Guests
Lawrence Phillips is the founder of Green Book Global (https://greenbookglobal.com), a black travel review platform dedicated to helping black travelers to explore the world safely while also helping them to earn cash. It is akin to a Black “TripAdvisor” and is the first of its kind. It was formed when Lawrence embarked on a 30 country, 7-continent adventure around the world and noticed there was no consistent resource that could provide destination insights on racism. So, he built one. His review platform (and soon coming app) is unique in that rather than rating activities, black travelers rate cities, and provide tips and scores relating to Adventure, Things To Do, Relaxation, etc. but also what it is like Traveling While Black. He has 5000+ destination reviews on the platform for over 400 destinations, a community of 100K+ followers on Instagram, and has created the only travel platform where travelers can earn cash for leaving reviews and cash-back for booking trips [...]
Henry L. Coaxum, Jr., president of Coaxum Enterprises, Inc., is the owner/operator of three McDonald’s restaurants in New Orleans. He has over 38 years of experience with the McDonald’s Corporation. Coaxum was named chairman of the Business Council of New Orleans & the River Region in January 2021. He is chairman emeritus of the New Orleans Business Alliance, the city’s first-ever public-private partnership for economic development. He served as treasurer of the City’s Hospital Service District A Board that oversaw the redevelopment of the New Orleans East Hospital. He currently is chairman of the New Orleans East Hospital Foundation Board. He is an equity partner in the development team of The Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans and Private Residences, and is a joint venture partner in the concessionaire groups at the new Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. In recognition for his work in the community, Coaxum is a recipient [...]
An engineering graduate of Georgia Tech and Tulane University, Paul Flower is a builder and an engineer at heart and by training. He developed deep expertise in construction management, civil engineering, and real estate development throughout his career in the architectural, engineering, and construction industry. Paul has worked at Woodward Design+Build for over 50 years and became CEO of the company in 1987, growing the business to include millwork and steel divisions, over 225 employees, and annual revenues of more than $200 million. Under his leadership, the company became one of the region’s largest and most well-respected general contractors. An early adopter of the design- build model, Paul continues to push the industry and region by serving as a champion for forward-thinking initiatives such as sustainable building, virtual design and construction, and lean principles in design and construction. While Paul’s professional success leading our industry is certainly impressive, his contributions [...]
Since 2016, Timothy Riley has served as the Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator for America’s National Churchill Museum (ANCM). Mr. Riley is a graduate, cum laude, of Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, and pursued post-graduate study at Columbia University in New York, NY. He served as a curatorial assistant, education assistant, and lectures/concerts coordinator at The Cloisters, a part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From 2006 to 201, Mr. Riley served as director of The Trout Museum of Art in Appleton and was appointed Director Emeritus in 2012. Mr. Riley was inducted into the Association of Churchill Fellows of Westminster College in 2016. As Director and Chief Curator, Mr. Riley has expanded the Museum’s reach, curating exhibitions aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, at the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, FL, and at Washington University in St. [...]
Martin Shore is a Grammy-winning music producer, award-winning filmmaker, musician and founder of the Take Me to the River Education Initiative, a project devoted to preserving and passing forward the musical legacies of Memphis and New Orleans. Shore began his career as a musician and toured with artists including Bo Diddley, Albert Collins and Clarence Clemons before moving further into music production and filmmaking. Over the years, he has worked as a producer, music supervisor and musician across film and recording projects and has collaborated with artists including Snoop Dogg, Mavis Staples, Booker T. Jones and the North Mississippi Allstars. His directorial debut, Take Me to the River, explored the musical heritage of Memphis through collaborations between legendary performers and younger artists. The film won the Audience Award at SXSW and received honors at several other film festivals. Shore later turned his attention to Louisiana with Take Me to the [...]
Ian Neville is a Grammy-winning New Orleans guitarist, producer and founding member of Dumpstaphunk, a band that has helped carry the city's deep funk tradition into a new generation. Music runs through Neville's family. He is the son of Art Neville, the celebrated keyboardist of The Meters and The Neville Brothers, and cousin of musician Ivan Neville. But Ian's career stands on its own. He has developed a distinctive presence as a guitarist while remaining connected to the musical traditions that made the Neville family an important part of New Orleans music history. In 2003, Ian helped form New Orleans funk band Dumpstaphunk with Ivan Neville, Tony Hall and the late Nick Daniels III. What began around a New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival performance grew into one of the city's enduring contemporary funk bands. Dumpstaphunk's music draws from funk while moving through rock, jazz and soul, extending rather than [...]
