Category: EBRPL Business Person

Jennifer Marie Fabre, P.T., MPT, CSCS

Manager/Owner

Therapeutic By Design Fitness & Wellness, LLC.

“Live Well… Love Much… Laugh Often.”
—Bessie Anderson Stanley

“I will…discover strengths I didn’t know I had. Give less time to the fluff. Make no excuses. Have courage to change. Be calm. Focus on people-not things. Live by my priorities. Make a difference. Inspire the people around me. Enjoy being organized. Create the future I envision. Look back on this year with satisfaction. Accept no limits. Give more time to what’s important. Keep my eyes on the Goal. Not be distracted.”—Franklin-Covey

Opened in January 2004, Therapeutic By Design Fitness and Wellness, LLC offers the services of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Exercise Programming in Baton Rouge. Licensed therapists provide traditional therapy, personalized exercise programs, and also offer specialty services of Neuro-Developmental Techniques, Sport Rehabilitation, Balance Retraining, Orthopedic and Spine Rehabilitation, Healthy Aging and Functional Fitness Programming in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Fabre says, “I believe it is important for the clinician to take into consideration that therapy is not only for treating a specific physical condition or diagnosis, but it is about looking at the entire person and determining ways to alleviate the impact the physical condition has on that person’s overall well-being and quality of life.” Fabre continues by saying, “whether you are a competitive triathlete recovering from a sports injury; a person with a newly diagnosed life-altering debility; someone of an average fitness level wanting to upgrade a workout routine to achieve specific goals; or perhaps someone seeking new ways to cope with osteoarthritis, Therapeutic By Design is dedicated to helping you optimize, restore and/or maintain your overall fitness, function, and health according to your personal goals and lifestyle.”

Owner and Physical Therapist Jennifer Fabre attended the Louisiana Scholars’ College of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a concentration in scientific inquiry and minors in both biology and math. She continued her education at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, earning a Master of Physical Therapy Degree. Currently, Jennifer is in a Ph.D. program of study at LSU in the Department of Kinesiology with concentrations in exercise physiology and motor behavior. She’s conducted research in the areas of “physical function performance, balance assessments and programming, and cardiovascular measures in older adults.”

Fabre’s own experience growing up in a family with a person having a disability is what led her to the study of Physical Therapy. She cites some statistics from the 1996 report of the Surgeon General— “only 60% of Americans perform any type of physical activity and 25% say they do no exercise on a daily basis.” America’s number one killer, heart disease, can be caused by a lack of activity. Other diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, hypertension, which stem from environmental and behavioral factors, are preventable and treatable. “I want to be an asset to the community in the field of physical therapy and exercise science. Providing people the tools necessary to achieve a healthy lifestyle is an important goal for me.”

By the year 2030, the number of men and women 65 years of age and older will reach 70 million in the United States alone. Persons 85 years of age and older will be the fastest growing segment of the population. Fabre believes that musculoskeletal fitness can provide many health benefits—“reduced coronary risk factors, reduced risk of osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density, increased flexibility and strength, improved glucose tolerance, and greater success in completion of activities of daily living.” Part of her current research deals with falls in older adults, which have an estimated $17 billion impact on health care costs per year. In hopes of promoting a national strategy for fall-risk reduction programs, Fabre is working on the early identification of those older adults likely to fall. “An overall plan for my current research is to complete validation of our newly developed falls risk screening tool and determine the efficacy of local community-wide fall risk prevention programs.”

This twenty-nine year old woman doesn’t know the meaning of the word leisure. Besides working on her Ph.D and opening her own business, Fabre is active in several community groups and four related professional organizations; attends and presents at various local, state, and national conferences; is the Healthy Athletes FUNFitness Coordinator for Louisiana Special Olympics; has been a guest lecturer at LSU’s Department of Kinesiology; and has worked as a research assistant at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. She also holds copyrights as author of two exercise programs—Therapeutic Aquatic Exercise Program and Spine Rehabilitation Exercise Program and as co-author of the LAAAP Falls Risk Screening Tool. She has appeared as a co-author for articles in Journal of Gerontology, Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy, Southern Medical Journal and Gait & Posture.

