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Making Good is the podcast of Church Alley—a small business in New Orleans, LA. This podcast talks about all things small business, including nutrition, challenges, and learning from each other. We hope to share information and conversations that empower small business owners to take care of themselves so they can make good on serving their communities. Church Alley opened as a cafe in 2013, serving delicious locally roasted coffee, homemade pastries, and lunch. In 2020, we expanded our offerings by partnering with over a dozen local small businesses looking for new ways to stay in business. We met so many amazing people doing good work and we couldn’t keep the conversations to ourselves! The cafe closed in November 2024. Church Alley continues as a pantry line that can be found around New Orleans and as a small nutrition & habits coaching business. Small business owners face higher rates of autoimmune disease and are more likely to be dyslexic and have ADHD than the general population. This podcast shares good information for small business owners to take care of themselves so they can keep serving.
Episodes
Thursday Feb 20, 2025
Thursday Feb 20, 2025
Welcome to the first episode of my series on Macronutrients!
Many of my clients at Church Alley Nutrition avoid carbs for a dozen reasons that can be read in a women's magazine. The thing is, we NEED carbohydrates to have a healthy life. And most of us don't really know what a carb is, can't pick it out in a grocery aisle, and/or have no idea what they do for our bodies. Hint: Your brain and every single cell in your body NEEDS carbs to function properly.
And that's why I'm doing a series on macronutrients to help us all get the basics of why these nutrients are important, what they are, how much to include in each meal, and where do find them. We get a lot of information thrown out at us online and most of it is junk that only confuses us.
I'm also publishing on Substack, where I go into detail about nutrients, body image, and my research on climate change and autoimmune diseases. You can follow along by clicking here:
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Laura Sanders is a comedian and illustrator. We spoke about her journey into comedy and how real life, even the hard parts like grieving the loss of a parent, can sometimes be really funny. We also discussed how one becomes a comedian and why it is called a comedy album. She also illustrates coloring books that you can tear apart and send as postcards, books, and you can rent her for a day for a makeover montage as your personal in-house illustrator, designer, and biggest fan.
You can learn more about Laura by visiting:
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Nicole Eiden is a local poet, writer, and former pie maker. Nicole and I have known each other for close to 15 years. You will probably hear our mutual fondness for each other's work in this episode. I spoke with Nicole about her writing because it's beautiful, and she even read some of her poems as well as a couple of her favorite poems written by others. While recording this episode, my lawn guy came through, an ambulance was outside, and we had a few other interruptions, so you may notice a few of these. But you know the conversation was so good, and we just kept going!
You can learn more about Nicole at:
https://www.nicoleeiden.com/
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Jacqueline Blanchard is the owner of Coutelier and Bar Sukaban in New Orleans. While we are not related (that we know of), we do hail from the same Cajun roots as our families, who both left Nova Scotia and ended up in the bayous and rivers of Southern Louisiana. Jacqueline received her bachelors in Culinary Arts from Nicholls State University just after Hurricane Katrina hit our coast.
In this episode, we discuss Blanchard's journey to owning a specialty knife shop and nearby restaurant in Uptown New Orleans. She even offers some ideas for keeping delicious food on hand when you have no idea what to cook for dinner.
You can learn more about Jacqueline by visiting:
Coutelier Website: https://couteliernola.com/
Bar Sukaban website: https://www.barsukeban.com/
and their corresponding Instagram handles: https://www.instagram.com/barsukeban/ https://www.instagram.com/couteliernola/
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Dominique is a native Louisianian who has dedicated her career to helping her clients build a strong brand, cultivate authentic connections, and effectively communicate their stories. Public Relations feels tricky as a small business owner trying to cut through the noise to find their customers. I've worked with Dominique several times over the past 14 years. She has generously given advice, connected me with folks around town, and, in this episode, shares her journey to becoming a successful Public Relations expert. What I admire most about Dominique, besides her eye for beautiful things, is her desire to share her knowledge freely in a way that truly helps.
You can learn more about Dominique :
At her website: https://dominiquepr.com/
On Instagram: @dominiqueellisrambles
And through her free DIY PR Resources Newsletter, PR Insider: https://dominiquepr.myflodesk.com/g6ub9p1mjq
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Brandi Johnson, Personal Style Expert
https://www.brandeisnicole.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandeisnicole
Email newsletter: https://brandeisnicole.kit.com/d53de7d0c6
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/styleforsmartcookies
Brandi and spoke about styling yourself to meet who you are and your current lifestyle. This was a great conversation. I've followed Brandi's work for years. I love the simplicity of how she explains styling clothes for how your body feels right now and not being afraid to let go of all those clothes we hold on to for too long.
Brandi Johnson is personal style expert and body confidence coach, learning and development leader, speaker, and the founder of Brandeis Nicole, a personal style & image coaching firm.
