How Lauren Haydel and Sidney Torres IV got their start in New Orleans

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When Lauren Haydel opened her first Fleurty Girl shop on Oak Street, she moved her three children into the back of the store. Six months earlier, the single mother had put $2,000 into making T-shirts about the city where she grew up. Now the shop was also home.

Sidney Torres IV got his start in another familiar New Orleans space, a shotgun house. He was 20 when his grandmother co-signed a loan that helped him renovate his first properties.

Haydel and Torres will headline the OnPath Foundation’s second annual Pathmakers Spark Series Signature Event on Dec. 7 at The Cannery. Their stories begin with a storefront and a family loan, years before either became a familiar name in New Orleans.

Haydel started Fleurty Girl in 2009 with shirts that celebrated New Orleans. As the business grew, she was also taking viewers around town for GoNOLA, showing them how to eat crawfish and where to go for king cake. That same eye for local culture still shows up on Fleurty Girl’s shelves, where goods made by New Orleanians sit alongside national brands. The company now has nine shops and more than 70 employees. Haydel will open the morning program.

Torres went from renovating houses to opening an eight-room guesthouse in 1999. He eventually sold a collection of boutique hotels with about 150 rooms. After Hurricane Katrina, he got his trucks running again while working from a Florida hotel room. He bought equipment and secured a cleanup contract, launching SDT Waste and Debris Services and helping clear garbage and debris from the French Quarter. Torres, now the owner and president of IV Waste, will give the lunch keynote.

Between the talks, Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans, Inc. will moderate a panel with Vincenzo Caronna of StartUP Northshore and Larry Washington of Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans. Proceeds support the Foundation’s work in education, entrepreneurship, homeownership and community investment. In 2025, its programs reached more than 1,300 students with financial literacy education and helped 28 families buy their first homes through grants.

The event runs from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 7, 2026, at The Cannery, 3803 Toulouse St., New Orleans. The $60 ticket includes networking, all sessions and lunch. Reserved tables and sponsorships are also available.

Get tickets and sponsorship details.