Discover Lafayette

Chad Landreneau, developer of the app, AnimalFindr, joined Discover Lafayette to discuss his mission to connect breeders, buyers, and sellers of livestock such as cattle and horses, as well as family pets. Animal Findr is available on the Apple App store and Google Play.

Animal Findr connects buyers and sellers across the nation for any and every pet enthusiast. As Chad’s website says, “Whether you are looking for a Catahoula, a calico, a cobra or a cockatiel,” you can search on the go as you travel. Buyers and sellers can communicate about a potential sale in real time.

The app uses GPS geolocation, geofencing, and real-time motion tracking technology, which allows you to find the animal of your dreams within a 500-mile radius of your location, across the U.S. The app is free, unless you want to subscribe so as to have access to breeding records, registration papers, or the extended family tree of the animal. Subscriptions run from $19.99 monthly to $97.99 for a six-month period.

Chad grew up in Mamou, part of a third-generation farming family. He had a couple of horses while growing up, as well as farm animals, so he was always comfortable around animals. A graduate of McNeese State University, Chad worked on a Western Pleasure Horse farm while in college and enjoyed the experience.

When he moved back to Lafayette after a stint working in Dallas, he came across a horse trainer who convinced him to buy a horse and give racing a whirl. Chad says, “I got bit by the bug. First we traveled to races in South Louisiana, then across Louisiana.”

It was during that time that he spent many weekends in the stands waiting for a race with his horse to occur and he had plenty of time to notice the behavior of other people sitting around him. “You only compete for a couple of minutes when your horse races. The rest of the time you just sit in the stands. I noticed that everyone’s heads were down. I walked through the venue and saw that everyone was scrolling on their phone or an IPad. They were looking for their ‘winner’. I wondered how I could effectively connect people who want to buy animals with those who want to sell.”

When he searched online for horses, he found sites that sell the animals by discipline, such as Barrel Racers, Race Horses, or Western Pleasure. But no sites just listing horses of all backgrounds. “I wanted a one-stop shop where all horses, as well as cattle, dogs, cats, sheep, birds, or exotic animals could be bought and sold.

So, Chad created an app where users can post in real time and find their desired animal. “If I get in a truck and drive down the road for 3,000 miles, I wanted something that had the GPS technology that would reload other opportunities to buy or sell animals depending on where I was located in the country. I wanted people to find animals for sale outside of their usual territory of where they lived, as they might be traveling for horse shows or vacations. And I wanted instant messaging so if you see something you like, you can connect with the owner. It’s a way to truly connect buyers and sellers in real time, on the go.”

In October 2023, Chad launched Animal Findr and the app was recently updated in February 2024. “I wanted to make sure the app works, and is rock solid in all capacities, in Android and Apple before we did the hard push. Now we have hundreds of users….buyers and sellers.”

Animal Findr connects the buyer and seller, but is not involved in the actual exchange of the animal or the payment. The customers handle the actual purchase and no money is made by Animal Findr off the sale.

Josh Richard of Burning Stick Creative has helped Chad market this new app. Chad recounts how he’s had to learn about Tik Tok, Instagram, FaceBook, and the ins and outs of working a website. He also shared how starting a business is not always easy. His first website programmer took his money and then hit the road. Chad eventually partnered with Accolades IT, located in downtown Lafayette, to build Animal Findr’s website, with whom he is very pleased.

As with any business endeavor, Chad is learning about people’s preferences as his app is catching on. While he initially created Animal Findr to help people buy and sell horses and cattle, today the majority of transactions involve cats and dogs. “I’d really love the app to go more on the horse and cattle side!”

Advice to aspiring business owners: “Get credible references to make sure that your providers are qualified. Also, I’ve learned the importance of self-funding and saving your money.”

For more information on how to utilize Animal Findr, visit https://animalfindr.com/.

Lafayette native Brennan Robideaux. recently made big news with the release of his film, Born to Fly, a feature documentary about another Lafayette native, pole vaulter  Armand “Mondo” Duplantis.

Born to Fly is a coming-of-age tale about one of the greatest athletes of our generation. Mondo Duplantis is the best pole vaulter in history; he currently holds the world record indoor and outdoor pole vault titles, and won a Gold Medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

This story is about love of craft and the determination of Brennan Robideaux, a young filmmaker who risked everything to capture an evolving story. He traveled on his own dime for much of the filming of Born to Fly, was taken under the wing of the Duplantis family as they allowed him to travel with them to Europe to capture their son’s pole vaulting competitions, and only came to acquire financial assistance after several years of filming, directing, and editing the footage that would become an historical documentary, Born to Fly.

