, it used to be a lounge and from that 14th floor you can actually see Tiger Stadium, you can see the bridge. You can just see so much.

Mike Gennaro: 14:15

Nice.

Natisha Natt: 14:15

It's the only location on Florida Boulevard where you can just see that far. So that's kind of a cool spot that that has not yet been, um, revamped at all and allowing whomever the new occupants are to completely revitalize that space. So, um, and you know, just piggybacking off of what Nar twists said is really about showcasing these things that were once of, you know, important and prominent, that of course they weather the storm, yeah, but now we're in a position to bring them back, bring them back into commerce, bring back the ideas and, you know, the energy and excitement that was once had, which also also ties into the efforts to revitalize that whole Florida corridor area as well.

Mike Gennaro: 14:56

Yes, I love it, I love it. I applaud you for picking that venue, all right. So what inspired the creation of Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week and how has it evolved over the years? So we've got a glimpse there of how it evolved over the past two years Very cool.

Natisha Natt: 15:15

So Bruce started several years ago. This is what our 11th, 12th year, 13th, 13th See kind of like my wedding anniversary. On the odd years I tend to be.

Mike Gennaro: 15:28

Yeah, sounds lucky.

Natisha Natt: 15:32

But it started several years ago in partnership with Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is, of course, an international endeavor to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship and small business across the globe, and it was held in conjunction with that week. Over the years, it took on many different organizers and many different themes, and in 2019, it landed with Nexus Louisiana being the lead organizer for the event, and so I can really say that the event takes on the personality of the organizer and the people that are really leading the charge. So, with that being said, our goal this year really is to meet the moment of where we are in Baton Rouge. We have a lot of conversations going on about workforce development, talent recruitment and retention, and we really want to bring that to the forefront this year.

Mike Gennaro: 16:25

Beautiful Love. That Okay. Can you share some success stories or notable outcomes from the previous brew events that demonstrate the positive impact on the local entrepreneurial community? And I'll help this question out a little bit. I know it gave you all these in advance, but really it comes down to the speakers. For me personally, Like I heard, of course I made kidding wins. You know speech. I always just get so pumped up here and, like this podcast is really the Kenning Nguyen rebroadcast of his message, like whatever he comes up with. I'm just going to say it to Zachary over and over, but I really loved that speaker. She was HR focused and she was taking videos of all of the industrial jobs that were available so that she could bring that to people that didn't really know about the jobs. Do you remember her name? 93 speakers, Anyway, but highlight some more moments and some more speakers that just really did well.

Natisha Natt: 17:31

Okay, how about you answer for Patty?

Narcisse: 18:05

Patty has been well requested to return to Bruce, so we may or may not be seeing.

Mike Gennaro: 18:11

Patty, she just goes by one name. Is this like Prince?

Natisha Natt: 18:15

I mean, it's Doperkowski. Okay got it.

Narcisse: 18:21

Patty is going to help you draw your future, so that was a really big one. Just being able to visualize what's next for yourself. That's always a big deal because we can't always clearly see what we want to do next or what's next for us without sitting down and taking some time with that, so that's always big. And then boomerang comedy.

Narcisse: 18:41

I don't know if you guys remember but, if you didn't get a chance to sit down on that. That was a huge session, all about really stepping back from your norm, which was all about our theme last year with the reimagined stepping out of your norm and stepping into something new, being able to really innovate in your business through non-traditional methods.

Mike Gennaro: 19:03

Yes.

Natisha Natt: 19:04

So to piggyback off of that when it comes to brew is the speakers are great, I mean. But let's be honest, we go to events all the time and we hear people speak all the time and we are able to take away nuggets from them that we our goal is to, of course, go back and, you know, import them or implore them at our companies to, you know, be successful. But for me, the true essence and success of brew are the things that you really don't hear about. So I learned later on down the line that women groups were formed, that business, new business partnerships were formed, new sales opportunities came about just from being in that space. And I think one thing that sets brew apart from most events is that it's anybody who is in entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship adjacent. So, whether you're a supporter, you are a partner, you just have an interest in it.

