Happy Money

Sometimes, the idea for a business comes from seeing a need and
creating a product or service to fill it. Sometimes, it comes
from just doing something you love because, well, you think it’s
going to be fun. Although we often hear business advice along the
lines of "Find something that makes you happy," is that
necessarily also going to make you money? Stephanie's guests on
this edition of Out to Lunch are putting that maxim to the
test.  


Diana Raffray is co-owner of The Modern Debutante, a Baton
Rouge-based business that rents hedge, flower and shimmer walls.
If you’ve been to a wedding or a big event lately, you know are
all the rage. The trend has been growing in popularity for the
past several years and though it’s not clearly exactly who came
up with the idea, it’s a safe bet the concept caught on big time
after Kim Kardashian and Kanye West exchanged vows in front of a
wall of white roses in 2014.


Dianna got her MBA degree in 2017, was in pharmaceutical sales,
and never envisioned herself in a specialty niche of the event
planning market, until 2018, when she bumped into one of her
sorority sisters from Southeastern, Danielle Whatley, while
walking her dog. They reconnected, started hanging out and
looking for a business idea that combined something that Baton
Rouge needed and something that would make them happy. The idea
of The Modern Debutante was born! 


Melanie Bennett is the owner of the Hostel of Baton Rouge, a
project that has been in the works for five years and is
projected to open some time in 2021 in a former day care center
in mid City. Melanie is bringing the first hostel to Baton rouge
because she gave up her conventional lifestyle more than a decade
ago to become a world traveler and became something of a
self-schooled expert on hostels, staying in them as she traversed
the globe. 


Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs
on the Boulevard. Photos by Chris Tricou are at our website.
 Here's more lunchtime conversation about Baton Rouge
businesses shooting for the stars.


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