Discover Lafayette

Robert Schacht has lived a life that bridges seemingly different worlds: Hollywood filmmaking, aerospace and defense manufacturing, international trade, and classical music. Today, as Chairman and CEO of Westfield Fluid Controls and Westfield Hydraulics, he is building a sophisticated manufacturing operation in Lafayette, Louisiana, while also serving as Chair of the Board of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra.

Raised in Beverly Hills, California, Robert grew up surrounded by the entertainment industry. His grandfather was the legendary actor Ross Martin, best remembered for portraying the brilliant master of disguise Artemus Gordon in the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West. Robert followed his early interest in film to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, eventually working in the movie business before embarking on a dramatically different career in aerospace and defense.

What brought him to Lafayette, and what keeps him here, is a fascinating story of economic opportunity, cultural richness, family values, and the importance of building something that lasts.

When Robert began considering relocating his manufacturing business from California, Louisiana wasn’t even on his list.

Manufacturing in California had become increasingly difficult, particularly for a business seeking to expand its capabilities and operations. Robert began evaluating locations across the country, including areas with established aerospace and defense industries.

A friend from Lake Charles, Gray Stream, encouraged him to consider Louisiana. That introduction led to meetings with economic development professionals, including Greg Gothreaux of Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA).

Robert was impressed by the professionalism and transparency of Lafayette’s economic development leadership. Gothreaux understood what his company needed and was equally candid about the region’s limitations, particularly the absence of an established aerospace and defense manufacturing ecosystem.

But Lafayette had something else. “There was an energy here that was very different, unique,” Robert recalled.

After touring communities across Louisiana, two characteristics distinguished Lafayette: its early investment in fiber-optic infrastructure and its extraordinary cultural heritage. For someone operating a technology-intensive business, Lafayette’s commitment to fiber demonstrated forward thinking. Equally important was its rich tradition of music, art, and cultural engagement.

Robert explained that recruiting and retaining talented executives requires more than attractive business incentives. “You can’t recruit and retain executives without cultural development in parallel with economic development.” Lafayette offered both.

What began as a location that wasn’t even under consideration quickly became his first choice.

The move has also profoundly affected Robert’s family. He and his wife are raising their five children, including two still in school, and he values the kindness, courtesy, and genuine friendships they have experienced here.

“I have made more adult friends here than I ever would have imagined possible just because of the genuineness, the relationships. People are open.”

For Robert, Lafayette offers something increasingly difficult to find in larger metropolitan areas: a welcoming community where relationships matter and children can grow up with an appreciation for respect, responsibility, and humility.

Robert’s companies, Westfield Fluid Controls and Westfield Hydraulics, design and manufacture sophisticated fluid-control components for aerospace, defense, and space applications.

These components may be relatively small, but their functions are critically important. Westfield manufactures solenoid valves, actuators, reservoirs, and other precision components that control hydraulic, fuel, and pneumatic systems in aircraft, missiles, military vehicles, and spacecraft.

The company produces approximately 2,000 different items, many consisting of 30 to 40 individual parts.

Its manufacturing requirements are extraordinarily precise. Robert explained that some components operate with metal-to-metal clearances of approximately 40 millionths of an inch, a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair.

Westfield has built a new 30,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette and maintains approximately 20,000 square feet of operations in California. The company is developing parallel capabilities to ensure continuity of operations in the event of natural disasters or other disruptions.

Robert explained that certain Federal Aviation Administration certifications make maintaining a California presence necessary, at least for the foreseeable future.

At the time of our interview, Westfield employed 18 people in Lafayette and had committed to growing to 67 employees. Recruiting and training individuals capable of performing this highly specialized work is an ongoing priority.

The company is also involved in emerging technologies, including work with NASA on advanced valve systems and development of cryogenic valves for hydrogen applications.

Robert sees significant opportunities in the expanding commercial space industry. Westfield previously worked extensively with Blue Origin on the BE-4 engine, and he hopes the company will eventually work with SpaceX.

His vision extends beyond manufacturing individual components.

“I’m really focused on creating an enterprise in the engineering and manufacturing world that can be steered towards whatever is required. As the demands of the US industrial base change, we want to be there, we want to be able to pursue it and execute with excellence in everything that we’re doing.”

One of the most compelling parts of our conversation concerned Robert’s perspective on the decline of American manufacturing expertise. Having worked in aerospace and defense for more than two decades, he has witnessed significant consolidation among manufacturers of specialized components.

He expressed concern that acquisitions driven by short-term financial objectives have sometimes resulted in the loss of valuable technical knowledge and institutional expertise.

“The aerospace industry has changed a lot and unfortunately not for the better.” Robert believes that preserving engineering knowledge and manufacturing capabilities is essential to America’s economic competitiveness and national security. He also discussed the challenges of developing a sufficient pipeline of engineers and highly skilled technical workers, particularly in industries subject to stringent national security regulations.

For Westfield, the objective is not simply to expand production. It is to build a sustainable enterprise with the expertise, people, and resources necessary to serve customers over the long term.

Robert emphasized that the company’s success depends on its employees and their personal and professional well-being. “We realized that the success of the company is predicated on the success of everybody who’s actually working for us.” He views Westfield’s presence in Lafayette as an opportunity to contribute to something larger than the manufacture of aerospace components.

Robert brings extensive experience in international trade policy, having served on the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration from 2010 to 2016.

Our discussion explored the delicate balance between promoting American exports and protecting sensitive technologies. Robert believes exporting American products and services is essential, but cautions against allowing the transfer of critical engineering and manufacturing knowledge to countries whose interests may conflict with those of the United States.

He explained that manufacturing and engineering are closely connected. When production moves overseas, valuable engineering capabilities and opportunities for innovation may follow.

His work on the export council coincided with efforts to reform export controls, distinguishing technologies requiring the highest levels of protection from those that could be exported under less restrictive regulations.

He also discussed the challenges tariffs create for domestic manufacturers. Although Westfield is required to prioritize domestic sourcing under applicable defense procurement rules, some raw materials must still be obtained internationally. Increased tariffs have added costs to its operations.

Throughout our discussion, Robert returned to the importance of protecting America’s technological capabilities while maintaining a competitive industrial base.

Robert’s path into aerospace manufacturing was anything but conventional. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and initially pursued a career in the entertainment industry. He later studied at MIT to develop his ability to lead technology organizations.

Interestingly, Robert credits his experience in film production with teaching him skills that remain valuable in manufacturing. On a movie set, time is limited, equipment and personnel must be coordinated, and changing conditions require immediate decisions. He found that this fast-paced environment offered lessons in organization, problem-solving, and operational execution.

His filmmaking career included serving as associate producer of Across the Tracks, an early Brad Pitt film also starring Ricky Schroder and Carrie Snodgress. Robert worked on the low-budget production with producer Chip Rosenbloom and director Sandy Tung while he was still in school.

He remembers the experience fondly, particularly working with Brad Pitt before his breakthrough role in Thelma & Louise. Robert recalled recognizing Pitt’s extraordinary screen presence during casting. “There’s just a charisma. He had that kind of special quality, something that’s hard to find, but easy to recognize.”

Although Robert ultimately left filmmaking for a career he felt could have a different kind of impact, his appreciation for cinema has never diminished.

He remains an enthusiastic movie buff, with a particular love for classics such as Casablanca, the work of Cary Grant, and more recent films including Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which he praised for its extraordinary narrative structure.

One of the most delightful parts of our conversation was hearing Robert describe his grandfather, Ross Martin.

Television audiences remember Martin as Artemus Gordon, the resourceful Secret Service agent and master of disguise who starred alongside Robert Conrad’s James West in The Wild Wild West. But Martin’s talents extended far beyond acting.

He was a concert violinist, painter, multilingual performer, and highly educated man whose intellectual curiosity and artistic abilities made a lasting impression on his grandson.

Robert grew up in a remarkable environment, surrounded by people whose names were familiar to television and movie audiences. His grandfather was close friends with Lucille Ball, and Robert remembers spending time at her home and watching accomplished entertainers respond to Martin’s humor and intelligence.

“He was just an exceptional human being.”

Martin’s extraordinary versatility was especially apparent in The Wild Wild West. He created an astonishing range of characters through elaborate disguises, accents, and mannerisms.

Robert shared a wonderful behind-the-scenes detail: his grandfather designed and applied his own makeup and even sketched the characters he intended to portray in the margins of his scripts.

Born in Grodek, a community whose national boundaries shifted between Poland and Ukraine, Martin immigrated to New York in 1920. He grew up on the Lower East Side, worked in radio, and eventually moved to California.

Robert credits his grandfather with establishing an exceptionally high standard for intellectual curiosity, creativity, and personal accomplishment. “He set the bar very high for me as to what a person of that caliber could be and how I should set the course of my life.”

Perhaps his grandfather’s most enduring influence, however, came through music.

Today, Robert serves as Chair of the Board of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, where he is deeply involved in rebuilding the organization’s artistic reach and strengthening its place in the community.

He explained that the pandemic and subsequent financial pressures had forced the symphony to reduce the number of musicians performing onstage, diminishing the full orchestral experience.

When he joined the board, one of the central questions was how to rebuild the audience by first restoring the quality and scale of performances.

Through a collaboration with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Matthew Kraemer, who subsequently became the Acadiana Symphony’s music director, the organization has expanded its artistic possibilities.

Robert described performances featuring approximately 65 musicians, larger choral productions, and collaborations with other performing arts organizations. These partnerships include providing orchestral accompaniment for ballet productions such as The Nutcracker, participating in The Creole Nutcracker, and plans for a production of Les Misérables with local theater partners.

Among the projects Robert is especially excited about is The Cajun Night Before Christmas, an original holiday collaboration featuring the Lost Bayou Ramblers. The symphony commissioned Grammy Award-winning composer Jay Weigel to create an original work, with Louis Michot providing narration and fiddle. Robert hopes the production will become a beloved new holiday tradition for Lafayette and Acadiana.

The organization is also exploring music competitions and the development of an opera.

For Robert, the symphony should be a central part of a vibrant regional performing arts community, collaborating with other organizations rather than operating in isolation.

Robert’s commitment to the symphony is deeply personal.

When he was eight years old, his grandfather placed a violin in his hands and introduced him to the discipline and beauty of music.

That experience shaped his intellectual and emotional development and helped establish his lifelong appreciation for the arts.

Robert believes music education is particularly important in an age increasingly dominated by digital devices, artificial intelligence, and instant gratification.

The symphony’s educational efforts include an after-school strings program with Lafayette Parish public schools and opportunities for free music lessons.

He spoke passionately about the patience, perseverance, and satisfaction that come from learning to play an instrument, qualities that can be difficult to develop in a world of constant digital stimulation.

But music offers something even more fundamental: human connection.

Robert described the transformative experience of hearing live musicians perform together, sharing emotion in a way that cannot be replicated through a screen.

He wants to make classical music accessible and welcoming to everyone, including families with young children who may never have attended an orchestral performance.

He also sees opportunities to connect classical traditions with the music audiences already know and love, including jazz, zydeco, folk music, and contemporary film scores.

Robert expressed a particularly moving thought about the arts and their role in our lives:

“I grew up in a household where, you know, everybody sort of understood that life can be soul crushing and the arts are where we actually realize that we have a soul.”

He believes the opportunity to experience music can change the trajectory of a young person’s life, even if that opportunity reaches only one child.

“It’s not a numbers game per se. It’s, you know, how do we reach that one child whose life is completely transformed and then has the butterfly effect on everybody else?”

He remembers how music connected him to his grandfather across generations, regardless of their differing perspectives on politics, philosophy, or other subjects.

For Robert, music offers a universal language capable of bringing people together.

We also discussed the role artificial intelligence is beginning to play in Westfield’s operations.

Robert explained that AI is already being used in engineering, computer numerical control (CNC) machining processes, and quality management.

In a highly regulated industry, manufacturing requires extensive documentation, auditing, performance monitoring, and compliance procedures.

“We’re in the document business as much as we are in the manufacturing business.”

AI is helping Westfield manage these responsibilities more efficiently, while also supporting engineering and production activities.

Robert expects automation and robotics to become increasingly important, although Westfield’s highly specialized, low-volume production presents challenges that differ from traditional mass manufacturing.

He believes these technologies will fundamentally change how organizations operate, including the roles of management and the processes connecting planning with execution.

Robert Schacht’s story illustrates how a seemingly unconventional career can bring together experiences that ultimately reinforce one another.

His early exposure to music and film helped develop his creativity and appreciation for storytelling. His experience in filmmaking taught him operational discipline. His work in aerospace and defense has given him a deep understanding of precision manufacturing, engineering, and national security.

