Lauren Haydel of Fleurty Girl and Sidney Torres IV of IV Waste will headline the OnPath Foundation's second annual Pathmakers Spark Series Signature Event on Dec. 7, running from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Cannery in New Orleans. The gathering is built around entrepreneurship, business development and economic mobility across southeast Louisiana, and proceeds will flow back into the foundation's financial education, entrepreneurship, homeownership and community investment initiatives.
According to New Orleans CityBusiness, Haydel will share her own business experiences with attendees, as will Torres, who leads waste management company IV Waste. A midmorning panel called “Pathmakers in the Making: The Next Generation” will be moderated by Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., who will guide a discussion on developing the region's next wave of entrepreneurs. Torres is set to deliver the event's lunch keynote, per Biz New Orleans, which reported that general admission tickets are $60 and include networking, all sessions and lunch.
Where the Money Goes
The foundation's track record gives the December event some concrete stakes beyond a morning of panels and networking. In 2025, the OnPath Foundation reached more than 1,300 students with financial literacy education spread across 19 parishes, the outlet's report notes. That same year, the organization awarded $40,000 in scholarships and provided $138,682 in first-time homebuyer grants to 28 families.
Those homeownership grants and scholarship dollars are part of why organizers are framing the Dec. 7 gathering as more than a networking mixer. The event's proceeds are earmarked specifically for the foundation's education, entrepreneurship, homeownership and community-investment work, the same programs that funded last year's grants and literacy push.
Building on a 2025 Launch
This is the Pathmakers Spark Series' second outing. The inaugural event launched in 2025 with Shark Tank's Daymond John as the headline guest, taking place on a Thursday in July at 10 a.m. at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie. Tickets for that first event started at $59 plus applicable fees, the same report states.
The December event also lands amid broader conversation about the strength of New Orleans' entrepreneurial scene. The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center's ARIE report ranked the New Orleans metro area the 14th-fastest-growing entrepreneurial region in the country, according to Tulane University's Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The report points to access to funding, strong educational networks, the movement of skilled talent and supportive policies as the four factors shaping startup success in a region.
A Persistent Funding Gap
Despite that growth ranking, the same Tulane-reported research found that accessing the larger growth-stage investments needed to scale beyond $10 million in revenue remains difficult for local startups. Researchers also described a resilient, locally rooted entrepreneurial culture that encourages founders to build efficient businesses and validate ideas with customers before chasing bigger investment rounds.
The Pathmakers event follows Global Entrepreneurship Week, which StartupNOLA is coordinating across New Orleans from Nov. 16 through 22. Organizers looking to get their own programming onto the city's official Global Entrepreneurship Week calendar were asked to submit events by Oct. 30, according to StartupNOLA.
