A championship speller, activists, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, sex workers, lawyers, educators and more — meet Gambit's 40 Under 40 class of 2021. This week, we turn the spotlight to 40 New Orleanians doing great, notable things to make our city a better place.
Get to know the do-gooders below.
Tahj Williams, 23
Mardi Gras Indian
Technology Engineer, Microsoft
The way she sees it, Tahj Williams lives a double life. She’s masked with the Mardi Gras Indians since she was 9, and her stunning handmade suits recently earned her a spot in Jon Batiste’s “Freedom” music video, which dropped last month. But she also loves technology and starts as a support engineer at Microsoft in September. “I call myself Hannah Montana,” she says.
Williams became interested in masking in 2008 after seeing a Mardi Gras Indian queen for the first time, which she says was like seeing “a unicorn” since she’d only seen men mask previously. As she got older, Williams worked her way up to mask as a queen in the Golden Eagles tribe. Over the years, she’s experimented with different suit styles outside of tradition, including wearing pants instead of the usual dresses women tend to wear. “Trying different things has really been my claim to fame,” she says. It didn’t come without pushback, but she says she stayed true to herself and eventually people came around.
Williams says masking has taught her “confidence on a different level,” that has allowed her embark on a new chapter in her life, as she heads to Houston for work and starts a solo art career, including creating her own luxury line. “I believe that if Beyonce was in the room I would be just as confident, and I really owe that to this culture,” she says. “That’s something I'm gonna take with me no matter where I go.” — KAYLEE POCHE
Tiana Nobile, 33
Poet
Teacher, KID smART & International School of Louisiana
Award-winning poet Tiana Nobile recently published “Cleave,” a collection of poems about adoption, motherhood and identity. It explores her own experiences as a transnational adoptee, stories of international adoptions from Australia to Russia, and the literature of adoption.
Nobile was born in South Korea and grew up with her adoptive family in New York. While attending Sarah Lawrence College, she came to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina to gut houses and help rebuild. Later, she moved here, earned a master’s degree in teaching at the University of New Orleans and spent 12 years as a teacher in Orleans Parish public schools.
Her writing led to the 2017 publication of “Spirit of the Staircase,” a chapbook about responding to racial stereotypes and slurs. She won a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and was a Kundiman Fellow. A grant enabled her to visit South Korea, and she focused on her adoption experiences.
“I always felt supported and loved but at the same time, I carried a deep sense of loss,” she says.
Since earning an MFA, she’s engaged students in local classrooms as an arts integration specialist through KID smART and currently works on storytelling with third-graders at the International School of Louisiana.
New Orleans has become her permanent home.
“As an adoptee, ideas of home and belonging can be complicated,” Nobile says. “I grew up on Long Island and I never quite felt like I belonged there. Feeling embraced by New Orleans and setting down roots — finding community here — has been so significant for me, as an educator and as a person, and I am grateful to call it home.” — WILL COVIELLO
Britain Forsyth, 26
Campaign staffer, activist
Britain Forsyth originally thought counseling was their “definite calling,” but while in graduate school in Atlanta, they found themselves asking bigger picture questions about poverty and structural racism.
“I was just constantly worried about how systemic issues were impacting people,” Forysth says.
When Trump was elected, that was a turning point for them. They decided to move back to New Orleans and start their first political job: working on LaToya Cantrell’s 2017 mayoral campaign.
“I got to know New Orleans in a way that I didn't have the chance to before,” Forsyth says. “I got to have direct conversations with people from every neighborhood in the city and just talk about what matters to them.” They have since worked for many other local politicians, including Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer, state Rep. Mandie Landry and state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson.
Forsyth also helped with the sex work decriminalization campaign at the Louisiana Legislature this year. Teaming up with Christine Breland Lobre and Lakeesha Harris from Women With A Vision and the worker-led Sex Workers Against Criminalization, Forsyth helped handle the logistics — organizing the press conference at the Capitol and preparing people to testify in front of the House committee. Though the measure did not pass, people testified for about three hours and many sex workers were able to share their stories at the Capitol for the first time.
“The sooner we start that conversation anywhere in the country, the sooner we can get to full decriminalization for sex workers,” Fosyth says. — KAYLEE POCHE
Nate Cameron Jr., 37
Event curator, GLBL WRMNG co-founder
For years Nate Cameron Jr. watched as other cities built their music “infrastructure” — not just the musicians but songwriters, publicists, graphic designers and others who help create strong, vibrant communities of artists — even as his native New Orleans lagged behind.
Whether in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University or Atlanta following Hurricane Katrina, Cameron could see the importance of it all. And the lack of a homegrown network here in New Orleans was equally clear, thanks to his own work as a musician, a promoter through the company Them People Productions he and his wife Krystle Sims-Cameron run, and time on the board of the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans.
“I was like, we’ve got to bring some of these ideas home, because we’ve got the cats that can perform. We’ve got creative minds and ideas in New Orleans like no other place,” Cameron says.
So earlier this year, he and hip-hop artist Pell formed the music collective GLBL WRMNG made up of musicians and industry professionals. The goal, according to Cameron, is to meld the creative and business aspects of the industry and build up New Orleans’ music infrastructure over time.
“I want to leave a place for my kid where if my kid wants to work in [the music] industry, there are more than just performing jobs or venue jobs,” Cameron says. — JAKE CLAPP
Alex Owens and Diana Turner
Alex Owens, 35 & Diana Turner, 35
Co-Directors, Be Loud Studios
Children across New Orleans are finding their voices with the help of Be Loud Studios, an independent nonprofit founded by Alex Owens and Diana Turner while the two were teachers at Bricolage Academy.
