It seems like almost every day JEDCO and GNO, Inc., are reporting big economic wins for the region. In the past year, JEDCO has pushed the second-most populated parish in Louisiana forward by forming a new brand of off-bottom oysters to boost the area’s seafood industry and by announcing the creation of the Jefferson Parish Design District and the Greater New Orleans Food & Beverage Incubator. Set to break ground this fall, the 12,000-square-foot facility will be the only major wholesale food production incubator in the Greater New Orleans region.
Charged with economic development for all 10 parishes making up the Greater New Orleans region, GNO, Inc., supports the work of organizations like JEDCO while also crafting its own initiatives, including its Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance — a national coalition of 250 organizations across 35 states, tackling workforce development through the GNO, Inc. Innovation Internship Program, and expanding support for entrepreneurs by creating Startup Noir NOLA, an organization dedicated to positioning the region as a leading hub for Black founders and funders.
You may have heard of some, or all, of the above-mentioned initiatives, but how much do you know about the women behind all of them, and so much more?
A driving force of the JEDCO team for 12 years, Annalisa Kelly serves as the organization’s director of strategic initiatives and policy, managing major economic and community development projects while also overseeing millions of dollars in federal and state grants.
Powerhouse New Orleans native Jasmine Brown DeRousselle worked as commercial litigator at a New Orleans civil defense firm before joining GNO, Inc., five years ago. She serves as the organization’s chief external affairs officer, where she leads its policy initiatives, both at the state and federal level, while providing oversight to several of its programmatic initiatives.
Recently, Biz New Orleans got to sit down with both women to learn more about what drives them, what keeps them up at night and what they’re most excited about for our region’s future.
Getting to Know: Jasmine Brown DeRousselle
- Who do you live with? Husband
- Book, movie or podcast you’re loving right now? The podcast Aspire with Emma Grede
- Something on your bucket list? Get the TWICE Act passed!
- First Job? Summer file clerk at Jefferson Parish DA’s office at 14
- Passion outside of work? Traveling with my husband
- Favorite concert? Maverick City Music
- Favorite productivity hack? If something takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately; If not, schedule it or break it into a tiny first step
- The perfect meal? Crawfish and all the fixings
- Skill you would most like to learn? Would love to learn French!
- Favorite “happy place” in New Orleans? Taking a stroll on Magazine Street
Getting to Know: Annalisa Kelly
- Who do you live with? My husband, six-year-old son, and three-year-old daughter
- Book, movie or podcast you’re loving right now? I’ve been on a huge Toni Morrison kick. I recently read Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Beloved, and was totally blown away.
- Something on your bucket list? I would love to go to as many national parks as I can, but in particular Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
- First Job? Bagging groceries at a commissary grocery store
- Passion outside of work? Singing, reading, traveling
- Favorite concert? I love Bulgarian folk music and once traveled to Los Angeles to catch one of Bulgaria's large women's choirs on your tour in the U.S.
- Favorite productivity hack? I break everything out, from major projects to email responses, into individuals to-dos in a daily planner. I call it my external brain!
- The perfect meal? This is almost an impossible question to answer! I am a very food-motivated person. In this very moment: Spaghetti al pomodoro, bread with olive oil, oven-roasted potatoes, glass of red wine. But ask me tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have another answer.
- Skill you would most like to learn? Playing the pedal steel guitar
- Favorite “happy place” in New Orleans? Having a picnic on the Bayou St. John at sunset
Can you share a bit about your career path? How did you get into this work?
JBD: I have wanted to be an attorney my entire life, since I was 7 years old. Everyone around me, they wanted to be firefighters and doctors — my answer has always been to be an attorney. And from that moment, thankfully, my parents helped to shape that interest. At a very young age, I started interning at the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office for every summer in high school. My friends were working at snoball stands while I was in suits going into the DA’s office.
Before becoming an attorney, though, I worked at a big four consulting firm doing regulatory compliance consulting for some of the largest utility companies in the country, as well as energy and financial institutions.