Natisha Natt: 20:04

It brings all of these people together that have a similar interest in entrepreneurship but have very different ways that they look at it and they approach it, and you don't always have the opportunity to engage with them in one space. I think that is the beauty of what brew brings to us each and every year is about really networking and cultivating a sense of community, meeting new people and exploring different ideas and really growing from there. So we're really excited to see what unfolds this year. We've had a lot of interest in participation from people last year saying when is the next one? So we really love hearing that. And one thing that is going to be, I guess, different about this year as well is because we are in this new building. There's tons of space. We invite you to come do work In this space. There's office space available. You know, sometimes you just need a break from the office. Yeah Well, how about this? You go, come to brew, you tap in, listen to a session.

Natisha Natt: 21:07

This already, and then you know you just break away, go to a confined office, take a couple of meetings, sit on a zoom and then come back to brew. You can do it all there.

Mike Gennaro: 21:16

This was gonna be my next question, like how are you supposed to attend brew? There's so much content and last year I didn't budget enough time to get to all the speakers, you know. So that answers that question. I think I might be working remotely from the mid-city tower this year. You know we understand that.

Natisha Natt: 21:38

But three days is a lot to step away from your company sure anybody like even for us to say okay, we're gonna go do this event for three days. You think about all the things that you leave behind in that time frame, but it's also good to just have an escape for a moment. Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 21:57

You're beating up my microphone over there talking with but it's good to have a break.

Natisha Natt: 22:06

You cannot keep me laughing because I'm gonna.

Mike Gennaro: 22:09

Speaking of brew, coach brew of the Zachary football team beat my mic up more than anybody else because he's got like this huge Championship ring at all times and a huge watch on and he's big and it was just like just banging on the chair and talking with His hands and hitting the microphone seat. You're not as bad as him.

Natisha Natt: 22:28

Oh, his name is coach brew. Yeah, wow something.

Mike Gennaro: 22:35

Oh yeah, I don't even know. Is that his real name? What is this Brewerton? Yeah, yeah, it's Brewerton there, it is okay. I don't. Nobody knows him except by brew.

Speaker 4: 22:48

David. David, I think, is real name, is bro.

Mike Gennaro: 22:51

Yeah, anyway, you were in such a groove until I derailed that.

Narcisse: 22:58

My bad.

Mike Gennaro: 22:59

I'm gonna give you another question. Oh god, all right, all right. So I mean you can, you can kind of piece this together just by what was already said. But how does brew contribute to the economic development and entrepreneurial spirit in the region?

Natisha Natt: 23:15

you know, I Will say that brew. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well at brew. You know, it's a place where people convene to have come thought provoking conversation. They ask hard-hitting questions, but they are also able to connect with Like-minded individuals but then also speak with people that they wouldn't normally come across and have these very organic conversations and are able to conceptualize ideas and birth new companies as a result of just having, you know, a one-off conversation. I Think that is what's fun and unique about brew and how it contributes.

Natisha Natt: 23:59

That's just one way that it contributes, and then also you have most of the resource partners and the economic development Agencies in one space. Yes you have access to attorneys, real estate agents, creatives, software developers in one space. Mm-hmm. Where do you go to find those people in one location at a centralized time?

Natisha Natt: 24:20

Yeah and then also and we haven't talked about this enough and I'll let our seats share about this but we also. One thing that's different about this year is a spotlighting small business, even more Mm-hmm, and you can kind of take it over a little bit.

Speaker 4: 24:35

Yeah.

Narcisse: 24:36

Yeah, so normally we go to events and we see a lot of you know tables and you know entrepreneurs there set up. Right wanted to do things a little bit differently by actually allowing people to experience these small businesses, so the drink that you may be drinking at the event may be from a small business owner. You know, you might have treats come around from a small business owner. Just different ways that we've incorporated them throughout the event.

Narcisse: 25:01

Yeah so you get a chance to first hand experience these businesses, as opposed to just Taking it away and maybe not picking it up later.

Natisha Natt: 25:09

Yeah, and finding out who is behind the business. I think that's also important. Mm-hmm, we think about Leroy's lemonade. You know Leroy is a face of the lemonade, but his mom and his family, you know they are really the trailblazers behind it and, recognizing that, you know they're going to work on behalf of that company each and every day and you think about all the blood, sweat and tears that they put into.

Natisha Natt: 25:33

Yeah you know, bringing that idea to life. It's important to know who they are? Yeah, because sometimes when you look at someone, you may see yourself in them. Mm-hmm and I think that's also very inspiring and important. We have software Companies that are there. We we're gonna demo some new tech that that's out yeah.