And his decision to move to Lafayette has given him an opportunity to combine his professional ambitions with a personal commitment to community and cultural development.

When he isn’t working, Robert enjoys reading, golf, tennis, and skiing. But much of his energy is devoted to building Westfield into an enduring manufacturing enterprise and helping the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra reach new audiences.

What stands out about Robert is his belief that economic development and cultural development belong together. A thriving community needs meaningful employment, technological innovation, strong families, educational opportunities, and a vibrant arts community.

His journey from Beverly Hills to Lafayette reminds us that the qualities making Acadiana special are not always the things we measure in economic reports. They are also found in our relationships, our generosity, our cultural traditions, and our willingness to welcome people who choose to build their lives here.

We thank Robert Schacht for joining us on Discover Lafayette and for sharing his remarkable journey, his commitment to American manufacturing, and his passion for making the arts accessible to future generations.

When JP MacFadyen first joined Discover Lafayette in 2022, Moncus Park was still in the early stages of becoming the extraordinary public gathering place envisioned by a group of determined Lafayette citizens nearly two decades earlier. Today, the 100-acre park in the heart of Lafayette has blossomed into one of Acadiana’s most treasured destinations, offering everything from peaceful walks among native plants and wildlife to concerts, outdoor movies, fitness classes, farmers markets, and holiday celebrations.

JP, who joined Moncus Park in 2019 as operations director and became executive director in 2021, returns to share the latest developments, including new facilities, an ambitious calendar of free public programming, and the financial realities of operating a privately managed, nonprofit park that welcomes everyone.

The conversation also takes us back to the beginning, when two young women, E.B. Brooks and Danica Adams, helped rally the community to save the former horse farm from development.

Reflecting on their efforts more than 20 years ago, JP. says, “There was a yearning and now even more so for public spaces where people can connect and belong.”

That sense of belonging remains central to everything Moncus Park does.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Moncus Park is the feeling of escape it provides despite its location along one of Lafayette’s busiest thoroughfares. A short walk into the park brings visitors into a landscape of rolling hills, water, trees, wildlife, and peaceful places to reflect.

JP explains that the park’s programming is built around three guiding pillars: nature and sustainability, community and belonging, and health and wellness.

These priorities are reflected in a growing assortment of activities, from birdwatching and learning about native plants to yoga, Pilates, sound baths, cultural exchanges, and organized dog walks.

The park partners with For the Birds of Acadiana to release rehabilitated birds back into their natural environment. Visitors can participate in these releases, which are incorporated into the park’s nature programming. Moncus Park also works with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on cultural exchanges that introduce visitors to different traditions through food, dance, and other experiences.

Even something as simple as walking a dog can create a meaningful human connection.

“It’s amazing when you put people in a public space together with some sort of activation, how easy it is for people to bond,” JP explains.

For JP, these activities serve a larger purpose. They provide a reason for someone to visit the park for the first time, discover its beauty, and perhaps develop friendships along the way.

He describes a philosophy of creating inviting public spaces that begins with making them clean, safe, and welcoming. From there, thoughtful landscaping, benches, shade, and amenities make people comfortable. Programming then brings the space to life.

Several significant improvements have made Moncus Park more accessible and inviting.

Among the newest additions is the Kergan Family Meditation Garden, located beyond the central bridge toward the quieter back portion of the park. The garden is arranged into four smaller garden spaces, each with distinctive plantings, benches, water features, and inspirational messages.

JP describes it as a place designed for reflection, where visitors can enjoy a moment of quiet in the middle of the city.

The park has also substantially expanded its parking capacity with assistance from state funding. The primary paved parking area increased from 155 to 225 spaces, and the new Paul Doerle Sr. Farmers Market Pavilion includes an additional paved parking area. With overflow parking, the park can accommodate approximately 600 vehicles during major events.

The Farmers Market Pavilion represents another important milestone. In addition to providing a home for the popular Saturday market, it creates new opportunities for weddings, family reunions, corporate crawfish boils, and other gatherings.

These rentals are especially important because they help generate the revenue necessary to sustain the park’s operations.

One of the most revealing portions of our conversation concerns a fact that many Lafayette residents may not fully appreciate: Although the City of Lafayette owns the land, Moncus Park is operated and maintained by a nonprofit conservancy.

The conservancy is responsible for the park’s construction, maintenance, security, landscaping, programming, trash collection, and day-to-day operations.

Its annual operating budget approaches $3 million.

“That is a challenge we face every year,” JP acknowledges, explaining the continuing need to educate the public about the park’s financial structure.

The organization relies on a combination of charitable contributions and earned revenue, with the goal of eventually achieving an approximately equal balance between the two.

Earned revenue comes from facility rentals, paid parking, memberships, corporate sponsorships, and other activities. Parking is currently described in the interview as $2 per hour, while memberships starting at $15 per month provide free parking and additional benefits.

Corporate sponsorships make many of the park’s free programs possible.

JP emphasizes that the park’s commitment to open access does not mean it operates without significant expense. Keeping the grounds beautiful, restrooms clean, structures maintained, and public programming available requires both professional staff and continuing financial support.

Moncus Park operates under a 100-year lease, giving the conservancy a long-term responsibility for a space intended to benefit generations of Acadiana residents.

The Lafayette Farmers and Artisans Market has become one of the park’s signature attractions and a favorite destination for residents and visitors alike.

JP jokes with his staff that the park practically owns Saturday mornings in Lafayette.

With approximately 60 to 80 vendors on a typical Saturday, visitors can browse fresh produce, prepared foods, coffee, locally produced jams and jellies, handmade crafts, and other artisan products.

The experience is made even more distinctly Acadiana by the Cajun music jam, generally beginning around 10 a.m., when musicians gather with fiddles, accordions, guitars, and other instruments.

For out-of-town guests wondering how to spend a Saturday morning in Lafayette, J.P. considers the market a natural destination. It brings together food, music, culture, and conversation in a way that celebrates the character of our community.

One of the most anticipated events of the year is Christmas in the Park, scheduled for December 18–20, 2026.

This three-day celebration brings holiday lights, live entertainment, visits with Santa, children’s activities, food trucks, a holiday market, and even snow sledding to South Louisiana.

JP explains how the park transforms one of its smaller hills into a sledding destination using enormous quantities of shaved ice delivered and produced by a specialty vendor.

Even for someone who grew up in Pittsburgh, he finds the experience convincing.

“For a guy from Pittsburgh, I’ll say it’s some legitimate. It’s a legitimate hill.”

The snow activities are made possible through sponsorship from Our Lady of Lourdes, allowing families to enjoy the experience without an admission charge.

The festivities also include sensory areas for visitors who may need a quieter environment, a children’s train, and a holiday movie night. JP explains that the movie selection is typically opened to a community vote.

The celebration reflects Moncus Park’s commitment to providing experiences that families of different backgrounds and means can enjoy together.

With much of the front portion of the park now developed, attention is gradually turning toward the remaining acreage.

JP is careful to distinguish between long-term possibilities and definite construction plans. “There are dreams,” he says when asked what might come next.

The original master plan envisioned additional improvements in the back portion of the park, but the conservancy is now beginning to revisit those ideas with landscape architects, designers, and community experts.

A central principle is that the deeper visitors travel into the park, the quieter and more natural the experience should become.

The front of the park accommodates more active uses, including the Farmers Market Pavilion, First Horizon Amphitheater, and community events. The meditation garden provides a transition toward the quieter areas beyond.

For the back 50 acres, J.P. envisions an emphasis on trails, trees, shade, and opportunities to experience nature.

Although an additional lake appeared in the original master plan, he acknowledges the significant maintenance responsibilities associated with water features and says another lake is not currently being contemplated.

The park is still developing its vision for this portion of the property, with a commitment to respecting its neighbors and preserving peaceful natural areas.

Another exciting development is the upcoming National Junior Olympics Cross Country Championships, which J.P. discusses enthusiastically.

Scheduled for December 12, 2026, the competition is expected to bring young runners and their families from across the country to Lafayette. The courses will wind through Moncus Park, with a finish that takes runners over Orlando Mountain and onto the Great Lawn. J.P., a former marathon runner who met his wife Michelle through their shared love of running, is particularly excited about the event.

The following day, the park plans to offer a community 5K utilizing the championship course, giving local runners an opportunity to experience the same route as the visiting competitors.

JP anticipates that the competition will be a significant opportunity to showcase Lafayette’s hospitality, culture, and attractions to visitors from across the country.

JP also offers an interesting perspective on how Moncus Park’s approach to programming has evolved.

Early expectations included hosting large concerts and generating substantial revenue through beverage sales. Experience, however, demonstrated that the park’s strongest appeal lies in its family-friendly atmosphere.

Outdoor movie nights have become especially popular, with families bringing blankets, pillows, and children dressed in pajamas to enjoy a movie under the stars. J.P. describes the experience as “a drive in without a car.”

Rather than attempting to replicate existing Lafayette festivals, the park has focused on experiences that complement the community’s other cultural offerings.

JP believes in trying new ideas, evaluating their success, and making adjustments. His team regularly reviews programming to determine what resonates with visitors and how to make the best use of limited resources.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking portion of our interview comes when J.P. reflects on a national parks conference he attended in Austin with his team.

A speaker from New York University discussed the concept of parks as social infrastructure, as places that strengthen human connections and help address the growing isolation many people experience. J.P. relates this idea directly to Moncus Park’s mission.

In an era increasingly dominated by smartphones, digital communication, and time spent indoors, public spaces offer something essential: opportunities to interact with other people, experience nature, and develop a sense of belonging.

“People are yearning,” he observes, returning to the theme that began our conversation.

For JP MacFadyen, investing in public parks is not simply about maintaining attractive landscapes. It is an investment in the social fabric of the community.

The conservancy’s long-term vision is to create a lasting legacy, a place where future generations can gather, celebrate, exercise, reflect, and enjoy the natural beauty of Lafayette.

Moncus Park is still relatively young, and J.P. readily acknowledges that his team continues to learn from other park conservancies around the country.

Yet what has already been accomplished is extraordinary: a former horse farm saved through grassroots advocacy has become a treasured community asset, supported by donors, businesses, volunteers, and a professional team committed to its success.

As JP reminds us, the park belongs to the community in the most meaningful sense. Its future depends on the community continuing to use it, enjoy it, and support it.

Visit moncuspark.org to learn more about the park’s history, upcoming events, membership opportunities, and ways to contribute.

George Marks, Director of International Trade and Cultural Development for Lafayette Consolidated Government, joined Discover Lafayette to discuss his vision for connecting Lafayette to the world by building upon one of our region’s greatest assets: our culture.

George stepped into his new role in April 2026, but in many ways, he has been preparing for it for the past two decades. An artist and native of Arnaudville, George is the founder of NuNu Arts and Culture Collective, the remarkable cultural gathering place that helped demonstrate how art, music, language, food and simple human connection can breathe new life into a small community.

“I will tell you that I feel NuNu’s has been preparing me for this role for the past 20 years.”

George grew up in Arnaudville and eventually attended LSU, where he initially planned to study business. An art professor saw things differently.

George recalled the professor asking what he was majoring in. When George answered “business,” the professor responded, “No, no, you need to switch.” He did.

After graduating from LSU in fine arts, George remained in Baton Rouge for approximately 15 years, building his career as an artist. He began selling his work while still in college and became associated with Anne Connelly Fine Art. He also spent three years working at LSU in programming, managing a frame shop, gallery and craft center, experience that in retrospect foreshadowed what he would later create in Arnaudville.

George describes his art as expressive, spontaneous and deeply influenced by his surroundings. Power lines, landscapes, cotton, family stories and the visual memories of rural Louisiana repeatedly find their way into his paintings.

When his father became ill, George returned home to Arnaudville. After his father died, George began recognizing just how much his hometown had shaped his artistic vocabulary.

“I realized that a lot of the symbols that were in my art were actually from Arnaudville.”

Arnaudville was very different when George returned. He remembers approximately nine empty storefronts, a stark contrast to the thriving small town of his childhood.

George knew that if he was going to remain there, something needed to change. “We knew that we wanted to create a place that people would want to come, and where we wanted to live first.”

At the time, George didn’t know the term “creative placemaking.” He simply understood that art, activity and people could bring spaces back to life.

The community began programming events and activating vacant or underused buildings. One space became Tom’s Fiddle & Bow. Another eventually became a guest house. A space that would become The Little Big Cup was temporarily activated as an art gallery, in part to show what was possible and encourage others to invest in the community.

