Founder Spotlight: Hayden Parker, '24 and Gumbo Film Lab

Hayden Parker, '24, is a recent graduate of Loyola University New Orleans, majoring in music industry studies. Hayden is passionate about the arts, particularly photography and music production. Earlier this year, Hayden participated in the third annual Side Hustle Expo, which led him to apply to be a part of the 2024 cohort of Wolf Pack LaunchU with his small business, Gumbo Film Lab.

Gumbo Film Lab is a local film lab that takes customers film and develops and processes them and plans to expand into placing vending machines in tourist heavy spots and filling them with disposable cameras and film, plus drop-off boxes to have film processed. 

On Thursday, September 5th, Hayden's pitch wowed the judges, with his attention to detail and with his solution for lack of local, high quality film developers in the Greater New Orleans area (and across the state of Louisiana). Hayden's pitch earned him $4,000 to continue to grow his business and reach new customers. Hear more from Hayden below, and make sure to check out Gumbo Film Lab on Instagram to keep up with their success!

What was the highlight of the Wolf Pack LaunchU experience for you?
My highlight of the Wolf Pack LaunchU experience was definitely getting to the final round and getting to see all the other finalists' pitches finally. It was super satisfying to see everybody's work come to fruition and I'd be lying to say if I wasn't at least a little bit nervous about having to compete against all those strong pitch decks (and have to present first on top of it)!

What are your plans for the prize money you received?
Currently with the funding I'm planning to purchase more upgraded and automated film processing solution (specifically a JOBO CPP2) and another dedicated film scanner. Although these won't be "endgame" equipment, it will still allow us to develop film much more effectively and take on more demand than we are able to right now.

What advice would you give to an aspiring LOYNO entrepreneur?
For any aspiring LOYNO entrepreneurs I'd say that if you have an idea you are passionate about, even if it's a solo endeavor at the moment, go for it full force. Also, make sure to take advantage of the various opportunities that the university offers because they can really help turn your ideas into a reality.