Hot Bodies Cool Heads

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while many of us were working
remotely through 2020 and perhaps felt like we were putting our
lives on pause, ambitious entrepreneurs were plowing ahead with
their hopes, dreams and business plans. In the case of
Stephanie's two guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton
Rouge, this perseverance has turned out extremely well.


Cool Heads


Jack Karavich is owner of Tigeraire, a sports technology start-up
founded at LSU’s Innovation Park that has developed an in-helmet
airflow system for use in sports helmets, construction hardhats,
and military helmets.


This high tech head wear utilizes a small device that leverages
the air vents in a helmet using a small battery, a couple of
tubes and a tiny fan. It enables air circulation that keeps
athletes and other wearers cooler, drier, safer, and better able
to perform.


Jack developed the helmet-cooling technology in partnership with
LSU which has since licensed the product for its football team.
Several other universities, including Albama, Auburn, Clemson,
and Texas A&M have since followed suit. Tigeraire is now
designing batting helmets that incorporate the technology and has
plans to tackle lacrosse helmets and ice hockey helmets after
that.


Tigeraire has opened new offices in Richmond Virginia, which will
serve as its corporate headquarters. Prior to founding the
company, Jack served as chief digital architect of Honeywell,
GlaxoSmithKline, Walmart Labs, and Capital One. 


Hot Bodies


While Jack’s technology is designed to keep its wearers cool,
April Hill is focused on making them hot. April is owner of Yoga
Studio 90, a health and wellness studio offering high intensity
interval training, yoga and Pilates in one complete, full body
workout that is intended to be done in a steamy 90-degree-room.


April has owned the studio for more than a decade, but one month
into the pandemic in 2020, when everyone was under lockdown and
no one could go to the gym, April rebranded her studios and
launched an online platform of virtual workouts available on a
subscription basis that has enabled her to reach a much broader
clientele from anywhere in the country. 


This show was recorded over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard.
You can find photos by Erick Otts at our website. And check out
more lunch-table Tiger entrepreneur talk with Matt Flynn.


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.