Narcisse: 25:54

I've also been having this morning Bruce series that we've been doing, and so we've been going to these local businesses out in the community Meeting up for coffee, networking. If you want to co-work with us, we have that available as well. Yeah, just organically meeting up, stepping away from your office, stepping away from your home, as entrepreneurs needing a break to talk to you know real people.

Mike Gennaro: 26:14

Yeah, and I want to attend one of those morning brews. I to calm. Yeah, the first time I heard about it was when I got the email last week, so I want to make the next one in. Y'all need to know you're always welcome here at the press.

Natisha Natt: 26:28

I was gonna say how about we just host a morning brew here?

Mike Gennaro: 26:30

Absolutely. They're gonna get their coffee side Really up and up and rolling in about a month, and I don't want to speak for the company, but you know so that are here being in Zachary.

Natisha Natt: 26:43

What's that? We can host one in Zachary.

Mike Gennaro: 26:45

Oh, yeah, yeah, I would. I would absolutely love that. I like to hear you know, every time we're upstairs You'll have to imagine this in the podcast booth but there's this little bell that rings every time the door opens. It's like this old, like Jingle bell sound and I'm like now I gotta go visit somebody else. So like I feel like all my days are just ADD experiences of running down the stairs to go see who it is, because I Can kind of see from the parking lot here. So I get excited to meet all these new people. They're coming through the doors all the time. So I feel that this is a moment right now in Zachary where we are learning to become Reengaged with the capital area. You know, it's not just about hey, everybody come out to Zachary, bring all these this, these businesses to Zachary. It's connect back in because we're still one East Baton Rouge, parish, and that's why I just feel like this whole podcast booth is graced by, you know, y'all being here today and last year. It opens up that mindset here in Zachary. So yeah, absolutely Okay, that's a really simple question.

Mike Gennaro: 27:52

So I get nervous about going to these big events. You know, I, what do I wear? What do I do. What's it gonna be like? And is it just gonna be a bunch of networking and all these people standing around that already know each other? And, oh my god, I'm freaking out. Tell me, when I tell me where to park, this is the 41 year old man speaking. Tell me how far my my walk will be. What do I wear? What do I experience when I walk through those doors this year? And then where do I go? How much does it cost all these details?

Narcisse: 28:59

Okay, so parking conveniently located right there in the parking lot next to Mid City Tower. We made sure to think about that. This year we also. There's ample parking.

Mike Gennaro: 29:11

Good A lot of it Good, and the drive from Zachary is about what? 35 minutes 30.

Natisha Natt: 29:17

30 minutes.

Mike Gennaro: 29:18

You're speeding. No, no, only 30.

Natisha Natt: 29:22

30? Okay, it's just 30. I can make it in 25.

Narcisse: 29:30

Yes, you can grab your tickets at Eventbrite. Also, you can go to our website, celebratebrewcom. The tickets are $100. So we made sure that it was something that was affordable for our entrepreneurs. Yeah, you get three full days of programming. You also get access to our high stakes pitch competition and our closeout event at that $100 mark.

Mike Gennaro: 29:51

Okay, Alright. So when I walk through the doors, what do I see?

Narcisse: 29:56

When you walk through the doors, you're going to see one of our lovely faces. They are to greet you. You're going to be hopefully blown away by what you see when you walk through the doors and you're going to be immersed in the world of just entrepreneurship. Live in Ban Rouge.

Mike Gennaro: 30:10

Okay, alright, and so the seating arrangement and all that is this just going to be in one room or the breakout rooms, or how does that part go? What's the normal or anticipated crowd size in each room?

Narcisse: 30:26

So, since we're very intentional, this year we're wanting more intimate rooms for people who have that anxiety in going to network with new people.

Mike Gennaro: 30:35

Just call it what it is Social anxiety hey.

Narcisse: 30:38

We wanted to make sure that you could come here and get what you need from the event. Yeah, you know they say the more you learn, the more you earn, and so we want that for our entrepreneurs. Yeah, so we are going to do single sessions this year, as opposed to concurrent sessions all throughout the day where you can't decide which session should I be in.

Mike Gennaro: 30:58

Yes, that's hard yeah.

Narcisse: 31:00

So we made we tried to make everything a little bit easier this year.

Mike Gennaro: 31:04

Yeah Cool, it's a strange question, but is there an age limit? My son's really entrepreneurial, but he's 15. Like what you know.

