NOLA Food Scene, Content Creation & Leadership with Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston

Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston wears a lot of hats- mom, leadership consultant, professor, and content creator- and is a well-known voice in New Orleans food culture. In this episode, Nicole shares how she built a following around storytelling and community, what people misunderstand about leadership and management, and how she balances content creation with a full-time professional career. You’ll also hear about her favorite New Orleans restaurants and the importance of building relationships both online and in real life.

Here’s what we discuss in this episode:

📱 Content Creation: Building community through storytelling

⏰ Time Management: Calendars and boundaries are essential

🍽️ New Orleans Food: Restaurants create community connections

🧠 Leadership Skills: Emotional intelligence matters deeply

👥 Managing People: Leadership requires relationship-building

✈️ Creative Balance: Integrating work, travel, and family life

Keep up with Dr. Nicole:

Eaten Path NOLA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatenpathnola/?hl=en 

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.nicolecaridad/

Toodie and Roodie: The Foodies: https://www.amazon.com/Toodie-Roodie-Nicole-Caridad-Ralston/dp/B0FJ1Z14LL

Toodie and Roodie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toodieandroodie/

Caridad Consulting: https://www.caridadconsulting.com

Injured? Begin the process here: 

Scott Vicknair Injury Lawyers: https://www.scottvicknair.com/

Car Accident Lawyer: https://www.scottvicknair.com/new-orleans/car-accident-lawyer/ 

Truck Accident Lawyer: https://www.scottvicknair.com/new-orleans/truck-accident-lawyer/ 

Motorcycle Accident Lawyer: https://www.scottvicknair.com/new-orleans/motorcycle-accident-lawyer/ 

Probate, Succession and Estate Legal Needs?
Visit Scott Law Group – Estate Counsel: https://www.louisianasuccessionattorney.com/

More Resources

Subscribe to the Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@scottvicknairlaw?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Scott Vignaire, danger et turnies, we buy for the win.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Overworld Podcast brought to you by the Scott Vignair Law Firm. I am your host, David Vignair, with a friend of ours and now become a friend of mine, Nicole Rousen. Nicole, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

So, Nicole, you have two very interesting lives. We have a lot of this, we were just talking before we got on air. We have this community of content creators in New Orleans. Yes. A very amazing group of different content creators, and y'all are a lot of y'all are friends, which is really cool. Because I think my perspective was y'all get in the meet all of y'all and do different things with y'all now that we're regularly doing. Y'all are all great people and very talented, and New Orleans is the best food city in the world. And so there's just a lot of work for all of y'all to do together and have fun together. But maybe talk a little bit about how you got into that community and tell our listeners how you became this content producer who's got thousands of people following you around to restaurants and other events and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so it's so interesting because when I I feel a little like a like an elder in the community because when I first started doing content stuff, it wasn't a thing. So I first I moved here and fell in love with the food scene, as most people do. I've been here for 15 years now, and I was talking to people like every week at work about the different places I was trying, whatever. I was working at the University of New Orleans at that time.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

And one of my coworkers and a couple of the students were like, you should start like an online thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

It's such a New Orleans thing, too, right? Like we all talk about what's the lace like it's just the way of life you are. Where'd you go last? Where's the new restaurant? Because there's always a new restaurant. You and I just naturally, if you didn't realize before we got on, we're talking about dolphies, talking about the new restaurant.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Like, I know, all the time. So exactly. So I'm talking about all the time, they're talking about all the time, they're like, oh, you should start something. So one of them said, you should start a Tumblr. I'm like, okay. So I started a Tumblr where I'm just literally uploading pictures and like random captions. Okay. Then fast forward several years, another student from Xavier University reaches out to me on Tumblr, is like, I'm supposed to be interviewing like a local media person in the city and I want to interview you for like my journalism class or something. She interviews me, and at the end of the interview, she's like, you know, Instagram um could be like the next big thing for you. You should roll your content into Instagram. At this point, Instagram was maybe like three, four years old. Like young. We knew we would be throwing it. 2016. Okay. So I'm like, I'm old in this community. Yeah. So right after that, I was like, you know what? I actually was thinking about this. Like I had had four years at that point of tons of pictures already collected, right? Um, and I was like, this could be all on Tumblr. All on Tumblr.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