That philosophy ultimately grew into NuNu Arts and Culture Collective.

Today, NuNu’s occupies approximately 7,500 square feet in a former hardware store and lumberyard. It includes gallery spaces, a market, café, makerspace, technology studio and work areas for artists. George says the organization benefits from an extraordinary amount of volunteer support, with approximately $550,000 in volunteer value contributed annually.

NuNu’s has become much more than an art gallery. It is a place to gather, make things, exchange ideas, celebrate Louisiana French culture and welcome people from around the world.

And now George is bringing that philosophy to Lafayette.

The Lafayette International Center was established in 1989 to connect Lafayette with international opportunities and relationships. George is building upon the trade and economic development foundation established under longtime director Philippe Gustin while greatly expanding the Center’s emphasis on culture and Lafayette’s creative economy.

George jokes that they are “NuNu-fying Lafayette.” But there is a serious economic development philosophy behind the phrase.

The International Center is being transformed into a place where people can learn, work, meet, collaborate and create. The first floor is envisioned as a public-facing convening space, something George describes almost as “everyone’s living room.”

“You can come in, grab a coffee across the street. Come and sit. Pull out your laptop, do some work within a space that displays original art, but also examples of some of the projects that we’ve worked on with some of our international partners.”

Alliance Française will become more visible within the building and expand access to its French library. A new Co-Lab space will provide desks to cultural nonprofit organizations, allowing groups to work in proximity to one another and share ideas, equipment, expertise and resources.

George calls it creating “positive tension” among organizations. “One might own a stage, another might own a PA, another one might have knowledge on how to build something. And so by pulling all these different groups into one space, we can hopefully collaborate more and utilize resources between each.”

The building’s upper floor is also being transformed into an innovation space, intentionally left somewhat raw so writers, artists, organizations and collaborators can gather, experiment and, as George puts it, “make a mess.”

One of the most compelling parts of our conversation centered on George’s belief that culture and commerce should not be viewed as separate pursuits.

LCG funds the International Center, while the International Trade and Development Group supports initiatives government funding cannot cover. George also envisions additional support specifically focused on arts and culture.

“That way we have trade and economic development and then we have arts and culture on the other side. That intersection between the two is what helps to create community.”

French remains an important foundation for Lafayette’s international relationships, but George’s vision extends well beyond the Francophone world. The Center’s growing team brings knowledge of numerous languages and cultures and plans to develop relationships with cities and regions throughout the world.

George Marks describes Lafayette as a “cultural gumbo,” shaped by generations of migration, some voluntary and some forced. Understanding those histories can help Lafayette intentionally reconnect with communities around the world.

“The cultural piece helps us to learn how to talk to one another. It teaches us how to celebrate with one another. It teaches us how to problem solve with one another.”

Those relationships can also make Lafayette more attractive to businesses and their employees. A company considering Lafayette is not simply looking at infrastructure and costs. People want to know what kind of community they and their families will be joining.

George also wants Lafayette to think differently about its artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers and other creative professionals.

Musicians have long traveled outside Louisiana to perform and earn income. George believes other creative professionals can follow that same model.

“We’re really looking at our creative industry, or our creatives, as something that is exportable.”

He pointed to internationally known Lafayette muralist Robert Dafford as an example of what is possible.

“We can be creating that pipeline of future Robert Daffords. We can create that pipeline of future musicians. We can create that pipeline of future creative placemakers.”

The Center hopes not only to identify opportunities for Lafayette creatives in other cities and countries, but also to provide the training necessary for them to take advantage of those opportunities and then bring their knowledge and experience home.

George and his team are also meeting with representatives of Lafayette’s music, film, visual arts and literary communities to identify common needs and avoid duplicating resources.

“We don’t want to duplicate services. We want to really identify what cultural and business assets already exist and then connect those.”

Public art has also moved under George’s department, opening another opportunity to connect creativity with economic and workforce development.

George says that means more than simply adding murals. His team is developing guidelines for public art and examining how sculpture, murals and other forms of creative placemaking can strengthen communities throughout Lafayette.

One particularly exciting initiative involves La Rochelle, France, and a proposed sister work to Bruce Krebs’ sculpture La Francophonie. The concept or model is expected to be introduced around Festival International, with the completed work anticipated in 2028.

George envisions the project as much more than the installation of a sculpture. By involving UL Lafayette, SLCC, potentially a local high school and area tradespeople, the project could teach participants how to work with materials such as aluminum and bronze.

Once the sculpture is complete, Lafayette will not simply have another work of public art. Ideally, it will have helped train another generation of people capable of creating large-scale public art themselves.

George did not grow up speaking French, but he certainly grew up hearing it. “I sat under the kitchen table and eavesdropped.”

His mother, who grew up in Cecilia, spoke Creole French. His father, who grew up in Arnaudville, spoke Cajun French. When the adults switched to French, young George knew they were probably discussing something the children weren’t supposed to hear.

Those memories of language, family and gathering continue to influence his artwork.

His mother has shared stories of picking cotton as a child and of the family sitting together cleaning and bundling green onions while telling stories and speaking French. George has incorporated those memories into his paintings, including a cotton series that connects places such as Grand Coteau, Arnaudville and Lafayette through lines and imagery.

“It’s those kinds of stories of connectivity and gathering that really, really inspired me.”

Perhaps the most revealing moment of our conversation came when George explained the name “NuNu.”

NuNu was his father’s nickname.

His father was a boat captain who pushed barges through international waters and could be gone for one, two or even three months at a time. When he returned home, he didn’t particularly want to go anywhere. Instead, people came to him.

George remembers his parents making pot after pot of coffee as neighbors and friends moved through the house throughout the day.

His father also cooked in much the same way George paints. He might begin the morning with a broth. Vegetables from the garden or something brought by a neighbor would go into the pot. By lunchtime, the broth had become soup. After a trip to town and more visitors bearing ingredients, the soup might become a stew by dinner.

“It was like an evolution of the pot.”

And his father brought the wider world home with him. He returned from his travels with vinyl records, eight-tracks, VHS tapes and objects from the places he had visited. George experienced the world through those objects and through his father’s stories.

“The manifestation of NuNu’s was a result of that. The idea was to create an international stage within a small local rural community. And we did that.”

Now George sees Le Centre as an opportunity to do something similar on a much larger scale. “With Le Centre, we really want to create that international stage that allows for the local community to plug in and feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves.”

When asked what he needs most right now, George’s answer was remarkably simple.

“My need right now is for people to be willing to gather and communicate more.”

In an era dominated by emails, texts, phones and computers, George believes we have lost some of the time once devoted to sitting together, talking and learning to understand one another.

His larger goal is to develop a five-year strategy for Lafayette’s international engagement, one informed not simply by business opportunities but by the people and cultures already living here.

“A lot of times we focus on purely the business piece or the economic piece. We forget that the cultural piece is something that is so important.”

That may be the best way to understand George Marks’ vision. International development does not begin solely with a trade mission or economic prospect. It can begin over a cup of coffee, through a painting, a French conversation, a musical performance, a shared meal or simply by getting people into the same room.

It is the same idea that shaped his childhood home in Arnaudville, inspired NuNu’s and now informs George Marks’ work for Lafayette.

Olivia Regard, corporate counsel for Aggreko, food writer for The Advocate, baker, arts advocate, mother and enthusiastic traveler, joins Discover Lafayette to share the many chapters of a life that has been shaped by curiosity, creativity and a willingness to say “yes” to new experiences.

Olivia grew up in New Roads, Louisiana, and spent seven years at LSU earning her undergraduate and law degrees. She laughs that one of the perks was “seven years of cheap football tickets.”

She also holds a memorable place in LSU history: Olivia was LSU Homecoming Queen alongside Homecoming King Warren Morris, shortly after Morris hit his legendary game-winning home run in the 1996 College World Series.

After law school, Olivia began her legal career in Baton Rouge with the Jones Walker law firm. She moved to Lafayette in 2005, transferring to the firm’s Lafayette office, and later practiced with Babineaux, Poché, Anthony & Slavich before moving from private practice into the corporate world.

Her early litigation practice included environmental toxic tort defense before she transitioned into employment law. She handled matters involving non-compete agreements, proprietary information, discrimination and harassment claims, among other employment disputes. As a young lawyer, she had the opportunity to work alongside an experienced Jones Walker litigator handling cases across the country.

“I learned so much from him,” Olivia says of that early mentor.

Today, Olivia serves as Associate General Counsel for Aggreko, a global company specializing in temporary power and temperature control solutions. Aggreko’s work can range from providing power for major events to supporting data center construction, hospitals, petrochemical and refining operations, manufacturing facilities and other businesses that cannot afford an interruption in power or temperature control.

Interestingly, Aggreko is headquartered in Scotland, but its North American story has strong Acadiana roots. The company expanded into North America through the acquisition of an oil and gas business in New Iberia, and its New Iberia campus remains a significant part of its operations.

Olivia provides legal support to Aggreko’s data center and petrochemical and refining sectors, as well as its North American human resources team. Her background in employment law is particularly valuable because the role of in-house counsel is often preventative rather than reactive.

She explained the difference between private practice and corporate counsel this way: when an employment dispute reached her in private practice, “the damage was already done.” She was defending, mitigating or resolving an existing problem. In-house, the goal is to educate managers and employees, maintain compliance with applicable laws and hopefully keep disputes from developing into litigation in the first place.

“I love when I don’t have to call outside counsel to help me with a problem.”

Olivia has been with Aggreko for just over three years and has found the experience enormously rewarding.

“I have had more fun and learned more in that three-year time period than probably the 20-plus years of legal experience combined.”

For many people in Acadiana, however, Olivia may be just as familiar from a completely different pursuit: her Louisiana Bakes column in The Advocate.

Olivia’s love of writing goes back to sixth grade and her English teacher, Pam Whitlock, whom Olivia credits with giving her both a love of writing and confidence in her own voice.

Her love of cooking goes back even further. “My first memories of cooking were in my grandmother’s kitchen.”

Olivia grew up in New Roads in a family where, as she jokes, “I either know them or I’m related to them.” Her grandmother was a wonderful cook, remembered particularly for her fried chicken and pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, neither recipe was preserved.

“Those are the two recipes that I wish someone would have captured before she passed.”

Food, memory and family would eventually become the ingredients of Olivia’s own writing.

Like many families, the Regards spent a great deal of time in the kitchen during the COVID shutdown. Olivia sat her children down and asked everyone to choose something they wanted to learn to cook, something they wanted to eat, and something new they wanted Olivia to learn to prepare.

COVID also brought Samson, Olivia’s sourdough starter, named for her grandmother’s maiden name.

Cooking became a way of staying connected. Olivia shared recipes on Instagram and even mailed packets of yeast to friends around the country who couldn’t find it in stores.

Friend and writer Jan Risher then organized a COVID-era version of The Great British Bake Off, livestreaming participants from their kitchens as they cooked and were interviewed by judges.

That experience helped plant the seed for what came next.

When Jan later approached Olivia about writing for The Advocate, the invitation happened to arrive during what Olivia had privately decided would be her “year of yes.”

That didn’t mean saying yes indiscriminately. As Olivia explains, sometimes saying yes to yourself requires saying no to something else. But she wanted to be open to experiences she might ordinarily decline.

She traveled. She joined a group of 17 women paddling the Salmon River in Idaho. When someone invited her to visit, she tried to say yes.

Then came Jan’s invitation to write.

“Every inch of me wanted to say no.”

Until then, Olivia’s personal writing had largely remained private, shared with a relatively small circle through her private Instagram account. Writing for a newspaper meant putting her voice, memories and recipes before a much larger audience.

“It felt safe,” she says of her earlier writing. The newspaper column felt “very public,” opening her work to comments and criticism in a way she had never experienced before.

She said yes anyway.

“It has been an absolute labor of love.”

Since 2023, Louisiana Bakes has combined recipes with stories about family, friendship, travel, Louisiana traditions and the people who have shaped Olivia’s life.

One of her earliest lessons as a newspaper food columnist came from a satsuma tree in her backyard. She wrote about a bumper crop and recipes for using the fruit, only to discover that by the time the column was published, satsuma season was essentially over.

A reader pointed that out.

Instead of being discouraged, Olivia took the criticism to heart and became more deliberate about planning her columns months ahead, anticipating seasons, holidays and travel.

That planning still leaves room for spontaneity. When Dolly Parton died, Olivia postponed a column she already had prepared and wrote a tribute connecting Parton, Steel Magnolias, food and memories of dancing to Dolly’s music in her grandmother’s kitchen.