Since 2018, Be Loud Studios has worked with hundreds of kids across the city encouraging confidence and creativity through radio and digital media. Be Loud produces its Radio Hour weekly, an FM broadcast on 102.3M WHIV. Their “Pass the Mic” fellowship provides teachers with the funding and equipment they needed to create audio content with the community.
“We are so privileged to have the ability to do this project to work with youth across New Orleans,” they say. “It is rewarding to give kids a safe and meaningful opportunity to create content that reflects who they are and what they care about.”
Be Loud Studios pivoted during the pandemic and started recording with a core group of middle school DJs, helping them set up studios at home where they could write, record and produce radio segments. They also started soliciting content from organizations and teachers from across the city. Owens and Turner recorded stories and interviews from 826 New Orleans and New Harmony High School, facilitating a broader network of youth storytellers across the city.
“Be Loud works with these young DJs not to teach them creativity, but to amplify the creativity that is already within them,” Turner and Owens say. — MICHAELA BECHLER
Tim Kappel, 39
Entertainment lawyer
Professor, Loyola Law School
Tim Kappel grew up with music, playing guitar in local bands as a teen before eventually attending Middle Tennessee State University where continued to play while studying music business. After college, he interned at SoundExchange in Washington, D.C., and in the Office of Music Development in New Orleans city government.
Following Hurricane Katrina, he moved home and pursued a law degree at Loyola University. He wanted to represent artists and eventually started his own practice. In 2012, Big Freedia took a leap of faith and became his first big client. Now, he and his firm, Wells Kappel, represent many local performers, including Tank and the Bangas and Sweet Crude as well as artists from across the country.
He’s always looking for new talent, and recently added LeTrainiump.
“I tend to have WWOZ on in my house,” he says. “I heard something the other day and I took out my phone to Shazam it, and I see that it’s LeTrainiump and he’s from Mamou. It turns out people I know manage LeTrainiump. I told him I love his music. I want to be involved.”
Kappel also teaches at Loyola University’s law school.
He’s also active on behalf of musicians, advocating for them on issues including artist compensation from streaming platforms and recording artist compensation from broadcasting, as well as recording-related tax credits. He drafted the Allen Toussaint Legacy Act to help the families of deceased artists retain rights to their likeness, and will follow it through the legislature. — WILL COVIELLO
Laveau Contraire, 29
Drag queen
Teacher, KID smART
Where in the world is Laveau Contraire? Just about everywhere these days. The drag queen once described herself to Gambit as a “drag chameleon,” and she says the label “absolutely” still applies. She just did a virtual family-friendly drag queen story time at the New Orleans Public Library and will embark on an international tour in September with the not-as-family-friendly drag wrestling group Choke Hole. “The chameleon name continues as I find new and different ways to explore drag in my artistry,” she says.
When the pandemic and its restrictions hit local performers hard, Contraire and fellow drag queen Tarah Cards created Cyber Distancing, a series of virtual drag and variety shows, to help performers pay the bills. Each show had around 13 performers and the series drew nearly 60 performers total, Contraire says. “That really got us through the pandemic,” she says. “It helped us find something to look forward to and something to work on instead of the constant fear and dread of the panorama.”
Now, Contraire is working on Cyber Distancing Live, which will feature live performances with digital content by local queens playing in the background, and “Triple Threat,” a competition drag show where performers will compete to see who can make the most tips. On top of all that, she teaches children music through KID smART, a nonprofit that puts working artists in classrooms. But her ultimate goal? “I would love to bring the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ crown back to New Orleans,” she says. — KAYLEE POCHE
Bella Blue, 39
Burlesque performer and producer
Bella Blue describes sex work as healing work. You’ll hear sex workers talk about how engaging in their work “is what gave them access to healing, gave them access to autonomy over their bodies, gave them the confidence to figure out what their boundaries are and to exercise their boundaries,” she says. In turn, that allows sex workers to “hold space” for their clients, who might be themselves healing.
Blue, a New Orleans area native, has been a burlesque performer and show producer for close to 15 years — she was introduced to the art by Trixie Minx — and was headmistress of the New Orleans School of Burlesque, which has been on hiatus due to the pandemic. She also dances in clubs, books dominatrix sessions — and cuddle sessions for a softer experience — operates an OnlyFans account and teaches pole classes at Awakenings on Canal Street.
As the pandemic took over last year, Blue decided to go back to school. She’s now studying American Sign Language and social work, and her goal is to incorporate all of those things together — she gives an example of recently dancing at a strip club and being able to sign to a group of deaf patrons.
“I think in the future, what the work looks like is accessibility for one, and accessibility within the realm of sex work and social work and where those things intersect,” she says. — JAKE CLAPP
Justin Reese, 39
Partner, The King Firm
Cast member on Bravo’s “Southern Charm New Orleans”
New Orleans native Justin Reese says he’s been mentoring for more than half his life — going back to his college days when he was a flag football coach for 5- and 6-year-olds. Now a partner at The King Firm and an NFL Players Association certified registered agent, Reese is focused on giving back to New Orleans’ youth. He is a volunteer mentor at Son of a Saint, an organization that provides fatherless young boys with mentors and support.
Reese says through his mentoring he wants to teach young men “respect and professionalism” as well as financial literacy. “I want to start teaching young people about finances and entrepreneurship, so they see that there are other ways to build generational wealth and diversify their money,” Reese says.
Reese says his mother inspired his desire to be involved in the community, as she volunteered them to feed the homeless during Thanksgiving and participate in community service events. “My mother is one of the most caring and giving individuals I know,” Reese says. “She taught us that when you've been blessed you have a responsibility to give back to others.” — DOMONIQUE TOLLIVER
Richard Davis, 38
Legal Director, Innocence Project New Orleans
When Richard Davis took a gap year to do volunteer work, he signed up for a four-month internship with Innocence Project New Orleans. Davis had recently earned his bachelor’s in law from the University of Sheffield in his native England and was looking to do hands-on legal work.
