Let's explore, Mandeville!
Our July issue of Mandeville City Lifestyle is an invitation to explore.
We open with “The City List,” a curated guide to local adventures, staycation spots, and summer discoveries around Mandeville and the Northshore. Whether you’re craving a change of scenery, a weekend close to home, or a fresh reason to fall in love with the place we live, this list is designed to help you make the most of the summer without going far.
Next, we feature “ The 10% Target Mindset ,” where Jen Cohen makes a compelling case for asking for what you want with boldness, discipline, and follow-through. Her framework reminds us that exploration often begins with one brave ask.
Closer to home, we are delighted to feature local artist Jessica Williams Speakman, whose work invites us to see the natural world in blocks of color, light, movement, and life. Her paintings remind us that exploration can happen through attention, through beauty, and through learning to look at familiar things with new eyes.
And because every good adventure deserves a little style, we close with “Take Your Next Vacation with Effortless Flair,” a guide to building a travel wardrobe that feels polished, intentional, and easy to wear. From statement sets to thoughtful accessories, vacation style should help you enjoy the moment, not overpack for it.
However you choose to explore this summer, we hope this issue gives you a few places to go, a few ideas to try, and a renewed sense of wonder for what is waiting just beyond your usual path.
Warmly,
REBECCA GEORGE & CHRISTIAN GEORGE , PUBLISHER & CO-PUBLISHER @MANDEVILLECITYLIFESTYLE
July 2026
PUBLISHER
Rebecca George | rebecca.george@citylifestyle.com
CO-PUBLISHER
Christian George | christian.george@citylifestyle.com
PUBLISHER ASSISTANT
Akifa Ashraf
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Christian George, Kali Kasprzyk, Courtney Stone Smith
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Abby Sands, Jessica Williams Speakman, Michael Populus, Janie Jones
Corporate Team
CEO Steven Schowengerdt
President Matthew Perry
COO David Stetler
CRO Jamie Pentz
CoS Janeane Thompson
AD DESIGNER Matthew Endersbe
LAYOUT DESIGNER Lillian Gibbs
QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Anna Minnick
business monthly
Spend 5 Minutes in the Word with Pastor Ronny Cooksey
Dr. Ronny Cooksey, the lead pastor at First Baptist Church of Mandeville, recently launched a new daily devotional podcast. Each weekday, Pastor Cooksey spends about five minutes sharing a short encouragement from the Bible. You can find the podcast on your favorite podcasting app or channel, or you can listen here: www.5MinutesInTheWord.com.
Scan to read more
Leblon Boutique Helps Northshore Women Feel Confident and Beautiful
Leblon Boutique brings fun, feminine style to the Northshore and beyond, curating trendy outfits that help women feel confident and beautiful. From everyday looks to special-occasion dresses, shoes, and accessories, Leblon is a warm, local shopping destination with nationwide shipping and a community of “Leblon girls” who love fresh fashion, effortless confidence, and pieces made for memorable moments. Visit Leblon at 70457 LA-21, Suite 104, in Covington.
Scan to read more
A Better Way Through Hard Conversations
Fair Fighting, created by Dr. Jerry W. Pounds, Sr., Licensed Professional Counselor and founder of Concierge Counseling of Mandeville, is a practical guide that helps couples handle conflict without damaging trust, respect, or connection. With step-by-step strategy and a full video walkthrough, this resource teaches couples how to stay grounded, communicate clearly, interrupt unhealthy patterns, and move toward real resolution. Visit ccmandeville.com
Photography by First Baptist Church of Mandeville
OU R P I CKS
the CITY LIST
We have such amazing, innovative business leaders in our community who are proud to serve you, our residents, with class and quality. We’ve compiled some of our top company picks for the services that might be on your mind this month in an effort to make your lives a little easier.