Her stories frequently circle back to family. She has written about picking pecans in one grandmother’s yard and is planning a piece honoring her other grandmother and her Mississippi mud cake.

Olivia has assembled a trusted circle of friends and their children who serve as recipe testers.

At first, she had to train them.

Their reviews tended to stop at, “This is amazing.”

Olivia needed more. She wanted to know what worked, what didn’t, and what might need to be adjusted before a recipe was ready for publication. Now her testers know their job and aren’t afraid to critique.

Some recipes are classics that don’t need tinkering, such as the wonderfully simple “cup-a, cup-a, cup-a” cake made famous in Steel Magnolias: a cup of self-rising flour, a cup of sugar and a can of fruit cocktail.

Others become Olivia’s own after years of experimentation.

Her banana bread is one of those. She took elements she loved from different recipes and kept working until they “married” into the banana bread she wanted. One of her twists is fresh orange juice.

Another favorite is chocolate pavlova, a large, delicate meringue topped with whipped cream and berries. It has become one of the desserts friends request most often. Even her son once bypassed the traditional birthday cookie cake and requested his mother’s pavlova.

Next on Olivia’s baking challenge list: French macarons.

And if they fail? That may become a column, too.

Olivia is considering writing about her kitchen disasters, complete with photographs, including a lemon curd cake that tastes divine when everything works but can collapse into what she laughingly describes as essentially “a puddle of pudding” when the curd doesn’t set.

For Olivia, perfection isn’t really the point. Cooking itself is restorative. “It’s therapy for me.”

After a long workday or during difficult times, chopping, stirring and working with her hands brings a sense of peace. When friends come over, she would generally prefer they sit nearby with wine and cheese and keep her company rather than join her at the stove.

“Here’s some wine. Here’s some cheese. We’ll talk and I’ll cook.”

Olivia’s creative life extends well beyond her kitchen.

She traces her love of the performing arts to seeing Cats at Baton Rouge’s Centroplex as a child. She remembers being mesmerized by the production, dancing, music and singing.

After moving to Lafayette in 2005, she became involved with the Acadiana Center for the Arts, first attending events and bringing her children, then volunteering.

The connection deepened when her children attended Myrtle Place Elementary through the French immersion program. Olivia watched her daughter respond enthusiastically to arts-integrated education and began learning more about AcA’s arts education work.

“When you see something like that ignite a fire in them, it’s contagious.”

That interest led Olivia to the AcA Board of Directors, where she served for 12 years, including two years as board president. Her children practically grew up inside the organization. Her daughter even dubbed herself “assistant president” during Olivia’s tenure.

Although term limits eventually required Olivia to leave the board, she didn’t leave AcA. She remains involved through its development committee and supports major fundraising events including the Pelican Ball and Sunny Side Jazz Brunch.

The AcA’s arts education mission has long been a particularly important part of its work throughout Acadiana, reaching students through arts-integrated learning and professional teaching artists.

Olivia is also excited about AcA’s plans for the Louisiana Music Museum in the former hardware store next door to the AcA. She recently toured the space and saw renderings of the proposed facility.

“It’s going to be spectacular.”

Her service has also included time representing Acadiana with the Louisiana Division of the Arts. And when that commitment ended, Olivia naturally found another place to volunteer: Festival International de Louisiane.

She recently completed her first three-year term on Festival’s board and signed on for another three years. Festival celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2026 and continues its mission of bringing international music, art and culture into the heart of Downtown Lafayette.

When Olivia isn’t working, writing, baking or volunteering, chances are she is traveling or planning the next trip.

Travel has been part of her life since high school, when she spent three months in Japan as an exchange student between her junior and senior years. That experience instilled in her a preference for experiencing a place rather than simply visiting it.

She loves wandering through grocery stores when she travels, seeing what people eat, noticing what is familiar and what isn’t, and finding small restaurants where ordering dinner may require a little improvisation and charades.

This past summer, with both of her children working out of state, Olivia spent a month working remotely from Toronto.

Now another adventure awaits.

Her daughter is preparing for Semester at Sea, an academic program that will take her to countries around the world while she completes university coursework aboard a ship. Before her daughter embarks in Bangkok, mother and daughter plan to travel together to Japan.

For Olivia, the trip will be especially meaningful. She hopes to reconnect with the Japanese host family she lived with as a teenager and introduce them to her daughter.

It is a lovely full-circle moment for someone whose life seems to be built around connection: connecting people through law and community service, connecting generations through food and family recipes, connecting children to the arts, and connecting her own children to a much wider world.

We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Olivia Regard and celebrating a woman who has found room in a demanding professional life for creativity, family, service, friendship, travel and a very good chocolate pavlova.

You can follow Olivia’s baking adventures on Instagram at @Louisiana_Bakes and find her Louisiana Bakes columns and recipes through The Advocate.

Discover Lafayette welcomes Hunter Moody and Gene Todaro, proprietors of CuGino, their beautiful Sicilian restaurant located at 117 South College Road in Lafayette.

This episode is presented in special partnership with Eat Lafayette by Lafayette Travel, celebrating the locally owned restaurants that help define our community and our culture.

CuGino may be relatively new to Lafayette’s restaurant scene, but there are generations of restaurant experience behind it. Hunter Moody grew up in one of Lafayette’s best-known restaurant families, while Gene Todaro brought authentic Sicilian cooking to Acadiana more than four decades ago as one of the founders of Marcello’s.

Their paths are remarkably different, but their philosophies about food, hospitality and the people who work alongside them are very much the same.

For Hunter, the restaurant business was part of life from childhood.

His grandfather, B. I. Moody, was a CPA who became involved in the restaurant industry through the Trotter brothers’ Burger King franchise interest. The Moody family went on to own and operate numerous restaurants and other franchises, including Luther’s Barbecue, Chart House and Outback Steakhouse.

Hunter remembers being included in the business by his father at an unusually young age. “When I was 12 years old, he’d say, ‘Son, get in the car. We’re going talk to Outback Steakhouse in Baton Rouge.’ When I was 15, he’d say, ‘Son, come sit at the kitchen table. Let’s discuss this month’s P&Ls and financial statements.’”

Hunter says academics were highly valued in his large family, but he discovered early that his strengths were elsewhere.

“I was more of a blue-collar kind of person, believe it or not, coming from a very well-off family with a lot of privileges, a lot of opportunities. But I played sports and loved them. I was good with my hands, good with people. From a young age, I wanted to be in the restaurant business.”

At the age of 28, Hunter took over his family’s Sonny’s Barbecue operation in Baton Rouge at a difficult time. The restaurant had experienced two down years following the 2008 financial collapse, and the family was considering closing it.

Hunter saw potential in both the management team and its loyal customer base.

Within a year, he says, sales and profits returned. Over the next decade, the restaurant nearly doubled its sales.

That experience also shaped Hunter’s approach to leadership. As Sonny’s itself began adapting to a changing restaurant industry, Hunter embraced a management philosophy centered on kindness, teamwork and creating a workplace where people could thrive.

“I never minded sweating. I never minded working hard. And that’s why the business worked out well for me early on.”

Gene Todaro’s story begins thousands of miles away in Sicily.

Gene grew up in Palermo and was 14 years old when his family came to the United States in 1961. His father had actually been born in Pueblo, Colorado, before returning with his family to Sicily, which meant he was an American citizen. After World War II, with Palermo devastated by bombing, Gene’s father and his brothers began considering leaving Sicily.

A visit to the American consulate changed everything when they learned Gene’s family could obtain American passports. “We came into the country on an American passport because our father was American.”

The family initially settled in New Orleans, where relatives already lived, before Gene’s path eventually brought him to Lafayette.

Gene did not initially plan on spending his career in a restaurant. His academic background was in accounting, and he earned an MBA through Texas A&M while working for Halliburton in Dallas. He also operated a restaurant on the side.

Then his younger brother Marcello, who was attending USL in Lafayette, called. “He says, ‘Gene, there are no good Italian restaurants in Lafayette. I need you to come down here and see what you think and see if you can help me get a restaurant.’”

Gene came to Lafayette, surveyed the local restaurant scene and agreed that the city could use another Italian restaurant. He helped get the business started with every intention of returning to Dallas.

Six or eight months later, his brother called again and asked for help. Gene sold his Dallas restaurant and moved to Lafayette. The rest became part of Lafayette restaurant history.

The Todaro family’s food traditions came directly from Sicily.

Gene remembers shopping for his mother, Rosalie, and learning the ingredients that went into her cooking. He may not have been the one doing the cooking, but he learned what the finished product was supposed to taste like.

“I knew all the ingredients and what went into different dishes, and I knew what they should taste like. And if something didn’t taste quite like it, we got to start from scratch. Let’s start all over.”

That palate remains one of CuGino’s secret weapons.

Hunter says the restaurant has an exceptional culinary team, but Gene remains closely involved in tasting dishes and working with the chefs. “The trick is Gene’s taste buds,” Hunter says. “Gene especially will say it needs a little bit of this. It needs a little bit of that.”

One example is CuGino’s cacio e pepe, the deceptively simple Roman pasta made with Pecorino Romano, peppercorns and pasta water. Hunter recalls that it took roughly three months after opening to get the dish exactly where they wanted it.

“You got to be able to give them the authentic dishes,” Gene says.

Long before Hunter and Gene became partners, Hunter was a customer and admirer of Gene’s restaurants.

After Marcello’s was sold, Hunter remembers wondering why his own family had not pursued the opportunity. His uncle, Frankie Harris, apparently had similar thoughts.

“One day we’ll go get Gene,” Frankie told him.

Years later, Gene walked into 99 Bistro in River Ranch, where Hunter was managing and Gene’s stepdaughter was working as a chef.

Hunter knew exactly who had walked through the door.

He jokes that he immediately put on his best performance, mixing cocktails, running the restaurant and even heading into the kitchen to cook an entrée.

“I think that he saw somebody who cared a lot about what he was doing,” Hunter says.

Gene had not planned to return to the restaurant business after selling his restaurants. But the two began spending time together, eating lunch and talking about the industry.

Hunter realized that beyond their restaurant backgrounds, they shared something more important.

“One of the things, our philosophy and culture are the same. We treat people with kindness and respect…. People don’t work for me. They work with me.” Hunter says they refer to the people around them as team members, staff members and coworkers.

“We found that we had a lot in common,” Gene says.

And CuGino began to take shape.

Even the restaurant’s name reflects the partnership.

“Cugino” is Italian for cousin. But in Sicilian, Hunter explains, the name can also be heard as “cu Gino,” or “with Gino.” In other words, you are dining “with Gene.”

Hunter admits he wasn’t immediately sold on the name. “I didn’t like it at first, but I sure love it now.”

Once Gene explained the Sicilian play on words, Hunter was convinced. “Because you do want to dine with Gene. We have a blast every day and night.”

CuGino occupies the former Tchoup’s Steakhouse location on S. College, and Hunter says the building was in excellent condition when they took it over. Rather than fill the walls with the typical décor associated with American Italian restaurants, the partners took inspiration from the simplicity Hunter noticed while traveling in Sicily and Italy.

“I noticed that their structures are so beautiful. They’re sort of bare. There’s nothing on the walls.”

The resulting restaurant uses Venetian plaster, warm lighting and carefully chosen details rather than covering every wall.

Hunter knew they could deliver excellent food and service. When the atmosphere came together as well, the pieces were in place.

The wine program is another essential part of the CuGino experience. Gene has spent decades developing his knowledge of wine, but CuGino isn’t designed only for serious collectors or people interested in expensive bottles. Guests can browse the restaurant’s wine selection themselves and find choices across a broad range of prices.

“If you only want to spend $40, it’s fine. Go find your $40 bottle of wine,” Gene says.

Hunter puts it another way: whether the bottle costs around $30 or hundreds of dollars, “If we don’t think it’s good, it’s not going to be in our restaurant.”

As Gene says, “Some people are impressed by price and some people are impressed by taste.”

The menu brings together Sicilian and Italian traditions, Todaro family recipes and the creativity of CuGino’s culinary team.

Among the appetizers is fried mozzarella made from a quality wheel of cheese that the kitchen cuts down itself rather than purchasing pre-portioned.

“We start from the big wheel, and we cut it down till we get to the little pieces,” Gene explains. “And it’s got a different taste altogether.”

Hunter is particularly enthusiastic about the chicken piccata, with its lemon butter caper sauce and shallots.“You can cut the chicken with a fork. It’s juicy. It’s tender.”

Guests can choose chicken, veal or eggplant, and Gene is especially proud of CuGino’s veal.

“We have probably one of the best veal in town,” he says, explaining that properly preparing veal takes considerable care. Hunter calls the veal Parmesan “textbook what it should taste like.”