That was 16 years ago.
“It turned out to be a really good fit and I kept finding ways to stay,” Davis says. “I eventually went to Loyola for a year for my master’s and took the bar exam to be an attorney in Louisiana.”
Davis is now the IPNO legal director, where he works with other staff to help release wrongfully convicted individuals from prison. Seeing someone walk free, often after years behind bars, is rewarding for Davis. But he is even more buoyed by the gratitude shown when IPNO takes a case.
“Our clients have often been treated as disposable or unimportant,” he says. “When we work on their case, the innocent person has some power in the situation because they have the help they need.”
Davis says the opportunity to do such work in New Orleans is an added bonus.
“It’s an old city by American standards and the architecture here makes it one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” he says. “It’s also a city that has traditionally been accepting of all people, some of whom are not always accepted in other places. I really like that aspect of living here.” — AMANDA MCELFRESH
Zaila Avant-garde, 14
Champion, Scripps National Spelling Bee
Basketball world record holder
G.O.A.T.
There might be something Zaila Avant-garde can’t master, but we haven’t found it yet. The 14-year-old from Harvey became an overnight sensation to much of the world after she became the first Black American and first Louisianan to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee this month. She earned congratulations from President Joe Biden, the Obamas and Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry, as well as several scholarship offers to Louisiana colleges. Plus, confetti, bees and her winning word, “murraya,” pop up when you Google her name.
But Avant-garde was stacking up the accolades well before her Scripps victory. She holds three dribbling-related Guinness World Records, performed with the Harlem Globetrotters, and was in a shoe commercial with Curry — which she describes as feeling “like running in Jell-O” because she was so excited.
Above all, Avant-garde has a love of learning second-to-none. She estimates she’s read more than 1,000 books, of which her father keeps a running list that spans several notebooks. She wants to be an NBA coach and work for NASA, but she also loves math, history, mythology and neuroscience. Avant-garde knows accomplishing her dreams will take a lot of work, but coming off of six to 10 tutoring sessions in the last few weeks, she’s used to that and says she enjoys staying busy. “If you want to be one of the best, you're going to have to work a whole lot and sacrifice other things to do it,” she says. — KAYLEE POCHE
Michael Hopkins, 35
Assistant Director of Coastal and Community Program, Pontchartrain Conservancy
Why is the Gulf of Mexico where it is? Why are the barrier islands not closer to the mainland? How did the Gulf come to be what it is now? Michael Hopkins asked himself these questions as a child on the beach in his hometown, Biloxi, Mississippi. “I've always been curious about the natural world and what makes things the way they are,” Hopkins says.
He studied geology in college, and upon graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi, began studying faults and tectonics in California, Oregon and Louisiana. In 2016, Hopkins began working at the Pontchartrain Conservancy as a geographic information systems specialist studying faults. In his first year there, Hopkins moved up to a scientist role and then to the secondary assistant director role.
Hopkins now works as assistant director at Pontchartrain Conservatory, which focuses on swamp restoration. Over the last 10 years, the conservatory has planted around 80,000 trees to reestablish cypress swamps for the habitat but also as surge protection in the lines of defense during storms. “My passion is to help the people I live around to understand their environment,” Hopkins says. “I'm using my natural talents to better help other people understand their circumstances.” — DOMONIQUE TOLLIVER
Rachel Taber, 36
Community outreach specialist at United Healthcare
Volunteer with Union Migrante
Bartender
Rachel Taber wears enough hats to open her own haberdashery. Between her day job with United Healthcare and a community outreach specialist, her volunteer work with local nonprofits including Union Migrante and her side hustle as a freelance interpreter, it’s a wonder she has time to breathe.
And did we mention she’s a bartender?
The Kenmore, Washington, native is a longtime advocate for the Spanish-speaking community, including undocumented immigrants. She’s worked to expand food access, maternal health care and mental health care for this population through United Healthcare, and during the COVID-19 pandemic helped make testing and vaccination available to them.
Her volunteer work at Union Migrante, a nonprofit formed for immigrants by immigrants, supports education and advocacy. Taber has worked with the organization and the city’s Office of Community Development to expand the amount of resources that are available to Spanish-speaking New Orleanians, and has helped immigrant families get help from the emergency rental assistance program as they face unemployment and an absence of stimulus checks.
Union Migrante is also working to develop a bond fund to support members directly in encounters with ICE or police.
“I draw inspiration seeing everyday people stand together and fight to transform our city and make it a safer, more inclusive place for all,” she says. — SARAH RAVITS
Marvin Arnold, 33
Organizer, Eye on Surveillance
Marvin Arnold didn’t set out to do battle with the surveillance state. In 2015, the Maryland native was looking for a change and had moved to New Orleans. But it wasn’t long before Arnold, a computer programmer by trade, became concerned with what was happening at City Hall.
“I started to see the impact that technology was having … a lot of bad things happen because the powers that be kind of say, ‘It’s just technology. It’s too complicated. And there’s nothing to look at here,’” he says. His work in computers gave him the ability to see beyond that, though, and he joined the New Orleans Independent Police Monitor, a civilian oversight agency founded in 2009.
Following a tour of the Office of Homeland Security’s Real-Time Crime Center in early 2019, Arnold and other activists from groups ranging from BARE NOLA to the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans, began organizing Eye on Surveillance. “There was a lot of shock in the group when we saw how invasive this system was,” Arnold says. In less than two years, the group would score a major victory when the city council banned the use of facial recognition software by police, becoming the second Southern city to do so.