After earning degrees at Brown University and UC Berkeley, Brandi led a storied career as a learning and development leader and executive at a national consulting firm. She quickly earned a reputation for style along with program design and training, and found herself coaching her colleagues on looking their best. During that time, a dramatic weight gain from an endometriosis medication left her frustrated with ill-fitting clothes and wreaked havoc on her confidence. Determined to find a better way, she was selected to join an intensive, invite-only training with Stacy London from TLC’s What Not to Wear, where she developed her signature methodology for personal styling, focusing on the science of style, body shape and fit.
An educator at heart, Brandi has styled well over 1,000 clients, has presented to crowds varying from 2500 attendees to round table group discussions, and is known for her transformational approach to style as a pathway to confidence and authentic self-expression. She has been called "style magic" by numerous clients and helps women of all shapes and sizes, especially women navigating changing bodies, find the joy that happens when they confidently step into who they are with an effortless wardrobe to match.
Brandi enjoys dance, fruity cocktails, gets embarrassed for other people when watching reality shows, and has never met a french fry she didn’t like. A Bay Area native who most recently called Brooklyn home for 15 years, she now resides in Houston, TX and loves the H-town charm.
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Adela Baker, Mind Coach, Turbo Thinkers
Adela and I spoke about entrepreneurship, perimenopause, and other life events when you have a spicy brain. She is full of information and wise advice for those of us who might be Turbo Thinkers.
Learn More About Adela:
I began coaching after encountering my first Turbo Thinker© struggling in a neurotypical world: my son. Upon discovering his “race car brain with tricycle brakes,” I had a light bulb moment: If I was going to help my son, I was going to help the world.
I threw myself into understanding the neuroscience behind ADHD, enrolling in a rigorous training program and credentialing process. With the conviction to help my son appreciate and harness his ADHD-diagnosed, Turbo Thinker© mind, I initially began coaching ADHD clients. That was more than a few years ago…
I now sit on the board of directors of the ADHD Coaches Association (ACO) and serve as a mentor and session leader for the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (PAAC), making me one of the few coaches worldwide who reviews and sponsors ADHD coaches aspiring to be credentialed.
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Joaquin Rodas is the Founding Chef and a Managing Partner @bacchanalwine @elysianbarnola @bacchanalcatering.
I first met Joaquin at one of Church Alley Cafe's first popups in 2012. Our families became fast friends. I always loved hearing Joaquin's story of how he became a chef. He started the restaurant Upstairs at Mimi's (the space now called Anna's in the Marigny neighborhood) before Hurricane Katrina and then went to culinary school.
In this episode, we meander around discussing delicious food, his family, business, and pairing flavors in our kitchen. He gives us some tips on how to make delicious family meals at home.
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
Vera Lester does a lot of things. As a Meaningful Work Coach, she supports clients One-on-One, offers business coaching for owners and small groups, facilitates team retreats, and speaks at conferences and meetings. All of this activity is dedicated to making work matter -- creating careers and companies that improve lives and make meaningful impact on the world.
Vera Lester knows work is such a big part of our lives that being in the wrong role can turn us into zombies or burn us out. She believes every person has a unique calling and is obsessed with helping passionate professionals find and pursue it.
In this episode, we discussed the nuts and bolts of strategic planning for small businesses. While we did discuss tactics like when is the right time to put something on the calendar and how to evaluate if that project is really worth your time and money, we also discussed how to connect with your purpose, why celebrating small milestones is important (listen for my groan in being reminded of why this important), and much more. We explored why annual strategic planning is not too corporate or too capitalist for even the smallest of businesses.
We promised to list several things in the show notes during our discussion. Here they are:
- The Four Tendencies, which I remembered as "The four personalities" : https://gretchenrubin.com/books/the-four-tendencies/
You can learn more about Vera at her website: https://veralester.com/
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024
Anjali Prasertong is a writer and public health dietitian focused on food systems, racial equity, and nutrition. She led an innovative city-funded corner store program in New Orleans that increased fresh food access in low-income neighborhoods and worked with food entrepreneurs in the city looking to operationalize racial equity in their businesses. Now living in Denver, Colorado, she writes the reader-supported newsletter Antiracist Dietitian.
Our conversation included the nuts and bolts of what working towards becoming a Registered Dietitian (RD). We also discussed in depth why the lack of diversity in the nutrition field causes real problems that must be faced in our communities. Currently, it is estimated that only 2.6% of RDs are Black. The costs of becoming an RD are high and include an undergraduate degree in Dietetics, a Masters's degree, an unpaid 10-month clinical internship that usually costs roughly $10,000, and a national board exam with a high failure rate. Within this path are continual situations that many have spoken about as being inhospitable to those who are not white.
Please follow Anjali's writing to learn more about racism in the nutrition field. She is a wealth of knowledge and activism.