Founder & Chief Gatherer of the Green, Traci Claussen is living her “indie” dream back in New Orleans building her brand, REpurposingNOLA, a Triple Bottom Line company launched fall 2009, with growth plans that include duplicate micro-communities across the country.

Full of wanderlust and relentless eco-energy, Traci is forever seeking ways to repurpose the planet and reunite the old with the new. The idea to launch REpurposingNOLA Piece by Peace came while she was eco-renovating her warehouse district loft with sustainable elements and salvaged treasures she discovered around New Orleans. The New Orleans Warehouse District, like many warehouse districts in the United States, was once an area that thrived with local production from sugar to machinery to textiles from the late 1800s into the mid-1950s. The renovation inspired Traci to help repurpose a city that was once a thriving port, alive with production.

REpurposingNOLA is honored to be part of the Brees Dream Foundation Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge, partnered with Edna Karr Secondary School. Four New Orleans High Schools will compete to develop and execute their business plans with local entrepreneur mentors and present to Drew Brees and a panel of judges December 2010. Winning school will receive a $10K grant from the Brees Dream Foundation to help their school. The Edna Karr team business, called "rE-Kreate", will benefit their special need students, a program which is severely underfunded.