And um, so when she mentioned that, I was like, you know, I have thought a similar thing. I'm taking this as a sign. I started rolling it into Instagram. Gotcha. Because I had so many years of stuff saved up, it made that transition really easy. And I was able to kind of come on the scene strong, you know. Right. So that's kind of how it started. And at that point, not a lot of people were doing it. And so I picked up, you know, local notoriety, I guess you would say, here and there, you know, different articles about, you know, people in the city doing this, and then and then it just grew. And I've really focused mostly on, you know, to your point, of like we talk about food a lot in the city. I also think we're a very relational city and community-driven, you know, place. And so I started to get to know owners and chefs and just maintain positive relationships with folks and is that how you Yeah, it's uh it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Uh do you do you how do you map out what you're gonna actually do? Like when you how do you decide that? It seems like it could go in so many different directions. Is it just like comes together like through talking to people and mapping out different restaurants, or how do you figure that whole thing?

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Honestly, yes, it kind of comes together. I'm the like type B content creator because it's not my full-time, full-time thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Um I kind of see what comes my way every week, you know, who might be reaching out, inviting me to come into places, or um, you know, combing other people's content, reading who's opening up what's happening in the city, and kind of mapping out like where do I want to try, what do I want to definitely get to in the next two weeks and highlight, et cetera.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

And not all of y'all, so like you, you're a full-time, we're gonna get to that second, you're a full-time consultant. Yeah, your own consulting company, you're a leadership coach and trainer. And um I'm gonna get to that in a second, but getting to know you, getting to know we were just talking about Karen before we went in the air, like there's a decent amount of y'all that this is not your full-time job. And so you're doing both, which is really impressive because it's a serious time commitment to planning, executing, doing these things online that you're doing from a content creation standpoint. Talk to me maybe a little bit about like how do you balance that? Is it time management or like how do you juggle between your personal life, having a full-time professional life as a consultant, and doing this as a side gig?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

And I'm a mom of twin toddlers, lest anyone forget. Um a lot of calendars, I'm guessing. Calendars. Like, I don't know how, you know, some people use paper journals or planners. I don't know how. I what do you mean? You're writing something down. Like mine has, you know, I use my digital calendar, I use um, you know, like project management tools, but calendar every single thing. I mean, it is it's gross looking at my calendar. But if I didn't do that, I mean, I just couldn't possibly like merge and balance all the things. So yeah, lots of time management and also literally scheduling like time off and rest too, because with both my full time and the content creation stuff, I mean, I could and parenting, like I could be going all the time. Yeah. So I'm also really clear on like boundaries, you know, with clients, with people in my life of, you know, time off, rest, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Yeah, it's an interesting, interesting point. Yeah, we were replacing a lawyer recently, and so for about three and a half weeks of last month, I was not having boundaries. And I'm I just turned 40. And so I'm thinking I'm like this young guy still coming out of law school 15 years ago, and it's like, no, like you can't, like the your body just can't, right? Like, and this is maybe some of the things you talk about in coaching with some of the clients that you have and them doing time management and then managing for personal time, right? It's like your body just can't be on all the time, and you mentally need yeah, I I'd be honest, I'm gonna go and rant. I hate the phrase work-life balance.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

I do too. I'm so glad you said that.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Hate it because it almost like makes it feel I don't think that I I I've heard somebody talk about like work-life integration, and I love that because sometimes, you know, like this morning's a great example for me. We were talking about my niece Violet's graduation was this morning. I was like, I blocked off the morning, I kind of felt guilty, but I was like, screw it, I shouldn't. And I left and went to her graduation from elementary school, which I should have been at, and I had a great time, and my mind was free, and I didn't think about work except for the calls that I took on the road. And it was a good block of time that was mostly not work, and then I came back to work this afternoon. It kind of just integrates in together.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Um, I'm glad you hate it too.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Yeah, I do. And I and you know, my a lot of my days are the exact same way. Yeah, and so I think um I don't I do think we're shifting to more of this like integration piece versus the balance piece, or I've also heard like seasons. I do a lot of um coaching around like seasons because I think sometimes we even beat ourselves up on um even the integration part, right? Like some times of your year, some seasons of your life are just gonna feel totally out of whack and out of balance. And that's okay, but how do we also plan ahead a little bit to like you know, recalibrate when you can? Um, you can't be go, go, go all the time, though. Like it's just literally not sustainable. And then if you're also managing other human beings, which is like the hardest job ever.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