Brennan Robideaux says, “I’m very passionate about telling Louisiana stories. My main one I’m working on now is the 1991 gubernatorial election with Edwin Edwards and David Duke. That historical story hasn’t been delved into and my generation, frankly, was born after it. We have no idea about this election. I want to make a film that tells how we got to that point. Louisiana loves emperesque dictators. We love eccentricities in Louisiana.“

Brennan started getting jobs while in high school at STM by filming local athletics. He realized he could make a living in film, and enjoyed taping live events for television. He moved up, becoming a camera operator, filming football games from a perch 40 feet high in the end zone for hours at a time. Brennan loved working with adults while still a youngster and joked that he earned the nickname “Two Cents,” probably due to sharing his opinion on how things should be done a few too many times!

He counts his blessings that by the time he became serious about cinematography, the quality of digital cameras mimicked what you would expect to see from a true film camera. The cost barriers were lower. Traditional film such as used by director Quentin Tarantino are cost-prohibitive for emerging filmmakers operating on a budget.

A short film, “A Riehl Blacksmith,” featuring Sam Riehl, another STM student who was the youngest professional operating as a blacksmith in Louisiana and America, was a breakthrough accomplishment for Brennan. He says, “This short film really taught me how to tell a story in a short period of time.” The short won a few awards: Filmconvert (a New Zealand filmmaker software company) awarded Brennan an honor for filming, editing, and directing, and Soul Pancake, a company founded by Rainn Wilson (of “The Office” fame) licensed the short and put it on its YouTube channel. It was enough to excite Brennan to look at this avocation as a career. And, he was only a Senior in high school.

Brennan was invited to attend NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) in Seattle due to the success of A Riehl Blacksmith. While he wasn’t able to attend, it was the only film festival he made it into until Born To Fly.

Brennan attended UNO for a short time but dropped out to pursue his passion of filmmaking. By the time he was 21, he was back in Lafayette living with his parents and looking for a project to energize him once more.

That motivational project came to life in 2017 after Brennan read a story in the Daily Advertiser about a Lafayette High student named Mondo Duplantis, the world junior record holder in pole vaulting. Brennan was familiar with the Duplantis family as the parents were both incredible athletes (Greg Duplantis was one of the best pole vaulters of his time and Helena represented Sweden in the heptathlon at international championships), and both participated at LSU in track and field events at the same time as Brennan’s own parents, Joel and Bobette Robideaux.

Brennan got Greg Duplantis’s number from his dad and called to get permission to film Mondo as he practiced and competed in events. Greg said he needed to talk to Mondo himself to see what he thought, and Brennan sent a very long, “novella-length” text with a message basically saying, “It would be good to capture this for history.” In typical teen talk, Mondo replied, “I mean, sure, I guess.”

Brennan’s family lived across the street from Lafayette High, so he would walk over every day after school to document Mondo’s training. But things developed real fast as Mondo was set to compete in the Senior Men’s World Championship as a 17-year old. Three months into filming, Brennan took his first trip to Europe.

Brennan had never been to Europe, but that is where he was headed as major track and field events are almost exclusively conducted overseas. (The sole facility in the U. S. of any importance is located at the University of Oregan’s Hayward Field in Eugene, OR, known as TrackTown USA, the place of the U. S. Olympic Team Trials.)

“Mondo came in 7th in that competition, but the fact that he made the finals was incredible. The heights he jumped in high school were good enough for him to win, but you have to deliver on that day. It doesn’t matter that you’re a prodigy.”

“It was undeniable that I never met anyone like Mondo. He was so serious. There was nothing else that mattered other than pole vaulting. Pole vaulting was everything to him and had always been everything to him.”

The Duplantis family took Brennan in as the filming continued, and allowed him to stay with them as they traveled with Mondo to European competitions. Brennan lived on peanut butter, slept on the floor, or took the couch or chair if that was available. Helena Duplantis’ family had a place in Sweden they would let Brennan stay during the summers. “The Duplantis family gave me every resource possible. And, they never said, ‘Turn off the camera’.”

Track and field events (as well as other sports) do not allow recording of the action for commercial purposes, unless you have a license from the appropriate sports league. So Brennan had to tell the story of what happened around the competitions, the leadup to the event, and the aftermath. Brennan caught the action that happened on the bus or in the hotel room before the events. And then had to pay hefty license fees to gain access to the film that depicted Mondo winning competitions.

Brennan looks back on the years-long filming of what became Born to Fly and sums it up, “It was a coming of age story that simultaneously documented this incredible athlete. How he became this world-renowned, greatest athlete in the world, while also growing up. These were his most formative years. There were so many mental hurdles he had to grow through. Mondo competes against himself. While pole vaulting is very competitive, when you’re out there, it’s just you. Mondo had a bunch of ups and downs, and I heard a well-known track and field star say, ‘The road to greatness is littered with the bodies of prodigies. But Mondo had a “Rocky” story. In the film you get to see how he handled intense competition.”