Though more work needs to be done — the city continues to look for ways to undo some aspects of the ban — it was a crucial first step. “The ordinance, I think, was really groundbreaking in a lot of ways,” Arnold says. — JAKE CLAPP
Mark Melasky, 35
Registered Patent Attorney, Intellectual Property Consulting, LLC
Steering Committee Chair, The Ella Project’s Louisiana Invents Patent Pro Bono Program
Mark Melasky knew he wanted to become a patent attorney before most people do. It was his guidance counselor in high school who suggested him for a scholarship at a local law firm for students interested in becoming a patent attorney, and he won.
“Once I got into the workplace, I saw that intellectual property is a key to advance yourself in your business,” Melasky says. “Using my skills as a patent attorney is a way for me to give back to the community in my niche area."
In 2018, he began working with The Ella Project, a nonprofit that provides pro bono legal assistance to local creatives. He co-founded their program Louisiana Invents in 2019, which helps low-income inventors get patents for their ideas. Even as the pandemic limited volunteers, the program was still able to reach all its applicants, he says. Melasky was recognized with the 2020 Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for providing at least 50 hours of pro bono services.
Melasky also works as an adjunct professor in Tulane School of Professional Advancement's Information Technology program and teaches Zumba, two vastly different roles that he says help him unwind. “I always question what tools I have to assist someone else to grow on their path,” he says. “With Tulane, it's letting students know what I have seen that I think they need to know. For Zumba, (it’s) trying to assist people to get into a healthy mindset."— DOMONIQUE TOLLIVER
Ebony S. Morris, 32
Associate Attorney, Garrison, Yount, Forte & Mulcahy, LLC
President-Elect, Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society
After watching a documentary in middle school about the late Johnnie Cochran, Ebony Morris knew she wanted to practice law.
Originally from Amite, Louisiana, Morris is an associate attorney based in the New Orleans office of Garrison, Yount, Forte & Mulcahy, LLC. She is also the 2020-2021 President-Elect of the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society.
While Morris is a member of many organizations and has been publicly recognized for her accomplishments, she says she once felt outnumbered and doubted her abilities.
According to the 2019 American Bar Association Profile of the Legal Profession, only 5% of all lawyers are Black. It is commonly reported that minority lawyers feel like outsiders which results in some leaving the profession entirely.
Morris created The Raising the Bar Initiative with a group of Martinet members to increase diversity in the legal profession, specifically in the Greater New Orleans area, and rectify the decline of attorneys of color through mentorship and sponsorship.
“The welcoming and eager response from young attorneys and judges to the initiative has been the most surprising part because they also recognize the need for this initiative and its long-term impact on the legal profession in Louisiana,” says Morris.
Morris enjoys writing and has been published by the ABA and Defense Research Institute. She also enjoys reading, learning new things, the city’s diverse culture and food and spending time with her loved ones. — MICHAELA BECHLER
Imagine Water Works co-founders Miriam Belblidia (left) and Klie Kliebert (right)
Miriam Belblidia, 36 & Klie Kliebert, 36
Co-founders, Imagine Water Works
At the nonprofit Imagine Water Works, co-founders Miriam Belblidia and Klie Kliebert address a wide range of issues, from climate change and hazard mitigation to storm preparedness and more. They also emphasize climate justice.
“That boils down to: People most impacted should be leading the work,” Belblidia says.
Belblidia previously co-founded Louisiana Water Works in 2012, which partnered with other groups to develop holistic water management plans.
Belblidia grew up in several East Coast states as well as Algeria and Switzerland, but her grandparents lived in New Orleans and she always was drawn to the city. After completing a master’s degree in public administration relating to civil security and disaster management at the University of Pittsburgh, she moved to New Orleans. She took a job as a hazard mitigation specialist for the city, which was interrupted by a Fulbright Fellowship to study water management in the Netherlands.
Kliebert comes from a family with deep roots in the New Orleans and St. James Parish areas. They have a background in social work and helped storm survivors in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They also served as the communications director of Transilient, which documented the lives of transgender or nonbinary people.
At Imagine Water Works, Belblidia is the director of research and advocacy. Kliebert is the executive director and is engaged on community-facing projects such as the Mutual Aid Response Network, which has thousands of online participants; the Trans Clippers Project, which assists people who are queer and transgender affected by disasters; and storm preparation guides, including a Queer/Trans Guide to Hurricane Season. — WILL COVIELLO
Heide Winston, 38
Founder & Editor in Chief, Geaux Girl!
Geaux Girl! Executive Director and Editor in Chief Heide Winston says she launched the non-profit magazine and women’s health organization in 2018 to give young women in New Orleans an accessible and trusted, teen-centric source of comprehensive reproductive health information.
Originally from Germany where sex education is mandatory and begins in primary school, Winston formed Geaux Girl! as a way to help fill the void in a state where sex education is optional and largely abstinence-focused.
The magazine publishes about three times a year and is a collaboration between volunteers, a teen advisory council and the board. Sections like “Real Talk” provide articles and answers from local doctors, and both teen and adult contributors are published in each issue.
“The creativity, wisdom, humanity, courage, and vulnerability that show in the girls’ work are a moving reminder of how uniquely gifted and passionate girls here in New Orleans are,” says Winston.
Winston is a graduate of the Greater New Orleans Jewish Federation’s Katz-Phillips Leadership Development Program and is on the board of the Anti-Defamation League’s South Central Region. She also teaches at Tulane University, where she works as the director of communications and civic engagement in the university's Office of the President Emeritus.
Winston says the easy-going way of life in New Orleans balances out her more rigid German mentality. “There is a lightness and love of life and community that I didn’t know before living in New Orleans,” she says. — MICHAELA BECHLER
Emily Vuxton, 34
Policy Director, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
A shocking op-ed detailing coastal land loss in Louisiana inspired Emily Vuxton’s career studying coastal restoration.