“Currently, I do not have much time for pleasure reading,” Fabre says. “I mostly spend my time reading about current research in my field of physical therapy and exercise physiology.” Her shelves are full of heavy reading such as: Merck Manual; Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy; Wilmore and Costill’s Physiology of Sport and Exercise; ACSM’s Guideline for Testing and Prescription; Lewis and Bottomley’s Geriatric Physical Therapy; Shephard’s Aging, Physical Activity, and Health; Saunders’ and Tornberlin’s Evaluation, Treatment, and Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders: Volumes 1 and 2; Guyton and Hall’s Human Physiology and Mechanisms of Disease; and Shumway-Cook and Woollacott’s Motor Control” Her favorite magazines are also professional journals (Physical Therapy; Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise; Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research; Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy; JAMA), but she does read 225, Prevention, Runner’s World, National Geographic, Muscle & Fitness, Louisiana Home and Garden, Black Enterprise, Essence and Self for pleasure.

Fabre’s credits her love of reading to her father, a librarian in the St. Tammany Parish School system for over 30 years. She spent afternoons and summers in the library and remembers “reading the World Book Encyclopedias (going from A to Z) and looking forward to the next issue of National Geographic (what awesome pictures).” Furthermore, Fabre states, “my Dad and Grandmother (a former teacher) were strong influences in beginning my quest for life-long learning…while Mom encouraged independence, creativity, and integrity.”

Fabre is determined to link the profession of physical therapy with the art of exercise science to encourage an integrated healthcare community. By pursuing her doctorate in Kinesiology she is equipping herself to become a proactive voice in not only the profession of physical therapy, but in the healthcare arena as a whole. “I look forward to teaching the community, other healthcare professionals, personal trainers, students of the allied health professions, and exercise science researchers and clinicians the importance of strength-training, prevention, exercise, nutrition, and wellness while also promoting the practical application of this knowledge to the gym, treatment table, and functional activities.”

Fabre keeps the Franklin-Covey quote from the beginning of this profile over her desk at home as a constant reminder. “I am a physical therapist who is both devoted to life-long learning and eager to remain loyal to my dreams.”

Business Person of the Month Archive

“Since when has the world of computer software design been about what people want? This is a simple question of evolution. The day is quickly coming when every knee will bow down to a silicon fist, and you will all beg your binary gods for mercy.”
-Bill Gates, February 21, 2000

Rent-A-Nerd is a computer repair and network design company, offering onsite and in-house services to home and business users. Rent-A-Nerd, a locally owned and operated company, has been serving southeastern Louisiana since 1997 from its original Metairie location, but in the aftermath of Katrina, a second shop opened in the Baton Rouge area. In addition to regular repair services, Rent-A-Nerd offers maintenance and full service contracts to customers with multiple computers, and priority and remote assistance services for those issues that must be taken care of immediately. “Whether you have one computer or one hundred, Rent-A-Nerd is ready and able to help you.”

Bret earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Chemistry at Tulane and a Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology from Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. When he failed to make it into Medical school and couldn’t find a fulfilling job in his degreed fields, he took a position at Rent-A-Nerd (he had worked as a computer technician in high school.) He considered it just a stop gap job while he pondered his options, but then he saw how miserable his friends in med school were. “I decided that being a computer doctor was just as fulfilling and required far less insurance.”

An A+ Certified Computer Technician and a Microsoft Certified System Engineer with Messaging Specialty, Bret earned these certifications subsequent to joining Rent-A-Nerd in early 2003. The company policy is to constantly improve abilities and learn the “proper” way to do things. Prior to Rent-A-Nerd, Bret says he saw no need for certifications. “They impress clients more than employers. Memorizing the answers that Microsoft, CompTIA, or Cisco want you to give isn’t the same as being able to fix a problem you’ve never encountered before.” Bret finds the ever-changing nature of this job its most satisfying aspect. Though he may spend most of his time removing viruses and spyware from systems, he relishes new experiences, exposure to some new piece of hardware or software, and new puzzles to solve. “By constantly challenging myself, I’m able to make myself a better technician, which ultimately benefits my customers and leads me to even more difficult challenges.”