In 2020, Mondo broke the world record in pole vaulting. Then Mondo won the Gold in the 2020 Olympics. Brennan thought that equity investments in the film would come in at that point, but that did not happen. He then turned to Kickstarter to raise $100,000 but came up way short, raising about $30,000 from local sources. A producer counseled him that accepting the Kickstarter money was a no-win for independent filmmakers and could make his life more difficult down the line, so he canceled Kickstarter and returned all the money.

Brennan eventually sold the film as a presale to Sveriges Television (“SVT”), Sweden’s #1 broadcast platform and national public television broadcaster, to assist in costs to complete the project. He had been working making commercials and also for DoorDash to make some cash, and his wife was working double shifts at the hospital to keep them afloat. With SVT’s support, he was able to bring on an editor and producer in Sweden, as well as a U. S. producer and entertainment attorney Bill Ramsey in New Orleans for guidance. He got to work with a music composer for the first time.

Brennan had filmed over 500 hours of video, and had to edit down the final cut to 90 minutes. “I don’t like watcing my films,” says Brennan. “I know a lot of incredible moments that didn’t make it.” Editing took two years. Brennan spent time going back and forth to Sweden to get the film ready and brought on Red Bull Studios as the production partner.

Born to Fly will be out in the U. S. before the Summer Olympics this year. It is available to watch in Europe and selling well. Attendees of Lafayette’s Southern Screen Film Festival as well as patrons of the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge were privileged to watch local screenings of Born to Fly in the past few months.

Discover Lafayette would like to congratulate Brennan Robideaux for his love of craft and sheer determination to see this important documentary through to the finish. We look forward to watching Born to Fly as well as watching Brennan’s career soar!

Travis Schugg, Vice President of Staffing Services at VieMed Healthcare Staffing (“VHS”), joins Discover Lafayette to share how VHS utilizes technology to meet the burgeoning staffing needs across all healthcare specialties in the U. S. He is responsibile for steering the company’s long-term strategic direction and day-to-day operations. 

Travis moved to Lafayette in 2021 to join VHS after a meeting in Phoenix with VieMed founder, Casey Hoyt. The challenges of recruiting and retaining staff during COVID were issues everyone was trying to figure out, when all of a sudden you couldn’t go into people’s homes to care for their medical needs. Travis says that respiratory therapists and ICU nurses were the hottest commodities out there at that time. The two men picked each other’s brains on this topic: Travis had fifteen years experience in recruiting, and Casey, along with Michael Moore and the VieMed team, were building the best in class respiratory therapy in the U. S. “Over the course of our thirty minute meeting, it became a chess match as to who could pick each other’s brain best!”

A few weeks after that initial encounter, Travis reached out to Casey Hoyt and jokingly said, “I think I can do some damage with you!” Casey asked him to create a business plan for VieMed to get into the medical healthcare staffing arena. Travis came up with a 50-page business plan and they were off to creating VHS.

VHS is a complementary service for VieMed. Historically, healthcare systems, government agencies, and organizations like VieMed would recruit through their Human Resource departments, posting a job and hoping people would apply. “We flipped the script. Recruitment should be more on the offensive, it should be outbound. We promote our brand….we don’t just sit and wait for people to apply.”

VHS started out by visiting every hospital in Louisiana and telling their story. Then they spread across the Gulf Region. Today, just a bit over two short years after inception, VHS recruits for positions open in Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, and other places across the U. S. VHS has staff in 15 states, and is building organically. Travis believes that VHS offers the best recruitment and workforce team anywhere between Dallas and Atlanta, South of Nashville, being based right here in Lafayette LA.

The main specialties in which VHS currently recruits are in nursing, social workers (public and private sector), respiratory therapy, and physicians. VHS also recruits in the allied care fields for workers in pharmacy, imaging and lab techs. They serve employers needing assistance with locum tenens and correctional health positions.There are currently 2400 jobs and when you visit https://jobs.viemedstaffing.com/, you will see an incredible listing of jobs available.

Staffing is a $170 billion industry and healthcare staffing accounts for $44-45 billion of that number. It is a unique niche that has been waiting to be met. VHS is growing as it helps their clients, both practitioners and health facilities, by getting to understand their clients’ needs. The “why” behind a hiring allows VHS to recruit more successfully and meet the individual needs of each client.

Travis explained that the health industry has changed dramatically regarding outside contract help. Fifteen years ago, people wanted a hospital with very few contract workers. The barrier has broken down and this mindset has flipped. Studies show that institutions with a more diverse workforce have better health outcomes for their patients. The contract workers have experienced more, worked in different settings across the country, and bring a plethora of skills to the job setting. Today, facilities are keeping 20- 30% of their workforce as contract labor, and thes health contractors fill in as needed, on weekends, nights, or other, which benefits everyone involved.