Best Coffee Shop
The Bean thebeanmandeville.com | 985.789.3377
Tandem Coffee and Cocktails tandemcoffeeandcocktails.com/ | 985.951.2021
Cherrybomb Coffee | Mandeville cherrybombcoffeeco.com/ | 985.302.6124
CafeTomas instagram.com/cafetomas.mandeville/ | 985.778.0112
Café Du Monde Mandeville cafedumonde.com/locations | 985.951.7474
Best Ice Cream Parlor
Nostalgia Mexican Ice Cream nostalgiamexice.com | 985.778.0139
Flying Dolly's flyingdollys.com/mandeville | 985.778.0373
Benny's Creamery bennyscreamery.com
Want to suggest a monthly pick?
Mandeville Creamery mandevillecreamery.com | 985.951.4200
The Candy Bank thecandybank.com | 985.778.2750
ARTICLE BY KALI KASPRZYK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JANIE JONES
MAKEUP BY MIKAYLA CRANE
The 10% Target Mindset
Jen Cohen ON THE PRACTICE OF ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT
Winnipeg in the winter, and a 17-year-old waits 45 minutes in the cold for Keanu Reeves. Her fingers are numb. She is not there for an autograph. She is there to ask him to appear in her audition tape for MuchMusic, Canada’s MTV. When he finally agrees, she writes her number on a gum wrapper with a borrowed lip liner.
He calls days later.
That 17-year-old was Jen Cohen — fitness expert, host of the Habits & Hustle podcast, and best-selling author. She has built a career on the premise her frostbitten afternoon proved. She calls the practice the 10% Target: 10 attempts at whatever you want most in life.
The premise is simple. Most people never make one attempt. Almost nobody makes two. The math works in favor of the person who keeps going.
The top-rated Habits & Hustle podcast has logged hundreds of conversations with high performers and the people who study what the body does to the mind. Her TEDx talk, The Secret to Getting Anything You Want in Life, has traveled widely inside Fortune 500 sales-training rooms. On the Share the Lifestyle podcast, Cohen sits down to share the working rules that are the foundation of her latest book, Bigger, Better, Bolder.
“You have to be the CEO of your own life.”
FEATURING JEN COHEN
Discover the full 10% Target Mindset framework.
1 2
MAKE TEN ATTEMPTS
The door opens, or another door does. The unmade attempt and the refused one leave you in the same place — except one of them teaches you something.
STACK THE DECK
Cohen frames her habits as a wager: How do I stack the deck so I win more than I lose? The workout happens first, and the food decisions follow. The email follow-up gets sent, and the answer arrives. The choices compound in a single direction.
3
DISCIPLINE IS A PRACTICED SKILL, NOT AN INHERITANCE
No one is born with it. The people who look disciplined are running a routine they have rehearsed long enough that it no longer feels like effort. The reps are the skill. Miss them, and the skill fades, the same as any other.
4
SELF-TALK ONLY WORKS WHEN THE BODY BACKS IT UP
Confidence does not arrive by repeating the word. It arrives after the body has done the thing — the workout finished, the cold walk endured, the email sent. The mind takes its cues from what the body proves it can do. Talk follows action, not the other way around.
5
NEVER MISS A MONDAY
The first decision sets the slope of the rest. Skip the Monday workout, and the rest of the week tends to follow. Hold the line on Monday, and the slope tilts the other way.
HOW LOUISIANA ARTIST JESSICA WILLIAMS SPEAKMAN
TRANSFORMS COLOR, TEXTURE, AND MEMORY INTO ART
EXPLORING BEAUTY THROUGH ART
ARTICLE BY CHRISTIAN GEORGE, PHD | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSICA WILLIAMS SPEAKMAN,
Camellia sinensis, commonly known as the tea plant, is a broad-leaved evergreen shrub or small tree in the tea family, Theaceae. It has glossy, dark green leaves and small white flowers with yellow stamens, and grows best in acidic, well-drained soil with consistent moisture and partial shade. Unlike ornamental camellias grown for formal blooms, Camellia sinensis is shaped by absorption: soil, weather, shade, tending, and the slow inward growth that becomes something gathered, steeped, and given away.
