Happy New Year! Whether you subscribe to the “new year, new me” mentality, create a vision board or choose a word as a mantra, it’s time to start thinking about resolutions, goals and other plans for 2025.
A few days before the calendar reset, we asked seven Capital Region business owners, community leaders and creatives to tell us their New Year’s resolutions for both themselves and the city of Baton Rouge. Here’s what they shared.
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Tell us at [email protected]
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“My word for 2025 is rediscover. It can be so easy to get lost in the passage of time and lose who you are. My resolution is to rediscover all the things I’ve always loved about myself and make sure I’m bringing them to the forefront next year. I’m confident that in that process I will discover new things I love, too. I think I would say the same thing for Baton Rouge. This city has so much culture and history and joy. I’d love to see our city, especially the young up-and-coming professionals, rediscover what makes our city so great and prioritize speaking about those things. As I am with my personal resolution, I’m confident that with this mindset we’ll end up finding new things we love about our city that we’ve never noticed before.”
—Abbey Lovett Kish, CEO at Abbey Kish Consulting
“I feel blessed to be surrounded by great people and things I love to do. But because life can get busy, this year I want to take the time to really soak it all in. I’m setting my New Year’s goals to set at least three weekly workouts at the Charles W. Lamar Jr. YMCA with my best friend, attend the Red Stick Farmers Market every Saturday and enjoy at least two monthly sunsets biking or walking on our riverfront with my husband. For the Capital Region, the goal would be to focus on all the things we should be proud of and participate more in all the community events and offerings we have.”
—Whitney Hoffman Sayal, executive director at Downtown Development District
“Personally, to ensure the campuses of the Southern University System continue to provide well-prepared and committed graduates to the Louisiana and global workforce. For the city, to assist the new administration in recognizing the capabilities and genuine willingness of Southern University to contribute to the educational, social, economic and workforce growth of north Baton Rouge.”
—Dennis J. Shields, president at Southern University System
“A resolution I would say for Baton Rouge is to support the local artists in our community, stop and listen to the performers on the street corners, go to the comedy shows, attend the dance performances or try a new music genre or something you are not familiar with. You may end up loving it.”
—Jonathan Grimes, president/CEO at Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge
“I would like to challenge everyone to support at least one local concept every month, whether it be a restaurant, activity, grocery store, retail, pet store, etc. They may find their new favorite business to support while keeping money within our local economy. I honestly don’t have any new (personal) resolutions. I would like to maintain the goals I’ve reached. If anything, just continue to improve the quality of my life in Louisiana.”
—Maameefua Koomson, social media and brand strategist at Quirk-E Creative
“Professionally, I am going to develop our catering business to hit 10% growth four years in a row. Personally, I am a new board member for the Food Bank and will work to develop relationships to accomplish their mission. For the new year, I hope to see BR flourish with new leadership and become a star of the South.”
—Jim Urdiales, chef/owner at Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine
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“For 2025, my resolution is to create more art and encourage others to do so, as well. As a graphic designer, my art has taken a backseat for a few years, and I’m ready for a resurgence. We are currently working on a community creative project that will launch in late January in Local Supply that leans into my art-filled resolution. I would love to see a larger Baton Rouge community resolution making the effort to shop locally and shop small. We saw so many wonderful small local businesses shutter in 2024. My hope is that we don’t see the same in 2025, because our community understands the importance of local support. Our tagline is ‘Support your local maker,’ and that is the perfect resolution for anyone in the Red Stick.”
—Sarah Gibbens, founder of Local Supply and Local Pop-Up