A new dynamic is that many professionals want to travel as they work. It is a more acceptable career path and they can build their resumes up as they see the country. Providers are more selective as to where they want to go. Travis says, “In the past people would want to know what you were running from or were you in trouble? Today, people ask what hospitals can I work at to build my resume and experience up? That way, when they do settle down, the can be the cream of the crop in their community.”

Once VHS places an employee, they become the employer of record for W-2 staff. Based upon the employee specialty, such as nursing or allied staff, “It’s W-2. We do payroll weekly for all of our staff. It is a differentiator in the market paying weekly. Per diem and lodging may also be provided based upon the locale the employee chooses. VHS pays the taxes and has hundreds of people out on assignment processing payroll and managing benefits.” VSH’s internal staff is at 28 right now.

VHS utilizes AI technology to scan resumes. In real time once an application is submitted, “We can tell you where you would most likely work next, what states would be a good fit with someone of your experience level. We can tell a nurse his or her top five jobs automatically. There is no need for a human to try to catch you between shifts to discuss possibilities. Historically, this was all done by an HR person.”

Travis Schugg has been married to his wife, Ashley, for 19 years and they are the proud parents of an 8th grader and Junior in high school. Recounting how the family moved from Arizona to Lafayette in the middle of the school year, Travis says, “God opened the door so wide it was easy to walk through. We knew nothing about Lafayette or Louisiana but love it here.” Travis is also active with One Acadiana, serving on its Executive Board, saying “I’ve been mentored on how to be a better leader.”

We thank Travis Schugg and VieMed Healthcare Staffing for sharing this incredible story of growth in the healthcare industry, and for being based right here in Lafayette! For more information, visit https://www.viemed.com/staffing-services/.

Melinda Taylor, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, joins Discover Lafayette to share the work of her organization.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Melinda has served as ED of Habitat since 2000, the year she moved to Lafayette, after serving in a similar position in Hattiesburg, MS. Interestingly, her realtor at the time of her move here in 2000 served on the board of Habitat and encouraged Melinda to apply for the first ED position to be filled here in Lafayette. Now, 24 years later, Melinda is still exemplifying what it means not only to lead, but to inspire others to volunteer and make meaningful change in our community.

Habitat serves as both a building contractor and the lender for qualified clients, and helps individuals acheive homeownership who can’t otherwise access the commercial lending market.

Qualified Habitat clients must make less than 80% of the median income in our region. Although they are individuals with low to moderate income, they are steady in life and willing to partner and work with Habitat toward their goal of homeownership. Some may have no credit or negative credit scores, so they are unable to qualify for a conventional mortgage.

Melinda points out that Habitat’s clients have the capacity to make the payments of their monthly rent, which unfortunately is sometimes up to 1/3 to 1/2 of their income. It can be more expensive to rent a home in Lafayette than it is to pay for a Habitat mortgage payment. Lower rents are usually tied to substandard housing options, so applicants are eager to get into a Habitat home and enjoy an affordable, well-built, and energy efficient home.

Many more applicants apply for the program than can be helped, and some people have a lot of work to do before they qualify. Habitat will send these individuals to other organizations who can help them work on their credit so that they can successfully re-apply. LCG’s Community, Development & Planning Department offers a Neighborhood Counseling Service that brings in professionals to teach how to work on getting credit in better shape and stabilizing income in preparation for homeownership. Also, First Horizon’s Congress St. branch offers “Hope Inside,” a class that helps people work on their credit and learn about home ownership. The Louisiana Housing Corporation offers online training and financial literacy program, and assists low to moderate income individuals prepare for homeownership. Individuals who have judgments or liens against them are precluded from qualifying until these issues are cleared.

It can take 18 months to two years for a successful applicant to get into their new home. Patience is needed. The journey to home ownership includes completing an educational process, volunteering time to build other Habitat homes as well as the one they will move into, and of course, the actual build time to construct the house.

Funding is derived from a variety of sources and Melinda says “We never get enough funds to build the whole house. HOME grants from HUD are earmarked locally for building affordable housing, and Habitat also leverages these funds with other resources, such as in-kind and monetary donations of all sizes. In 2022, Lafayette Habitat received an unsolicited $2.5 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Also, as Habitat homeowners pay their mortgage, the payments go back into the process, so as they make their payments, they are paying it forward because it’s reinvested back into the program.”

Pictured is a Women Build Team from Catalyst Bank in February 2024. Melinda Taylor says, “Volunteers really drive our work. They are the engine that keeps things going. Not just on our construction site but also at our ReStore. We have regular volunteers from the University as well as future homeowners themselves who work alongside our crew. We work with volunteers at all levels. Our crew is patient and teaches our volunteers whatever they need to know. Our quality control is outstanding!”

