StM News

14-Year Club Member
Sister of Peter Castaing ’00
University of Alabama, BA, Art History
Delgado, Interior Design Degree
Licensed in Real Estate, 2014 *licensed with McEnery Residential
Co-founder of M&M Residential 
Owner/founder of Maison de Luca Design, LLC

You were a member of the StM “14-Year Club.” Talk about the experience of growing up at St. Martin’s.

When you’re at a place for so long, it shapes almost every part of you. So many of our graduating class had been there from the beginning, as 13 - or 14-year club members. I loved being a part of this small community that is faith-based and all about service. The Christian aspect of St. Martin’s was important, because I grew up in a very religious family.

Who are some favorite teachers who stand out in your memory?

Honestly, I really loved all of the teachers! For me, the strength of our English department has always stuck with me. Mr. Greg Williams was a great teacher, and of course, Mrs. Dianne Greer. I also really enjoyed being in Dean Chuck Rivet’s Far East Studies class. I just found it to be so interesting, and I loved his style of teaching. Also, the coaches were so special. I loved Mrs. Sue Edwards and Mrs. Linda Trevino, who were my volleyball and tennis coaches.  I’ve continued playing tennis as an adult and my kids now take lessons – it’s really a full circle moment. 

How did your St. Martin’s education prepare you for the path you took after graduation?

The challenging curriculum at St. Martin’s gave me such great organizational skills. I feel like you cannot understand just how well St. Martin’s prepares you for college and life until you’ve graduated. I recall during my freshman year at Alabama, sitting in an English class and just feeling so prepared. St. Martin’s gives you such a leg up, starting your college career, because it’s the norm to work hard when you’re a student there. Truly, that feeling was not lost on me as an 18-year-old freshman.

What initially led you to pursue interior design and then ultimately real estate?

I’ve always had a passion for it, which started with my mom, who was an antiques dealer and just had a great eye for design. Her work really struck a chord with me. I studied Art History at the University of Alabama, and then went on to study Interior Design for two years. After working in residential construction for five years, I got my real estate license. The goal was to marry the two careers, since they tend to go hand in hand. With my background in renovations and design, I could help real estate clients create plans and visualize what a potential home could become. In 2020, I partnered up with my college roommate, Molly Koenig, who is married to fellow StM alum, Clay Koenig ’01, to form M&M Residential. We approached McEnery Residential with a proposal to open up a Northshore office, where I had moved in 2019, and from there we hit the ground running, even upgrading to a beautiful new office in the center of downtown Covington. We make a great team: I had the experience, she had the relationships, and most importantly, we have so much fun and every day is different. 

You are currently competing on the first season of a new reality TV design competition program called “Cabin Wars: Flip It To Win It.” How did you get involved with this project? 

My fellow contestants and I have been given the challenge of modernizing a group of outdated cabins in a camping space in Robert, Louisiana. We have 30 days and a $20,000 budget, and we’re competing for a chance to win a $40,000 prize.  There are people competing from all over the country, but I saw the call for auditions and my business partner talked me into it. I auditioned on the last day, and I got picked! 

It’s been fun because we’re competitive with ourselves, but not as much with each other. It really has been a life-changing experience, especially getting to know the other competitors and their back stories. In addition, I love a challenge and I feel so blessed to continue to be challenged in my work life. I like to make a space beautiful, practical, and useful, and seeing a family make memories in a space that I have created for them is so rewarding. It’s exciting that through this show, I can do that in a whole new capacity.

Even though I have always had my hand in the renovation and design side of things, I have concentrated more on real estate in recent years, so Cabin Wars has been tough, but so rewarding. And it’s this type of experience that reminds me why I started doing design in the first place and why I fell in love with it. 

This challenge is especially important to me because I’m leveraging it to gain exposure for and benefit a cause that is so near and dear to my heart. My husband, Zandy, is the Chairman of the Board of Hogs for the Cause, which has become the country’s leading fundraiser for pediatric brain cancer. Through Hogs, we met the Dickens family, an amazing Hogs grant family whose four-year-old daughter, Kallie, was battling brain cancer. She passed away in 2022 and we have remained close with them. Their perseverance and dedication to keeping her legacy alive through Hogs and their own foundation (Keeping a Light for Kallie, which also raises money for pediatric brain cancer) inspired me to dedicate my cabin and my time on Cabin Wars to them. My hope is that Kallie’s Cabin will be a space where families can make wonderful memories together. 

“Cabin Wars” will be airing in the Spring, but voting is going on now through the first week of March. You can watch what I did with “Kallie’s Cabin” and vote today! 

Talk about your family’s experience with Hogs for the Cause and what it has been like to grow this event into what it is today. 

It has been so amazing to watch this event grow! It started out with a few friends roasting a pig at The Fly to raise money for pediatric brain cancer to help a neighborhood family who’d lost their child to the disease. Today it’s an event that draws thousands of people to their annual spring festival out at UNO, as well as events throughout the year, all over the country, run by the teams who participate in fundraising for the cause. These events, along with donations, help to raise millions of dollars annually. The money is used to help families of children fighting brain cancer, fund grants to children’s hospitals nationwide, and support Hogs Houses on the campuses of multiple children’s hospitals, where families can stay for extended periods of time while getting treatment. I love seeing the way the teams come together.  Everyone gets so into it and it’s amazing to see the impact they’ve made on so many families. Meeting and getting to know some of these families is so eye-opening and really puts everything into perspective.

This year’s event will be April 5-6 at UNO. Through Cabin Wars, I hope to get more exposure for Hogs for the Cause and Keeping a Light for Kallie. I am so thankful that I can tie these projects together in such a meaningful way. Winning this challenge and being able to share the proceeds with Hogs for the Cause would mean everything to me. 

What is some advice you would share with future graduates or young alumni?

Being kind to others will benefit you no matter what path you take, and St. Martin’s sets such a strong foundation for kindness and service to others. You will never go wrong putting others first.  And put yourself out there--get to know people you wouldn’t normally approach. Connections come from every stage of your life, and if you can become comfortable striking up conversations with people at an early age, you’ll go far in life.  

Last but not least, be confident! I strongly believe St. Martin’s contributed to my sense of self-worth. Through the school’s top-notch education, their amazing sports programs and the subsequent praise, and one-on-one attention from my teachers and coaches, I was able to feel confident as I was faced with many new challenges and situations growing up and as a young adult starting out on my own.