ABBY SANDS, AND MICHAEL POPULUS
The gravel road to Jessica Williams Speakman’s house felt like the stem of a wild plant: long, green-thistled, and narrowing toward whatever waited to bloom at the end.
Pockets of sunlight broke through the branches, bleaching the road and my iPhone screen. I brightened it, confirmed the address, and kept driving until a gray cat stepped into the lane and froze. Mildly accusatory and straight out of Alice in Wonderland , it seemed wholly unconcerned with the legitimacy of magazine journalism.
Jessica, on the other hand, had made room for interruption.
I greeted her at the door of the house, which sat beside 300-year-old oaks, its brick warmed by sun and freckled with shade. On the porch, a wicker chair held a pillow that read, It’s mom-plicated .
Dogs and chickens moved through the grass, the former with shameless hospitality, the latter with bureaucratic purpose. Elephant ears listened from the corner of the house.
Inside, the house carried the same alertness. Her children approached, not summoned from iPads or dragged up from some blue-lit trance, but present and well-mannered. They looked me in the eye, offered small, confident handshakes, and asked questions.
"THERE ARE BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS ALL THROUGHOUT LIFE. YOU JUST HAVE TO TAKE THE TIME TO NOTICE THEM."
Where am I? I wondered.
Jessica’s studio seemed to have been chosen by the sun before anyone else had a vote. Paintings leaned against walls and windows. Textured flowers erupted from vases. Hummingbirds hovered mid-flash.
“You ready?” I asked.
She nodded like she was born ready.
THE FIRST CANVAS
And in a sense, she was.
Some artists arrive as questions. Jessica seems to have arrived with an exclamation point, already carrying the shape of what she would spend a lifetime becoming.
She grew up on the outskirts of Bogalusa, in Lee’s Creek, on twenty-five acres of cattle, kinship, church, and cultivated ground. Her mother and grandmother were gardeners, women who knew what needed shade, what needed sun, what would return, and what had to be tended before it bloomed. Long before Jessica learned composition or color theory, she was studying the architecture of living things.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve had the option to paint,” she said. Her mother set her at the breakfast bar with watercolors because watercolor mess could be forgiven with a rag. Oil paints were another matter. When Jessica’s grandmother gave her a set, her mother sent them to school, where an art teacher welcomed the danger. In fourth grade, Jessica painted a tan puppy looking out a window, entered it in the Washington Parish Free Fair, and won first place.
Her mother still keeps the painting framed, blue ribbon attached.
EARLY IMPRESSIONS
Through high school, art remained the one language that held her attention completely.
She did not play sports. She did not chase cheerleading or the approved choreography of small-town girlhood. She painted, joined art club, and kept her nose in magazines, studying flowers, shapes, color, anything that might become a canvas.
CONTINUED >
Then, on a school field trip to the New Orleans Museum of Art, she encountered the works of Edgar Degas and the Impressionists. She saw something she had not yet been taught to name: movement made visible through color.
“I was in awe of it,” she said. “I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
Jessica found her tribe in the art department at Southeastern Louisiana University. Not because she fit the stereotype. By her own account, she was clean-cut, comparatively normal, and not exactly “out wreaking havoc on society.” She says this with a smirk.
They took her in anyway.
One sculpture professor gave her a line she never forgot: “If you don’t know what to do with a piece of artwork, it never fails if you just make it big and paint it red.”
THE LINES SHE LEFT BEHIND
Then life, with its taste for contradiction, sent Jessica into a different kind of composition.
For roughly fifteen years, she worked in land surveying, civil engineering, floodplain
management, land title research, and AutoCAD drafting. She pulled maps, marked boundaries, studied property lines and drainage, and learned the technical grammar by which land becomes legible enough to be altered.
It was useful work because people need homes, roads, subdivisions, places where life can happen.
But usefulness does not always revive the soul.
“I got tired of destroying things,” she said.
By that, she meant trees, wildlife, the living density of ground before it is measured, cleared, divided, and built upon. For years, Jessica helped draw the lines by which land could be transformed. When she stepped out of engineering, she returned to what could not be surveyed: color, texture, instinct, life.