Houses built with HOME funds are mandated to maintain a 15-year affordability period, and the public is given notice of this by a Deed Restriction filed in the parish conveyance records. This prevents the homeowner from flipping the home or selling it quickly to someone not otherwise qualified as low-income. If the home is sold on the open market to someone who doesn’t qualify under the guidelines, a predetermined amount of the HOME funds (based upon length of ownership within the 15 year period) must be paid back upon the resale.

Lafayette Habitat partners with LCG in utilizing HUD HOME monies to build affordable homes. Habitat’s aim is to build ten homes per year and has built over 40 homes in the McComb-Veazey neighborhood over the past few years. They have also gotten into performing owner-occupied home repairs in focused areas of revitalization so as to improve the quality of life across the board for a neighborhood. Melinda says, “We support the efforts of residents to improve their neighborhoods, to return to a majority of homeowner occupancy rather than rental properties.”

Neighborhoods such as McComb-Veazey and LaPlace in Lafayette’s downtown urban core area have experienced game-changing revitalization through the dedicated focus of Habitat for Humanity. Most adjudicated properties are in Lafayette’s downtown core neighborhoods and are predominantly African-American.

In addressing efforts to utilize adjudicated properties that are predominantly found in older African-American neighborhoods in Lafayette’s core, Melinda Taylor says,“People were worried that developers would come in and change everything, not in keeping with what they wanted to see in their neighborhood. So the local ordinance that we have now enables us to use a Louisiana state law that is now informally called the “Habitat For Humanity Statute.” It enables donations of adjudicated properties to a nonprofit for the purpose of building affordable housing. It keeps affordable housing in the neighborhood for those who may already live there or want to come back. We take guidance from local residents as to what they want to see. They want livable outdoor spaces, front porches, the look that is already going on in their neighborhood.”

When asked how we can develop a larger pool of affordable housing in our market, Melinda pointed out that as a nonprofit, Habitat can utilize a different business model than a for-profit builder as they get their funding from a variety of sources. “We are subject to the same market forces as everyone else. We sell our homes at appraised value but that isn’t often what it costs us to build. We are sometimes upside down. We do that because its part of our mission to focus on creating wealth and creating a better space in the neighborhoods that we serve. But not all for-profit builders can do that, as that is not an acceptable business model that is sustainable. Even we struggle with that.”

Across the country, affordable housing options, as well as the decline of many neighborhoods, is a major problem with low homeownership rates and many homes needing substantial rehabilitation or replacement. Dilapidated homes have been abandoned, undermining neighborhood stability and the local tax base. Melinda mentioned a bipartisan act being contemplated in Congress, the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, that would provide funding incentives for market rate developers to build homes that may not appraise at what it cost to build. The funding mechanism would recapture the builder’s loss and the hope would be to incentivize enough building of affordable homes to turn a neighborhood around, and then let market forces take over. Visit https://neighborhoodhomesinvestmentact.org/proposal for more information.

Volunteers are always needed for not only building homes but working at ReStore. Habitat offers an online portal to sign up for volunteer shifts, which are Tuesday through Saturday. Visit https://habitatlafayette.org/give-time/ to learn more and sign up.

With the help of Habitat for Humanity and many volunteers, Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability, and independence they need to build a better life for themselves and their families. They can build generational wealth and turn around their fate. We thank Melinda Taylor and her entire team at Habitat for Humanity for their ongoing work to improve Lafayette’s housing market.

Chris Granger, owner of Seven Oaks Grand Coteau LLC, and Maison Title, joined Discover Lafayette to discuss his growing real estate empire. He is an attorney, a married father of five young boys, and a force to be reckoned with!

While Chris worked with an established law firm for 2 1/2 years after graduating from law school, he knew he was never going to work for someone else very long. In 2018 he opened up his own law practice with his wife’s cousin, Benjamin Trant, and then Justin Leger became the third business partner. Business took off.

Only 35 years old, Chris bought his first property, at $70 thousand with 10% down through a bank closing, as his family residence in Grand Coteau while in his third year of law school. It was a perfect starter home for his wife, Meghan, and their young family to live in. When they needed a larger home for their growing family, Chris decided to rent out the Grand Coteau property, which reappraised at $105K after the improvements they had done.

“The light bulb went off about leveraging the $35K equity in the home. Let’s leverage what we already have. What if I scale this thing? I could own 25 rental homes. My initial goal was to have 40 by 40! That was my mantra. But it happened quicker than that.” Chris’s whole portfolio is based upon leveraging. “You can’t put down 10 – 20% equity in each house you buy.”

Chris’s portfolio grew to 25 properties quickly. “I’m a big believer in community banks. Being able to walk in and talk to your local baker and explain a deal is invaluable. But they tend to have a tendency to pause you if you grow too fast. When I got to 25 houses I remember being paused. It’s a small circle. The first 25 loans were with two local banks. That lasted two years where I was stalled. So I went head in with my practice with Maison Title.”

