The self-help industry is a multi-billion-dollar global market encompassing books, digital courses, personal coaching, seminars, and wellness apps aimed at personal optimization. Scottish author Samuel Smiles introduced the concept in 1859 with his publication Self Help, which emphasized thrift, discipline, and individual perseverance over societal change. Today, we can turn to Oprah Winfrey’s self help bestsellers, life coach Tony Robbins, and apps like Headspace, Noom, and Calm to help us meditate, diet, and sleep. My two lunch guests today — Katherine Wilks and Margaret Wilkinson — are building their own self-help empires right here in Baton Rouge. Katherine Wilks’ path to becoming a self-help author began first as a nurse. The profession runs in her family, she says: her grandmother served as chief nursing officer at Bogalusa Medical Center and became one of Katherine’s biggest inspirations. Katherine has been a nurse for 20 years. She began her career in quality control and spent about eight years on the business side before eventually finding her way back to clinical work. Today, Katherine runs an urgent care center serving children and adults. But, wait! There’s more! Katherine is also the author of some 30 books, spanning family history, children’s literature, and self-help. She’s written extensively on narcissism, self-publishing a series of books informed by her experience in a difficult marriage to someone she says was clinically diagnosed. Two titles that caught my attention are Meeting the Narcissist: Love at First Lie and Leaving the Narcissist: The Most Dangerous Moment. Self-help isn’t limited to books or apps. If you need more immediate relief, why not turn to alternative medicines? One option here in Baton Rouge is Rad Dad Alternative Wellness. The casual, customer-friendly store specializes in functional mushroom, kava, non-alcoholic, and alternative wellness products. Margaret Wilkinson and her husband Paul opened Rad Dad on Government Street in their Mid City neighborhood in 2023. Neighbors embraced it wholeheartedly, and now three years later, they’ve added a second location on Jefferson Highway. We’re all striving to be our best selves each and every day. Yet, the discipline and individual perseverance required to fully succeed at self help is often in short supply. Our Baton Rouge community is fortunate that Katherine and Margaret are doing their best at their respective businesses to offer guidance and services that make the job of self help a bit easier. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are an estimated 31 - 34 million entrepreneurs and small businesses in the United States, and we’ve interviewed more than a few over the years here on Out to Lunch. If you’ve been listening or are an entrepreneur or small business owner yourself, then you know there are numerous routes to entrepreneurship. Many entrepreneurs purchase an existing operation, take over a family business, or buy into a franchise that provides an established customer base and proven operational framework. Neither of my lunch guests today followed those routes: Cameron Motsenbock and Russell Jones started their respective businesses from scratch. Cameron Motsenbock, owner of Hands Over Hearts, describes her move into entrepreneurship as a 2 a.m. business decision. After years of attending nursing school and working as a medical assistant, Cameron literally woke up in the middle of the night and decided she wanted to become a businesswoman. Today, Cameron operates Hands Over Hearts, a locally-owned and operated business providing CPR training to elementary, middle, and high school students, university students, construction companies and many other workplaces that need employees certified in CPR, first aid and AED use. What started as a vision to make CPR training more affordable, accessible, and engaging has grown into a mission far beyond the classroom. Her company's catchy slogan is, "The CPR company you can't live without." Cardiac arrest in sports is rare but if you’re competing against or training with my next guest Russell Jones, you might want to know CPR. Russell Jones is the Owner of Russell Jones Kickboxing. He grew up in Gentilly in New Orleans during the 1970s when learning to fight felt like a necessity for young boys. He began learning kung fu in high school and, in 1978, began training under Grandmaster Karl Marx (yes, that's his real name) who introduced Russell to a system combining Japanese karate, judo, jiu-jitsu and weapons training. At 18, Russell began teaching martial arts through BREC at Forest Community Park, opened his own location a few years later, and turned professional in 1983 at age 22. Today, at 65, Russell’s proudest later-career fight came against an undefeated 27-year-old with a 22-0 record. Russel knocked him out with a head kick in the second round! Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion in the art world about accessibility. Not physical accessibility — though smaller or historic facilities often fall short on ADA compliance – but cultural accessibility, creating welcoming spaces for everyone in a community. Both of my Out to Lunch guests have spent much of their careers ensuring that art in Baton Rouge is free, inclusive, and vibrant. Jason Andreasen is the President and CEO of the Baton Rouge Gallery. Jason didn’t grow up immersed in the art world. His family didn’t frequent galleries, and his interest in contemporary art developed largely through his now-wife, local painter Lily Betancourt. In 2007, Jason started at the Baton Rouge Gallery as a part-time employee and moved into his leadership role a year later. Now in its 60th year, the Baton Rouge Gallery is the nation’s longest-standing artist cooperative, and prioritizes accessibility by making most events free and open to the public. Jason is no stranger to Out to Lunch. You can check out his earlier appearances and compare how things have changed in Baton Rouge. If you have ever been a guest at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center or heard a musical performance at Beauvoir Park in Mid-City, then you have probably noticed Nathan Logsdon's work. A native of Illinois, Nathan Logsdon landed in Baton Rouge in 1999, finding work with a local ironworker specializing in traditional hand-forged pieces. In 2002, Nathan went into business for himself building gates, railings and other architectural pieces. Two decades later, Nathan’s work spans practical welding, architectural metalwork, original artwork and commissioned pieces that depend as much on his particular artistic and technical skills than straightforward cutting and welding. