It’s one of America’s great paradoxes: when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, it left behind a level of destruction that still brings pangs of shock and sadness. Yet no other American city I’ve visited continues to inspire more passion – even, yes, love – from its citizens.
On Katrina’s 10th anniversary, I did a series of interviews of New Orleanians who returned after the mandatory evacuation, picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and turned their passion into action, not just to rebuild the city, but to use their diverse talents to make it even better than it was. Here’s one of those stories.
Name: Justin Shiels
Age: 30
Hometown: Memphis
What I Do: Chief Creative at This Creative Lab and Founder of goINVADE.com
My Katrina Story: I was a junior at Loyola University, and we had just gotten all these kids through the new student orientation when we started hearing these weird weather reports. I remember a lot of parents asking me “Should we have our kids stay here, or should we take them back with us?”
Read the rest of the story on my Forbes Seat 1A site.