Born and raised in southern New Jersey and ready to experience someplace different after high school, Brett applied to colleges in Boston, Los Angles and New Orleans. Tulane was a major draw, but the city contributed somewhat. He knew little about New Orleans other than its reputation and even less about the state of Louisiana when he moved here over 12 years ago. He remembers some culture shock when he ventured out of uptown and into the “wilds” of New Orleans, but “Tulane itself was almost an island of northern-ness in the great sea of the south. I met more people there who grew up within 200 miles of my home in NJ than I did from Louisiana.” He did meet and marry a local girl and has since found no compelling reason to leave Louisiana.

His wife was seven months pregnant when they evacuated ahead of Katrina, leaving their home and most possessions to fate. Their son Nicholas was born October 30, 2005. “Due to inefficiencies and lost records at the Office of Vital Records, we only received his birth certificate last week.” Bret expressed two regrets about the evacuation: that they took so few items of sentimental value because they’d evacuated before without need and the time he spent moving boxes from the garage to the kitchen (“In the end it meant our stuff was under 6 feet of water instead of 8.5 feet.”)

Rent-A-Nerd in Metairie survived the storm with minimal damage and missed the flooding by about a quarter mile. The store was operating in a limited fashion within three weeks of Katrina though half of the employees were permanently displaced. Though not yet generating as much revenue as prior to Katrina, Metairie has almost reached its pre-storm level of employees and workload. Bret manages the Baton Rouge location while the owner of the company, Darrin Piotrowski, splits his time between the two locations. As business increases and more technicians are hired, Darrin plans to return to the original shop full time.

The Baton Rouge shop has shown a steady increase in business since it opened last year. “If things continue at their present rate of growth, I suspect that Baton Rouge will have a Nerd presence for quite some time.” When asked if computers that were in the flood or closed up in hot, moldy environments could be salvaged, Bret said though the machines themselves were a loss, data on the hard drives could sometimes be retrieved. “But in our post-Katrina experience, the success rate on recovery was less than 20%.”

Happy with the work he’s doing, Bret claims not to have “the patience or charm to climb the ladder in yet another field of work.” He has no plans for a career change unless his writing reaches a point where he doesn’t need other work to “support the habit.” Bret started writing while in graduate school when he found the course load not particularly challenging. He co-founded an independent press to help promote and produce quality speculative fiction. Tyrannosaurus Press sponsors writing contests; offers a free monthly ezine, the Illuminata; and has published a short story anthology, Beacons of Tomorrow, featuring undiscovered authors. Library Journal has reviewed his three books favorably, and as a result, libraries across the country have added his work to their collections. “As a science fiction and fantasy author of very limited fame, public libraries represent the largest fraction of my customer base.” Path of Glory (2002), Sword of Honor (2003), and Jewel of Truth (2006) are available at most branches of our library. “I would need a few tens of thousand more devoted fans before I could shelve the day job entirely and switch careers to professional writer.”

Bret considers libraries an invaluable resource for the community and says the library can open up whole new worlds to people. Personally, he uses the library to gain exposure to new authors. “I’m a book collector, so the library’s insistence that I return the books I borrow limits me.” When he finds authors he likes, he tends to buy their books rather than borrow. Bret reads mostly science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels, but also dabbles in mysteries and other genres, even the occasional nonfiction book if the subject interests him. He declined to name a favorite author, saying “there are too many whose works have substantially affected me to select one or to even narrow down the list.”

Bret feels that Baton Rouge is in a unique position at the moment. “The tragedies of Katrina and Rita have swelled the population, and large numbers of the new arrivals (like myself) will not be leaving. If the parish reacts wisely over the next few years, making appropriate changes in infrastructure and public services in anticipation of the needs of the next decade (and not just trying to address the problems left over from the last one), then this city and parish stands poised to become the most important in the state, and perhaps one of the most important in the entire region. This is a great opportunity for us to show how progressive and forward thinking we are, to build a community that shines as an example of what a greater metropolitan area should be. I’d like to think that we, as a people, will make the right choices over the next few years, but I’m old enough now (and experienced enough with our political system) to harbor a certain amount of cynicism over the quality of decisions made by politicians of any party.”

While he doesn’t know the context of the scary quote he chose for the introduction to his profile, Bret assumes it was made tongue-in-cheek. “Relating the quote to my own work, I generally say that while we will be unable to stop the evolution of free-thinking machines, as priests and prophets worshipping at the Alter of Technology, Rent-A-Nerd’s technicians are in the perfect position to keep you and your business in the good graces of the Binary Gods.”