It is a very hard job.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

You're also taking on a lot of I mean, I'll speak for myself. I was also taking on a lot of like emotional energy from other people, you know, people share and rightfully so, what's going on in their life and challenges they're having and their hopes and desires for the job, and like that builds up in you too. So it's like, how are you also like creating daily rituals to like check in and check out of work and around people? Yeah is helpful.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, I mean, it's funny because it we were talking about this a little dizzy when we were eating.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Is I think sometimes people have the misconception that like it's very common in organizations, right? I'm sure you see in your consulting work that somebody's really good at a job and it's like, let's elevate them, let's move them up, and they're gonna be and it's great and it's positive, and we're gonna pay them more money, and they're gonna manage all these people. But like, not everyone is good at managing people. And some people aren't meant to manage people, and that's okay. And I think there's like, can you talk a little bit maybe we're jumping in the consulting a bit, but it's a topic I'm interested in your perspective on maybe a little bit more misguided in our business society from the standpoint of thinking that like we let our teams think, I think, too much that like the only way for you to get elevated is to manage people.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Like that's the pinnacle. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Get out of production and go into like managing people, and that's the pinnacle. And some people just aren't good at it. And I feel like that's a misconception that a lot of organizations and leadership teams allow to live in the organization, and maybe we're to blame a little bit on that as well. But like, can you talk to me a little bit about that and like how maybe you walk clients through like telling their teams like it's okay to keep people in production and they continue to grow and elevate in production and not manage people, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Okay, I I have lots of thoughts. I mean, one, I think um not only are some people just not good at it, I think that can be true. I think more often than not, they're not invested in and developed in in that area, and or they're not good at it because they actually don't like it. And like that's okay. You know what I mean? Like we all have natural I don't have the same talents and gifts as you have, and vice versa. And like that's okay. So I think for organizations, it's like as folks are ascending when you're kind of recognizing you're like superstars, how are you also assessing, but like what are they, what are they actually like a superstar in, you know? And if it's not the people stuff after you've done some development, well then how are you actually creating pathways on the production side? Yeah so folks aren't stopping out and then having to leave, and or being really clear about that. Yeah, you're gonna be able to be on this side for 10 years and then you're probably gonna have to go, and we might be able to make some introductions or what have you, but we don't have anything else. So I think being clear and transparent, but I think mostly I see people are not investing in the leadership development of their people.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

So people get scared when they start managing because it is difficult. It is like in the workplace, one of the most difficult things that I've ever done. And I am not I have natural talents that like lean me that way and still really difficult. And so if I hadn't had like an executive coach right away, if I hadn't had PD regularly, like even for someone that is more naturally leaning that way, it's it's hard. And so I think most often than not, what I see is folks are investing in the people management stuff. And then they're calling consultants like myself, like halfway through a cycle of trying this and are like, help, everything's falling apart, you know. People are burnt out, people are unhappy, our team culture is uh, you know, disintegrating, and I'm being mildly dramatic, but it but this is what happens, right? And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

So, talk a little bit about that part of your life, that consulting business, because I think you're right. Like, I can speak from myself, like I think it's much easier for me to go and argue an appellate brief at a court of appeal or to go argue a trial or do different things in the practice of law than it is to manage people. It really is a skill I've developed over 15 years, and I've kind of started to enjoy it, but it is taxing because you don't, you know, from a leadership perspective, you don't get the luxury of being off, right? You always have to be on. And you have days that you don't want to be on, you have days that you're angry, you have days that you're frustrated, and you don't get the luxury of that, and that's like a burden of leadership. And some people don't like it. That's okay. So maybe talk through like what you do in your consulting business and training different in different teams and in organizations to develop those upcoming leaders to be ready to do those types of things.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Yeah. What I think is interesting with emerging, I think there's like, you know, emerging leaders versus like mid-level versus senior, obviously have lots of different issues and challenges. I shouldn't say issues, but challenges and different strengths. Emerging leaders, I think, just don't know what they don't know yet. You know what I mean? So like we can tell them these things, like, you know, you're gonna have you're gonna be, you know, frustrated or something about something at work that came down the pipeline, and you're gonna have to put on a happy face about it, right? Or manage your people through their emotions before you manage your own, like all of these things that are taxing, but they just don't know yet. So I think particularly for emerging folks, it's like, how are you starting to give them, like build their toolkit around self-awareness and emotional intelligence? I think that's I mean, you know, Brad was telling me you read lots of leadership books, and I was like, ah, incredible. You know, emotional intelligence is like the number one thing over IQ for people managing. Like it just comes up over and over again. So I think for new folks, it's like really building that muscle, the self-awareness, the discernment, the yeah, the the EQ stuff, the emotional intelligence stuff, and starting to give them some of the tools for how do they build trust and relationship quickly. I think when folks are able to build trust and relationship quickly with their teams, other things fall in place easier because there's something to fall back on. But people new folks miss that a lot, especially if they're coming from the executing side of the house, the production side of the house. They're like, Yeah, I can just carry those skills over, the like doer skills, and it's like ah, actually, it's more of the relationship building and influencing skills here. Yeah, and so we gotta flex, we gotta build those up right now.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