Today, Chris Granger owns several hundred residential and commercial properties, which include the former Jefferson Street Pub, now known as The Jefferson, Abacus, the historic site location of Straw Cove Baking Company at 111 Monroe Street, and 160 units in two apartment complexes in Leesville LA. Chris’s thriving real estate title closing agency, Maison Title, is also located in Freetown in the old Petro House on Jefferson Street as well as another branch in Grand Coteau LA.

Chris defines himself as a “pedal to the medal guy,” doing 90% of the work. He admits, “I need help with the last 10%.” He relies on his manager of Seven Oaks Grand Coteau, Casey, to run the property management duties full-time.

When asked about scaling his projects, Chris has learned from experience. “You always need the extra employee before you can afford them. Learning to navigate the cash flow conundrum where you have enough work, but you also have to take a leap of faith to hire them. You always need the help before you can afford them.”

We discussed the current housing market and the affordability issue. “There is a lack of housing in the $150-250K range in our housing market. Anything above $300K we don’t see a lot of in our practice. $200-300K is what we see. There’s a national, local, regional housing shortage in real estate.”

Flood insurance costs are a real issue for rentals. ‘You do well when you have quantity. The goal is to net $200 to $250 per month per unit. Throw on a $1,000 flood insurance policy, which may add $75 per month to your costs for rental units, it eats at your profit. You want to dodge flood zones.”

The vast majority of Chris’s tenants are females with small families. Some tenants have been with him for seven to eight years. Some he ‘inherited’ when he purchased properties, and they have been in the same rental for 25 years. “If you treat them well, they will treat you and your property well.”

Rental assistance programs helped Chris get through the difficulties of COVID. He researched options and helped his tenants. Yet he admits, “I’ve evicted hundreds of people over my career. We’re typically lenient, you have to push me hard.” Chris advises tenants who hit difficulties in coming up with the rent money to communicate with their landlord. “Avoid court fees!”

Chris purchased the historic site of the old Pabst Beer Distributorship at 111 Monroe built in the 1940’s in the La Place neighborhood by downtown Lafayette, which was already renovated to qualify as a health department commercial kitchen. He invested to get Straw Cove Baking Company, owned by partners Dené Carroll and her wife, Morgan Angelle, off the ground in their venture to provide high-quality breads to the Acadiana market. Chris noted that soon Straw Cove will be offering baking classes to the public.

Last year as Discover Lafayette conducted its yearly business recap with the Acadiana Advocate’s Business Editor, Adam Daigle, we both agreed that Chris Granger deserved to be recognized as 2023 Business Catalyst of the Year. Tellling his story is inspirational and we hope a catalyst for other business people to jump in to creating their own destiny.

Chris Granger’s closing remarks to entrepreneurs looking for guidance: “Come up with a plan you believe in. Stick to it. And jump! You won’t get anywhere until you jump. I joke that a lot of what I do is jump out of the airplane and learn to fly on the way down and hope I can fly before I hit the ground. They’re educated jumps. I think that is what holds back 90% of people, they won’t jump.”

Thank you, Chris Granger, for your sharing your entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. Discover Lafayette wishes all the best to you, your family, and your circle of colleagues!

Restauranteurs and brothers, Patrick and Steven O’Bryan, owners of Bon Temps Grill and Whiskey & Vine restaurants, join Discover Lafayette to share their love of their industry, the importance of good service focused on their clientele, and their successful partnership in running a family business together since 2011.

Patrick and Steven O’Bryan are respectful and loving toward one another. Wise and funny, they are full of practical wisdom for up and coming entrepreneurs who want to open their own restaurant.

To understand their success, it is important to note that they both spent years working for others as they learned to hone their craft. They bring best practices of the restaurant business to their local investments in restaurants and catering.

Both men had extensive experience in the restaurant business. They waited tables, cooked, and bartended. Patrick started out by bussing tables at Cafe Vermilion for Ken Veron while in college. “The first thing I learned to do was fold a napkin. It was the best job you could have in college.”

Patrick also learned how to bartend in his early days at the old Ruth’s Chris formerly located where the current Whiskey & Vine is at 507 W. Pinhook Road in Lafayette. He was taught to be a flair bartender (utillizing finesse and fancy tricks) by JB Bandy when he worked at TGI Fridays in Lafayette; Bandy, incredibly, was the flair bartending coach for Tom Cruise when he was training for his role in the movie, Cocktail.

The older brother by three years, Patrick moved to Dallas after years of working for local restaurants. While employed at Cypress Bayou Casino, he worked with The Freeman Group, a consulting corporation that focused on improving hospitality by teaching the behavioral and technical aspects needed to make a guest’s experience exceptional. He left Cypress Bayou to join The Freeman Group and stayed with them for 15 years, getting to travel and work with luxury establlishments all over. It honed his ability to understand what is needed to make a restaurant customer want to come back and be a loyal patron.