Business Person of the Month Archive

Kaye M. Buhler, LMT
Owner/Therapist

Kaye M. Buhler Holistic Massage Therapy & Skin Care

5055 Capitol Heights Ave # B
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
225.927.1009

“The highest result of education is tolerance..”
– Helen Keller

“Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right you claim for yourself.” – Robert Green Ingersoll

Kaye Buhler offers massage therapy and skin care treatments in a private, peaceful atmosphere. She is licensed by the state of Louisiana as a Massage Therapist and Esthetician/Cosmetologist.

Buhler worked as a hairdresser for nearly 8 years after earning a cosmetology degree from Lockworks Academie (now Aveda Institutes). She later studied esthiology at the Christine Valmy International Institute of Advanced Esthetics in New York, one of the first schools established in the United States to offer students European style and skin care techniques.  Buhler sought additional training through Dermalogica in California and Texas for advanced European style, as well as aromatherapy, holistic esthetics, and spa therapies.

Extended hours of teaching and working behind the chair as a professional hairdresser caused Buhler to suffer neck and shoulder strain, so she began regularly seeking, and benefiting from, massage therapy.  This led to her true calling.  She wanted to be able to offer others the same beneficial healing and relaxation. She studied Massage Therapy at Blue Cliff College.  She has practiced as a licensed massage therapist for 14 years; as her own boss, for 12. “I enjoy helping others feel better about themselves, assisting relaxation, and providing a stress free environment,” Buhler said.

Intrigued by the movements of a belly dancer she once saw perform in Colorado, Buhler discovered her second calling, Middle Eastern Dance, which she has been practicing for 9 years. Dancers traditionally take a Middle Eastern name; she has chosen Noura, a feminized version of the Arabic word Noor, which means light, but also in homage to her grandmother named Nora. In 2000 she joined Middle Eastern Dance Artists of Louisiana (MEDA-LA), a nonprofit social club organization formed in 1980.  She served as vice president and president of MEDA-LA at one time. In 2002 she helped found Bayou Shimmy, a dance studio which offers a plethora of belly dancing classes (some of which she teaches) and meditation workshops; it also boasts a traveling dance troupe, with whom she performs at festivals and events. For more information on MEDA-LA and Bayou Shimmy, you may visit their official websites: www.meda-la.com and www.bayoushimmy.com.

Her other interests include cooking, reading and playing with her dogs. “I love to try new recipes and am learning Middle Eastern cooking,” Buhler said. She often reads Cooks and Gourmet magazines. She subscribes to two dance journals, Zagharett and Habibbi, and to The Chronicles, a magazine of American culture, as well as Saudi Aramco World. When not reading dance & movement books, Buhler enjoys mysteries and historical fiction. She’s currently reading a non-fiction book about the women of Islam, which was recommended by a friend.

When asked if the library had played a role in her life, Buhler replied that libraries are crucial to furthering one’s education and can help you become better and smarter in your chosen field. “Librarians are awesome people,” she added.

The favorite quotes that Buhler chose for the beginning of her profile reflect her interest in learning about different cultures, embracing multiculturalism and encouraging tolerance of differences between people. When asked to comment on the future of our city, Buhler spoke in favor of ethnic diversity saying, “I’d love to see the various cultures in Baton Rouge grow and flourish.”

Business Person of the Month Archive

Bobbie Lee Favaron
Owner/Operator/Stylist

Bobbie Favaron Hair Unlimited, Inc.

9766 Jefferson Hwy #100

Baton Rouge, LA 70809

225.295.0807

Those who know how will always have a job; those who know why will always be their boss — Author Unknown

Bobbie Favaron is not only the owner of Hair Unlimited, Inc., but also an operator and stylist at the salon, which is a corporation licensed as a barber shop. He is licensed as a Barber; his employees, licensed cosmetologists. The salon’s main focus is on hair cutting, styling, highlighting, coloring and permanents. “We do hair,” Favaron says when asked to describe his business, “Everything you can do to hair we do, except extensions.”   This concentration on the natural side is also evident in the pedicures and manicures offered at the salon. “No fake nails,”  Favaron declares.

