New Orleans women’s organization supports women’s businesses | Entertainment/Life

On April 10, six women stood in front of judges and pitched their business presentations for the Junior League of New Orleans Women’s Entrepreneur Fellowship, a grant that could change their lives.

Kaitlin Guerin is proof of that.

As owner of Lagniappe Bakehouse, Guerin was the 2024 fellowship winner. She turned her year of funding and support into being named a finalist for the James Beard Emerging Chef Award. 

Supporting women in entrepreneurship

The fellowship was created to support a female business owner with funding as well as mentoring and in-kind services, and has delivered results since 2018.

Only 39% of U.S. businesses have women majority ownership according to American Express OPEN, “The 2017 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report.” Access to female mentors, resources, and role models can ignite female entrepreneurship. As a women’s training organization, JLNO’s professional membership is able to guide women who want to scale their businesses through the fellowship.

In order to apply for the fellowship, women must be either the majority stakeholder or 50/50 co-owner of a business and function as the manager. Other requirements include the business being incorporated from one to five years, located within 40 miles of New Orleans and making less than $750,000.

After an application process, the finalists meet with consultants for coaching on their presentations and then pitch their business plans. 

“I am always so inspired at the pitch competition,” said Junior League community council director Catherine Rigby, “so I really look forward to hearing all of the pitches. We also will have our winner from last year tell us a little bit about her past year as the WE Fellowship winner.”

The 2025 fellowship finalists were Ashley LeJeune, Deshaunya Ware, Diana Davis, Laura Fenner, Kelley Wolfe and Stephanie Dupuy. 

Laura Fenner won with her company Chateau Sew & Sew, a fabric retail store and sewing-enthusiast hub that offers classes and private lessons for a wide range of experience levels.

The WE Fellowship offers winners the following for one year:

• Mentoring and support services from Junior League of New Orleans members
• $7,500 cash grant provided by Fidelity Bank
• $5,000 worth of accounting advising from Amanda Aguillard, CPA — Owner, Padgett Louisiana
• $5,000 worth of legal services from Jones Walker
• Access to meeting space in Uptown New Orleans
• Tuition to Junior League New Orleans’ Get on Board nonprofit board training program
• Business coaching and evaluation by Trepwise Consulting
• Feature in Lagniappe, Junior League New Orleans’ quarterly magazine to 5,000 readers
• Opportunities to market to Junior League New Orleans members
• One year of membership dues (a $220 value) should the fellow meet eligibility criteria and elects to join JLNO
• Branding photography package from Jillian Marie Photography
• Feature in Inside New Orleans Magazine.
• Two professional coaching sessions led by Rayne Martin.

The Junior League of New Orleans is serious about supporting women.

With nearly 1,700 members, they touch a multitude of spheres of influence. Through training, programming, volunteering and organizing, the Junior League of New Orleans — like sister organizations around the state and country — works toward its mission of advancing women’s leadership for meaningful community impact. 

The Junior League of New Orleans, which turned 100 in 2024, vacillates between being the 10th and 11th largest Junior League in the world. The local league has three goals that shape its work: improving economic opportunities for women and supporting women’s potential to seize those opportunities, providing needed family support to alleviate the burdens on women caregivers, and promoting information and resources for women’s health.

‘A very down-to-earth group’

Tara Waldron, current president of Junior League New Orleans, has been an active member for 11 years. When she was a law student at Loyola University Law School, Waldron learned that the organization would be a great way to give back, meet women in various fields and build social and professional relationships.

“These are women who are juggling families, jobs, everything else,” Waldron said. “Most of the women are getting their hands dirty volunteering, and making whatever needs to happen, happen. It’s a very down-to-earth group.”

Rigby, a Shreveport native, got involved with Junior League New Orleans soon after moving to the city 10 years ago. She says volunteering is what drew her to the organization but has come to see the organization as so much more than that. 

“Our members have trainings throughout the year for various things, professional and personal,” Rigby said. “It’s great for that aspect of learning new things — really having a network of women to prepare you for your professional and personal life who are also volunteering.” 

Waldron says that the members of Junior League are always looking at what ways they can support women and children in the area, evaluating how their programs are doing and making the programs successful.