In Jessica’s studio, I look up. One goldfish faces outward from a vertical canvas, close enough to seem curious about the viewer. Jessica’s daughter won it at the Franklinton fair, one of those bagged goldfish expected to expire before anyone gets emotionally involved. This one lived five years. Her daughter asked Jessica to paint it and, to this day, will not let her sell it.
In the painting, the fish does not drift sideways. It meets you head-on, confronting the world with questions not unlike our own.
“There are beautiful moments all throughout life,” she said. “You just have to take the time to notice them.”
STILL LIFE
“What would you be without art?” I asked.
Jessica paused.
“Lost,” she said.
The word landed without drama because she did not offer it dramatically. Art, for Jessica, is not a hobby arranged around the margins of life. It is outlet, prayer, work, inheritance, and weather system. It is the place where color becomes legible and feeling finds a surface sturdy enough to hold it.
Even silence, for her, is not silent.
She often paints with Bach, Mozart, or Hozier playing, a habit rooted in the classroom where her first art teacher played classical music while students worked. But when everything else falls still, Jessica does not hear nothing. She hears nature.
“It’s never actually still,” she said. “There is still life everywhere.”
“Nature teaches us that life is wild, untamed, and beautiful,” she continues. “But you have to immerse yourself in it.”
Technology, she believes, often tells people who to be and how to become it. Nature does not. Nature simply is. So she gives her children more soil than screens, more paint than scrolling, more worms, fishing, stories, cookies, seeds, and questions.
“If you give them your attention,” she said, “they’re going to want your attention over that screen.”
Near the garden, I tried photographing the baby camellias she had planted. I had first misunderstood and thought Jessica had planted five. She had planted hundreds.
Her first great camellia belonged to her great-aunt Carrie Mae. Jessica later lived in Carrie Mae’s house and, for a while, belonged to that tree. It was enormous, tall as a house, bright pink when it bloomed.
“When everything else was dying,” Jessica said, “that camellia was coming to life.”
MADE IN THE SHADE
In the cooler months, when much of the garden has thinned or gone dormant, Camellia sinensis opens. The tea camellia typically blooms in late fall or early winter, depending on cultivar and climate, producing small, fragrant flowers against glossy evergreen leaves. Its bloom is not a denial of winter, but a function of it: formed in shade, refined by stress, and released when the garden has entered its season of restraint.
The life of an artist, of course, is not all roses and sunlight.
“How do you overcome the dark places?” I asked.
Jessica told me that before every painting, she pauses to pray.
“Just guide my hands,” she said, “and let this painting be whatever it is that the world needs right now.”
"THE PURPOSE OF ART IS TO TELL YOUR STORY AND SPREAD JOY."
Art, for Jessica, moves quickly from the surface to the soul of a thing, to the purpose and healing of it.
“The purpose of art,” she said, “is to tell your story and spread joy.”
And that kind of joy has somewhere to go.
Her paintings at Slidell Memorial belong in that lineage. The hospital has purchased multiple pieces, and Jessica has donated work for charity events. One floral painting she kept for years. The hospital asked to buy it more than once, and she resisted until her husband, Kevin, said the thing that undid her: that painting might become the one good moment in someone’s awful day.
“So I let them have it,” she said.
A similar tenderness gathers around another floral painting. It began as a commissioned Christmas gift for a woman facing her first Christmas after her mother’s death. The family wanted something bright and commemorative. Jessica painted flowers in a vase, grief held upright, memory translated into color.
“I want my art to have a life,” she said. “I want it to go be out in the world.”
Not orphaning, she insists. More like a bird leaving the nest.
THE ART OF LETTING GO
Joy, in Jessica’s vocabulary, is not thin brightness. It has roots. It knows winter, exhaustion, remarriage, children, work, risk, and the ache of wondering whether one is good enough.
She is currently completing an MBA. She gardens, cooks, paints with her children, chases toddlers, and drinks sweet tea. She is also tattooed with her own living lexicon: magnolia, phoenix, moon, snake, flowers, words for love, strength, courage, grace, patience, protection. Green, her favorite color, appears in almost every painting.