Natisha Natt: 31:13

No, okay, when you think about entrepreneurship, it's a mindset, so it doesn't have ages and a barrier. You can start something in your senior, you know years and go on to be successful. Actually, we've been working and having conversations about how we can get more youth involved.

Speaker 4: 31:30

Yes.

Natisha Natt: 31:31

The biggest challenge is, of course, is during the day, during school time.

Mike Gennaro: 31:34

I mean, all it is is a note, Like if it was, if it counted as an excused absence. I think, that's the play, yes, the policy play on that one, because you think about Luke Parks. He needs to be there. Royal treats, tea cakes come on, the McAllister sisters, you know and I loved how that's posh pop.

Mike Gennaro: 31:55

For those of y'all who don't, I know y'all know but my listeners don't really not know and it's so cool that their parents are always like right there with them involved. And you know, as a parent you want to be able to bring your kid to some of these types of things, but you just don't know if it's, you know, allowed. So that's great to hear. Yeah, Okay, Awesome, let's take a break on that one. Take a quick breather. We're grilling y'all today.

Natisha Natt: 32:21

Oh, it's like filming a reality show, like you know, at the end, when they do the reunion, and then everybody gets to relax. Oh, my knee hurt.

Mike Gennaro: 32:32

Keep listening, We'll be right back. Greenwood Park is the largest park in the Brex system. The master plan vision for Greenwood Community Park in the Baton Rouge Zoo is focusing on creating a one of a kind world-class destination for the entire East Baton Rouge Parish and its visitors, stitching together Brex most visited facility and largest part to transform park goers experiences. See what's coming for Greenwood Community Park in 2024 by going to brexorg back slash park improvements and we're back with the brew crew. We got Narcisse Bershelle with us today in the Tisha net. So look, I'm going to keep peppering y'all with some questions. So what is? What was the attendance last year? How wide reaching was that? You know that audience and what are y'all anticipating this year?

Natisha Natt: 33:23

All right. So last year, over the course of the three days, there were a total of 522 people that attended brew last year. Now, the is interesting because brew last year, like we said, it was concurrent sessions. We had multiple rooms. I think we have four rooms going at a time. Yes, there were in multiple parts of the man ship, theater and downstairs, but then we also had those ancillary event, so we had to pitch competitions and we had social activity. So we counted all of those people, sure, and of course, though, that's where you get the 522 people. Now, when you talk about how wide reaching, we had entrepreneurs from as far as Texas, I believe, to come, so we had some from New Orleans, lafayette, of course, a significant portion from Bat Rouge. We even had someone from Shreveport.

Mike Gennaro: 34:12

So we had people as far as attendees or speakers. Speakers were from all over right.

Natisha Natt: 34:17

Yes, speakers were from Louisiana.

Narcisse: 34:22

Texas, california, yeah, yeah.

Natisha Natt: 34:24

Yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 34:25

A lot of them were saying I just flew in for this, yeah, yeah.

Natisha Natt: 34:29

So we have, so you can expect more of that as well, yeah.

Natisha Natt: 34:34

For this year. But, as Narcisse mentioned, we are trying to be more intentional and intimate and we want to have more of a controlled environment so you're able to maximize your experience. So this year we're looking at maybe about 200 people, and we know that, that that attendance number will ever flow throughout the day Because, again, you know, you're entrepreneurs, you have to work on your business. So whether or not we have a full 200 at one time at each moment throughout the week, we'll see. We'll see how that goes, but that's the anticipated attendance goal.

Mike Gennaro: 35:10

Yeah, okay. So I kind of treat this like Jazz Fest now, right, like you got to look at. I like to look and kind of see who I want to Go to and all that. Is there a list of speakers that you can anticipate, who you know you must see and who you'd like to see?

Natisha Natt: 35:27

oh, I mean, of course, we have curated a fantastic experience, so I would hate to say who you must.

Mike Gennaro: 35:35

I know. That's why you know.

Natisha Natt: 35:37

But I will say what you should do is Take a look at your business, see where your pain points are see where your opportunity everything hurts. Well then, that means you need to come to everything.

Natisha Natt: 35:51

I'm a business hypochondriac yeah because we're gonna focus on finance. We're focusing on marketing and storytelling. We're talking about you know how to properly pitch your company if you're looking for investments. There are some do's and don'ts and we're gonna cover those as well. Yeah, we're gonna have conversations about AI. How do you go about incorporating innovative concepts into your company, preparing yourself for what's next? Yeah, I mean, there is, you know it's, it's comprehensive. Yeah, we don't want to just focus on one thing. Right, because entrepreneurs are multifaceted. Having a business is multifaceted and we want to be able to bring you content. There's multifaceted as well.