Steven also worked at restaurants while in college and after graduation, worked with various corporate restaurants, including Copeland’s, Semolina, TGI Fridays,and Logan’s Roadhouse, the latter of which he was employed with for 15 years. Steven learned the ins and outs of the restaurant business, and shared how hard it is for restauranteurs to stay in business unless they can reach a certain threshold of dollar volume in sales. “If you can’t do over $2 million in sales per year as a restaurant ($40,000 per week), you probably won’t make it. Unless you personally serve in all the roles….owner, manager, bartender, chef, etc. People can be successful doing that but their quality of life won’t be there.”

Steven realized that he was working to help others build their successful restaurant concepts and for years he asked Patrick to move home and open a restaurant with him. To build their own success. And Patrick finally agreed, it was time.

Patrick and Steven O’Bryan grew up learning how to cook from their family, which always included grilling, not frying food. Steven recalls how they learned how to grill food from his dad and a friend, including the art of grilling alligator. Patrick says, “Steven is the cook! I cook just enough to be dangerous! I am a bartender. I am the front guy!” Photo by Leslie Westbrook of The Acadiana Advocate taken in front of Whiskey & Vine

After a lot of brainstorming which included posting flip chart paper all over a wall with their ideas, and having the mutual agreement that they wanted to grow a business with a great team, Bon Temps Grill was created.

The O’Bryans’ first chef at Bon Temps Grill was Alexis Cupich-Indest, a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which coincidentally is where their mother is from. Alexis left for a while to pursue other endeavors but is now back with the O’Bryans as Executive Chef at Whiskey & Vine as well as Corporate Executive Chef.

Today, the result of the brothers’ reunion and partnership has grown into a diverse enterprise of restaurants, including Whiskey & Vine, a catering business that provides food for Warehouse 535, The Louisiana Room, Woodlawn Chapel, L’Eglise, and Louisiana Cajun Mansion, as well as a separate business providing delicious food choices at Bon Temps Concessions at the Youngsville Sports Complex and the Broussard Sports Complex at St. Julien Park. And as you’ll hear when you listen, there may be other ventures in the offing.

When asked about how they handle the inevitable conflicts that arise in business, particularly in family businesses, they both quickly responded that everyone asks them about that and it is just not an issue.

“It is very rare for us to have conflict. We have our own strengths and we stay in our own lanes. We are very supportive of each others. Patrick was gone for 15 years, so having him back is very special,” says Steven O’Bryan. And honesty, watching their body language as they interacted during our interview confirmed their mutual respect for one another. They listen to each other and think before responding. Photo by Leslie Westbrook of The Acadiana Advocate.

Located less than half a mile apart on Pinhook Road near the Oil Center, the restaurants offer totally different dining experiences.

Bon Temps Grill originally opened in August of 2011 on Verot School Road, where Mercy Kitchen is now located. Just a year into operations, they were already outgrowing their space, but wanted to wait a while before moving. They wanted to build brand loyalty locally, knowing that tourists want to eat where locals want to eat.

Even though they had extensive experience in the industry while working for others, they still learned a great deal about managing their own business finances through the inevitable ups and downs all restaurants expereince. Patrick says, “I’m glad we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Ice storms and hurricanes can throw a business off with cash flow issues. Despite what you think, the start up of a business is the cheap part. Ongoing operation expenses can get to you. Margins in restaurants are so low.” But they did thrive.

During COVID and about ten years after opening Bon Temps Grill, the restaurant relocated to the former site of the Blue Dog Café, offering a casual atmosphere with mesquite grilled food and Cajun and zydeco music. Against common wisdom at the time with all the disruption and decline in business caused by COVID shutdowns and social distancing measures, the brothers jumped at the opportunity to move into the Blue Dog space, which was over three times larger than their former location. It allowed them to serve more people, even with the COVID restrictions in place at the time, because of the increase of square footage. “We could do more business even at 50% seating than we could at our former facility at full capacity.”

The menu was expanded, they brought in live music every night of the week and for brunch on weekends. At their old spot, there just wasn’t room. There wasn’t sufficient parking at the Verot School Road location. The upside was not only more happy patrons, but the opportunity to put local musicians to work. “It allowed more ‘bon temps,’ or more good times!” as the brothers both said.

Bon Temps Grill is consistently busy and a go-to place for catering needs. The brothers mentioned their favorite meals (which are by no means exclusive: stuffed pork chops, crawfish etoufee, hand cut ribeyes, shrimp and tasso pasta, and Seafood Creole Cobb Salad. One of their family secrets is the genesis of the Bananas Foster Bread Pudding, which is a deliciious concection created by Patrick’s love of bread pudding merged with Steven’s love of Bananas Foster. The Bananas Foster Bread Pudding is one of the most popular menu items at Bon Temp Grill. For first time visitors, they offer a a gift card for a complimentary appetizer to be enjoyed on your next visit.