She was familiar with coastal issues growing up in Tallahassee, Florida, and spending summers in New Orleans with her grandmother. In college, she researched coral reefs in French Polynesia under threat from climate change and studied coastal environmental management, where she learned about policy and law, before moving here. “It felt great to get to New Orleans and do the work I’ve been dreaming of for a long time,” she says.
“I've always loved New Orleans culture and food. It's a magical place,” Vuxton says. “But I also remember growing up hearing stories about my grandma hiding under her dining room table during Hurricane Betsy. I was aware of how much damage Hurricane Katrina did to the city. Knowing that our existence is so tenuous because of what's going on [with] the coast is sobering.”
In her spare time, Vuxton volunteers as an EMT with the New Orleans EMS and helped give out vaccines this spring. Mayor LaToya Cantrell also appointed her to the Audubon Commission last October. “Anyone can be an advocate for change,” Vuxton says. “I hope younger generations choose to be advocates in any issue that they are passionate about.” — DOMONIQUE TOLLIVER
David W. Robinson-Morris, 38
Founder and Chief Reimaginelutionary, The REImaginelution, LLC
David W. Robinson-Morris is the founder and chief reimaginelutionary at The REImaginelution, LLC, the strategic consulting firm he started earlier this summer focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion.
He fell in love with New Orleans while in college, first at Xavier and then Loyola. He graduated shortly after Hurricane Katrina and stayed to work in the recovery effort with the Office of Economic Development. Robinson-Morris began to work directly in the Mayor’s Office of Communications as the senior publicist and for the then-Office of Planning and Development.
“While one of the most difficult jobs of my life to date, I had the opportunity to see and understand the city in ways that I did not think were possible as a non-native,” he says.
Robinson-Morris says one of his proudest achievements is founding The Center for Equity, Justice and the Human Spirit at Xavier. “I birthed it from idea to institution,” he says. “The work of the Center in many respects is the work of my lifetime. It’s the beginning of my life’s work of collective healing and liberation through systemic transformation.”
Robinson-Morris is also currently serving as a guest curator for the annual Open Call exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans.
“I understand that I am being guided in ways that are seen and unseen. My work here is not done, and in some instances, my work in and for the city of New Orleans is just beginning,” Robinson-Morris says. — MICHAELA BECHLER
Dillon King, 32
Co-owner, Flambeaux Fitness
When Dillon King opened Flambeaux Fitness in Metairie with his wife in 2016, there had been “signs left and right” he needed to open his own gym, he says. States were passing laws banning trans people from using bathrooms and dressing rooms corresponding to their gender identities, and he wanted to create an inclusive CrossFit gym where members of the LGBTQ+ community could feel comfortable working out. As a trans man, fitness had boosted his confidence and he wanted others to share that experience.
“There was a sense that we didn't feel safe in all gyms,” King says, “so I wanted to create a space of something I love that I knew was beneficial to people's lives.”
Five years later, Flambeaux has around 100 members, and King estimates 60% are LGBTQ+. He joined CrossFit’s diversity council this year to further promote equity within the sport. King’s also the president of The OUT Foundation’s New Orleans chapter, which aims to remove barriers LGBTQ+ people face in accessing fitness by paying local athletes’ fitness-related expenses for a year. He also speaks to staff and students at LSU’s medical schools about gender-affirming health care as part of their LGBTQ+ cultural sensitivity training.
King used to perform in drag around New Orleans, and he works to create a similar sense of family among Flambeaux members by having regular social events outside the gym, like tubing.
“I'm trying my best to keep the sense of community as alive as I can,” he says. — KAYLEE POCHE
Jimmy Gale, 37
Community health worker, Louisiana Department of Health
Jimmy Gale’s work preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is personal. When he was 24, he was diagnosed with HIV. “My world fell apart a little bit,” he says. From there, he began getting involved in the field of HIV prevention, and he’s continued that work for the nearly 13 years since. In California, he worked for the Rainbow Community Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
It was work that brought Gale to New Orleans four years ago for the National Minority AIDS Council conference, where he learned about the city’s high rate of HIV transmission and decided he wanted to help lower it. Now, he works for the Louisiana Department of Health as a community health worker in its local STD/HIV/Hepatitis program, supporting locals living with HIV by talking them through any questions they may have. “I'm just a phone call away if they're having a bad day and need somebody to talk to,” Gale says. “I'm basically like an on-demand cheerleader.”
Gale also started Krewe of Pride Floats last month, a Pride Month spinoff of the Krewe of House Floats. He wanted to find a way to safely celebrate Pride, especially with several anti-trans bills popping up in the Louisiana Legislature. Gale says about 150 houses across the city ended up participating and he hopes it becomes an annual tradition. “It was a level of community that I had missed during lockdown,” he says. “It was probably the best Pride experience I've ever had.” — KAYLEE POCHE
Mai Dang, 37
Director of Operations, Urban Strategies, Inc.
Mai Dang vividly recalls the people and programs who helped her family when they immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in the 1980s.
Federal resources like subsidized housing and food stamps helped Dang’s parents provide for their family. An English as a Second Language teacher advocated for her to be tested for gifted programs. When Dang missed a shift at her first job as a teen, her boss gave her a planner and told her to write down her responsibilities.
“I think about all of these resources we had access to and also how many people had my back along the way. If I did not have those people, things would be a lot different for me,” Dang says.
Today, Dang is the senior project manager for Urban Strategies Inc., a nonprofit focused on community development and planning. The role allows Dang to work with families who often remind her of her own.
“So much of my work is about being the connector, making sure people are not only stable, but also have the opportunities they deserve,” she says. “We advocate with them to get the resources that are meant for them.”
Dang is most touched by the direct impacts — a child who moves on to the next grade after struggling in school, a health care worker who lands a better-paying job, or someone becoming a first-time homeowner.
