Two of the prizes up for grabs each year are the Fashion Prize and the Music Prize. Fashion Prize announced its five designer finalists during a live Facebook broadcast on June 16. The competitors will be judged this month, and the grand prize winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize.

“I always look at it, first of all, what will sell,” Hill said when explaining how she chooses which shows to bring in. “My job is two-fold. Part of it is to bring arts to the community, and part of it is to keep that beautiful building open, which means I have to sell that product.

“I was ecstatic,” Gould said of her reaction when Dream Home builder Philip Rodgers – who also built the Goulds’ house – asked for her services. “Growing up in Bossier and going to it every year, I’ve always admired it. To be asked to do it was an incredible honor.

Jessica O’Neill, that’s who. O’Neill is a painter who studied fashion design at The Savannah College of Art and Design. She has teamed up with fashion and lifestyle consultant Janie Howe Dickson to take part in Dining By Design, a tablescape exhibit at Sci-Port Discovery Center.

Do you ever have a hunch or gut feeling where you are convinced, almost instantly, by feelings that you cannot always explain? Some folks call this intuition, which comes from the Latin word “intuir,” meaning “knowledge from within.

Willson worked at Louisiana Tech as a fundraiser for the College of Engineering and Science when he heard about the opening at United Way in Shreveport. The board interviewed him, liked what they heard and hired him in April 2008.

“Allendale is right there next to downtown,” Brown said. “Allendale is kind of this gateway to the downtown area. A city is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood. Right now, Allendale is one of its weakest neighborhoods. That’s why I believe Shreveport is not strong.

“It got me thinking – life is too short,” Pourteau said. “I knew I needed to do something. The way I was going in life – just working customer service, going to work Monday through Friday, I wasn’t happy.