225BatonRouge.com

Heather Day is a true bohemian.

While other upwardly mobile young professionals spend their days in suits and ties, Day flits about town in long flowing skirts, tie-dyed shirts and chunky jewelry, seamlessly juggling her party planning business with her role of community activist as Forum 35’s current president, and all with her 2-year-old daughter Sunny in tow.

Who’d have thought Forum 35 would choose such a free spirit as its leader, but Day has made great strides to get more people involved in the changes taking place in Baton Rouge. With her take-charge attitude and love for the Capital City, Day tackled many projects at the helm of Forum 35 this past year. Most were met with open arms, but some, like Forum’s support of the One Baton Rouge initiative, were met with staunch opposition.

One of Day’s signature projects was the troubled Autonomous School Network, a cluster of new schools that operate within the current school system but have very specific achievement targets.

“We’ve done everything from mentoring to providing school supplies to helping them get organized,” Day says. “We’re opening the community’s eyes to an amazing opportunity. Its success will be a foot in the door for other public education projects.”

Day has been in Baton Rouge since 1982. She and her husband Jason, a local ecologist with Comite Resources, make their home in the Garden District.

Her event planning business helped Forum plan its 10th anniversary party five years ago, and she’s been a member ever since.

“I’d like to see us open our eyes and become a more progressive city that young people want to move to, and that my daughter will want to stay in.”