When the opportunity came to me to join GNO, Inc., my first thought was actually, What is that? But through numerous conversations with Michael Hecht and my vice president at the time, it felt like the perfect convergence of all the work that I had done across energy, financial institutions and utility companies, as well as corporate defense litigation. That is really what drew me to the work, the ability to apply all the skill sets and industry insights that I developed and learned over the past few years in a way that could drive systemic change across the region.
AK: Similar to Jasmine, I had never heard of economic development until I was in my 20s. I had previously been in government relations. I was actually in New York City working for the American Museum of Natural History. When I moved to New Orleans I started working for the State of Louisiana and a couple of nonprofits, and I was on the board of what is now the Lafitte Greenway partnership. But even though I had not heard of economic development growing up, I really think my love of cities and communities made it so that when I did learn about this field, I thought, this is perfect for me.
I grew up in 10 different cities, mostly outside of the United States. I think that gave me an insight into what makes communities and how they're similar and different, what their opportunities are. What I now get to do every day is look at things on both a micro level and a macro level when it comes to what makes a community work. That's what economic development is, and I just love it.
What are you working on right now?
JBD: I am very excited about the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Efficiency (TWICE) Act that has been introduced in Congress by Congressman Carter and Congressman Higgins in true bipartisan fashion. It seeks to marry what we call at GNO, Inc., the union of what we believe to be morally correct, but also what really has an immense opportunity for economic impact. This piece of legislation is seeking to streamline the opportunity for those with criminal histories to more efficiently access the TWIC cards.
One in six jobs in Louisiana is maritime dependent, and you need a TWIC card to be able to access many of those jobs. As we continue to think about where our region is headed from a workforce development perspective, we started to look at what are some of those barriers, and how do we ensure that we have access to the talent pool that we need to be able to deliver across industries? And so, without lowering any standards, keeping eligibility what it has always been and keeping national security at the forefront of our efforts, we are looking at the opportunity to make that process more efficient. If we can make the process more efficient that means that we can meet the needs of business and industry a lot quicker as it relates to the immense workforce opportunities that are in the pipeline, all while being able to deliver second chances to people in our region.
That is a bill that we are driving — we worked with the author’s offices to envision it, and it's work that we are truly leading. We have secured over 30 industry supporters across the state and nationally. The legislation has not yet passed, but it is something that we're working on that I’m really proud of.
AK: One of the cool things about my job is that there is never a dull moment. There are probably at least a dozen concurrent projects. Both GNO, Inc., and JEDCO are small but mighty teams, where we all do a lot. Right now, the food and beverage incubator is a major priority of mine, but we're also looking at several dozen different strategies and projects that kind of cross all aspects of Jefferson Parish.
We have a long-term economic development strategic plan called the Jefferson Edge. We update it every five years, and we just updated and launched the next iteration, the Jefferson Edge 2030, and in that plan, there's a wide range of different priorities.
One big one that I'm really excited about is growing our energy sector, our renewable energies. We have a lot of fantastic businesses in Jefferson Parish in the renewable energy sphere, and the state is really focused on energy right now, so I’m particularly excited about strategies that JEDCO can use to really grow this important and fast-growing sector in our region.
What would you say you are most proud of in your work thus far?
JBD: Last summer, we had the opportunity for months to work alongside partners across our region and trade associations and others across the country to fight to preserve tax credits 45Q (carbon sequestration) and 45V (clean hydrogen production).
When you think about what those tax credits mean, not only on paper, but more importantly, to the lives and the jobs and the capital investment that has been made in the State of Louisiana, I was really excited about the ability to be able to work collaboratively to preserve those credits… For our region and for our state, these credits represent thousands of jobs and really billions of dollars of investment.
When we are thinking about where our energy industry is and where it is headed, those incentives help to ensure that we can continue to be globally competitive.
I’d say that another thing is that, when I first came to GNO, Inc., I had the opportunity — in addition to the policy work — to shape our economic mobility strategy. During that time, there was a true need to ensure that as while we’re growing the startup ecosystem across our region and state, we're making sure that everyone is exposed to those opportunities.