At the encouragement of his hometown barber, he attended the New Orleans Barber and Beauty School after high school. The plan was for Favaron to begin work at the barbershop and take over the practice when the older man retired. But, six months after becoming licensed, he realized the plan wasn’t going to work. Favaron and his mentor had different ideas about the business. The shop was a typical rural barber shop which only catered to men; Favaron wanted to cover the full range of hair care, including women’s hairstyling. During the 60s, barbers were only allowed to cut hair; working with chemicals for permanents, coloring, etc. was not allowed. Cosmetologists were licensed to handle chemical hair products, though not permitted to cut hair. It wasn’t until the 70s that the State of Louisiana passed a law lifting the restrictions on barbers and cosmetologists duties.

In the early 60s, Favaron had an offer to move to Plaquemine to work in a salon whose clientele was 70% female. Eager to serve a variety of clientele, he jumped on it. He later moved to Baton Rouge in 1966 to become a partner in the Ideal Barber Shop. To advance his education, he took night classes in men’s hair styling. He also became an educator/guest artist for Redken Laboratories, working Trade Shows and doing seminars on hair care and styling. Eventually buying his partner’s share, he continued to operate the Ideal Barber shop until selling it in 1975. He then opened Hair Unlimited in the Southdowns Shopping Center, the first unisex salon in Baton Rouge. Hair Unlimited offered a single location for the whole family, cutting and styling both men’s and women’s hair.

Favaron enjoys working with his clients. “I am a people person.  When you cut and style hair, you help people improve their feelings about themselves.  It is uplifting to give someone a positive attitude about their appearance.  A stylist can make or break a person’s day.” 

Happy to be featured in the Library’s Business Person of the Month program, Favaron reports that he and his family use library resources for school, study and pleasure. He keeps up with hair trends by reading several professional and trade publications in the field. When asked to name a favorite book or author, Favaron mentions a group of books on Psycho-Cybernetics he read years ago. He was impressed by these works of Dr. Maxwell Maltz and said he used some of the principles when he was teaching. “It’s basically about training your mind to achieve goals,”  he states.

Favaron likes to think of Baton Rouge as “the largest little town you will ever live in.”  He explains that Baton Rouge has become the largest city in Louisiana, but has not lost the small town feel.  “Baton Rouge has an opportunity here after the hurricanes to be a very progressive, upbeat town. Not that it isn’t now, but this is our opportunity to grow.”

Active both professionally and personally in our community, Favaron serves as Vice-President of the Board of Barber Examiners of Louisiana, which meets monthly. The Board oversees the testing of students seeking licenses as new barbers.  They also deal with issues in the state that affect the profession. He belongs to the Baton Rouge Round Table and acts as organizer for their Crewe of Knights’ float in the Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade. He enjoys his membership in Les Bon Vie, a men’s dining club, which also does charity work.

In his spare time he and his wife, Glenn, like to spend time on their Sea Ray pleasure boat, “a sort of a motor home on water“. They look forward to relaxing weekends on it and often host Sunday pleasure cruises for friends and family.

Business Person of the Month Archive

Brian Ter Haar
Owner/Operator

The MailBag/Goals & Poles Sport Court of South Louisiana

7575 Jefferson Hwy
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
225.923.0622
www.goalsandpoles.com

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein 

Brian Ter Haar graduated from Louisiana State University in 1982 with a degree in Business/Marketing. Brian Ter Haar is a deacon at University Baptist Church. He is one the board and the CFO of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, an organization that raises awareness, money, and research for the disease Alopecia Areata, an auto immune disease which cause partial or complete hair loss is children and adults. His is a small business owner of four operational enterprises – The MailBag, Goals & Poles, Goalandpoles.com, and Sport Court of South Louisiana.

The MailBag was established in 1982 and is located at 7575 Jefferson Hwy in Baton Rouge. It is a full service mail and parcel center offering UPS, Fed Ex., DHL, and USPS shipping service. They are one of the top private shippers for UPS in the country. The MailBag also offers black and white and color copies and packaging service, Post Office box rental, and a free parcel pick up service, as well as full service direct mail department along with personalized mailing lists.

Goals & Poles was established in 1981. It is the largest installer of residential basketball goals in the state of Louisiana with over 5,000 installations. They also sell and install commercial basketball and volleyball systems to schools and parks.

Goalsandpoles.com is an online site that sells residential and commercial basketball and volleyball equipment.

