The Grass is Greener in BTR

I’m Baton Rouge born and bred but it was the last place I thought I would end up putting roots down in. It wasn’t because anything was necessarily wrong with Baton Rouge growing up, the grass just seemed greener in bigger cities. I went away for college, my first job, and graduate school and would shout from the rooftop I was never coming back!  

I work in public health and was a little mighty than thou thinking I needed to work in a more prominent city for the line of work and never thought Baton Rouge could cultivate my interest (very narrow minded in that thinking) After graduate school, I was offered a job with HealthyBR in the East Baton Rouge Mayor ’s Office working on Ending the HIV epidemic.  

Full transparency, I started dating my now husband when I was in graduate school, and he lived in Baton Rouge so I naturally did include it in my job market search, but I never thought I would land a job that sounded exciting enough to move back.

The job, the boy, and being closer to my parents brought me back but so much more has kept me here. I’ve chosen to make Baton Rouge my home as an adult, and it feels different yet familiar to the BR I grew up in.

BTR Career Connections

One of my favorite things about Baton Rouge is that change, and growth (both personal and professional) feels attainable because of the size of the city.  It is easy to make new connections that can turn into opportunities if you just put yourself out there. The word connection comes to mind when I think about Baton Rouge. More than anywhere I’ve ever lived, connections are what drives our city. Moving back as a 25-year-old, I was put in rooms with people much more senior than me and expected to own the space. I was afforded bigger opportunities because Baton Rouge has that small town feel that in other cities feeling like you have the connections and path to make improvements might take years to reach. While it might have come as a surprise to me to move back, none of my friends were surprised given the way I always talked so fondly about Baton Rouge while away. 

 I have had friends here since I was in elementary school and once I moved away for college, I remained close with my best friends from high school. When I moved back to Baton Rouge, it would have been very easy to slip back into everything I knew, hang out with just my high school friends, my family and my husband’s friend group. While I do spend time with them, I really wanted to be open to new friendships and connections.  

I found new communities of friends in Baton Rouge through being involved in my church, volunteering with Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, being part of Leadership Baton Rouge, going to run clubs, tailgates, working at Pure Barre part time, and through the jobs I've had here. I found these various communities by reaching out to people who I found interesting and learning what they were involved in and cared about.  

Not everything I tried has stuck but being bold and putting myself out there to try and make new friends "as an adult" has been worth it. Each friend I've met through these avenues has helped me see Baton Rouge through different eyes. Some were born here like me and some are transplants. At the end of the day, we all call Baton Rouge home. You can navigate a career well in Baton Rouge through connections and being open, you never know what a conversation might lead to! I work in public health which is an interdisciplinary field, public health is everywhere and everything which means I can work in a variety of types of jobs that would be considered public health and in Baton Rouge we have a lot of those.

I currently work for Louisiana Public Health Institute, a statewide non-profit that is based in New Orleans, so I work remotely. Since public health is such a vast line of work and I enjoy making connections with people, I love getting coffee or lunch with people in the Baton Rouge areas to see if there are opportunities for my company to support their work and vice versa.

Better Balance in BTR

Baton Rouge is a great place to have a remote working lifestyle. We have a great library system and coffees shops that I often work from when my schedule allows! The main activity I like to do in Baton Rouge is eat! I feel my husband and I plan our weekends based on what meals we want to grab out to eat or cook. When we can, we enjoy going to the Red Stick Farmers Market downtown and planning a meal based on what the vendors have in season.

We also really love biking around town! We live in the Kenilworth Neighborhood and can bike from our house all the way to Downtown safely and on bike paths.

Some more of our go-tos for food related activities are sunny afternoons in Mid-City on patios like Mid-City Beer Garden, listening to music at Curbside, and Barracuda enjoying the patio at Zorbas with some warm fresh pita bread and hummus, going downtown to Cocha, and parking under the overpass and seeing what restaurant that night fits our fancy. We are big fans of White Light Night and Hot Art Cool Nights in Midcity. My aunt and uncle own Cannatella Grocery and it is always so special watching people flock to Mid-City to support local restaurants and artisans.

Of course, during the fall, I love tailgating! My husband and his friends put together a tailgate every home game (shout out to Stumping Grounds!). Going out to LSU campus (even though I went to UGA!) to visit with friends and have good food is always a fun activity.

New Orleans isn't the only place for fun festivals in the springtime. We enjoy going to the various spring festivals in Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Blues Fest is our favorite.  When we aren't out and about enjoying a meal, we are playing with our pup, Huey, who we rescued from Companion Animal Alliance. He loves going on long walks through our neighborhood.

I truly believe there is an activity in Baton Rouge for everyone to partake in at any given season and day!  

One's experience in Baton Rouge is what you make it, which I love. I believe it is up to each person to choose to engage in what Baton Rouge has to offer and it will give back to you. It really has a hometown feel with the opportunities to grow and shape it into whatever you want it to be.

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