It’s a good time to be a New Orleanian right now.
Morale across the city never seems to be higher than around Carnival, and with good reason. This is a time when our city is the loudest and proudest in our proclamation that nobody can touch us when it comes to creativity, culture and banding together for a common goal.
And this year, we can also add in an enormous win on the global stage with the Super Bowl. This success only happened because so many people got on the same team and put in the work so that when the time came, we were able to show off our best selves to the world — and the world was very rightly impressed. It’s a win that is bound to pay off for us all for years to come.
But what if we could take that morale lift and keep it going? What if we could continue that feeling of pride all year long by taking action and focusing on building up what we have?
Across this issue you’ll find a common theme. From our Q&A with Bobby Savoie — a successful entrepreneur who will now be helping to steer the future of NOEW — to a contributed piece from NOEW leadership, The Idea Village’s Jon Atkinson, to another by Josh Fleig, chief innovation officer of Louisiana Innovation (LA.10), to our feature on some of the top investing groups in the region, the message is the same; Now is the time to invest in New Orleans. It’s time to invest in our ideas, our innovators, our people, our businesses.
For investors, that means prioritizing companies close to home. For everyone else, that means doing the same with the dollars you spend every day.
My family has been making efforts to do this in the new year. It’s not as easy — I admit I grumbled a little about scheduling a stop to Blue Cypress Books to pick up a book instead of just ordering it on Amazon, for example — but that little visit gave me such a good feeling that I’ll happily do it again.
Want a little help on getting started? Check out episode 227 of our BizTalks Podcast at BizNewOrleans.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. In it, I talk with Maryann Miller, program director for StayLocal. Along with details about a fun new program they’re doing for local businesses, Maryann shares that StayLocal.org has an incredible directory where you can search for local businesses according to categories like dining and shopping, but also others like eco-friendly, women-owned, Black-owned, LBGTQ-owned, veteran-owned. I encourage you to check it out.
We vote every day with our dollars. Let’s vote for New Orleans.
Thanks for reading,
Kimberley Singletary, Editor
Kimberley@BizNewOrleans.com