“It brings me joy when I can support a resident in achieving goals and creating goals they never thought were possible.” — AMANDA MCELFRESH
Brittney Robins, 33
Educator, Founder, Bright Minds
In her 12 years working in education, Brittney Robins has held several positions: She joined Teach for America, taught at Scotlandville Elementary in Baton Rouge, was on the founding team of KIPP New Orleans, became director of special education for ReNEW Schools, and started her own organization, Bright Minds.
Robins, who is from Baton Rouge, didn’t start off on this path. In fact, she originally had plans to pursue marketing after college at Southern University. Then, in February 2009, Robins’ grandmother who had raised her, passed away. She has been a lifelong educator, mostly in special education, and Robins was compelled to honor her memory by entering education herself. She turned down a job offer in Minneapolis and decided to join Teach for America instead.
“She really instilled in me these values of just a strong moral compass, really being able to see the good in people and be willing to give everything you have to the betterment of others,” Robins says. “I owe her kind of everything.”
In 2018, she founded Bright Minds, which works with parents of New Orleans students with special needs to help them navigate a system they are often simply dropped into without much education themselves. Robins last year also returned to KIPP as the director of high school student services.
Throughout, Robins has tried to better understand the challenges of special education in order, she says, to “understand what it means to truly serve students with disabilities.” — JAKE CLAPP
Mercedes Montagnes, 38
Executive Director, Promise of Justice Initiative
Mercedes Montagnes’ work at the Promise of Justice Initiative is rooted in her belief that the criminal court system must be reformed in order to keep communities — both inside and outside prisons — safe. It’s difficult work and takes years to see even modest changes to the system.
“Our criminal court system is broken, but it took generations to create,” the Harvard Law School graduate and mother of two says. “As we try to reimagine it, that takes more time than any of us are comfortable with.”
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Montagnes came to New Orleans after law school to clerk for Judge Carl Barbier in the Eastern District of Louisiana between 2009 and 2010. She spent a year in Richmond, Virginia clerking for Chief Judge Roger Gregory on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals before returning to the city.
Over the past year Montagnes has filed lawsuits and litigated on behalf of incarcerated people for being mistreated by the prison system and having pre-existing conditions and illnesses worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. PJI is also working to make the criminal court system more trauma-informed and continuing to push for new trials for the more than 1,000 people still incarcerated by non-unanimous juries.
“There is no end to the challenges when you are mostly working on behalf of folks who are incarcerated,” she says. Logistical, financial challenges abound, but “the hardest of all is watching people experience harm, and not being able to help them immediately.” Though it’s an uphill battle in the state with the highest incarceration rates in the world, she knows she and her colleagues are doing important work for an oppressed population. Plus, the resilience of her colleagues and those she represents is contagious. “I have a passion for facilitating good work,” she says. — SARAH RAVITS
Katherine Conner, 33
COVID-19 Vaccine Manager, Testing Clinic Coordinator and HIV Linkage Supervisor at CrescentCare
Katherine Conner of CrescentCare has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning, whether it was by establishing some of the city’s first test sites in spring 2020 or organizing vaccination events that incorporate the city’s culture of celebration.
The Maryland native has been the brains behind events like the “Shots for Shots” vaccination pop-up at Dragon’s Den and a number of others that often incorporate some combination of live music, booze and twerking.
“Having music at your vaccine event is necessary,” she says. “Hell, music at work has had a positive impact on all of us — workers and patients.”
Her previous experience working with newly diagnosed HIV patients — and helping them instantly find health care providers — gave her some of the skills necessary to navigate the pandemic with a sense of urgency.
These days, Conner, who has a master’s in public health from Tulane, is focusing on bringing vaccines and other forms of health care to communities that often lack access, particularly the city’s Latinx community.
“Being able to provide accurate and digestible public health information to the community has been rewarding,” she says. “And I love it when people see me on the street and say, ‘Hey, you gave me that vaccine!’’’ — SARAH RAVITS
Jason Gaines, 38
Professor, Tulane University
LGBTQ Activist
While growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a love of musical theater, Jason Gaines thought he might go into an entertainment-related field. But that changed on 9/11, his second day in college. At an open microphone that day on the campus of Sarah Lawrence College, one speaker blamed the event on Jews.
“No one said anything,” Gaines says. “Not a word. I was 18. I had been in college for 36 hours. I decided I wanted to know what to say. I never wanted to feel powerless to respond to something like this.”
Gaines pursued religious studies in college, and then a master’s and Ph.D. in Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at Brandeis University.
“I fell in with love of sacred texts,” he says. “The Hebrew Bible.”
After teaching at Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and College of Holy Cross, he moved to New Orleans three years ago and currently is a Professor of Practice at Tulane University, where he teaches introductory level religious studies classes, including a course on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He also teaches courses on mythologies of the ancient world as well as the Bible and social justice. He’s the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Jewish Studies.
Gaines also is active with Jewish Pride New Orleans, where he serves as co-chair and focuses on Jewish-LGBTQ issues. He was recently appointed to the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.
This summer he’s been working on a new book about the concept of sexual consent in the Hebrew Bible, and he bought a condo in the French Quarter, which he now calls home. — WILL COVIELLO
Angel Chung Cutno, 36
Teacher, founder of RE(ad) TREAT
Angel Chung Cutno has taught middle school in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and has been involved with advocacy for various causes. During the pandemic, she started RE(ad) TREAT, a “nomadic library” that brings books and mentoring to New Orleans children ages 4 to 14.
“When we give scholarships, we are only rewarding students who have achieved the most,” Cutno says. “We could take that same money and invest it in the entire student body and benefit a larger group of students instead of just the one at the top.”
At RE(ad) TREAT events, kids read aloud or silently and present an oral summary to earn coins to exchange for school supplies, science kits or other materials. RE(ad) TREAT tries to send every child home with a new book.
