Impression: Aimee Adatto Freeman

Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman (B ’95) has a motto in her office: “Do the work, ignore the drama.” As a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, she recognizes the importance of getting things done through teamwork, negotiations and strategy, all values she learned as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) student in the A. B. Freeman School of Business.

“It’s all teamwork in an MBA program,” she said. “That’s a training ground for the world, because you don’t always pick who’s on your team.”

After graduating with her MBA in the mid-90s, Freeman began her professional career as a business strategist for companies of all sizes.

“I help business owners whether they’re an early-stage startup or HSBC,” she said, referring to the global bank.

Freeman views her experience as a strategist as one of the things that makes her an effective legislator.

“If one of my bills fails somewhere along the way, I look for a different strategy,” she said, recounting the negotiations and changes she had to navigate to get her 2021 “pink tax” exemption bill passed. The bill provides a sales tax exemption for feminine hygiene products and diapers. Getting the bill passed required working with her colleagues across the aisle, as well as those in her own party.

She also had to convince the then-governor that there was room in the state budget for this tax exemption. That part was similar to working with business budgets, something she was intimately familiar with. “I know numbers,” she said.

One of the bills Freeman passed in 2025 has a personal connection: a law requiring that health insurance companies cover integrative cancer treatments, which complement traditional cancer treatments with therapies such as nutritional counseling, exercise programs and mental health support focused on the patient’s overall health and quality of life.

“That was so important to me because I went through cancer treatment myself,” said Freeman, who announced in 2024 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her experience with integrative cancer care inspired her to make sure those treatments were accessible to all patients. She announced in 2025 that she was cancer-free.

Freeman, who was first elected to serve in the state Legislature in 2019, represents District 98, which includes Tulane’s uptown campus. Just like most legislative bills proposed, many of Freeman’s bills never make it out of committee. But a specific bill becoming law is not always the only point for her.

“Sometimes you’re just having a conversation, and you know that the conversation isn’t going to end in committee,” she said, noting that such discussions can result in related legislation at a later date.

The promise of having those conversations was what drew her to run for a seat in the state house in the first place.

“I just wanted to be part of any conversation to move the state forward,” she said.

Freeman continues to work as a business strategist even while serving in the state Legislature. She is also an adjunct professor of business at Tulane and a board member of the Freeman Business School Council.