I think it's also one thing I've really been thinking about recently, Nicole, is with the doing skills. Um, I'm a doer and I always want to fix things, and I rush to fix things.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

And so I'm very self-aware of that, and I've really been like thinking critically and reminding myself this is like the last four weeks I've been thinking a lot about this, and telling Brad and other people on our leadership team, like it's okay to do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing's better. Like in a lot of situations, I think some maybe I don't know if you agree with this. I see in in our organization we have rushed to fix something that needed to just be left alone and settle on its own or sit for a second. Have you seen that? Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

For sure. For sure. And I think it also shows up in like different fields too. So it doesn't surprise me that you're a doer, for example. You know, I was just talking to um an organization, I'm gonna be their keynote for their conference next month, and they're like real estate developers and architects. And they named this similar thing around like the doers versus like you know, the um the influencing skills or the like you know, trust building skills. And I'm like, yeah, this makes sense. Yeah. That those skills I think you know are are housed in different industries too, and then can make the transition to people management just different. Just different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Uh I also think um I'm really big on communication. Um, some people who have come here be like, this is the most over-communicated place ever. And then I still am horde on myself. I think I'm too horde on myself because I think I don't communicate well enough. But I think that is like one of my pet peeves too, is like I think a lot of problems persist because there's a failure of communication. Meaning, let's say there's like conflict in the in the at the company, your company or your organization, and it it's better to just communicate about it directly with compassion and candor, as a in my opinion, as opposed to like letting it linger, and then people start to make uncharitable assumptions and it becomes a much bigger issue than what it actually is. Or, you know, people don't take like we I'm really big when trying to force myself and everybody here to explain the why. Because if I know the why, then like I am personally much more adept at like, okay, I'm gonna really jump into things. What percentage would you say of failures organizationally or communication?

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Uh like 99.9%, genuinely. Because I think too, like, I too value communication like to a fault. I too have gotten feedback from people advantages.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Like, stop communicating.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Oh, okay, yeah, we love this. And like you give us a lot of information. I'm like, yeah, but I like that matters so much to me is like the transparency and the clarity thing. And so it's a you know, a strategy I use with others. But um, yeah, you said percentage. Yeah, I I think a lot. And I think it's hard. I know that's easy to say, but like organizations are tough, people are tough. And so even for those of us that hold the value of communication, like it doesn't just live in this like cute, boxed up silo. Like all kinds of stuff happen where, like, for I mean, you know, who know political reasons in the organization or strategic reasons in the cor organization, you can't always be super transparent with your teams, which is also going back to that emotional burden we talked about on people managers. They often have to hold the like information that their teams don't know yet, right? They might know next month, but they don't know yet. And so they're like holding this thing that's coming and it hasn't been rolled out yet, and managing people's like expecting something's coming, but don't like all of that is just squishy and messy and complicated, and yeah. It's tough. I don't think most organizations or leaders are like trying to do wrong. Maybe I'm naive or I am positively leaning, but like I don't think the intent is always that. I think it's just this is complicated and really hard stuff.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah. So tell me a little bit, you're an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans. Talk about that. How long have you been doing that?

SPEAKER_03 18:43

And um Since 2019. I've been doing that since 2019. Yeah, I got my PhD in educational leadership and admin over there. Wow, yeah. And then as soon as I graduated, there was a my um committee chair, my dissertation chair was like, Oh, we have an opening for an adjunct, so I teach um at least once a year, usually current issues or sometimes multiculturalism and higher ed. So it just depends. I can walk around. Yeah, that's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

So you're not just a mom, a content producer, and a c on your own consulting company, you also just once a year.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

All right, let's flip back to the content creation and let's chat about some fun stuff. So if I was following you around, I don't want you to name favorites because I know like it's so hard. I know, I know. But I just all right, let's talk through first. Like, you're gonna get casual drinks and maybe small bites. Like, where are three or four places that just popped to your mind that are some favorites of yours?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Ooh, okay, casual spots. Um, okay, I love Will in the Way in the Quarter.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

That is a great spot.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

I love Will in the Way in the quarter. Such great cocktails, such good like bites, too.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

It's got a good vibe going too. Yeah, it does. As the Gen Z kids would say, the vibes strong.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Isn't that a Gen Z word?

