Baton Rouge, like other cities, deals with what demographers call “Net migration loss.”

Here, we use the term loosely. It’s not that the number of people leaving Baton Rouge is greater than the number of people moving here. What net migration loss means here is - there are more people leaving than staying.

Why do people leave Baton Rouge? Typically, they’ll tell you, for opportunity. Not romantic opportunity or opportunity for spiritual growth, but career opportunity. The bigger a city, the greater the opportunity. 

Okay, so if you follow that logic, every time someone decides to leave Baton Rouge they make the city smaller. So, the best thing a person who wants more opportunity should do is, stay. Right?

Most people don’t buy this argument. But both of my lunch guests today, do.

Brett Roblez likes making movies. Typically, if you want a career in the film business, you have to move someplace where they make movies. Brett moved to Atlanta, a film production hub. But after a couple of years in the film business there he moved back home to Baton Rouge, because, he said, he missed crawfish.

In 2022 Brett founded a local film production company Dinosaur Rumblings. In the beginning it was just him. Today, Dinosaur Rumblings has 10 full-time employees, and they make a full slate of feature films, commercials, and filmed social media content. All of it, Brett says, is the same quality as anything that comes out of Hollywood.

Alysia Guin is bullish on making Baton Rouge an entertainment mecca too. Alysia is Director of Marketing & Partnerships at Raising Cane’s River Center.

Raising Cane’s River Center hosts up to 375 events each year at its arena, theater, and convention center. There are Broadway productions, sporting events, community programming, and concerts that include an amazing list of superstars like Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The River Center has been hosting events for almost 50 years. Alysia has been Director of Marketing since the beginning of 2025.

If you spend any time on social media, especially TikTok, you’ll see any number of well-meaning people encouraging you with variations on the theme, “You Go Girl”.

One of these encouragements that you might roll your eyes at as you scroll by is, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” That one is apparently not a Hallmark card, it’s a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. He was suggesting we should each individually take personal responsibility and lead by example to make the world a better place.

If you ever think one person can’t make a difference, sure, you can point to Gandhi as an example of what one person can do, but locally, we could also point to Brett Roblez and Alysia Guin.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.