Tim Leffel is an award-winning travel writer, editor, and blogger. He publishes five online magazines and blogs including Perceptive Travel, the Cheapest Destinations Blog, and Hotel Scoop. He is the author of several books including Travel Writing 2.0, A Better Life for Half the Price, and The World’s Cheapest Destinations, now in its fifth edition. He is a member of NATJA and SATW and is North American Conference Director of the Travel Bloggers Exhange Conference (TBEX). See more at TimLeffel.com. Tim Leffel is an award-winning travel writer who has circled the globe three times and has dispatched articles from five continents. His stories have appeared in a wide variety of print and online publications, including Budget Travel, MSNBC.com, USA Today, Boston Globe, LonelyPlanet.com, and Travel + Leisure. Leffel is the author of classic The World's Cheapest Destinations guide found on his blog and now in its fourth edition. He is author [...]
Judy Cooper is a photographer/writer living and working in New Orleans. She earned graduate degrees in English and French and taught at the college level before becoming a professional photographer. Born an only child in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1938, Cooper grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father taught economics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She first arrived in New Orleans as an undergraduate in 1955, where she studied English at Newcomb College. She spent her junior year in Paris, France, and the experience was a profound influence upon her future. During a ten-year period in the 1960s and early 1970s, Cooper earned a master of arts degree in English from Columbia University and doctorates in both French and Italian literature from Tulane University. While teaching French at Loyola University in the early 1970s at Loyola, Cooper played tour guide to French photographer Jean Pierre Favreau as he photographed [...]
Eric Seiferth is curator and historian at The Historic New Orleans Collection focusing on 20th-century New Orleans and the musical heritage of the city. Since joining the Collection he has co-curated a number of exhibitions including Storyville: Madams and Music, awarded “Exhibition of the Year” by the LEH in 2017 and Dancing in the Streets: Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs of New Orleans. He is currently working on the NOLA Resistanceproject about the New Orleans civil rights movement. The Historic New Orleans Collection was established by Kemper and Leila Williams over 50 years ago. Eric Seiferth works as a curator and historian at The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) , it is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Founded in 1966 through the estates of General L. Kemper Williams and Mrs. Leila Moore Williams, THNOC has [...]
Kerwin McKenzie is a travel industry veteran, content creator, and speaker who brings a wealth of experience from his 14.5 years working across four U.S.-based airlines. With a passion for aviation and travel, Kerwin has flown on 181 different airlines and visited 137 countries and territories (105 of which are UN-recognized). A proud Jamaican native, his journey began with his first trip to Martinique, igniting his deep love for exploration. Kerwin now dedicates his time to sharing expert travel advice through several platforms. His flagship site, Passrider.com, is designed to help airline employees maximize their travel privileges by offering insider tips, travel guides, and destination insights. He also runs Cruisinaltitude.com, which serves as a comprehensive resource on airline travel, and Unfamiliardestinations.com, where he highlights off-the-beaten-path places for curious travelers. For visitors to Texas, DiscoveringHouston.net provides local travel information for exploring the vibrant city of Houston. Additionally, Kerwin taps into his [...]
Gabby Salazar is a National Geographic Explorer, a nature and conservation photographer, and a social scientist. As an Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, she has worked on environmental photography projects across the globe, spending months at a time living in tropical rainforests and on tropical islands. Gabby Salazar has an MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, where she studies environmental marketing. She is committed to environmental education and uses photography to get kids outdoors and to connect them with nature. Her website is gabbysalazar.com, and she can be followed on Instagram and Twitter at @gabbyrsalazar. Salazar has stayed curious about nature; she's been photographing it since her father first gave her a camera when she was 11. As an environmental photographer and researcher, the focus of [...]
Bruce Poon Tip - Founder, G Adventures Passionate about the power of travel to change the world for the better, Bruce Poon Tip is a global leader in social entrepreneurship, leadership, immersive travel, and innovation. He is best-known as the founder of G Adventures, the world's largest small group adventure travel company and pioneer of community tourism. Bruce’s first book, Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business, became a New York Times Best Seller. In 2018, Bruce was honoured as one of Canada’s Most Admired CEOs in the category of social entrepreneurship, and in 2019 he made his top 10 debut on Glassdoor’s Top CEOs in Canada list. Bruce has also been granted three honorary doctorates - two in laws from Capilano University and the University of Victoria, and an honorary doctorate of business from Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, United States. In 2020, he [...]