Sport Court of South Louisiana provides installation of backyard basketball, tennis and volleyball courts. They also sell and install Sport Court modular floors for schools, community centers, and churches.

I started the Mail Bag and Goals & Poles about the time I graduated from LSU in 1982. I saw a need for both services and I went out to fill that need. Sport Court is an extension of the products that we offer with Goals & Poles.” says Brian Ter Haar. “I enjoy the opportunity to meet and provide a service to people in the Baton Rouge area. With Sport Court we custom design their courts, which gives us a great opportunity to work closely with families and greatly enhance their quality of life.”

In his spare time, Brian Ter Haar enjoys spending time with his family. They frequent the library for the extensive resources offered. “I have two children – four and thirteen – so we are constantly using the numerous resources the library has to offer. My four year old is just starting to read, and almost every book he reads now is from our local library. My 13 year old uses the library for research and her summer reading list. My wife and I use the library for research and of course to check out our favorite books,” says Brian Ter Haar. “My favorite books are the ones I check out with my four year old and biographies I check out for myself. My favorite magazines are Forbes, Consumer Reports, and Sports Illustrated.”

“As for Baton Rouge, Brian Ter Haar believes that Baton Rouge’s economy and future are as strong as anywhere in the country. “With leadership for Mayor Holden I am very optimistic about our future.”

http://www.golesandpoles.com 

Business Person of the Month Archive

Charles Elliot
Owner/Operator

Little Wars, Inc.

7517 Jefferson Hwy
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
225.924.6304
www.littlewars.com

“Don’t tell me about the law. I have a sword.” – Lucius Cornelius Sulla. 

Charles N. Elliot is president of Little Wars, Inc., a nationally recognized premiere game shop since 1988. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University, as well as took graduate studies in English Literature, and later, received his Master’s degree from Southeastern Louisiana University. Elliot belongs to the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and professional historical organizations.

Little Wars offers historical, fantasy and board gaming in a bright, clean, pleasant and safe environment. The business keeps in-stock a broad, deep and rich array of books, games, miniatures, paints and dice, while providing free in-store and late-night table-top gaming. Little Wars hosts the Baton Rouge Society of Ancients as well as a varied and constant cycle of war gaming campaigns and tournaments.

In 1972, Elliot’s Book Shop, the parent company of Little Wars, began selling war games and military miniatures as a profitable sideline at its initial South Baton Rouge location in Southdowns Shopping Center on Perkins Road. Moving to Village Square on College Drive in 1976, Elliot’s linked this war gaming sideline to an extensive science fiction and fantasy book section. Building on the incredible popularity of early Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing, Elliot’s reputedly became the first store nationally to sell individual gaming figures broken out of the standard multi-packs. For the Christmas Season of 1988, Elliot’s spun off an independent full-service game shop, Little Wars, named after H.G. Wells’ classic war gaming book of 1913 and managed by long-time employee Shane Petersen. With the ‘Wal-marting’ of Village Square, Little Wars moved to Jefferson Plaza Shopping Center in 2003, right across from the new and spectacularly successful Whole Foods extravaganza at Cedar Lodge Shopping Center at Jefferson Highway and Corporate Boulevard.

Elliot has been a military history enthusiast since childhood. “I’ve always wanted to know how generals and soldiers thought and fought, how battles, campaigns and wars really worked. Replicating and re-enacting battles in miniature can get you in the shield-wall or front-rank without the bother of personally charging about and getting wounded or killed. You can certainly recreate particular campaigns to see if your favorite general can actually win Hastings, Waterloo or Gettysburg, but you can also see the curious strategical, logistical, and tactical glitches leading to glorious victory or tragic defeat. You can also take some measure of yourself, seeing if you keep your head under stress, can respond quickly to a sudden change of fate (or dice roll) and if you really can play well with others! You can be, for an evening or a weekend, Caesar, Napoleon, Bedford Forest or Gandalf the Gray. And if your army or player-character loses, you can paint up a replacement and soldier on,” says Elliot.

Elliot believes that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library system opened up the world of history and military history to him. “I can well remember checking out Little Wars, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, and that wonderful Confederate Arms, as well as a host of others, from the old downtown library when I was a kid. I used the Middleton Library when I was an undergraduate, Hill Memorial as a graduate student, and now Simms Library at Southeastern where I teach Louisiana History, but I still am a fan of the parish library system and I do have a library card (and paid all fines). I use the Main Library as my local, even teach LEA Louisiana History programs out of it as well as the Bluebonnet and Jones Creek branches. Public libraries provide a grand public service of offering such a selection of books, for every age, taste and interest, under the guidance of professional and personable librarians.”