Kevin entered her life through art. Before they met, he saw her paintings online and wrote about her for a local publication. Four weeks after they met, they were married.
“He brought me back to life,” Jessica said.
The sentence arrived without decoration. Kevin, a Marine veteran and writer, is thorough, structural, protective. Jessica says she is the glue, the element that makes what is sound beautiful, organic, encouraging. Kevin is the root system, grounding her. Together, they paint with paragraphs and pigment.
Their home carries that exchange: books and paint, studio and swing, children’s artwork in the window, eggs, dogs, chickens, a garden still learning what it wants to be.
THE UNFINISHED LIFE
Camellia sinensis is a plant of long memory. Under favorable conditions, it may live for decades, sometimes generations, becoming less a shrub than an inheritance: rooted in one life, flowering into another. Its blooms appear briefly, but the plant endures, gathering one season into the next before opening again for future generations.
On the far wall of the studio, an unfinished alligator stands upright, gathering itself from scales and angles, prehistoric and almost amused.
I noticed it almost immediately, and Jessica, being a true artist, noticed my noticing.
“How long will it take you to finish it?” I asked. She did not answer right away. And that, in itself, felt like a profound answer.
Because so often, life behaves like acrylic. It dries too quickly. Magazine interviews, photoshoots, articles, layouts, deadlines, emails, errands. Why do we burn all our calories doing instead of simply being—or beholding?
But Jessica prefers to paint in oils, not acrylic.
Oil dries slower. It cures by patience, not command, and even after many years, it may never fully finish becoming what it is.
I exchanged one more glance with the unfinished gator and retraced my path beneath the trees, mindful of the camellia growing in the distance.
The gray cat was still there, sovereignly unhurried, as if guarding a truth I had yet to fully learn.
Before I pulled away, I turned my phone off. No map. No GPS. No immediate route back to the world I knew how to keep moving.
I would find my way home the slower way.
JESSICA WILLIAMS SPEAKMAN
Jessica is a Louisiana-based oil painter whose work celebrates the beauty, color, and quiet wonder of the natural world. Inspired by the landscapes, gardens, and wildlife of the Gulf South, she creates richly textured paintings that invite viewers to slow down and find joy in everyday moments. Her original artwork and collections can be found online through jwilliamsgallery.com.
TAKE YOUR NEXT VACATION WITH EFFORTLESS FLAIR
YOU WORK HARD ALL YEAR—YOUR VACATION STYLE SHOULD FEEL CINEMATIC, EFFORTLESS, AND UNMISTAKABLY MAIN CHARACTER.
ARTICLE BY COURTNEY STONE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED
Effortless vacation style isn’t about having the perfect outfit for every moment—it’s about having the right foundation to make every moment look intentional. When you know how to build a capsule travel wardrobe, you’ll avoid agonizing over what to wear and spend more time actually enjoying your getaway, all while looking like you have a personal stylist tucked in your carry-on.
Here’s your go-to list for this season’s travels:
1. THE EFFORTLESS STATEMENT SET
A coordinated two-piece (linen, silk, or cotton) that transitions from day to night. Sets are easy to wear, photograph, and offer effortless ways to look put together. Bonus: you can mix and match the pieces with other items that you pack. I would recommend packing multiple sets to make it even easier to mix and match. For both men and women, simply focus on neutrals and, if you want to add color, make sure it coordinates well with other items in your luggage.
2. THE MOOD-ALTERING PIECE
A sweeping dress in a bold print or luscious fabric that makes you feel sensual, grounded, and free. Find something that moves with you and captures light beautifully. This is your dreamy piece— flowy fabrics with movement that captures the eye and works for any kind of event.
3. THE LUXE FLAT OR SCULPTURAL SANDAL
Find footwear that balances style and comfort. Look for interesting shapes or materials (like leather with architectural cutouts or metallic finishes). More than shoes—they’re anchors for adventure, grounding your aesthetic wherever you land. This goes the same for men. Your footwear can also make an impact through the braided details of your sandals or the canvas of a casual slip-on loafer.