Mike Gennaro: 36:30

Yeah, I love it. Love it, narcisse. Got anything else you want to highlight before we head out?

Narcisse: 36:37

I want to invite entrepreneurs to apply for high stakes pitch.

Mike Gennaro: 36:40

Oh yeah, I'll tell you Vint Okay.

Narcisse: 36:42

I'm gonna close out the the week and it's a hundred thousand dollar investment prize, gotcha. Yeah be sure to get those applications in.

Mike Gennaro: 36:50

I like doctors and lawyers and other. You know. You know what I mean. Like is this open to everyone?

Narcisse: 36:58

Everyone want a big idea. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gennaro: 37:00

Yeah, so is it a hundred thousand dollar prize or a hundred thousand dollar Investment? Like you get a partner out of this. Yes, a silent partner, yes, okay.

Natisha Natt: 37:12

Cool, and you must either be located in Louisiana or move your business from wherever you are.

Mike Gennaro: 37:18

Yes, you're not in Louisiana, got it, so these are angel investors, right? Yes, cool Um, can y'all shout out any of those?

Natisha Natt: 37:26

No, no, it's an angel investor. They don't like they're invisible.

Mike Gennaro: 37:31

As long as that money is not invisible, we're good.

Narcisse: 37:35

Who knows, if you come to brew, you might just network with one of them.

Mike Gennaro: 37:37

Yeah, I got you, they're gonna be in the building, for sure.

Mike Gennaro: 37:40

Yeah, yeah, I attended one of those angel investment things once. I think it was startup week and, yeah, it was like I don't know startup week. It was 10 years ago, I don't remember the details, but it was that the LSU technology little park. And okay, yeah, like my idea must have been terrible and so nobody picked it. And then I ended up on One of the on the winning team because I was like, well, nobody likes my idea, I'll just go with this guy, he's got the good idea and they you know, we, we got the a prize and everything. It was really cool, like this stuff is real.

Mike Gennaro: 38:17

Okay, yeah so, um, you might just be the hard worker that has terrible ideas, like me, anyway but the point is go and network, go and see and see who, who you can bring your skills to, and you might just form the perfect team right so absolutely yeah. All these dad jokes come before the serious points over and over, and I applaud all of my listeners out there for sticking with us this long. All right, I can't wait. I'm headed there. If y'all want a carpool, hit me up, I'm carpooling you are, I'm gonna carpool awesome, awesome.

Natisha Natt: 38:54

Save me some gas.

Mike Gennaro: 38:55

Yeah right, the prices are gonna be there like 5 am With you setting up if I carpool with you.

Natisha Natt: 38:59

I know how that works. I know who's not gonna be there at 5 am Parker oh.

Mike Gennaro: 39:06

Why is that? Parker Parker did not. He declined to have a microphone today. He's just oh yeah, gotcha okay. So they're making fun of poor Parker over here.

Natisha Natt: 39:20

I don't even find it's a fact.

Mike Gennaro: 39:21

Yeah, yeah, if you're not early, you'll late. Remember that.

Mike Gennaro: 39:42

That's it for this week's episode of Portion Parish, the podcast with netitianette and Narcissa Burshet and the brew crew. It's been a pleasure to have you all on here today and you can reach out At least in the netitia. I have your email right here at N a t I s h a, at Nexus la dot, word correct. All right, got it. You want to give it out your personal self? I'm still. You live in Zachary. You love everyone here, but not that much.

Mike Gennaro: 40:10

No huge shout out to our community partners, like brew, the Zachary community school district. We all stand with us here in our mission to make Zachary a place where every resident feels hurt and engaged. Thanks to the generosity and support of our community partners, the magazine, the podcast and everything you see online Is possible and free because of them. The three T's that make up the quality of life, the formula right this is Kenny Nguyen regurgitated again. Pick up trash when you see it. Foster technology at any expense and embrace an attitude of Tolerance for diverse voices to begin to engage everyone's talents in our community. Those diverse voices are the creative engines that will drive the future success of our economy. That's it, guys. Thank you all so much for being here. Bye, bye now.

Natisha Natt: 40:57

Thank you.