Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week is heading into the home stretch today with BRAC’s Big Think kicking off this morning at the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center for the Arts.
Laurie Aronson opened the event with a keynote presentation about the revitalization of the legendary Haspel brand, originator of the seersucker suit, that her grandfather, Joseph Haspel Jr., founded more than 100 years ago in New Orleans.
During her presentation, Aronson revealed some photos that will appear in Haspel’s spring and summer marketing campaign. The photos, Aronson said, are a “throwback to the ‘40s and ‘50s to show the fun nature of the brand.”
She also talked about building relationships with some of Hollywood’s leading men, like Jon Hamm and Neil Patrick Harris, and how one seersucker suit she sent to the White House piqued former president George W. Bush’s interest in the Haspel brand.
Following Aronson, Trevor Theunissen, Uber’s public policy manager for the southeast, and Russel Primeaux, an intellectual property expert and partner at Kean Miller, talked about the regulatory impact on free enterprises and how to avoid being the target of litigation.
Another session underway at the Big Think event this morning features Francisco Cervera, CEO and co-founder of eMoneyPool; Ron Ondechek Jr., private equity executive; and Jeffrey Cherry, CEO and managing partner of The Porter Group and founder and executive director of the Conscious Venture Lab. They are discussing where entrepreneurs can find venture capital.
Brad Showalter, assistant store manager of lululemon athletica at the Shops at Canal Place in New Orleans, wraps up BRAC’s Big Think with a lunch keynote speech.
BREW, which kicked off on Monday, reaches its climax tonight with the 2015 BREW Pitch Night, in which local entrepreneurs try to jumpstart their businesses with brief pitches before a live audience and panel of judges for a shot at winning $1,000 and startup assistance from Louisiana Technology Park, Horne LLP, Emergent Method and Kean Miller, among others. The event takes place at Creative Bloc downtown, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
On Wednesday morning, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber unveiled its 2016 Economic Outlook in conjunction with BREW, and on Tuesday evening, Rapid Rounds took place on the LSU campus. Also Wednesday, Failure Fest was held in conjunction with BREW.