“I read extensively and selectively for my academic life and eclectically for my private. I read multiples of books at one time, just finished books on pirates, Palestinian poetry, birch bark canoes, and North Renaissance art. Favorites are hard to call; I’d have to say Tolkien’s Hobbit, Dumas’ Three Musketeers, Renault’s The King Must Die, Feuchtwanger’s Power, Dickens’ Christmas Carol (the best book in the world), all the Flashman novels, and my childhood favorite, Bailey’s Old Man Rabbit’s Dinner Party. Of course, there’s Jane Austen and Thackeray, Ernst Juenger, Hans Christian Anderson, Tony Hillerman. Ah! So many books, so little time! I’ve read most of Shogun over the last three nights and eyeing this new biography of Louis XIV.”

“I’m a National Geographic, Chronicles, and Vanity Fair kind-a-guy,” says Elliot.

Besides reading, Elliot’s hobbies include “trying to watch each and every segment of Law and Order, traveling to Munich (my favorite place in the world) and Northern Italy, and people-watching at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning.” 

Eliott sees the future of Baton Rouge as “continuing to grow at the expense of New Orleans, keeping the best, enduring the worst, while (hopefully) remaining the friendly small southern town it is underneath all our big city pretenses.” 

“I’d like to see more trees, more statues, some memorial to the late Emerson Bell, and the simultaneous commemoration of Iberville’s landing here in 1699 that’s not drowned in all that green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. Throughout its history, Baton Rouge has always been described as green (as in trees, not beer) and I fear we are losing our sublime natural setting.” 

Business Person of the Month Archive

Brad Pope
Owner/Operator

The Compact Disc Store

684 Jefferson Hwy

Baton Rouge, LA 70806

225.928.5706

Brad Pope is the owner of The Compact Disc Store located at 684 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge. The store specializes in compact discs from all musical fields: pop, jazz, blues, classical, country, kids, Cajun, alternative, folk, soundtracks, shows, world music, etc. and music DVDs.

Pope graduated from Louisiana State University in 1969 with a degree in Speech Corrections. He went back to do graduate work in Fine Arts with an emphasis on painting, though he never completed the degree. In 1984, he visited a friend who managed the classical record room of the Metronome, a record store in New Orleans. Besides traditional albums and singles, the store carried Compact Discs – the newest technology in musical recording at that time.  The difference in sound was so startling; he knew there would be a great market for this product.

Determined to open a CD shop in Baton Rouge, Pope started in 1985 with 2 or 3 bins of CDs in a small space in Goodwood Village. The industry was so new; he had trouble getting suppliers at first and CDs were mostly jazz and classical.  In the same shopping center was Art Colley’s Audio Specialties. Colley loaned him equipment that allowed people to listen to CDs and appreciate the huge difference in sound. Many who purchased CDs went next door to buy Colley’s CD players.

Pope opened the Compact Disc Store in 1985 with a simple business philosophy — “getting the art to the people“.  Still in business 21 years later, he credits his success to giving his customers something they do not get at other places: the assistance of people who know music. His staff consists of music lovers with a willingness to find answers for customers. “There is so little personal interaction in the acquisition of stuff nowadays; people are used to just walking up to the counter and paying for it”, Pope says. He considers the human connection with his customers one of his shop’s distinguishing features.

Having a musical family background – he began playing the organ at the age of 12 and has been the organist at St Alban’s Chapel on LSU’s campus since 1970 – Pope claims he cannot think of a more interesting retail business.

He believes in libraries and remembers fondly of the library in the town where he grew up. He feels the best part of his education at LSU was wandering through the library, pulling books from the shelves, and sitting on the floor to read what interested him.

After being in the business several years, Pope remembered that he had daydreamed as a teenager of opening a record store. “I’m doing what I always wanted to do,” he says, “Not many people have that satisfaction.”