There are steaks, fresh fish, arancini and a crab cake made with Louisiana jumbo lump crabmeat that is baked rather than fried. But some of the most meaningful dishes are also among the simplest: spaghetti and meatballs, Bolognese and lasagna based on Todaro family recipes.

“I’m really pleased and proud to serve those dishes,” Hunter says.

Gene also explains that there isn’t one single “Italian cuisine.” Italy’s cooking developed region by region, reflecting centuries of different governments, geography and cultural influences.

Sicily is particularly distinctive because of its location in the Mediterranean and its history of outside influences, including North Africa.

“We have a little taste of everything,” Gene says. “So you got a lot of dishes that have background other than Italy itself.”

For all the attention given to food and wine, Hunter and Gene repeatedly return to people.

Gene is a mentor and coach to Hunter. Hunter oversees much of the restaurant’s day-to-day management while developing other managers and trusting them to take greater responsibility.

“We’re obsessed with the guest experience,” Hunter says.

That also allows Hunter and Gene to do something they both clearly enjoy: walk through the dining room, talk with guests and have fun.

Their approach extends to the people working alongside them. “We have some good people on board,” Gene says.

Hunter is quick to credit the chefs, managers and other team members who make CuGino work. “It all goes back to the people around us. They’re just so good at what they do. And I’m thrilled to have them.”

The friendship between Hunter and Gene extends well beyond the restaurant.

Hunter and his wife, Marley, have two sons, including a young son and a teenager. Gene has two adult sons, one in Baton Rouge and another in Philadelphia.

Hunter says Gene often reminds him when it is time to leave the restaurant and go home to his family. “Go home to your family, young man,” Gene will tell him.

Hunter says those reminders have helped him keep the important things in perspective. “Your family, your faith, your business. We stick tight with that.”

Gene responds with characteristic humor when Hunter calls it wisdom: “I don’t know if it’s wisdom or experience.” It is probably a little of both.

CuGino is ultimately the coming together of two men from different generations who share a lifetime in the restaurant business, Sicilian roots, an appreciation for excellent food and wine, and a remarkably similar philosophy about how people should be treated.

For Hunter, the opportunity to build an upscale restaurant in his hometown had been a longtime dream. For Gene, who thought he had left the restaurant business behind, CuGino offered an unexpected new chapter.

And on most days, you’ll find both of them there, tasting the food, talking with their team and visiting with guests.

As Hunter says of their partnership, “I think we’re cut from the same cloth.”

CuGino serves lunch Wednesday through Friday and Sunday, with dinner Wednesday through Saturday. The restaurant is closed to the public Monday and Tuesday, although, as Hunter was quick to point out, he and Gene are often still there working.

We thank Hunter Moody and Gene Todaro for joining us on Discover Lafayette and sharing the stories, traditions and friendship behind CuGino.

Special thanks to Eat Lafayette by Lafayette Travel for partnering with Discover Lafayette as we celebrate the locally owned restaurants and people who make Lafayette’s culinary culture so special.

Discover Lafayette welcomes Missy Rogers, founder and president of Noble Plastics, an advanced manufacturing company headquartered in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.

Noble Plastics is a remarkable Acadiana success story. What began in 2000 with one injection molding machine and Missy as the company’s sole employee has grown into a sophisticated manufacturing operation specializing in precision injection molding, engineering and robotic automation.

A mechanical engineer by training, Missy built Noble Plastics around a deceptively simple idea: solve difficult problems for customers and be willing to manufacture things others say cannot be done.

But as Missy shares in our conversation, Noble’s success has never been about one person.“It’s never been about me, and it’s never been something that can be achieved by an individual. I think the sooner you recognize that, the sooner you empower the capable people around you.”

Missy grew up on the West Bank of New Orleans and earned her mechanical engineering degree from LSU. Today, she serves in advisory capacities at both LSU and UL Lafayette, and after three decades in the Lafayette area, she considers Acadiana home.

Her grandfather, an engineer himself, had a profound influence on her life and leadership philosophy. He taught her to see herself as “a piece of the whole, not the head of the whole,” a lesson she continues to emphasize as Noble develops new managers and leaders.

Missy met her husband, Scott Rogers, while both were mechanical engineering students at LSU. She describes herself as the analytical engineer and Scott as the creative, visionary engineer. Their complementary strengths eventually helped launch Noble Plastics.

In the late 1990s, both were working in the energy sector when Scott recognized opportunities to use advanced plastics in applications traditionally dominated by steel. The automotive industry was already turning to lightweight materials to reduce weight and cost, and Missy and Scott both saw potential for the same transition in energy and defense.

Plastics could offer properties particularly useful in demanding applications: chemical neutrality, electrical insulation, lighter weight and the ability to replace certain metal components.

There was skepticism. Missy remembers being told some of their ideas simply couldn’t be done. But that became part of Noble’s niche.

“Sometimes it takes a visionary who doesn’t see the limits, like my husband. And then a person like myself who will say, ‘Yeah, I believe in you. I’ll support this. Let’s find a way.’”

Noble Plastics’ first home was the rear of a rented building in an industrial park off Ambassador Caffery. Missy had a detailed five-year business plan, but life quickly reminded this self-described planner that not everything fits neatly into a spreadsheet.

She and Scott already had two young children when Missy unexpectedly became pregnant with their third.

Her attorney and accountant jokingly pointed out that there was nothing on page 17 of her carefully constructed business plan about having a baby in the third quarter.

Her son spent much of his first year in a Pack ‘n Play in her office. Missy recalls holding him while a client signed a contract, handing the baby to the client, and then signing the agreement herself.

That experience helped define the kind of people Noble wanted to work with: clients who valued relationships, local jobs and a company that understood their industries.

Noble is not making disposable cups, water-bottle caps or other commodity plastic products. The company occupies a highly specialized precision manufacturing space.

In injection molding, solid plastic pellets are heated under pressure until the material flows, injected into a precision mold and then cooled back into a solid form. Depending upon the material, temperatures can reach the 500-, 600- or even 700-degree range.

And these are not necessarily ordinary plastics. Noble works with specialty materials containing glass fiber, carbon fiber, nanotubes and other components engineered for strength, durability, heat management and insulating properties.

Missy offers a wonderfully understandable description of the highly sophisticated equipment Noble Plastics operates: “They are like giant hot glue guns.”

The difference is what comes out of those “hot glue guns.” Noble Plastics manufactures precision components used in energy, defense, solar, sporting goods and other industries, often creating parts the average consumer will never see.

“What we make really matters in the programs that they go into,” Missy says. “And there’s a sense of pride for that.”

Perhaps no story better illustrates the breadth of Noble’s work than one Missy recalls from about 15 years ago. On the same day, Noble’s smallest machine was producing super-glue extender caps used to attach fake fingernails, while its largest machine was manufacturing components for a TOW missile launcher.

“That’s about as wide a spectrum of markets and clients” as you can imagine.

Missy also offers a fascinating perspective on an economic opportunity Louisiana has historically left on the table.

When Noble was founded, she recalls Louisiana ranking at or near the top nationally in the manufacture of plastic materials because of the state’s enormous petrochemical industry. Louisiana plants produced polyethylene, polypropylene and other materials derived from petroleum and natural gas.

Yet much of that material left Louisiana before being converted into finished products.

Missy believes manufacturing provides an opportunity to close more of that supply chain loop within Louisiana, particularly as companies increasingly focus on reshoring and domestic production.

“I think it’s going to be a beautiful age for Louisiana economic development to recover our manufacturing base.”

Noble is now entering another significant chapter.

The company announced an $8.5 million expansion of its Grand Coteau headquarters to increase production capacity, including work for solar technology manufacturer First Solar.

Noble will manufacture plastic housings that protect electrical components carrying energy from photovoltaic panels into electrical systems.

At the time of our interview, Noble employed people numbering in the mid-to-high 60s, with Missy expecting that number to move into the mid-to-high 70s by the end of the year. She believes the company could surpass 100 employees next year.

For a founder who once was the only employee, she admits that “100” is a slightly intimidating number.

Those jobs aren’t limited to engineers. Noble employs setup technicians, quality technicians, maintenance personnel, production workers, warehouse employees, shipping and receiving staff, along with professionals in sales, accounting and other support roles.

Missy is particularly proud of the opportunity Noble provides people who may never have imagined themselves working in advanced manufacturing.

“We’re finding people who with very basic education are discovering they have some natural gifts, and we do what we can to further their education, certifications, to increase their earning power for themselves and their families.”

Noble’s arrival in Grand Coteau came through an unexpected turn of events following Hurricane Katrina.

The company had ordered a large molding machine that would not fit into its existing Lafayette facility. Missy had signed a performance contract and needed a larger building quickly. Noble made a full-price offer on a Lafayette property that would accommodate the new equipment.

Then Katrina struck.

Rather than receiving an acceptance, Missy says the real estate agreement was torn up and the property was relisted for five times its previous asking price.

With a machine on the way and a contract to fulfill, she began searching desperately for another option. While regularly driving the I-49 corridor to visit her in-laws, she noticed a building along the frontage road in Grand Coteau.

It wasn’t for sale. Missy approached the owner anyway, explaining who Noble Plastics was and the type of company she hoped to build: clean, safe manufacturing that could have a positive impact on a small community.

The owner shared that vision, and they made a deal. Noble Plastics has been part of the Grand Coteau community ever since.

Missy speaks passionately about workforce development and giving people an opportunity to discover talents they may not know they possess.

Noble Plastics has a significant number of women in leadership, including in human resources, operations, quality control and production. Missy says the company doesn’t approach manufacturing jobs through assumptions about gender, formal education or previous experience.

The trait that matters most is care. “If we get a person who is conscientious about their work, we’re going to find a way for them.”

Because Noble Plastics serves customers whose products often have important safety and performance requirements, employees must be meticulous, thorough and proud of the quality of their work.

“There’s opportunity for everybody,” Missy says.

Robotics has been embedded in Noble’s manufacturing philosophy almost from the beginning.

The company’s robots remove parts from molding machines, inspect them and perform repetitive processes with extraordinary consistency. Noble has self-integrated FANUC robotics for more than two decades and has also designed automation systems for other manufacturers for roughly 15 years.

Missy challenges the familiar fear that automation simply eliminates human jobs.

In manufacturing, she explains, robots are particularly useful for jobs described as “dirty, dumb or dangerous.”

“Human dignity is beyond that. And so it’s less about our robots taking our jobs away than it is, well, let’s have people do the things that matter. And let’s have robots pick and clip and twist and place.”

For Noble, automation allows people to focus more heavily on judgment, quality and attention to detail while machines handle repetitive physical tasks.

Missy remains an enthusiastic advocate for engineering as a career, particularly for young people wondering how artificial intelligence might reshape their futures.

She doesn’t believe engineering will be replaced by AI. The software, simulations and analytical tools engineers use will undoubtedly become faster and more powerful. Noble itself relies on sophisticated software and simulations. But Missy still keeps graph paper and a pencil nearby.

“I’m pretty old school,” she laughs. “My gray hair has been earned.”

Ultimately, she believes human judgment and accountability remain essential in fields where public safety is involved.

Missy’s perspective on manufacturing, workforce development and the economy has also led to an extraordinary leadership role beyond Noble Plastics. She chairs the board of directors of the New Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

She readily admits she loves the work. A self-described “numbers nerd,” Missy says her involvement grew from opportunities to share what she was seeing in manufacturing, automation, capital investment and broader industry trends.

Her Federal Reserve service has reinforced something she already believed deeply: economic development ultimately comes down to people and opportunity.

Acadiana, she says, possesses a cultural willingness to say, “We can do this” and “I will try it.” And that matters when Louisiana competes for investment. “You can’t wait for somebody to pick you and just sprinkle money into your community. You’ve got to want those companies to come in, because they’ve got to believe that you’re going to help them become successful.”

Missy believes Acadiana has precisely that kind of workforce. “Give us a shot.”

One theme runs throughout our conversation with Missy: business doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game.

She contrasts the “I have to win, so you have to lose” mentality she has sometimes encountered elsewhere with the collaborative approach she sees in Acadiana.

“The best outcome is win, win, win. My company can win. My client’s company can win. And the ultimate user of the product wins. Let’s do this together.”

That philosophy extends beyond Noble itself. A growing manufacturer needs trucking companies, boxes, uniforms, accounting, banking, technology services and countless other businesses. One company’s growth creates opportunities throughout the community.

Missy Rogers wants young people to see a future for themselves here. “There’s a lot of good companies. There’s a lot of good opportunity. I want our students to stay here and find it here.”

