Episode 139 Lindsi and Dany Martin - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

This week we are talking with one of our community's great couples who are filling gaps and doing hard things. You can find my full discussion with Lindsi and Dany Martin here.

 

Here are the questions I asked:

 

0:34 1. Neither of you is from here yet both of you have contributed greatly to making our community better. Lindsi, for close to ten years you brought us the much beloved Well + Fed Louisiana restaurant. And Dany you are a Partner and Wealth Advisor at WFA, formerly Williams Financial Advisors.

 

Today I’m going to lean heavily on your perspective, because it’s so unique, and focus on some of the incredible things you’ve done beyond your professions.

 

Let’s start here today. Tell me a little about where both of you are from and who taught you this sense of caring about and service to your community.

 

4:06 2. All right, Lindsi, this one is for you. I have to ask because I am the Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana. Shreveport recently was rated the 6th most obese city in the United States in WalletHub’s 2025 rankings. As someone who owned and ran a vegan restaurant for nearly ten years, is Shreveport-Bossier becoming more health conscious? And, what are some things that we can do to continue to get listed lower in these national overweight and obesity rankings?

 

9:12 3. This podcast was created in response to what I saw as a growing sense of community apathy and low self-esteem. Both of you represent the exact opposite of that. As a couple who have done and continue to do so much for our community, what do you see as ways to get more people, like you, to focus more on WE than ME?

 

17:42 4. Dany, I heard you say in an interview that Lindsi describes the two of you and your community work as “gap fillers”. Share some of the story about how your family became bigger through your involvement with Common Ground.

 

30:20 5. Will each of you share a story of a preconception you had or a gap in understanding or awareness that you had that has changed since you became foster parents?