Business Person of the Month Archive

Elizabeth “Liz” Walker�
Owner/Operator

Elizabethan Gallery

680 Jefferson Hwy
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
225.924.6437
www.elizabethangallery.com

Elizabeth “Liz” Walker is the owner and manager of the Elizabethan Gallery, which is located in Mid City at 680 Jefferson Highway, between Goodwood Boulevard and Government Street.

The Gallery is dedicated to promoting the works of established and emerging artists in the area and is recognized for its collection of original art and custom framing. It is home to an impressive collection of watercolors, acrylic and oil paintings, professional photography, antique prints, lithographs, serigraphs, and graphic posters.

Walker attended Louisiana State University and Nichols State University and majored in marketing. She began working in Thibodaux as a marketing director for a family owned office supply business that had a small merchandising section of art supplies and ready made frames. When she returned to Baton Rouge in 1988, it was a natural fit for her to open a gallery and frame shop.

Walker’s community involvement includes:

• Mid City Merchants Association
• Professional Picture Framers Association
• Photo Marketing Association
• Associated Women in the Arts
• Greater Baton Rouge Area Chamber
• Louisiana Arts Science Museum
• Baton Rouge Little Theatre
• Baton Rouge Gallery
• Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge
• Daughters of the American Revolution
• Baton Rouge Irish Club

Business Person of the Month Archive

John Schneider
President

Cyntreniks, LLC.

406 N. 4th St.
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
225.346.5080
www.cyntreniks.com

John Schneider is the president of Cyntreniks LLC, an organization providing strategic consulting for business and government.

Schneider has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana, Lafayette) and a Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University Law School.

He keeps up-to-date in the business world by reading the book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, Forbes magazine, and the New York Times. In his leisure time, Schneider enjoys browsing the Men’s Journal.

Schneider’s vision for the future of East Baton Rouge Parish is:

• A vibrant, eclectic, pedestrian downtown that capitalized on its riverfront locale and is the focal point of the capital area and the daily gathering point for citizens and tourists alike.
• A progressive leadership hub that is the voice of good government and fiscal responsibility local, regionally and statewide.
• An economic development magnet for nationally and internationally, leading-edge technological, health and service-oriented businesses that has transformed the entire capital area into a thriving mecca.
• A public education system that is an example for not only the rest of the state but nationally and interanationally.
• A higher education environment that is the home of two nationally and internationally – recognized centers for academic excellence hub – Southern and L.S.U.
• A compassionate, understanding, proactive parish that has recognized, responded, and addressed that needs of its less fortunate residents.

He was the treasurer of the Patrons of the Public Library, the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s friends group, in 2005.

His favorite quote is “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high acheivement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory or defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt – “Citizenship in the Republic” Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.

Business Person of the Month Archive

Eric B. Lewis
President

Ephod Business Solutions

18316 Keystone Ave
Greenwell Springs, LA 70739
225.261.0424
www.ephod-bus.com

“At Ephod Business Solutions, we strive to provide management and consulting services to the small business owner that will allow their firm to reach its full potential. Through this effor, we believe we encourage economic development within the community.” – Eric B. Lewis

Eric B. Lewis is the President of Ephod Business Solutions, a business management consulting firm providing services in the areas of business development, project management, and technology consulting, based in Baton Rouge with a second office in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ephod Business Solutions is a subsidiary of Ephod Company, L.L.C., a holding company.

Lewis has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern University and a Master’s degree from Louisiana State University. He keeps up-to-date in the business world by reading Black Enterprise, The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, and biographies of successful CEO’s. In his leisure time, Lewis reads The Advocate. His favorite recreational book is Cane River by Lalita Tademy.

Lewis has a vision for the future development of East Baton Rouge Parish. “I believe East Baton Rouge Parish has the capacity to become the center of a major metropolitan area. If we can take full advantage of some of the existing resources, such as the airport, the interstate, and Mississippi River as well as Southern University, LSU, and BRCC, we will be able to develop the foundation for long-term growth. Over the next few years, emerging industries such as software technologies, video gaming, and entertainment should really begin to strenghthen our local economy. Once this occurs, Baton Rouge will become an attractive community for those desiring to live in the southern region of our country,” states Lewis.

He is a member of the Baton Rouge Black Chamber of Commerce, Forum 35, NAACP, and the LSU Dean’s Advisory Committee. His favorite quote is “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.”

Business Person of the Month Archive