The MS KICK team participated in a national bid by The Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau (SBCTB) to attract the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) Convention to be held in Shreveport in 2021. The Cooking Demo took place during the Central States Chapter Virtual Professional Development Meeting.
SATW is a professional organization comprised of the travel industry’s most experienced journalists, photographers, editors, broadcast/video/film producers, bloggers, website owners, public relations experts and hospitality industry representatives from the United States, Canada and beyond.
Founded in 1955, SATW has more than 1,000 members. Their members are content creators that contribute to some of the most influential print, digital and broadcast platforms. Their members are also travel and hospitality brands and the public relations agencies that represent them. SATW is the premier networking organization bringing all of those professions together. Their mission is to inspire travel through responsible journalism.
The segment was hosted by Brandy Evans, Vice President of Communications for SBCTB and Jada Durden, Durden Media Group. The topic of discussion was “Show Me the Money: How Tourism Boards and Content Creators Can Monetize a Partnership and Leverage Resources. Monique Armand, Culinary Training Director for MS KICK, closed out the segment with a cooking demo. She was able to show over 100 viewers how to prepare Chicken Sausage and Seafood Gumbo from starting with the Roux to the final Gumbo product. Armand explained to Evans how she came about to start cooking Gumbo, “My mom and aunt went to Hawaii for Christmas, so I was given the honor of cooking the Holiday meal in their absence.” Armand’s Gumbo was voted top 3 Gumbo’s in NWLA in 2018 and was a very popular dish at her former restaurant, Sassi Café.
Evans is hoping that NWLA will be able to host the SATW in 2021 and continue to leverage the partnership with MS KICK with opportunities for these writers to come experience good food at our great facility and with our talented tenants. For more information about the MS KICK program please contact our office at 318-670-9780 or visit www.mskick.org.