LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: Cassidy Highlights Local Business Owner’s Journey from Uncertainty to Entrepreneurship

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), for his monthly Local Spotlight, recognized Amanda Ratcliff for her resilience and entrepreneurial spirit in turning life's challenges into opportunity. Her business, Buttery Spell, features uniquely crafted products that reflect her creativity and the unmistakable flavors and culture of New Orleans. Each month, Cassidy highlights a local story that truly reflects Louisiana values of humility, respect, and resiliency.

Read his full April 2026 Local Spotlight below:

For this month's Local Spotlight, let's recognize somebody I met recently.

I met her in Jefferson Parish, and her name is Amanda Ratcliff.

Now, if you ever meet somebody and you instantly know that they are in the right place at the right time, that's Amanda.

And her food business, Buttery Spell, is unique.

Now, fast forward to 2020.

She, like a lot of people, found herself at home because COVID had shut the government down, shut the businesses down, shut our society down.

So she went to business school.

She figured out how to sell her product, and now she's a business owner.

I met Amanda at a JEDCO Food Incubator celebration event a couple weeks ago.

Now my weakness is sweets, and so I'm tasting her peanut butter.

I'm thinking this peanut butter tastes exactly like the peanut butter in a Girl Scout cookie.

So I taste it.

I come back, I say, 'Wow, Amanda.

How did you figure this out?'

So to anyone listening, if you've got an idea, a dream, a spark, follow it.

You don't quite know where it might take you.

But Buttery Spell is proof that you don't need a perfect plan.

You just need the courage to take that first step.

Amanda, you may not be building cars like you once thought you would.

But I suspect your younger self would be extremely proud of who Amanda is today and of Amanda's business.

And I'm proud.

Louisiana's proud.

Keep up the great work.

Background

In March, Cassidy highlighted David Hoke of Lafayette, Louisiana. Hoke has dedicated himself to sharing the word of God by creating and distributing personalized leather-bound Bibles for elected leaders and their families across the country and around the world.

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