Caps for Kids
What do Oprah, Bruno Mars and Kyrie Irving all have in common? They are all Cap Heroes with Caps For Kids, a national nonprofit organization that provides kids with cancer with a ball cap autographed by their favorite celebrity. …
Author: Pamela Marquis
Photo Finesse
Years ago, through her informative column in the Hinds County Gazette, Jane Brent helped the citizens of Raymond, Mississippi keep up with what was going on in the area. “It was the kind of paper that reported on whose…
MotoJustice
Born and raised in New Orleans, Jacque Touzet often helped his father work in the family business, a saddle workshop near the New Orleans Fairgrounds. As a child, he enjoyed riding mini-bikes, go-karts and any other type of wheeled…
A Light in the Darkness
Lighthouse Louisiana When a group of businessmen came together in 1915 with the primary goal of providing meaningful employment for the blind, one of the first things they settled on producing was sturdy brooms. Since those early beginnings, the organization…
Sno-ing in June
In New Orleans, we love our Saints, our festivals and our snoballs. And whether its Plum Street or Pandora’s we all have our favorite stand to procure those sweet icy concoctions. Mary Collins’ stand of choice is Downtown 504…
Gone Fishin’
Yesterday my Facebook page blew up with friends posting photos of their fathers and sharing treasured stories of paternal love. I was not particularly close to my father, but my grandfathers hold a truly tender place in my heart.…
Sew Wonderful
“My hands have always provided for me,” says Denise Taylor, owner of Mes Amis Quilt Shop. When Taylor was a young girl, her grandmother made her stay inside during the heat of the day and taught her how to…
Happy Hour Hunting
Eschewing the corporate corner offices and Brooks Brothers suits, an entrepreneurial triumvirate strategize their next moves en plein air beneath a blue pop-up tent in an Uptown courtyard. Cary Greenwood, Noah Stambovsky and Sam Stein are the team behind Drinker’s Edition, an app that connects…
Teeing Up the Future
Ever since the 1400s, when a Scot first used a club to hit a wooden ball, golf has been about more than just a precision putt or a soaring drive; it’s been a mental and physical challenge, a friendly…
Ruby Slipper Serves Up Creative Employee Benefits
On the Sunday before last, flooding in the city was so widespread that New Orleans' Regional Transit Authority suspended all bus and streetcar service. Many families canceled their Mother’s Day outings to instead meet with insurance adjusters or bail…
Ice Cream Outside the Norm
When he lived in San Francisco, Rahn Broady cooked professionally. Now in New Orleans, he’s turned his talents to gardening, teaching and making tasty ice cream — Broady is the owner of The New 7th Ward Ice Cream Speakeasy.…
¡Vamonos NOLA!
Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, and celebration that typically involves cerveza, chips, salt-rimmed glasses of margaritas and much jubilation. ¡Vamonos NOLA!, a Spanish language program celebrates all Latin holidays equally. They offer play-based language learning programming, which includes camps,…
Charged and Ready
In the mid-1980s, only 5.8 percent of engineers in the United States were women. Today, it’s not much better. According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, only 14 percent of engineers are women. And it’s not just the engineering…
A Bibliophile's Delight
“We’ve heard about used bookstores, but we’d never seen one,” is what Steve Lacy, owner of Dauphine Street Books, often hears as young people wander into his business to escape the French Quarter’s verve and bustle. Upon entering the…
Conquering Water
Randy Newman’s song, “Louisiana 1927” pretty much sums up New Orleans’ interminable challenge with having just way too much water. “Louisiana, Louisiana. They’re tryin’ to wash us away.” And as the sea levels continue to rise, we continue to…
Fighting for the Kids
Advocate Supervisor Tanyanika Franklin and Executive Director Joy Bruce Every two minutes, a child enters the foster care system in this country. In one month, 300 Louisiana children will be removed from their home due to abuse and/or neglect and…
Bamboo King
Three years ago, in a completely haphazard fashion, Mark Sanders built a burgeoning business with only $100 and the engrossing desire for a bit of privacy. His business, Ninth Ward Nursery, is a small-scale garden center specializing in tropical plants,…
Chef Isaac Toups
Chef Isaac Toups’ energy is a bit like a toddler’s who’s chugged two lukewarm Mountain Dews and munched three bags of pop rocks. He seems always a breath away from some piquant smart-ass remark and he’s inescapably charming. Most…
New Orleans Street Gallery Project
Without traffic lights and stop signs, navigating one’s way around New Orleans could be even more hazardous than it is. Often, where there are traffic lights there are utility boxes containing all the transformers, timers and equipment that make a…
When Nature Calls
Benjamin Franklin High School cheerleaders, dance squad, majorettes and their support staff deemed Eve Peyton, Franklin’s communications and marketing coordinator, a bit of hero the other week because she drew up a map that clearly showed every available restroom along the…
Life in Every Drop
To many of us, a glass of crystal-clear water is an ordinary thing. We offer it to a guest in our homes, we bring one to our children as we tuck them in at night. We can simply walk…
Hats Off
In the late 1870s, a young ambitious lad delivered hats walking from a St. Charles Avenue hat store to customers in the Garden District. Within a few years, the same young man moved up to cleaning and brushing fedoras and…
Fast and Reliable Handyman Services
Real estate is Aaron Cook’s bread and butter, but his small handyman business is his jam. Cook has been selling real estate with Latter and Blum for four years. He primarily sells residential and doubles, however, he wanted to do…
Life Changing App
Walter Gugenberger, owner of Flow Digital, a full-service software development company, likes nothing better than solving complex problems. “I love what I do, and I think I’m good at it,” he says. “I compare it to playing with digital LEGOs.”…
Sweet Smell of Success
When Emily Manger bought her house in New Orleans’ Riverbend neighborhood, her father advised her to begin the renovation by first fixing the rickety porch or painting the house’s dingy interior. But the first thing Manger did was plant a…
Turning Beads Into Jobs
“We turn beads into jobs,” says Cathy Brown, manager of ArcGNO’s Mardi Gras Recycle Center and Retail Store. For generations, New Orleans children have learned a variety of life skills while catching Mardi Gras beads: improving their eye-hand coordination and…
Give in to the Glitter
A bit of glitter takes absolutely anything from boring to brilliant in one shiny second. In New Orleans, this ubiquitous accoutrement is completely synonymous with our oh-so-many celebrations, parties and parades. Now, three vibrant women have created a store that…
Related Posts
Labors of Love
Small Business Snapshots By Pamela Marquis
about
After more than 40 years, Pamela Marquis thinks she can claim New Orleans citizenship. A frequent contributor to Biz New Orleans and New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles, Marquis has decades of experience as a freelance writer specializing in business writing. Marquis spent many years working in the non-profit world and holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Missouri.
Living in and loving the 7th ward, she spends her spare time walking her foster dog, playing with her brilliant granddaughters and dashing grandson and gardening.