Cutno also has made the sessions more culturally relevant to New Orleans.
“For Juneteenth, we wanted to focus on books that highlight Black children, and stories and voices and authors,” she says. “We’re also trying to partner with more local authors so we can have them come do read alouds and support the authors by buying their books.”
Cutno studied art education at LSU, and has worked in media including collage, painting, jewelry and restoring hats. Since moving back to New Orleans, she has focused on beadwork and is the Queen of the 8th Ward Black Seminole Masking Indians.
She’s active with several groups, including the Rotary International and serves on the board of directors of the Faubourg St. Roch Improvement Association, Asian/Pacific American Society and Front Yard Bikes in Baton Rouge. — WILL COVIELLO
Megan Boudreaux, 39
Founder, Krewe of House Floats
Megan Boudreaux essentially saved Carnival 2021, and it all started with a tweet.
After the city canceled parades and large celebrations because of COVID-19, Boudreaux, who works as a claims account manager at an insurance company, took to social media and lightheartedly mused about “house floats.” The idea quickly caught on, and cooped-up residents across the city soon got to decorating, showing off their creative skills and harnessing the spirit of Carnival through their homes’ exteriors.
“I opened my big mouth on the internet one day and suddenly found myself planning Mardi Gras with three months' notice in the middle of a pandemic with no budget and very little experience,” she says.
Thankfully, New Orleanians are generous neighbors who are accustomed to making the best out of bad situations, and Boudreaux was able to recruit and rely on dedicated volunteers who offered time as well as organizational skills to move it forward. “It was very much an exercise in learning to ask for help and trusting people,” she says. It was also a boon for local artists who were struggling for work with shutdowns, and the citywide coalition — made up of subkrewes of neighborhoods — also raised money for mutual aid organizations.
Finding new ways to celebrate and showcase New Orleans’ culture and traditions also helped people to cope, rebuild connections and have some hope for the future, Boudreaux says. And Krewe of House Floats was so popular that it will return in 2022, though hopefully in conjunction with street parades. “It keeps you going through the hardest parts,” she says. — SARAH RAVITS
Lede New Orleans co-founders Jen Larino (left) and Ejaaz Mason (right)
Jen Larino, 33 & Ejaaz Mason, 29
Founders, Lede New Orleans
Jennifer Larino, a longtime print journalist, and Ejaaz Mason, a filmmaker, teamed up with a vision to diversify the New Orleans media landscape and make it more equitable for young storytellers, ages 18-25, from marginalized communities, including people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ.
In just the year and a half since they launched Lede New Orleans, they’ve served more than 50 people with free workshops that cover different media skills and ongoing, longer-term fellowship programs. Even though in-person sessions were temporarily tabled amid COVID-19 shutdowns, “We knew we were going to press forward regardless,” Larino says.
Rather than become discouraged over the last year, the duo became more determined to continue their work. “It crystalized what we were trying to do,” Larino says.
Stories and other creative multimedia projects are posted on Lede’s website and on their social media channels, including YouTube, and the duo hopes to see both the site and fellowship programs grow in the coming years. They also hope to partner with bigger media outlets to amplify stories told by people who have been historically underrepresented in media.
“This is about restoring communities and empowering them,” Mason says. — SARAH RAVITS
Ben Lorio, 38
Owner, Below Productions
Over the course of his career, New Orleans-born musician and producer Ben Lorio has racked up an impressive resume. A specialist in recording and mixing, he has more than 200 credits to his name, including work with Trombone Shorty, Big Freedia, The Revivalists and Tank and the Bangas.
In 2013, he started his own studio, Below Productions, and opened a bright, airy studio space on Magazine Street in 2018. Over the years, it has become a go-to spot for many New Orleans’ biggest names and up-and-coming acts alike.
“What I really enjoy is working with the people in the beginning stages,” Lorio says. “Even the bigger artists that I’ve worked with, it started fairly early on. That’s what I’m really passionate about — when it’s helping them get to the next level and giving them a little push forward.”
Lorio started making beats and working with production while a teenager. After high school, he attended Full Sail University and then Loyola for a degree in music industry studies. In 2008, he started working with The Music Shed Studios, eventually becoming their house engineer and working on everything from hip-hop and pop to jazz and indie rock.
Lorio admits he doesn’t take a lot of time away from working on music, but every summer, he volunteers with the Miracle League, a sports program for kids with disabilities. When he was a pre-teen, Lorio had a brain tumor removed and spent time at the Children’s Hospital in Arkansas. Working with the Miracle League has been a way to help pay it forward, he says. — JAKE CLAPP
Travis C. Banks, 38
Project Manager and Principal, Gravel Road Builders and Construction Services
Even as a young kid, Travis Banks wanted to build things: After all, it’s in his DNA: he’s from a long line of construction workers and engineers. Banks recalls following his father around to construction sites, where he thought to himself, “When I get older, I will open a construction company as big as Boh Brothers.”
In his early 20s, after Hurricane Katrina hit, he was displaced to Leesville. Bored and listless, he took up sketching as a hobby and developed a knack for drawing buildings. He pursued a business degree and then a master’s in construction management at LSU. “It seemed like it was molded for my childhood dream,” he says.
In 2016, he launched Gravel Road Builders and Construction Services, a full-service contracting and construction company that focuses on green infrastructure. Some of his bigger projects have included restoring and painting the interior of a historic church and installing new railings at the Audubon Zoo, in addition to helping other clients with drywall installation, building fences and other restorative work.
Banks is also involved in several community service projects, often centered around cleaning up blight. And he’s on the steering committee for Sankofa Community Development, a nonprofit dedicated to stabilizing the Lower Ninth Ward, where he shares input about green infrastructure and buildings.
