Influential Women in Business honorees share how they rewrote the rules

Three influential women leaders are redefining what leadership looks like in Baton Rouge—by rejecting traditional playbooks, embracing discomfort and building organizations centered on people rather than systems.

The latest episode of Business Report’s “Strictly Business” featured 2026 Influential Women in Business honorees Meredith Eicher, Adonica Pelichet Duggan and Dr. Gunjan Raina.

The conversation centered on pivotal career moments, leadership lessons and the personal sacrifices involved in building something new.

For Raina, the turning point came several years into her medical career.

“I had a nurse practitioner and during a patient visit, I remember clearly there was a death of a spouse,” she recalled. “One of our patients lost her husband, and the day was busy and she [nurse practitioner] wasn’t able to convey that message to me. I saw the same patient six months later and when I saw her, I felt awful and just so disconnected from her that I didn’t realize her husband had passed away six months before that. I think that’s when I decided I needed to do something different.”

That realization eventually led her to launch a concierge-style medical practice focused on deeper patient relationships and personalized care.

Duggan said her own pivot came after years of working inside school systems and seeing firsthand the challenges facing educators and families.

“I just couldn’t sit there anymore and watch the conditions that educators were working in and the families were having to navigate not be improved,” Duggan said.

That frustration ultimately led to the creation of the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, an organization focused on education advocacy and community engagement.

Eicher, now a successful coach to business executives, described leaving behind an accounting practice after questioning whether the work aligned with the impact she wanted to have.

The trio also discussed leadership, burnout and the importance of building organizations rooted in empathy and relationships.

“We have to be doing our own work,” Duggan said. “The way that we show up in the world impacts our ability to get things done.”