“Young people need to know and believe that they can trust in themselves and they can trust in the community. We want you to succeed. We want you to take your idea and manifest it into something that’s going to have impact beyond your own vision.”

For inventors, Missy offers a practical lesson in how products move from an idea to mass production.

Today’s affordable 3D printers have made it possible for almost anyone to experiment, prototype and create. She loves that accessibility because it encourages people to become makers again.

But there comes a point when a successful invention outgrows the 3D printer. If you need five or twelve pieces, 3D printing may make perfect sense.

If suddenly Walmart, Target or Amazon wants 10,000 of them, Missy says that’s when Noble’s phone should ring.

Injection molding is a volume business because the precision steel molds themselves can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once that investment is made, however, individual parts can be manufactured efficiently at tremendous scale. Noble has products for which it manufactures approximately a quarter-million units per week.

She reads. A lot.

Missy also loves to cook and has one particularly impressive creative pursuit: she makes and hand-paints chocolates. Think dark chocolate cherry bourbon truffles and brandy truffles, decorated by hand.

And yes, the founder of Noble Plastics appreciates the irony. “I do have some excellent mold-making capabilities.”

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of our conversation with Missy Rogers is not injection molding, robotics or even the extraordinary growth of Noble Plastics.

It is her belief in people.

Her story is one of engineering and entrepreneurship, but also of family, mentors, employees, customers and a community willing to help one another succeed. Twenty-six years after that first machine arrived, she still talks less about what she has accomplished than about what becomes possible when talented people are given an opportunity.

For more information, visit https://nobleplastics.com/.

Dr. Charles Boustany, retired cardiovascular surgeon and former six-term member of Congress representing South Louisiana from 2005 to 2017, joins Discover Lafayette to recount an extraordinary and deeply personal journey to Ukraine, where he traveled with his longtime friend and former Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis to witness firsthand the human toll of Russia’s war upon Ukraine.

The two former congressmen made the trip at their own expense. They went not as elected officials or representatives of the United States government, but as concerned Americans determined to listen, learn and better understand a conflict that Charles believes has profound implications far beyond Ukraine.

Their journey culminated in a terrifying night in Kyiv on May 23, 2026, when Charles found himself sheltering in the basement of his hotel with Ukrainian families as missiles and drones pounded the capital for hours.

It was an experience that changed him.

Charles and Geoff Davis became close friends while serving together in Congress. Their backgrounds were very different. Charles came to public service after a career as a cardiovascular surgeon. Geoff is a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Ukraine became particularly personal for Geoff after a West Point classmate, a retired U.S. Army colonel of Ukrainian ancestry, went to Ukraine and volunteered to fight after Russia’s invasion. Although the Ukrainians wanted to commission him as a senior officer because of his experience, he chose to enter the fight as a private. He was killed in combat.

Charles had his own longstanding concerns about Russian aggression. While serving in Congress, he watched Russia’s actions in Georgia and the 2014 seizure of Crimea and territory in eastern Ukraine. He had traveled to Georgia as a member of Congress and visited within roughly 30 miles of the front line, seeing the consequences of Russian military action there.

Over time, Charles and Geoff became increasingly concerned that Americans were losing sight of what was happening in Ukraine.

“We felt like you have to go see what’s going on to really understand what’s going on in the world,” Charles says. “And if you’re a policymaker, it’s really important to do that.”

They decided to go themselves.

Their objective was first to gather information: to speak not only with government and military officials, but with ordinary Ukrainians living through the war. Their second goal was to return home and share what they had witnessed.

Rather than entering through Poland, as many American visitors do, Charles traveled from Louisiana through Atlanta, Amsterdam and Bucharest, Romania. From there, he took a commuter flight toward the Romanian-Ukrainian border, where a humanitarian contact arranged for a van to take the group into Ukraine.

The drive to Kyiv took approximately ten and a half hours.

That route gave Charles an unexpected view of the country.

They traveled through the agricultural heartland of southwestern Ukraine, passing farms and countryside that in some ways reminded Charles of home. The landscape was beautiful and peaceful, until reminders of war suddenly appeared: a bombed truck, a destroyed barn or a damaged home.

Even those rural areas bore the scars of the conflict.

What struck Charles throughout the trip was how familiar much of Ukraine felt. Gas stations offered snacks much like those in America. Stores and restaurants were open. People went about their lives. He laughed as he recalled that the restrooms they encountered along the journey were among “the cleanest bathrooms I’ve seen anywhere.”

“The people are so nice,” he says.

That sense of normalcy made the destruction they encountered even more jarring.

Charles and Geoff deliberately sought out Ukrainians who could tell them what they had experienced.

Some of the stories were almost unbearable.

Charles met people who had survived Russian occupation and heard accounts of civilians tortured and killed. He spoke of a woman with a Ph.D. in sociology whose husband serves in the Ukrainian military. During Russia’s initial advance toward Kyiv, she hid with her children for two weeks, surviving on whatever water and food she could find until Ukrainian forces reached them.

They visited an Orthodox seminary that had been damaged during the early days of the war. The priest who led the seminary described atrocities so horrific, Charles says, that the experience had nearly shaken his Christian faith.

“It brought tears to my eyes to hear these things,” Charles recalls.

He also met the mother of a young Ukrainian who had been killed during the early days of the war while serving with the Azov forces defending Mariupol.

For Charles, these encounters stripped away the distance created by maps, political arguments and television coverage.

“These human stories are powerful,” he says. “These are people just like us.”

Air raid sirens are part of everyday life. They happen at night, designed to keep Ukrainians from getting adequate rest. People seek shelter. When the all-clear sounds, they emerge and return to work, school and family life.

Charles saw in Ukrainians what he described as a unmistakable look of determination.

“It’s the look of a people that have been striving for their independence for years, and they’ve had a taste of it, and they’re not about to let it go.”

A student of history, Charles found himself thinking about Londoners enduring the Blitz during World War II and about America’s own struggle for independence against the British Empire.

He sees that same resolve in Ukraine.

Charles’s medical background also shaped what he saw.

In Kyiv, he spent considerable time with an American surgeon whose wife is Ukrainian and who has devoted himself to helping both civilians and the Ukrainian military. The surgeon has worked to bring modern trauma techniques and donated hospital equipment into the country and has traveled repeatedly toward the front to assist with casualties.

Charles learned about devastating injuries created by modern drone and explosive warfare, including severe head trauma and wounds unlike those traditionally associated with gunfire.

He also saw a country rapidly reinventing warfare.

Ukraine has developed a sophisticated domestic drone industry. Drones are being used for surveillance and attack, but also for logistics, moving supplies and even evacuating wounded soldiers. Unmanned maritime systems have changed naval warfare as well.

“This is 21st century war,” Charles says. “It’s innovative. It’s completely different.”

He says American and European military personnel are studying Ukraine closely because the battlefield is teaching lessons that will shape warfare for decades.

Nothing, however, prepared Charles for his final night in the Ukrainian capital.

Earlier that day, Charles and Geoff had received an approximately two-hour intelligence briefing about Russian tactics, Ukrainian strategy and how the conflict might unfold.

“I wish every member of Congress could get the briefing,” Charles says.

As they left, Geoff received a call from a senior Ukrainian special forces officer who wanted to meet with them that evening. They met at a hotel at 9 p.m.

Before beginning the discussion, the officer issued a warning.

“Gentlemen, before we get started on what I want to talk about, I just want to warn you that tonight it’s going to be a very bad night in Kyiv.” A massive missile and drone attack was expected. They were told to take precautions and find somewhere safe.

Back at their small hotel near Kyiv’s central square, Charles and Geoff inspected the basement. Geoff’s military instincts told him it might not be particularly safe. Exposed pipes, electrical lines and other hazards could leave anyone sheltering there trapped if the building took a direct hit.

Charles returned to his room. Knowing he was supposed to leave Ukraine the next day, he packed his belongings and placed his passport, wallet and room key together so that he could grab them quickly. Then he got into bed. He couldn’t sleep. At approximately 12:50 a.m., the explosions began.

At first Charles remained in his room listening. The blasts grew progressively closer. After about an hour, there was a short lull.

Then the attack intensified. “The building was shaking,” Charles recalls. He could hear breaking glass and explosions nearby. He finally went downstairs. The hotel manager grabbed him by the arm and directed him toward the basement.

There, Charles encountered a scene he will never forget.

Ukrainian families were sheltering below the hotel. Most spoke no English.

One family particularly stayed with Charles: a grandmother, two young parents and their seven-year-old son. The little boy was frightened. His father tried to distract him by showing him soccer videos while his mother comforted him.

Charles could not speak to them. But they knew he was American. “They kept looking at me,” he remembers. “I wish I could have communicated with them.”

So Charles did the one thing he could. He put his hand over his heart. “I have to hope it gave them some confidence that an American cared enough to be there with them during that hellacious night.”

The bombardment continued from approximately 1 a.m. until 7:30 that morning.

When daylight finally came, Charles looked outside and saw smoke and fires across Kyiv. A large hotel only a few blocks away had been badly damaged. 

He was relieved simply to be alive.

Charles returned from Ukraine convinced that the conflict cannot be viewed simply as a distant European war.

His policy views are clear and strongly expressed in our conversation. He believes Ukraine urgently needs greater missile defense capabilities, continued intelligence sharing and the ability to put greater pressure on Russian forces. In his assessment, those elements could improve Ukraine’s position sufficiently to eventually negotiate from a position of strength.

He also sees broader consequences for Europe and the United States. Ukraine’s importance as a major agricultural producer means disruptions there reverberate through global food and commodity markets. Charles connects the conflict to pressures experienced by American farmers through energy, fertilizer and equipment costs.

“Everything’s interdependent and connected,” he says. “We’re feeling those pressures here.”

But his deepest concern is security. Charles believes Americans should remember the lessons learned at tremendous cost during the first half of the 20th century: instability in Europe does not necessarily remain in Europe.

“This is not just some remote conflict,” he says. “It’s basically at the center of European security.”

Now pursuing a Ph.D. in modern European history at LSU, Charles places today’s conflict within Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle for independence. All photos shown below were taken by Charles during his trip to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s history, he explains, stretches back more than a thousand years. Its people and territory have existed at the crossroads of powerful empires, including Poland, the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Russia.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine emerged as a sovereign country.

For Charles, understanding that history is essential to understanding the determination he witnessed on the streets of Kyiv. Ukrainians are not simply defending territory, he argues. They are defending their language, culture, identity and the right to determine their own future.

When Dr. Boustany was asked how he felt after returning home, his answer brought the conversation back to Louisiana.

“I love our country,” he says. “I’m thankful every day for what we have.”

Seeing Ukrainians fighting for freedoms Americans often take for granted reinforced his gratitude for ordinary life here: living peacefully, raising families, going to work, attending church, watching LSU, UL-Lafayette or high school football, and simply going about our lives without wondering whether missiles will arrive during the night.

“We live in peace and prosperity here because people are willing to fight for that freedom,” Charles says.

That realization became even more personal during the long night in Kyiv.

“I am so glad I went. I’m glad I survived,” he says. “I was worried that I might not. I spent a few hours thinking I might not survive, and started thinking about how thankful I was for the good life that I had.”

There was one person back in Louisiana whom Charles deliberately did not contact while the missiles were falling: his wife, Bridget. He knew she would be terrified if she learned what was happening while he remained trapped in Kyiv without reliable communication. So Charles waited.

Once their van was safely on the road out of the capital the next morning, he watched the time until he knew it was about 6:30 a.m. in Louisiana. Only then did he text Bridget, explain what had happened, assure her he was safe and tell her he was on his way out of Ukraine.

When he finally returned home, Bridget had a succinct response: “No more trips to Ukraine.”

After hearing his story, it is easy to understand why.

Yet it is equally easy to understand why Charles Boustany and Geoff Davis felt compelled to go.

Their journey was born of friendship, history, service and a conviction that understanding the world sometimes requires getting close enough to see the people behind the headlines.

Alyson Habetz, head coach of Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball, joins Discover Lafayette to share the remarkable journey that brought her from the baseball fields of Crowley to collegiate and professional competition, a 25-year coaching career at the University of Alabama, and ultimately back home to lead the program where her softball story began.

We were honored to have legendary coach Yvette Girouard join us for this conversation. Girouard founded the Ragin’ Cajuns softball program and coached Alyson during her years as a student-athlete at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Their affection for one another, their competitive spirit, and their deep love for Louisiana softball shone throughout the interview.

Alyson grew up in Crowley as the youngest of eight children. With four older brothers who played baseball and a father who coached the sport, the ballpark felt like home from her earliest years.

