The Nola Chic is one of New Orleans’s top lifestyle bloggers whose goal is to allow you to experience New Orleans through the locals’ eyes and share my share of NOLA life with you. I’ll take you on a soulful journey through New Orleans. Walk with me beyond the touristy blocks of the city. Allow me to guide you into the tightly knit communities and businesses filled with an outgoing, kind, and friendly locals. Come sit with me on my porch and get to know my neighbors, my family, the true New Orleans Ambassadors. As you lend me your ear, you will get to meet some of the most loving people in the world.
I will go beyond the blocks of Bourbon St to show you the real city, the heart, and soul of New Orleans, which is made up of a gumbo pot of cultures and traditions. But, don’t worry, I will take you to the Quarters, Bourbon St and so on. I enjoy being a tourist in my city, and I make use of and love everything you know and love about New Orleans too. And as you know, there are centuries of stories waiting to be told within the streets and buildings down there.
It actually hurts me to hear that someone visited New Orleans and fell in love with the city and didn’t go past the tourism district. These same people base this view of the city as a deciding factor to move here. And once they are here, they aren’t familiar with how different the culture is in the urban community they chose based on proximity from the Quarters. They push to change the dynamics of the neighborhood, thus losing our culture. You can not love New Orleans without loving the native New Orleanians, the locals. Can you?
This is why I’m passionate about sharing my life and the stories of the people. If tourists and newcomers knew and loved New Orleans people as much they love our culture, I believe that it would at least slow down the entire gentrification of our neighborhoods.
If the tourist knew the truth about our neighborhoods and local businesses, they would feel driven to come into our communities to learn the culture and patronize small businesses. These actions of bonding with the locals and patronizing their businesses would add an incomparable amount of wealth and resources to the New Orleanians’ lives. It would allow for an authentic New Orleans experience as well as develop friendships and trust.
New Orleanians work hard to ensure that tourist has the time of their lives when they visit, no matter how tired they are we will go over and beyond to roll out the red carpet for strangers. We do this because of who we are, not for the minimum wage, but it’s embedded in our soul DNA to be hospitable. But what is unknown to most of you that once we clock out and you are on your way back home, we worry that we will be forced out of the few blocks of houses that we have called home for generations to make room for more tourists. If the cultural holders are forced out, who will continue to keep New Orleans alive? New Orleans only has a heart and soul because of New Orleans natives.
My hopes in sharing are to get the tourist, the very people who love New Orleans, for all that it stands for, come into the communities and patronize local businesses, the small business owner, and get to know the people. I invite you into my life to show you how much more experience in my city.
You will have fun following The NOLA Chic as she shows you all New Orleans has to offer but through the eyes of locals. And let me apologize in advance; some of the stories I share may not tell of good times at a Secondline.
If you would please allow me to show you my NOLA, I promise you will be enlightened along our journey.
Dat NOLA Chic 