Camille Conaway and her husband, Jeff Conaway, quit their jobs in New York City to move back to her native Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. That meant her leaving a post at the United Nations, which included traveling the world as a researcher and expert on foreign policy and democracy-building after armed conflict, and Jeff leaving a general manager position at The Ritz Carlton.
The challenges in Baton Rouge seemed bigger. To take them on, the Conaways settled first for jobs waiting tables at the temporary Galatoire’s in the Capital City.
“We just really wanted to be part of the recovery,” she says.
Conaway soon catapulted from suggesting wine to diners to researching public education and governmental ethics reform for BRAC, and also overseeing reform at Blueprint Louisiana, where she served as the lead researcher.
It didn’t take long for young star politician Gov. Bobby Jindal to come calling for her services.
“I got a call Monday morning after he was elected,” she says.
Conaway worked with the Jindal administration through five legislative sessions as a senior policy adviser and analyst before leaving state politics in late 2010 to care for her infant daughter, Olivia.
“Baby and Bobby just don’t mix,” says Conaway jokingly, noting she would jump at the chance to work as a policy director at the state level again. “That was a dream job, for sure.”
Conaway would not stray too far from shaping reform in Louisiana. She joined SSA Consultants, where she works as a public policy researcher and strategist for various industries in both the public and private sectors.
Just this past June, Camille and Jeff Conaway welcomed a second addition to their family: baby boy Sam.
Conaway says her greatest challenge now is learning how to deal with the constant juggle of raising two small children and managing a high-profile career.
“There’s no real example for moms who want to change the world and still have to start at home,” she says. “No one’s figured this out.”
Five years from now, Conaway foresees herself and her family doing well in Baton Rouge. Her husband’s restaurant, Beausoleil, where he is a managing partner, will be running strong. And both her children will be attending public schools. Conaway has a deep conviction that Baton Rouge can’t improve without improving education.
“And I will be in a job making a difference,” she says.
Conaway says she wanted to travel. “I don’t think I knew how.” But then she later worked for the United Nations. “I’ve been to a couple dozen countries, I don’t know how many continents.”
It would probably be U.S. Secretary of State. That would be my dream job.
Choose a profession where you will be fulfilled every day.
Cost of living. You can afford to do so much more in this town than you can anywhere else.
“It’s probably Tiger Stadium.”
I would move us forward by about 25 years.
A balance between work and life. “There’s no real example for moms who want to change the world, and still have to start at home.”
“We’ll still be in Baton Rouge. My kids will be in public school. The restaurant will be going strong. And I will be in a job making difference.”
