About Rony

Rony the Tiger is not your average ‘cool cat or kitten.’ (Thanks, Carole)

When ‘Rona’ decided to shut the world in, RONY stepped out and started living his best life. He does all the stuff. Goes all the places. Pushes all the envelopes.

Dubbed ‘The Most Interesting Cat In The World,' Rony boldly goes wherever the F he wants, as tigers do.

The short story is like this… Rony The Tiger was born out of a need to connect in a time of isolation, to give happiness, lightness & hope to a freaked out world, and also- an underlying desire to DJ. (And of course, LSU + Tiger King)

The long story goes likes this: A painter/musician LSU alum (Shelli) and her musician husband (Toby), wake up one morning and find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Rona.

You see, Shelli and Toby are full-time creatives... she’s a painter and a singer. And he’s a singer/songwriter. They have a band together and make their living doing fun stuff...

…until all of the fun stuff gets shut down. Like... All. The. Fun. Stuff. The galleries close, the private parties cancel, the nightclubs shutdown. No fun for anyone. And no work for Shelli and Toby.

About a week or two into quarantine, Shelli and Toby have pretty much run out of things to do to occupy their time (even though they’re newlyweds). Gin Rummy, Gin, Rum, Gardening, Puzzles, Tiger King.

Toby, the extrovert, misses people. And as a full-time musician with a concert PA and a first-time-ever open calendar, decides to start hosting a social-distancing block party for their neighborhood. Shelli, the introvert, decides rather than co-host, she’ll bring her easel outside and give the people something to watch. Live painting + iPhone DJ’ing.

Turns out, her husband, Toby, now moonlighting as "DJ Quaran-T," was quite a hit with the neighborhood, and the social distancing block party gave lots of people something to look forward to.

All down the street were lawn chairs set up in front yards, trucks and ice chests and tailgates, the cul de sac would be full an hour before the party was even supposed to start! People would text in their song requests, play scavenger hunt/trivia games, kids riding bikes. Actual happiness and a semblance of normalcy.

And this is where Rony was born. That NEED: happiness and normalcy.

You see, Rony represents that happiness and normalcy; as he was born in a time of unrest, upheaval, fear, and the unknown…

…but Rony is quite the opposite. He’s a celebration. He’s a traveler. He’s a doer and a lover. He does the things that we all want to do, or have done. The things we can’t do at this moment, the things we plan to do. He lives life. He loves life. He’s an adventurer. A believer. A rambler. A symbol. A reminder. An example.

He’s a tiger. He’s fearless and bold, beautiful and majestic. Cool, but a little freaky.

Every time you see Rony, he’s living full. Doing something he loves. Embracing the ebb and flow of life. Surviving and thriving… just like tigers do.