Mari Walker

First published on the Baton Rouge Parents Magazine website and in the July 2021 issue. Thriving after losing a spouse can almost feel impossible in the immediate aftermath. However, two years after her husband’s death caught their family by surprise, Denise J. Brown and her adult children have come together and launched a nonprofit organization to honor his memory. Eugene M. Brown Sr. was a master tailor who, with Denise, founded Brown & Brown Custom Clothiers in 1973, a business now run by their sons. Denise is a former educator and was a director of a Mentoring for Success program at Capitol High School. Launched in December 2020, Suiting 101 beautifully blends the talents and interests of Denise and her late husband. The nonprofit’s mission is to mentor and train at-risk, underprivileged students with life skills, focusing on the importance of appearance and presentation. “(Eugene) had a love for people, and he loved dressing his clients for success,” Denise says. “He loved ou...

First published on Baton Rouge Parents Magazine's website and in the July 2021 issue. In high school, Ivory Gipson maintained a near-perfect GPA and was a three-sport varsity athlete, band member, fellow in the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition (BRYC), vice president of the Goal Society, and held down a part-time job. “I did every sport and every club that was there in my time at Northeast,” he says. The recent graduate was named one of six 2021 Louisiana Young Heroes by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. The program celebrates achievements of inspiring students who make their communities better places. Ivory found out he was named a Young Hero while on a college visit with Lucas Spielfogel, Ivory’s mentor in BRYC and the organization’s executive director, who nominated him. Ivory, 18, credits his mom, Latasha Gipson, for his success. “My mom is my superhero without a cape,” he says. “She’ll take her last $20 out of her wallet so I can do something.” Latasha also taught Iv...

As Education and Community sections editor, I wrote pages 14-24 and page 26 of the July 2021 issue of Baton Rouge Parents magazine . (I did not write the briefs about Summer Olympics on page 14 or about author Julie Sternberg on page 17.)