If you read the bestseller “Bowling Alone” in 2000 or are taking notice of wellness stories offering advice on how to reconnect with others IRL, you know that Americans are facing a crisis of loneliness.
According to an advisory issued in 2023 by then U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, about one-in-two adults in America report experiencing loneliness, a condition that impacts mortality at a similar rate as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
For entrepreneurs, business owners, or corporate executives who might be feeling “lonely at the top,” the isolation can have devastating effects, especially for men. Studies show that men experiencing social isolation or loneliness have a higher risk of premature death from all causes compared to those with strong social connections.
So, where do you turn to for positivity and community? Albert Pellisier of Man Up! and Meredith Waguespack of Sweet Baton Rouge have some ideas.
Albert Pellissier of Man Up! developed a passion for entrepreneurship while attending LSU when he published and produced student coupon books distributed at registration, a sorority-fraternity phone book, and the class schedule booklets.
After college, Albert got into real estate, investing in multifamily units around the university and opening a salon suites concept, which is still operating.
But Albert’s success in real estate isn’t why we invited him to Out to Lunch.
He is also the founder of Man Up!, a business focused on offering secular, personal development retreats for men, and the author of “What’s on Your Back Burner?: Using Dormant Desire to Relight Your Fire.”
Published in 2024, “What’s on Your Back Burner” offers a simple three-step process to resolve inner conflicts that keep individuals and entrepreneurs from realizing their goals.
Meredith Waguespack failed out of two colleges — Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State University – before she graduated from Southeastern University in Hammond. While in college, Meredith worked full time at a Baton Rouge-based boutique, managing its two local stores until they closed, and then at Chico’s at Towne Center.
In 2011, after working as an outside sales rep for a tech company and three years as a dental assistant, Meredith launched Sweet Baton Rouge—then called Southern Football Tees— as an online boutique. Now, nearly 15 years later, Sweet Baton Rouge offers Louisiana lifestyle apparel online and at a brick-and-mortar shop in Perkins Rowe.
80% of retail stores fail before their 10th birthday. Sweet Baton Rouge approaching its Sweet 16 is a testament to Meredith's business acumen and her positioning the store in the Baton Rouge community. The store hosts an annual pop up market with over 40 vendors, called The Ultimate Tailgate, and funds a college scholarship.
In an increasingly polarized world, both men and women are looking for solace, support, and inspiration. In our digital age, many of us turn to social media or online chat groups to find like-minded people and community.
But we typically find online connections don’t quite satisfy us like real world relationships. Even if that relationship is just friendship, or even casual conversation.
Meredith and Albert are both in their own ways bridging the gap between the virtual and real worlds: using social media to create in-person events and experiences that foster community. Whether it’s comfortable t-shirts for game day or a secular retreat on a Louisiana farm, they’re building businesses while connecting people with their passions and goals.
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