4. THE TRANSITIONAL THIRD PIECE
Think: kimono, over-sized linen blazer, a lightweight duster, or a gauzy button-down left open. This is your layering hero that adds polish without effort. It’s an aura amplifier that instantly makes your outfit feel styled and intentional.
5. INTERESTING AND IMPACTFUL SUNGLASSES
Sunglasses with personality are a must. They could be over-sized, cat-eye, or tinted lenses that feel more like “cinematic escape” than “just functional.” Because you’re not sightseeing—you’re starring in your own travel film.
6. A SCULPTURAL CARRYALL
A bag that holds your essentials but looks like art— think woven textures, unique shapes, or buttery leather. Practicality meets poetry. You deserve a vessel that carries your dreams...and your SPF.
7. SIGNATURE SCENT OR TRAVEL CANDLE
Pack travel-sized fragrance or a tiny candle that evokes your essence or complements the location. Scent is meant to ignite memories and set the tone— infuse your travels with an olfactory signature.
8. ACCESSORIES WITH A STORY
A few intentional pieces such as a ring from a market you found during your travels, a layered necklace that serves as an easy throw-on, or a straw hat to protect your face from the sun (even if it’s a cooler climate, because remember, safety first: don’t get burnt).
JULY 2026
A SELECTION OF UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS
JULY 3RD
Stars, Stripes & Stand-Up, A Comedy Benefit for Veterans
Covington Country Club | 6:30 PM
Stars, Stripes & Stand-Up brings an all-veteran lineup of comedians together for an evening of laughter, camaraderie and community support. Produced by Laugh United Comedy, the charity event benefits veteran organizations and mental health initiatives. General admission tickets are $20, with barbecue buffet and premium seating packages available for $50. Tickets are available at app.go passage.com/events/stars-stripes-stand -up-a-comedy-benefit-for-veterans.
JULY 4TH
Light Up the Lake Independence Day Celebration in Mandeville
Lakeshore Drive between Coffee and Carroll Streets in Mandeville | 3:00 PM Mandeville’s 11th annual Light Up the Lake Festival & Fireworks Show celebrates Independence Day with free lakefront festivities for the whole family. Guests can enjoy picnicking beginning at 10:00 a.m., a patriotic tribute, the Mande Milkshakers parade, live music, food trucks, drink tents, and children’s games and crafts. The evening concludes with fireworks over Lake Pontchartrain at 8:45 p.m.
JULY 4TH
Madisonville Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration
Water Street in Madisonville | 11:00 AM Madisonville’s annual Old-Fashioned 4th of July Celebration brings free family fun to the Tchefuncte River water-
CONTINUED
front. Beginning at 11:00 a.m., guests can enjoy kids’ games, cornhole and horseshoe tournaments, a Veterans’ Salute, watermelon eating, and rooster crowing contests. Bring chairs, coolers, and picnic baskets. Fireworks begin at dusk, around 8:45 p.m. Street parking available throughout the town.
JULY 4TH
Sparks in the Park
Bogue Falaya Wayside Park, 213 Park Dr., Covington | 5:30 PM
Covington’s annual Sparks in the Park brings free Independence Day fun to Bogue Falaya Park as part of the Northshore’s America 250 celebrations. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., guests can enjoy food trucks, concessions, lemonade, water, vendor booths, children’s activities, and live entertainment. Bring lawn chairs, blankets, picnics, and beverages. Fireworks begin at dusk, with heavy post-show traffic expected.
JULY 10TH - 19TH
North Star Theatre
presents “The Pirates of Penzance”
North Star Theatre & Cultural Center, 347 Girod St., Mandeville | 7:00 PM
Moonlight Productions and North Star Theatre present Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comic operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, onstage in the heart of Old Mandeville. Performances run July 10–19, with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students and are available online at onthestage.tickets/show/moon light-productions.
