Token Travel

There has been nothing short of a revolution in the way we do
business over the past 20 years, thanks to the Internet. It’s
killed some industry sectors, disrupted others, while at the same
time creating new opportunities. Local entrepreneurs have come up
with some amazing ways to take advantage of those opportunities,
and they’ve also managed to adapt and hang on in the face of
constant change.


Take, for example, Jerry Pearson. Jerry is owner of Pearson’s
Travel, Baton Rouge’s oldest and only family owned full service
travel agency.


Jerry has owned the agency since 1981, when he founded it as an
offshoot of his Pearson’s Luggage and Gifts that he had opened in
the 1970s.


Travel was different back then. And so was retail! But over the
past 20 years, the internet has changed all that. Now, travelers
can book their own flights and hotel stays online – or even plan
their entire trip – and they don’t need to go into a brick and
mortar store to buy a suitcase. Those are among the reasons Jerry
closed his luggage store in the summer of 2021 and sold the
building to a local healthcare company. But he continues to
operate the travel agency, which – and this is in keeping with
national trends – is doing well.  Turns out, a lot of people
don’t like dealing with Orbitz and Travelocity and, if you’re not
on a tight budget, why not let an experienced professional
navigate the hassles of booking a trip?


Nationwide, travel planners are proving themselves resilient in
the age of online everything.


On the other end of the spectrum, there's Chris Cummings. Chris
is the owner of Pass It Down, an interactive storytelling
platform with a library of templates and cloud-based interactives
that companies, nonprofits or institutions can use to create
digital storytelling experiences.


Chris founded the company in Baton Rouge-based company in 2015
after he saw his mother battle MS and early onset dementia and
wanted to create a way to help his family and other families
capture and pass down their memories. Since then, the company has
evolved and grown. And from it Chris has created a new company –
Iconic Moments. It's the first NFT marketplace for museums and
cultural institutions.


An NFT marketplace is what, exactly? It’s a digital platform
where NFT's can be stored, displayed, exchanged, and even minted
or created. If you don't know what an NFT is, exactly, and
"Blockchain" makes your head hurt, Chris is an expert and also an
attorney so he is really good at explaining things. He is also a
seasoned entrepreneur.


 Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on
the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Erik Otts at
our website itsbatonrouge.la.


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.