Our story
A legacy of connection.
The café
Inspired by the warmth of a neighborhood café, LaRuelist Café brings people together to exchange perspectives, share experiences and explore the issues shaping our communities. Through conversations with leaders, changemakers and everyday voices, the Café invites audiences to listen, learn, challenge assumptions and find ways to create change.
Where it started
Jeannine founded LaRuelist Café in 2020, during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep people connected when gathering in person wasn't possible. It builds on The LaRuelist Report, her free weekly e-newsletter that reached thousands of subscribers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The format draws on Juanita Brown's The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter.
Meet Jeannine
Known across New Jersey as Mama LaRue, Jeannine Frisby LaRue has spent five decades in public service.
- 01Partner at Moxie
- 02Lobbyist at The Zita Group
- 03Vice President of Public Affairs, Rutgers University
- 04Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Jon Corzine
- 05Senior Vice President, Saint Barnabas
- 06Five-year term on the New Jersey Casino Control Commission
- 07Founded the Governor's Conference for Women in 1992
- 0812 years in elected office
- 09Founding member, NJ Black Caucus Foundation
- 10More than 70 awards
At the table