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baton Rouge, like other cities, deals with what demographers call “Net migration loss.” Here, we use the term loosely. It’s not that the number of people leaving Baton Rouge is greater than the number of people moving here. What net migration loss means here is - there are more people leaving than staying. Why do people leave Baton Rouge? Typically, they’ll tell you, for opportunity. Not romantic opportunity or opportunity for spiritual growth, but career opportunity. The bigger a city, the greater the opportunity. Okay, so if you follow that logic, every time someone decides to leave Baton Rouge they make the city smaller. So, the best thing a person who wants more opportunity should do is, stay. Right? Most people don’t buy this argument. But both of my lunch guests today, do. Brett Roblez likes making movies. Typically, if you want a career in the film business, you have to move someplace where they make movies. Brett moved to Atlanta, a film production hub. But after a couple of years in the film business there he moved back home to Baton Rouge, because, he said, he missed crawfish. In 2022 Brett founded a local film production company Dinosaur Rumblings. In the beginning it was just him. Today, Dinosaur Rumblings has 10 full-time employees, and they make a full slate of feature films, commercials, and filmed social media content. All of it, Brett says, is the same quality as anything that comes out of Hollywood. Alysia Guin is bullish on making Baton Rouge an entertainment mecca too. Alysia is Director of Marketing & Partnerships at Raising Cane’s River Center. Raising Cane’s River Center hosts up to 375 events each year at its arena, theater, and convention center. There are Broadway productions, sporting events, community programming, and concerts that include an amazing list of superstars like Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The River Center has been hosting events for almost 50 years. Alysia has been Director of Marketing since the beginning of 2025. If you spend any time on social media, especially TikTok, you’ll see any number of well-meaning people encouraging you with variations on the theme, “You Go Girl”. One of these encouragements that you might roll your eyes at as you scroll by is, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” That one is apparently not a Hallmark card, it’s a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. He was suggesting we should each individually take personal responsibility and lead by example to make the world a better place. If you ever think one person can’t make a difference, sure, you can point to Gandhi as an example of what one person can do, but locally, we could also point to Brett Roblez and Alysia Guin. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Dearly beloved, We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life." You might recognize those lines as the opening of Prince’s 1984 song, “Let’s Go Crazy.” In this classic pop song, Prince is making the point that life is short and we should make the most of it. Prince encourages us to celebrate the joy of living with the chorus, “Let’s go crazy, Let’s get nuts.” Here in Baton Rouge, Mike Andrepont gets crazy for a living. Mike specializes in what we might call Joy-Maxxing: celebrating life’s high-points with his company, AFX Pro. AFX Pro is a special effects company. Their work includes pyrotechnics, stadium tunnel and smoke lighting, weddings, concerts, festivals, and corporate events. Even if you don’t live in Baton Rouge you’ve probably seen AFX Pro's creations because their clients include the NFL, NBA and NCAA. Locally you might have seen their Joy-Maxxing celebrations at an LSU Tigers event, a couple’s first dance at a wedding or a gender reveal party. For some people, celebrating life doesn’t come quite so easy. That’s because they’re starting from a more challenging everyday baseline. And when I say “they,” this group of people might well include you. If it doesn’t it probably includes someone you know, because according to government statistics, roughly 20% of adult Americans take anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication. These 58 million Americans are trying their best to live contrary to Prince’s advice. They’re trying to not go crazy, not get nuts. Here in Baton Rouge, Leigh Blanchard is dedicated to improving the lives of people dealing with anxiety, depression, emotional trauma and chronic stress, using techniques like Reiki therapy, hypnosis, Somatic healing, Aromatherapy and other wellness practices. Leigh is the Founder of the wellness clinic, Life Plus You, on Essen Lane. The Declaration of Independence grants us the right of “the pursuit of happiness.” Some students of US history say the word “pursuit” is intended to be a verb, meaning happiness is something we have the right to chase after. That’s how most of us interpret it. But other scholars say “pursuit” is a noun. Happiness is a pursuit, like the pursuit of stamp collecting, or the pursuit of bird watching. In that sense, happiness is a state of being. Rather than something we’re chasing after it’s something we’ve been granted and need to preserve, like life and liberty. Mike is involved in maximizing moments of already existing happiness, the noun, and Leigh is involved in the active pursuit of happiness, the verb. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ethan Castille at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.