Banks hopes to expand the business and bid on larger projects so that Gravel Road becomes “one of the biggest minority-owned construction companies in Louisiana.”
“I want [young people] to say, ‘One day, I will have a company as big as Gravel Road,’” he says. — SARAH RAVITS
Mariah Wineski, 34
Executive Director, Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Mariah Wineski may have a quiet demeanor, but for the executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, that’s a key part of her work process.
“I always go into any situation listening first. I never want to be the loudest voice in any room,” she says. “In my field, I think the most important thing we can do is truly listen.”
That listening spurred Wineski to help develop a housing assistance program for women who have fled abusive relationships and can no longer stay in a shelter. Last year alone, the program helped more than 1,600 survivors obtain secure long-term housing.
“It’s amazing what can happen when you take away the red tape and give people what they say they need,” she says. “They know their own needs best.”
She admits it can be challenging when clear change isn’t immediately apparent, but she holds on to the belief that things are improving, albeit sometimes slowly.
“A lot of it is social change work and you don’t necessarily get to see the outcome of that right away,” Wineski says. “It takes time to change people’s attitudes and the way people think about an issue like domestic violence. I always try to take a step back and see the big picture and get energized by the smaller wins.” — AMANDA MCELFRESH
Troy Glover, 30
New Orleans Director, Center for Employment Opportunities
Candidate, City Council District D
Troy Glover is busy. In addition to being the executive director of the New Orleans Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) and working with other community groups, Glover decided to add politician to his resume as a candidate for the New Orleans City Council District D seat.
But Glover often reflects on how things could have turned out differently. His father was killed when he was two. His mother struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Seeking ways to cope, Glover was arrested at age 17.
Despite it all, he knew people were rooting for him.
“When I was arrested, folks helped me pay fines and fees,” he says. “I was the first person in my family to set foot on a college campus. When I failed at first, they helped me regroup. Because of that, I got my bachelor’s degree from UNO. People have stepped in and played a huge role for me. That’s my goal now.”
CEO has put more than 150 formerly incarcerated people to work in the past year. The center helps individuals with mental health care, substance abuse treatment, childcare and more. Glover and others also gave their $2,000 federal stimulus payments to returning individuals last year.
“I see the work that I do as part of my commitment to give back the way people have invested in me,” he says. “This is my life’s work.” — AMANDA MCELFRESH
Jacob Landry, 37
Founder & CEO, Urban South Brewery
“As a young adult, I hated beer. My dad drank Milwaukee’s Best and Natural Light, and I thought it was disgusting,” says Urban South Brewery Co-founder Jacob Landry.
After an eye-opening year of trying new types of alcohol in France as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Landry became a huge beer fan. His newfound love of beer turned into him daydreaming about owning a brewery while working in the Pacific Northwest.
In the decade before opening Urban South, Landry worked for Teach for America and as a cabinet-level policymaker for the Louisiana Department of Education and Jefferson Parish Public Schools. He also worked to change a law that would allow breweries to sell more of their products directly to consumers in their taprooms. This change more than doubled the number of breweries in the state.
He eventually teamed up with Kyle Huling, co-founder, vice president, and professional brewer, to create Urban South. In just five years, the brewery has become the second largest in the state employing 55 people. During the pandemic, Urban South provided over $150,000 in hand sanitizer to local schools and school districts.
Owning and operating a business in New Orleans comes with plenty of challenges, but Landry credits his past careers for the skills he uses as an entrepreneur. In fact, he’s now working to pass those skills on to others as an adjunct lecturer at Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business. — MICHAELA BECHLER
Lindsey Hortenstine, 39
Director of Communications and Development, Orleans Public Defenders
It’s important, Lindsey Hortenstine says, for the Orleans Public Defenders to talk about the injustices they see. To share the things many people outside of the criminal justice system “may not see happen every day, both ordinary and extraordinary,” she says, “and the effect the interaction has on individuals, on families and communities.”
That’s where Hortenstine steps in: As the Orleans Public Defenders’ director of communications and development, she shares those stories to give the public a look at the work OPD does and to better explain where the justice system is failing. She’s also trying to break the misperceptions people may have of public defenders as overworked, underpaid attorneys just “clicking the box and doing the bare minimum.”
“I work with some incredibly passionate, dedicated and talented advocates,” Hortenstine says.
Born in Texas, Hortenstine attended LSU before moving to New Orleans in 2007. In 2009, she started working at OPD in an administrative role and stepped into communications for the office in 2012. In 2019, she was instrumental in securing funding to create a re-entry team to help formerly incarcerated people navigate the parole system upon their return home.
“The way you get people to connect and understand is through storytelling,” she says, “and I was excited to help share those stories.” — JAKE CLAPP
Annie Irvin, 37
Executive Director, The Beauregard-Keyes House
When Annie Irvin walks through the Beauregard-Keyes Historic House and Garden, she sees more than a National Historic Landmark built in 1826. She also sees the museum as a way to connect current New Orleans residents and tourists with the city’s multicultural history.
“We have expanded our narrative to include a lot of Italian history, as well as a lot of history about enslaved people and free people of color who contributed to the beauty of the house,” Irvin says. “We’re encouraging visitors to view history through an empathetic lens.”
To ensure the property continues to make history come alive, Irvin has led fundraising efforts that have resulted in many improvements, including replacing drainage and electrical infrastructure, stabilizing the home and repainting the building. With pandemic restrictions lifted, Irvin is working with the Beauregard-Keyes program director on new classes, programs and concerts.
“I’ve learned there are times when I have the privilege to provide this space as a platform, but not necessarily be the messenger,” Irvin says. “When we are doing lectures about French Quarter history or slave dwellings, it’s a matter of providing the space and inviting people in for an honest conversation.” — AMANDA MCELFRESH