As we met with university presidents and leaders across our region, specifically with our HBCUs, we recognized that there was an opportunity to facilitate a more direct educational and meaningful experience for those students as it relates specifically to startups.
And so, in 2021, I created GNO, Inc.’s first-ever HBCU startup internship program. The program was designed and is still growing under the leadership of my great colleague, Daphine Barnes. It was designed to provide direct access and exposure with the power and influence of GNO, Inc., to students in our HBCUs who may not have otherwise one, even known what a startup is, and two, have had the opportunity to secure a paid internship experience and meaningful resume-building opportunities to give them the lens of what it means to work in and build a startup. That's probably what I'm most proud of.
AK: I've been so lucky to get to work on a lot of projects, and there's two in particular that I'm very proud of that took a lot of partnerships, including with GNO, Inc. Both support our food and beverage industry in different ways.
The first one is something that I got to see start from just an idea that came from our food and beverage companies go all the way to soon celebrating a groundbreaking.
Our region does not have a food and beverage incubator. It’s crazy to think that we're such a culinary hub for the country, for the world, and yet there is no large facility for startups who want to get onto grocery shelves to really be able to grow and access equipment and space.
After meeting with dozens of companies, we heard the need, and then I went after some federal dollars and grant dollars to design and build it. As of now, we have finalized design engineering, and we'll be constructing a 15,000-square-foot facility to serve our food and beverage entrepreneurs. So that's really exciting. It's just so fun to see a dream become reality.
And then the other one is that with my colleague, Kelsey Scram, our marketing director at JEDCO, we worked with off-bottom oyster farmers out in Grand Isle to develop a brand-new brand for them, Grand Isle jewels. That has really taken off. We've gotten a lot of interest and distribution opportunities for these off-bottom oyster farmers in Jefferson Parish, out in the Gulf of Mexico, and they've gotten a lot of opportunities throughout the region and the state to have this new product in restaurants.
What are your biggest challenges right now? What keeps you up at night?
JBD: Narrative! Narrative is something that we have been talking a lot about at GNO, Inc., recently. As a region, we have a lot of opportunity to continue to drive progress. However, the narrative that sometimes exists about our region, both internally and externally, is not always accurate or adequate, and that's why what you're doing at Biz New Orleans is important — telling the good news stories, ensuring that we continue to drive the reality of a narrative that New Orleans is open for business, is open for investment and is open for new opportunities in a way that always continues to honor who we are and who we've been, not only to the state but also to the world at large. We have to lean into that narrative to ensure that we are being perceived in a way that welcomes and drives progress.
AK: I love that. It's so true. As someone who's not from here, and in fact, didn't even grow up in the country, I'm here for a reason. I love this region. I love New Orleans. I don't ever want to leave. And so sometimes it's hard for me as a non-native to hear people from here and living here sometimes be hard on themselves. This is one of the most unique cities in the world. We have such incredible assets. We have such incredible people. We have all of the ingredients to really continue shining and shine even more.
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
JBD: There's not a typical day, and that keeps the work exciting and challenging. For example, yesterday, since it’s during the legislative session, I was up at 4:35 a.m. working out and in prayer. Then I was on the road to Baton Rouge. I got there, got situated, got our cards and simultaneously had to step out to get on a call with the Majority Leader's office in (Washington) D.C. to talk about appropriations. Then I had to get back into the committee room to catch up on what I may have missed in testimony, and then I hopped back out to catch a legislator that was walking down the hall to talk about our bill. I stepped out again to attend a board meeting in the middle of the day, virtually, and then on my way home from Baton Rouge, I had a conversation with Michael [Hecht] to catch up on what's happened throughout the day. I got home around 6 or 7 o'clock, pulled open the laptop to make sure that I've tried to catch up on things that I've missed, and then it’s dinner with the husband and starting all over again. (laughing) I promise, it's fun.
AK: Again, one of the really great things about economic development is how wide-ranging things are. You have to be proactive and responsive and sometimes act very quickly. For example, this week we welcomed a global professional fellow from Brunei as a partnership with the State Department. I've been teaching her and learning from her about economic development here versus in Brunei. That’s been really interesting.