“It was the sport in the house. I just fell in love with it at a very early age.”

She began playing T-ball at age seven as the only girl on an otherwise all-boys team. Because she had grown up playing alongside the same boys, Alyson recalls that her teammates accepted her based on the things that mattered to them: “Can she hit? Can she throw? All right, let’s go.”

At age ten, Alyson met Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda at Blackham Coliseum. She asked him to autograph her glove, and despite members of the media pressing him to move along, Lasorda stayed, signed the glove, spoke with her, and gave her his business card. Alyson wrote to him, and he answered every letter. The two became lifelong friends, with Lasorda signing his letters, “Love, your adopted uncle Tom Lasorda.”

He also saw something in Alyson that she did not yet see in herself. “He told me a long time ago I was going to be a coach,” she recalls. “I’m like, no, I’m going to law school. I’ll be an attorney.”

When Alyson entered Notre Dame High School in Crowley, the school did not have a softball team. She expected to continue playing baseball with the boys she had competed alongside for years, but she was told Louisiana rules did not permit girls to play on boys’ teams.

Her coach and principal sought an exception, but the request was denied. On the ride home from Baton Rouge, Alyson’s father told her the family would support her if she wanted to challenge the rule in court. She agreed, beginning a legal battle that lasted roughly two years.

The original ruling went against her, but her attorneys appealed. Alyson was sitting in class near the end of her sophomore year when her coach received the news: “Aly, by the way, they changed the rule. You can play.”

Alyson went on to play baseball during her junior and senior years, becoming the first female in Louisiana to play high school baseball and earning all-district honors as a pitcher and first baseman. She was also an all-state basketball player and the salutatorian of Notre Dame’s 1990 graduating class.

Alyson came to USL on a basketball scholarship and eventually became a member of the 1,000-point club. One day, while walking across campus, she noticed what looked to her like “this miniature baseball field” and learned that walk-on tryouts were being held for fast-pitch softball.

With her basketball coach’s permission, she showed up and met head coach Yvette Girouard and assistant coach Patrick Murphy. Alyson told them she played first base, then positioned herself behind the bag as she would have in baseball. Girouard quickly corrected her: “This isn’t baseball, girl. You’ve got to play way up here for the slappers.”

The larger ball, underhand delivery, different release point, and defensive positioning required an adjustment. Still, Girouard immediately recognized Alyson’s ability. “She was a natural,” Girouard says. “We knew she was making the team.”

Alyson competed in both basketball and softball, at times traveling extraordinary distances to meet the obligations of both teams. She also excelled academically, earning Academic All-America recognition while majoring in communications.

Her softball career included third-team All-America honors and a place on the 1993 team that made the program’s first appearance in the Women’s College World Series. Alyson vividly remembers walking onto the field in Oklahoma City and seeing a sea of Ragin’ Cajuns fans.

“There are no fans like the Ragin’ Cajun fans.”

As other teams were eliminated, many of their supporters became Cajun fans, drawn to the warmth of the Louisiana contingent, the food shared in the parking lot, and the Mardi Gras beads handed out by supporters. Girouard remembers that first World Series appearance just as clearly: “Till the day I die, even if I have Alzheimer’s, I think I will remember that.”

For Alyson, reaching the World Series also meant helping Girouard realize the dream she had built from the ground up.

“You just wanted it for her because she was a Louisiana girl. She’s a Cajun and she built the program.”

After college, Alyson returned to baseball. She pitched for the Colorado Silver Bullets, an all-women’s professional baseball team managed by Hall of Famer Phil Niekro. Alyson spent three years with the Silver Bullets, barnstorming across the country and playing in major league parks, before joining the Long Beach Aces as a pitcher and first baseman, for which Tommy Lasorda helped open the door for her tryout.

When Patrick Murphy became head coach at the University of Alabama, he called Alyson and asked her to help build the young softball program. She planned to stay only a couple of years before returning home for law school. Instead, she remained for 25 years.

“I never thought coaching would fill me so much. They’re away from home for the first time, you’re just a part of their journey. And I love the game. Having an impact on college athletes, it was special.”

Alabama had no softball stadium when Alyson arrived. The team played at a city park, set up portable outfield fences, and even sprayed ant piles before games. Alyson and Murphy helped build the program into a national power. Their Alabama teams won six SEC regular-season titles, five SEC Tournament championships, advanced to 14 Women’s College World Series, and captured the 2012 national championship, the first in SEC history.

Alyson stepped away from coaching after the 2023 season following her father’s death. Her parents had been married for 65 years, and she felt called to return home and care for her mother. Although leaving Alabama was difficult, she found purpose in spending that time with her mom.

When the Louisiana head coaching position opened in 2024 with the departure of Coach Gerry Glasco, her phone starting ringing. Alyson’s answer was repeatedl ‘no.’ She had retired for a reason, and she had never aspired to become a head coach. While driving across the Atchafalaya Basin one day, however, she began to wonder whether the job might actually be good for her mother, giving her games to attend and something joyful to anticipate.

Still anxious about the decision, Alyson drove directly to the Adoration Chapel at St. Michael’s in Crowley to pray. She ultimately felt that God was making the answer unmistakable.

“I realized that faith is whenever you go out into the deep, into the scary stuff that you don’t really think you can do, that you really trust Him.”

Once she accepted, the anxiety gave way to peace. Louisiana officially named Alyson the fifth head coach in program history on June 25, 2024. Her return also created a beautiful gift for her family. The University opened a viewing panel in a suite at Lamson Park so Alyson’s mother could sit in her recliner and watch her daughter coach.

Alyson is fiercely competitive and deeply aware of the standard established by Coach Girouard and sustained by generations of Cajun players and fans. Yet she does not want winning to come at the expense of the people entrusted to her.

“I didn’t want being a head coach to change me.”

Her players are her “why.” She wants each young woman to leave the program as a better version of herself, whether she becomes an All-American or serves the team in other ways.

With only nine athletes on the field, every team has more players waiting than playing. Alyson calls the willingness of those role players to put the team first a “death to self.” Their energy, observation, encouragement, and ability to help from the dugout can determine whether a team wins.

“I will love and value and appreciate you, whether you’re the pinch runner or you’re the four-time All-American. It’s equal value, equal love.”

She begins with each player’s fingerprint, a reminder that no one else who has ever lived has precisely the same one. If God is that intentional about a fingerprint, Alyson tells them, He is equally intentional about their gifts, talents, and opportunities.

“If you’re not here, guess what? The world misses out on a purpose and a greatness that only you can have.”

That belief also helps young women resist the destructive comparison encouraged by social media. “Compare leads to despair,” Alyson says. When players become secure in their own gifts, they can experience genuine joy in a teammate’s success. “That’s when the magic happens.”

Character is also central to recruiting. “If I make a mistake on a kid, I always want it to be on talent and not character,” Alyson says. She looks for versatile athletes, strong pitching, speed that can create chaos for a defense, and powerful hitters, but never apart from the character required to strengthen the entire team.

In one of the interview’s most personal moments, Alyson speaks candidly about her breast cancer diagnosis. She noticed something did not feel right during the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in May and promptly arranged a mammogram. An ultrasound and biopsy confirmed cancer.

Even as she met with physicians and began treatment, Alyson remained focused on caring for her mother, protecting her players, and managing the critical transfer portal recruiting period. She initially told only a small circle of family members and colleagues because she did not want her mother, whom she describes as a worrier, to carry that fear.

Alyson shares that her prognosis is good and that she has benefited from major advances in treatment. At the time of this interview, she had completed four of six planned chemotherapy treatments, with surgery and possible radiation to follow. She expressed profound gratitude for the patients and researchers whose journeys helped make today’s treatments possible, as well as for the support of her physicians, family, friends, staff, and her dedicated “cold cap pit crew.”

“There was no part of me that feels like I’m not getting through this and that anything’s going to change.”

Her faith remains the foundation beneath that confidence. Alyson finds peace in prayer, adoration, and daily Mass whenever possible. As she tells her players, “You don’t want me without Jesus, I promise you.”

Alyson’s life has rarely followed the script she once imagined. She planned to play for the Dodgers and later attend law school. Instead, she helped change the rules for girls in Louisiana sports, became a two-sport college athlete, played professional baseball, helped build an SEC softball dynasty, and returned to Acadiana to lead a program that helped shape her.

“None of my life has been my plan. But again, I could not have written the script any more beautifully and any more fulfilling.”

We thank Coach Alyson Habetz for sharing her inspiring story with such openness, faith, and humor, and Coach Yvette Girouard for adding her priceless memories and perspective to this conversation. We wish Alyson continued healing and every success as she leads Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball into its next chapter.

Learn more about Louisiana Softball, its coaches, schedule, tickets, and program news at RaginCajuns.com.

Discover Lafayette is recorded at Rader Solutions Studios. Special thanks to our producer, Jason Sikora.

For nearly 25 years, Leonard Louviere has been one of the most familiar faces in Lafayette’s restaurant community, serving as general manager and an investor in Zea Rotisserie & Bar. But Leonard’s story in hospitality began long before Zea opened its doors in Lafayette.

In this episode of Discover Lafayette, Leonard joins Jan Swift to share his journey from working in restaurants, bars and hotels while attending USL, to spending 15 years overseeing food and beverage operations at the Cajundome, and ultimately taking a leap of faith that would shape the next chapter of his life.

This is a special edition of Discover Lafayette in partnership with Lafayette Travel and Eat Lafayette. We thank them for their support!

“I ended up loving working in restaurants,” Leonard recalled of his college years. “The people I worked with, we worked hard. We were paying our way through everything, including school, and it was always in me to do that.”

After graduating from USL, Leonard briefly went into construction, building a few spec houses, but he knew food and beverage was where he belonged. The newly built Cajundome offered that opportunity.

Leonard initially applied for an assistant food and beverage position and was invited to work one night as something of an audition. Several people were being considered. By the end of the week, management told him, “Nobody worked like you. We want you to come and do this.”

That one-night opportunity turned into a 15-year career at the Cajundome, where Leonard eventually became food and beverage director.

His next chapter began at a restaurant industry show in Chicago, where Bryan McLain, owner of Louisiana Market, introduced Leonard to the men behind the Taste Buds: Gary Darling, Greg Reggio and Hans Limburg. The longtime friends and business partners had created Semolina and were developing a newer concept, Zea.

McLain had a Lafayette building. The Taste Buds had the restaurant concept. Leonard had deep roots in Lafayette, restaurant experience, and the desire to invest and work. Within about a week, they decided to make it happen.

Leonard didn’t just take a management position. He invested his life savings in the Lafayette restaurant.

“I was scared,” he admits. But nearly 25 years later, that leap of faith has more than paid off.

So how does Leonard describe Zea’s food?

It isn’t easily placed into one category. The menu reflects influences from around the world, but Leonard says there are Southern flavors and seasonings woven throughout, whether it’s the Thai ribs, Asian almond shrimp or corn grits.

And four dishes stand above the rest. “The magic. It’s Thai ribs, corn grits, Asian almond shrimp, spinach salad.” “We can’t make recipes that incredible again,” Leonard says. “We’ll never lose those four.”

Consistency is critical to Zea’s success. Recipes are followed precisely, from the ingredients and proportions in the spinach salad to the preparation of every entrée. Kitchen employees are trained to meet exact specifications because a guest should receive the same dish each time they visit.

Interestingly, Leonard readily admits that he doesn’t cook.

What he does know how to do is hire people who are better than he is at what they do.

He points to longtime kitchen manager Heath Lemoine, who has been with him for 24 years, and a management team whose members have worked together for more than two decades.

“I hire people better than me,” Leonard says. “It is the reason I have succeeded.”

Long-term employees can be unusual in the restaurant industry, but at Zea Lafayette, Leonard’s management team has remained remarkably stable.

“We truly do love each other, without a doubt,” he says.

That doesn’t mean a busy restaurant isn’t intense. It is. But Leonard draws a clear distinction between the urgency surrounding food and service and the way employees treat one another. Respect remains paramount.

When hiring, Leonard says character and personality often matter more than experience. “You have to be a nice person. You have to want to deal with the public.”

Employees need a sense of urgency, an understanding of teamwork, and a genuine desire to serve others. When something goes wrong with a guest, Leonard doesn’t want employees explaining or making excuses. He wants them asking a simple question: “How can I fix this?”

Leonard believes everyone would benefit from working as a restaurant server for six months. Why? Because serving teaches you how demanding it can be to work with the public, how to put someone else’s needs first, and what hospitality really means.