SPEAKER_03 19:56

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Looking at Miles, he's like, maybe. The vibes are good.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

The vibes are good. Um yeah, what else? You said casual. I also really like fives. I don't know if people would say it's casual, but it's pretty casual. Fives on on Jackson Square. Oh my gosh, I love fives. Oysters, good, like you know, dirty martinis.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Um two quarter spots. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

I love the quarter. Nice. I do. We are in the quarter a lot as a family. I know people are always like, You're in the quarter a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

You like trucking your kids around the boards? We absolutely am.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Will in the way, fun fact. You can bring your kids up there. I mean, they prefer you kind of walk them through quickly and go to the courtyard, but you can. Um yeah, yeah. Fives and will in the way is what's coming to mind. What's another casual spot? What about a wine bar? Okay. Love wine. Um, really, really nice wines.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

That's a friend of mine. A friend who loves that place.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Super cool. I was there this weekend. Yeah, I just love it.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Awesome. Okay, um, new restaurants that you're really kind of like and that you've been to in the last three or four months.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

You already know one.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Dolphies is what you've been there like six months. Dolphies. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

Okay, only three, but it's really absurd. And I didn't even yeah, absurd. It's absurd. It's really good. Um, I've been like three times in an eight-week period. Um, yeah, if you um have ever been to bass country or just like an you know appreciate Spanish bass style food, Dolphies is my absolute favorite right now. Um you asked about new.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Yes, like kind of newer.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

I would also, I'm in the same corridor, so same infrared is Cafe Comigo. Cuban spot. My mom's from Cuba, so I'm very partial to Cuban food. They have great sandwiches, great pastries, great coffee.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Do you have a favorite Cuban in the city? A Cuban sandwich?

SPEAKER_03 21:43

I would say Cafe Comigo.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Yeah. I am sending, I'm going tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Coppervine's got a pretty solid one, by the way. Just throwing that out.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

I haven't tried that yet. You know who you know Kochon has one too, actually. I think I have had their own. The butcher. The butcher, I mean.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

I think I have had theirs. I think it was.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Yeah, you should try cafe. Comigo, for sure. And then June bug for brunch is like one I'm telling people a lot about right now. Um it's kind of like a record listening vibe. Lots of space for like groups to spread out. Um and their brunch is really, really, really good.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

I went in there when it first opened. I thought the bar is cool. Isn't it? Like it's really different. Like there's no there, like the design of it is not really like anything else in New Orleans. It was interesting the way they have the lights coming up. Um and I really liked it. I we didn't eat, so but I will check it out now. Check it out.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Yeah, for brunch, that's it. I I've been really enjoying it.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Awesome. Okay. Last thing I want to talk about is you were letting me know before we jumped in the air that you wrote a cooking book. Is that right?

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Uh children's book. Not cooking book, but it is about food. It is about it. You are talking about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

So tell me a little bit about that and why you ended up writing a cooking book because you have a lot of free time, obviously. I do.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

So much free time. Yeah. Um, yeah, I wrote uh yeah, it's called Tutie and Rudy the Foodies.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

So it follows, yes, it follows two twins around uh New Orleans discovering kind of the history of food in our city. So I'm also a huge food history lover. Like in another life, or maybe in this one, if you know, Netflix calls me. Call me Netflix. Um, I would love to have a show that like, you know, travels and really explores the interconnected cultural roots of our food.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Because there's so many connections, you know, and New Orleans is such a like hot pot for that too. All the different cultures.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Do you think kind of like the most famous person who really ever did that was Anthony Bourdain?