We're also having meetings with business prospects. We're having meetings about press events that are coming up involving senators and other folks. Yesterday, I had this wonderful meeting with a group of design businesses in the design district we just made in Old Jefferson to ask them, What do you want to see here? How do you want things to grow? What are some of the strategies we can use? And that was so exciting.
I love having so many different projects and going from thing to thing, but you have to really be so organized and have good project management skills, so it's good that we have a good team.
How do you find some kind of balance between work and life?
AK: I have two young children, so that forces me to have balance. I have to leave things at the office, which is good. And I think I'm lucky in that I have a lot of interests, and my husband and kids do, too. We travel, we read a lot of books. I'm in a couple of musical groups — one is an Eastern European choir called Trendafilka.
I think having a wide range of things going on that I'm excited about and that I genuinely love just kind of inherently provides that balance. But sometimes it's a challenge — even just hearing Jasmine's schedule she just laid out — I'm like, oh my God — but it's kind of an hour-by-hour thing.
JBD: I’m still learning. I have a long way to go on this topic, but what I have tried to do is seek to protect the things that restore me. Identifying those things is a journey in itself, but then once those things are identified, it’s about protecting them. For me, my faith and my family are core to that, and so carving out time daily to make sure that I am connecting with both is what keeps me sane.
If you could wave a magic wand, what is one thing that you would make happen to push the region forward?
JBD: Further comprehensive insurance reform. When we're thinking about what makes our region unique and special, of course, chief to that is culture, our people, our geographical assets, our economic assets, the Mississippi River — all those fundamental core elements of our DNA as Greater New Orleans. And I think when you get into the policy breakdown of that it’s about always ensuring that we not only have high culture and high access to our geographical assets, but that we also have affordability.
Historically, we have had higher auto insurance rates, higher property and casualty insurance rates, and those are elements that start to also affect talent retention and talent attraction. The math has to math, and furthering comprehensive insurance reform is something that I think can take us really far, coupled with furthering comprehensive tax reform.
I'm excited because as a state we've made strides in elevating a more competitive policy background for both insurance and in tax policy. And that's really to the credit of the Legislature and the governor and, Commissioner Temple and former secretary Richard Nelson and others who've been driving this reform.
AK: I’d say — and this is not an issue that is specific to New Orleans — but you're seeing across the country an erosion of the middle class, and a broadening income inequality. A lot of what we do at JEDCO, and I know GNO, Inc., does too, is try to create and bring in very stable, high wage, high growth jobs. That is why we focus so much on having a really diverse economic ecosystem where you have lots of different industries.
I wish I had a magic wand to be able to grow some of our industries and the educational and workforce development partners that get people ready for a lot of these high-wage jobs.
What excites you about our region’s future?
JBD: The alignment that we have with leadership across the board this season, if handled correctly, can really mark one of the strongest economic growth chapters for the city and region.
This is an exciting time for New Orleans and the region at large when we think about what's in the pipeline. For example, when you think about the potential that the Louisiana International Terminal possesses, coupled with this MSY expansion, the Omni Hotel that's going to go up next to the convention center, the River District, NASA Michoud — and these are just a few — if we handle this correctly, we leverage it from the policy perspective and ensure that our policy frameworks keep up with the pace of investment, that our narrative continues to drive positive returns, and of course, that our leadership continues to lead the charge on all of that, we're going to be in a great place, and the future of New Orleans is bright.
AK: I'm so excited. In both Jefferson and Orleans, we have two incredibly smart, driven, capable, passionate women leaders in Jefferson Parish President Lee Sheng and Mayor Moreno, and they're working together so well. In fact, on her first full day of office, Mayor Moreno convened a meeting between Jefferson and Orleans regarding a specific project that had not been working, and I think we now have a path forward that will be great for the whole region.
I work for JEDCO and live in Orleans Parish and it’s so exciting to see regionalism truly being prioritized, because if we silo ourselves, it’s not going to work well for anyone. I'm just so excited to see such great leadership driving us forward.