“I’m a servant. I invested my life savings, I’ve done well, but that’s all I am. I serve people. That’s it.”

For nearly a decade, Leonard pushed his partners to make a major investment in the Lafayette Zea.

He wanted a larger, more functional bar and a restaurant that felt fresh, comfortable and exciting. Eventually, his partners agreed, and architect Kirby Pécot helped create the dramatic renovation and expansion that guests see today.

The bar was moved to the front and greatly expanded, additional seating and private dining areas were created, and acoustic panels were installed to reduce noise and make conversation easier.

Leonard says the multimillion-dollar investment has delivered exactly what he believed it would: sales have increased by approximately 25 percent since the expansion. The Lafayette restaurant now employs about 150 people, up from approximately 95 before the expansion, and receives roughly 70 employment applications each week.

The expansion also gives Zea more flexibility for gatherings and private events. Leonard says the restaurant has spaces capable of accommodating everything from small groups of 12 to larger events of 50 or 60 people.

What is the most difficult part of running a restaurant today? Leonard didn’t say finding employees. He said, “Helping employees develop self-esteem.” His goal is to help people become proud of their work, recognize their own value and learn to do the right thing even when no one is watching.

“Our one and only job is to create self-esteem for our employees.”

Leonard uses a simple example in employee orientation. If he walks through the parking lot at midnight and sees trash, he picks it up because it will still be there tomorrow if he doesn’t. “Do the right thing even when no one is looking,” he tells his team.

He encourages employees to learn additional positions, work harder and become more valuable so they can advance to shift leader, part-time manager and beyond.

It is a philosophy that turns the conventional restaurant-industry complaint about finding good employees on its head. Leonard is focused on creating good employees by giving them an environment in which they can grow.

Leonard’s commitment to serving others doesn’t end when he leaves Zea.

For approximately 24 years, he has supported Hospice of Acadiana, including hosting a Good Friday crawfish boil at his home that most recently drew about 225 people and raised approximately $8,000 for Hospice.

He also volunteers each Tuesday in Hospice of Acadiana’s Food with Love kitchen, working alongside Kent Zeringue and other volunteers to prepare approximately 750 meals for hospice patients. Delivery volunteers then bring those meals directly to patients.

“I like to gather people together and do things,” Leonard says.

That is true in his personal life as well. He loves entertaining at his home, eating out at local restaurants, listening to live music, dancing and especially zydeco.

“I love a good zydeco band and I love a place to go and dance, without a doubt.”

His love for gathering people together may be the thread connecting everything Leonard Louviere does, from his backyard to his volunteer work to a bustling dining room at Zea.

For anyone dreaming of opening a restaurant, Leonard offers a dose of reality. Loving to cook isn’t enough. “You have to love every aspect of it,” he says.

That means schedules, employees, long nights, teamwork, criticism, financial pressures and the intense first months of a new restaurant. Adequate capital is essential, as is experience actually working in hospitality.

Most importantly, Leonard says, you need a team. “You have to hire people better than you that can do a lot of things because you can’t do it all.”

After decades in the hospitality business, Leonard Louvierre still works nights and weekends, still eats Zea’s food, still walks the dining room checking on guests, and still sees himself first and foremost as someone there to serve. (Photo by Robin May.)

And perhaps that explains why Zea has become more than simply a successful Lafayette restaurant. Under Leonard’s leadership, it has become a gathering place where generations of Acadiana families return, employees build careers, and hospitality is rooted in something remarkably simple: “Be kind. Treat people with respect. Do the right thing when no one is looking. And take care of the people who walk through your door.”

For more information and to order their delicious food, visit https://zearestaurants.com/location/lafayette/.

Dr. Thomas “Tom” Sammons of Dental Artistry joins Discover Lafayette to discuss his path into dentistry, his commitment to continuing education and advanced technology, and his philosophy that good dental care is about far more than simply fixing teeth.

A Youngsville native and UL Lafayette graduate, Dr. Sammons grew up in Acadiana after his family moved here in 1995. His father, Tom Sammons, taught architecture at UL Lafayette, and education was strongly emphasized in the Sammons household. Dr. Sammons graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from UL Lafayette before earning his Doctor of Dental Surgery from LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans.

His connection to UL Lafayette runs deep. As a student, Dr. Sammons was active in the pre-professional society, student government and honor society, and participated in Up ’til Dawn, which supported St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He says UL is where he truly found his community in Lafayette.

Today, that sense of community remains important. Dr. Sammons and his wife, Abby, both grew up here and even attended the same church, where Abby’s father once taught him in Sunday school. Their parents live nearby, and Dr. Sammons and Abby are raising two energetic young sons, Gabriel and Everett. “I love being with them. I love being with my family.”

Dr. Sammon’s decision to become a dentist was shaped in part by his own difficult dental history. His permanent teeth erupted with enamel hypoplasia, leaving them soft and yellow and requiring extensive dental work. He also admits he did not take particularly good care of his teeth as a teenager.

Fortunately, he had dentists he genuinely liked, Drs. Thomas and Harmon in Youngsville.

“I actually loved my dentist. I didn’t like being in the dental chair, but I liked him,” Tom recalled.

For years, Tom thought he would become an engineer. Then he attended orientation at UL Lafayette, toured the engineering program and abruptly announced to his parents that he was going to become a dentist. The more he learned about dentistry, the more certain he became that he had found the right profession.

That personal history also helps explain the empathy Dr. Sammons brings to patients who fear dental treatment. He discovered early in his career that many people had experienced frightening or painful dental care as children.

For some patients, he says, simply opening the front door of a dental office can feel like “a very heavy weight.”

When Dr. Sammons joined the practice of longtime Lafayette dentist Dr. Ann Laurent, he found a mentor whose philosophy closely matched his own. Dr. Laurent had built a practice around caring for patients with dental anxiety and treating their fears with empathy.

“It’s not the most fun place to be. I understand that,” Dr. Sammons said of the dental chair. “It doesn’t have to be the worst place to be. We can make it comfortable. We can make it fun.”

That philosophy is reflected throughout Lafayette Dental Artistry. Patients who need additional help with anxiety can receive nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, at no additional charge. The practice also offers oral sedation and, when appropriate, IV sedation administered with a nurse anesthetist.

One of Dr. Sammon’s strongest messages is that oral health should never be viewed in isolation. “The mouth is also connected to the whole body. It is systemic health. It is not just oral health.”

Dr. Sammons and his team spend considerable time educating patients about brushing, flossing, diet and the habits that contribute to dental disease. Chronic infection and inflammation in the mouth can have consequences beyond the teeth and gums, and periodontal disease can progress without causing significant pain.

One of the biggest misconceptions Dr. Sammons sees today involves sugar-free beverages. Eliminating sugar does not necessarily make a drink tooth-friendly because acidity can damage enamel.

“Acid is worse,” he explained.

Energy drinks, soft drinks, coffee and other acidic beverages can create an environment that promotes enamel erosion and decay. Dr. Sammons explained that when bacteria consume sugar, they produce acid, but drinking an already acidic beverage exposes teeth directly to that damaging environment.

He sees the consequences particularly among younger patients. Someone can leave high school with few or no cavities, head to college, develop a habit of consuming energy drinks throughout the day, and return with significant decay.

The problem is compounded when a person sips the beverage over several hours. After each exposure, saliva needs time to buffer the acidic environment. Dr. Sammons’ advice includes limiting acidic drinks, drinking water and, for some patients, using an alkaline mouth rinse. He also discussed products containing xylitol as another tool for fighting cavity-causing bacteria.

Lafayette Dental Artistry provides comprehensive care ranging from preventive dentistry to full-mouth rehabilitation, cosmetic dentistry, crowns, veneers, bonding, implants, bridges and clear aligner therapy.

Dr. Sammons particularly enjoys cosmetic dentistry and clear aligners. In some complex cases, moving the teeth into a better position before restorative work can dramatically reduce the number of crowns or veneers a patient needs.

“The less I do is more in a lot of ways. The best dentistry is no dentistry. The second best dentistry is preventative dentistry.”

His goal is to perform dentistry today that prevents larger problems tomorrow. That philosophy becomes especially meaningful when patients arrive after years of avoiding dental care because of fear, embarrassment, finances or difficult life circumstances. Dr. Sammons has watched patients regain not only their oral health but their confidence.

After restoring a person’s smile, he may see them six months later having made other changes: exercising, losing weight, quitting smoking or simply taking better care of themselves. “It changes their whole life. It changes their whole trajectory.”

Dentists are playing a growing role in recognizing potential sleep disorders.

Because dentists routinely examine the mouth, jaw and airway, they may see signs that suggest a patient should be evaluated for sleep apnea. Lafayette Dental Artistry has equipment patients can take home for a sleep study, although Dr. Sammons emphasized that a medical doctor reads the study and makes the diagnosis.

For appropriate patients with mild to moderate sleep apnea, a dental appliance may help keep the airway open by positioning the jaw forward. More severe cases generally require CPAP therapy. Implantable airway-stimulation devices are an option for some patients who cannot tolerate either CPAP or a dental appliance; those devices are placed by specialists.

Dr. Sammons also uses Botox primarily as a therapeutic treatment for patients suffering from TMD, often called TMJ, including people who clench their jaws and develop muscle pain and headaches. While he occasionally uses Botox cosmetically, his primary interest is relieving pain and muscle tension.

Louisiana dentists are required to complete 40 hours of continuing education every two years. Dr. Sammons regularly pursues more than 100 hours annually. Why? “I’m just a huge nerd. I love it. I love to learn.”

That appetite for learning has helped him incorporate rapidly changing technology into his practice, including digital scanning, same-day crowns, 3D printing and digitally created surgical guides for implant procedures.

Approximately 99 % of the impressions in his practice are now digital. A tooth can be scanned, the crown designed virtually, milled in the office and placed in the patient’s mouth the same day. For anxious patients, avoiding a temporary crown, a second appointment and another injection can make an enormous difference.

Artificial intelligence is also becoming part of the practice. Dr. Sammons uses AI with digital X-rays to help identify possible cavities, bone loss and calculus. He views it as an additional set of eyes rather than a replacement for professional judgment.

The technology is also a powerful educational tool. Instead of asking patients to decipher shades of gray on an X-ray, the software can highlight areas of concern, making it easier for patients to understand what the team members of Dental Artistry are seeing.

“It’s kind of like a second set of eyes,” he explained, noting that the technology can occasionally flag a tiny area that deserves a closer look.

Lafayette Dental Artistry is preparing for a major renovation and expansion of its longtime office. Dr. Sammons discussed the reality that modern digital dentistry requires different spaces for equipment, laboratories and treatment areas than were needed when the original office was built.

During construction, the practice will temporarily relocate about five minutes away while the existing office is rebuilt. The temporary move is expected to last approximately nine months.

The goal is to create a more modern environment while preserving what patients already value about the practice: comfort, relaxation and personal attention.

And Dr. Ann Laurent remains very much a part of the practice. “She’s been an amazing mentor to me, both as a clinician and also just as a leader.” Dr. Laurent continues to see patients while enjoying a little more time to travel.

Running a dental practice also means running a small business, something Dr. Sammons jokes can be difficult “when you got your fingers in people’s mouths.”

He generally treats patients Monday through Thursday and reserves Fridays for administrative work, meetings and catching up on the business side of the practice. He made a commitment to himself to leave the office on time whenever possible so he can be home with Abby and their boys.

His days start early, often around 3:30 a.m., with quiet time followed by a workout or swimming.

When he does find spare time, Dr. Sammons loves to read, alternating between science fiction or fantasy and books on business, professional development and self-improvement. He enjoys movies, working out and swimming, but these days much of his free time is devoted to his sons.

That means building blocks, jumping on the trampoline and, much to his delight, a recent family discovery of Legos. “I love doing Legos.”

Perhaps the most revealing part of our conversation was hearing Dr. Sammons describe what makes dentistry rewarding. Sometimes it is as immediate as helping someone who walks into the office after spending a sleepless night with an excruciating toothache. Other times, it is watching someone who has neglected their oral health regain a healthy smile and the confidence that comes with it.

“I don’t know of many professions…that can do all that. It’s so much fun and rewarding to do that. And I really can’t imagine doing anything else.”

We thank Dr. Thomas Sammons and the entire team at Lafayette Dental Artistry for their support of Discover Lafayette and for their commitment to helping Acadiana residents achieve better oral health while making the dental experience as comfortable and positive as possible.

Learn more about Lafayette Dental Artistry through its website at https://www.lafayettedentalartistry.com/ and follow the practice on Facebook and Instagram under Lafayette Dental Artistry.