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Because that was really his life's work, I feel like was it. He really was it was less of a food and cooking show and more of a food history show. Absolutely. The way I always viewed his show when I watched it.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

Yeah, and the people and the stories around that. Yes, I love all of that stuff. Um so yeah, so the the so that's the story essentially. The twins are wondering where gumbo came from.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

And so then it's kind of a journey of like, here are the cultures that influenced gumbo, and then here are all the different cultures that brought our favorite foods to the city, and so it like tracks some of our favorite dishes, and yeah, and there's a lot of stories there because actually something um that I got uh Eric uh cook all cooked up about when he was here from Gregory talking about yeah, in the Brennan documentary, they really dive a little bit into it. Like I'm from Thibodeau, which is much more Cajun heritage, and then cre this a lot more Creole in New Orleans, and people come down here from Not in Louisiana, and those are really kind of two different approaches to cooking food and seasonings and all those things. And it is this weird dichotomy of the Creole versus Cajun, and it's all kind of been melded together now, and so sometimes you're like, What is Creole? What is Cajun? There's a lot of history there, and the Brennan's in the documentary it was talking about Paul Proudhon being brought into commanders, and that was like a big deal at the time because they brought this Cajun guy into the Creole community of uptown New Orleans, and so that's just one little small microcosm I thought about when you're talking about like the history of Gumbo, because there's so many different influences on Gumbo that um it is really interesting to me at least. So, where do you buy the book at? Do they have it in any stores? You can get it on Amazon.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Yeah, you can get it on Amazon, you can get it on barnesandnoble.com as well, and then in the city Jamnola, the gift shop at Jamnola. Folks have been there. I'm their food ambassador, so they carry the book there too, and the all the copies are signed by me as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Amazing. Okay, so any exciting new things we should be watching on the social media pages from you coming up in the next couple months. Some new restaurants, some new bars. What should we be looking out for?

SPEAKER_03 25:30

I mean, if there's a new restaurant or bar, I will hopefully be there soon. So yeah, you know, one that's not with or without the kids. One that's on my mind right now that's on my list is the crustacean club.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

I just saw it. Somebody just sent it to me because they know I love seafood. I was like, where is that?

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Oh, it's on uh Rampart. You know Effervescence, the old effervescence. Yes, they took over effervescence. Okay, so that's high on my list. Serene, Chef Serene over at Dakar, which is also one of my favorite places, um, was like raving about it the last time I saw him. And I'm like, okay, if you're raving about this, I have to check it out. Probably pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

And I love seafood. That's why somebody I know really well, one of my good friends sent it to me a couple days ago and was like, Dick, you gotta check this out because it's all seafood. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

But yeah, so I would say anything new, I'll you'll probably find me there. And then I'm about to do a bunch of travel, so you'll see lots of travel content too at World Cup travel. My husband's a big soccer fan, and then um we're heading over to Amsterdam, Prague, and Vienna for two weeks. So follow along for that too. Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

I actually did study abroad in Vienna. Oh, did you? I was lived based there for three weeks, and we did side trips to Prague and to Salzburg, and I had a whole lot of schnitzel. I was schnitzeled out.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Okay, that is what I keep hearing.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Have you been yet? No, there's one restaurant I'll never forget that's like right on the corner of the main square, and it's got this huge white umbrella. It'll still be there. It got famous because Sigmund Freud ate there a lot of time. Oh, yeah, I've seen it on the list. Yeah, famous because he went there all the time. But if you're going there in the summer, the uh they have the film festival in the main city square, which is really amazing because they have a million food and beer booths, and they have such good beer compared to it.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

I know, I'm excited for that actually.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

We're living in beer poverty here.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Yeah, because I do actually really enjoy beer. So I and m usually when we travel, we're kind of in like wine countries, which I also love wine, but I'm excited to like switch it up a bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Yeah, you're gonna enjoy it. Like it's like I was like blown away being a law student first time in Europe. It's like this beer is hot and then it's better than every beer in America. We have our beer hot, it's gross. But um, yeah, you enjoy it. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, all right. So tell everybody where the pages are if they want to find you on social, if they're not following you right now, so they can check it out. What's the handles and which mediums are you primarily posting on?

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Okay, yeah. Eaton Pathnola. So eat in like off the Eaton Pathnola. Um Eaton Pathnola, and then Tutie and Rudy, if you want to follow the the children's book as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

And last thing, your consulting company. Oh, yeah. Where do they find you if they're interested in your consulting? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Um katiadconsulting.com. So C-A-R-I-D-A-D consulting.com. And yeah, you can find me there.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Awesome. And we'll have everything linked on the show notes. Thank you so much for being here, Nicole. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Thank you. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Yep. And thanks to all of you. It's been another great discussion with Nicole about consulting, content creation, and her new book. Um, appreciate all of you following along and checking this episode out. This has been another great episode of the Overrule Podcast brought to you by the Scott Wignair Law Firm. We'll see you all next time.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Scott Vignair, danger attorneys, we fight for the win.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

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