Whiskey & Vine, the O’Bryan’s second concept restaurant, came about a few months after Bon Temps Grill relocated to the old Blue Dog site. Preston Guidry, the owner of the site of the former Jolie’s (which had closed) approached the brothers to see if they might be interested in the space just down the street from Bon Temps Grill on Pinhook. Patrick and Steven thought so. Patrick says, “Lafayette was missing a jazz club. Do you really want to go to New Orleans when you can enjoy happy hour and music here?”

The brothers met at the space to check it out and spent the afternoon drinking whiskey to facilitate thinking through their next move. When they decided to expand their restaurant offerings in Lafayette, “whiskey” played a crucial role in the name of their next restaurant endeavor!

Whiskey & Vine opened sixteen months ago in 2022 at 507 W Pinhook Rd near St. Mary Blvd., and is distinctly different, with an elegant setting offering traditional New Orleans dishes amidst a classic jazz club atmosphere. The brothers tore down the walls in the space to open up room for more intimate settings. A bar and seating area was added to the back corner as well as upstairs in a space that formerly just had offices, and is now known as “The Peacock Room.”

Whiskey & Vine offers an elegant space for just about any occasion with three bars and plenty of room for parties. Angie, Patrick’s wife, was the designer of the remodeled space. She also designed the original Bon Temps Grill as well as the remodel of their current location on Pinhook.

Whiskey & Vine’s vibe and music sticks to a jazz and blues genre, and the menu offers delicacies such as chargrilled oysters, turtle soup, shrimp and grits, and other choices which evoke a New Orleans vibe. The restaurant’s weekend brunches on Saturday offer bottomless drinks for $15.00 and week days you can enjoy happy hour.

Besides their two restaurants, the O’Bryans offer catering services as well as Bon Temps Concessions at the Youngsville Sports Complex and the Broussard Sports Complex at St. Julien Park.

We thank Patrick and Steven O’Bryan for this special edition of Discover Lafayette made possible with the support of Eat Lafayette, a yearlong celebration of Lafayette’s local restaurants.

You will definitely want to check out both Bon Temps Grill and Whiskey & Vine, for as Steven says, “Everything we put forth is craveable!”

For information on the restaurants and to see the menus, please visit https://bontempsgrill.com/ and https://wvlounge.com/, For catering needs, contact Angie O’Bryan, Catering Manager, at 337-257-8035.

Calogero “Carlos” Todaro, renowned for his expertise in all things relating to wine, joins Discover Lafayette to share his adventures in the U. S. over the past sixty-two years.

Carlos is well-known in the Lafayette area for his hard work ethic and desire to be of service to others. For years, he and his brother, Gene, were the resident wine experts at Marcello’s Wine Market in Lafayette. After the sale of Marcello’s last year, Carlos retired from working full time, but is still providing his expertise for pairing wines with food for the grateful customers of Champagne’s Market in the Oil Center.

“I have always been fortunate to have met many nice, kind and generous people throughout my life. People have been kind to me in so many ways. I try to repay as best I can.”

Carlos has a rich family history. A native of Palermo, the capital of the Italian island of Sicily, he’s lived in the U. S. since 1961 when the family moved to New Orleans from Sicily. Interestingly, Carlos’ dad was already a U. S. Citizen, having been born in Pueblo CO in 1915; his dad’s family returned to Sicily when he was young. After his dad served in the Italian Army in WWII, he realized he wanted to return to the U. S. Carlos joked that his dad wrote a letter to then U. S. Senator John Kennedy asking for help and he got his Visa a few months later!

Pictured in Palermo, Sicily, 1956, is the Todaro family send-off of cousin Blaise Todaro, who was headed to New Orleans. Calogero “Carlos” Todaro would follow with his immediate family members in 1961 where they relocated to New Orleans to live with Aunt Lucy. No one in Carlos’ family spoke English when they moved to the U. S.

The “Marcello’s name is a tribute to brother, Marcello Todaro, who attended USL and realized there was no authentic Italian restaurant in Lafayette. Brother Gene moved to Lafayette to assist with opening the restaurant, and along with Marcello, opened the original Marcello’s on the Abbeville Highway in 1981. Carlos moved to Lafayette to open up a grocery store next door to Marcello’s, bringing along his expertise as a longtime manager of A & P in New Orleans.

“Mama (Rosalie Todaro) was a very good cook, using a minimum of spices and the least amount of money. Pasta with broccoli, for example, a staple of Sicily. Feed a whole family of five people within your budget. We ate very little meat and chicken was a treat.”

Marcello’s enjoyed great success and moved into a larger space at Time Plaza where it remained until the oil bust of 1987/88 forced its closure.

Carlos moved to Memphis with his brother, Marcello, to sell wine for a liquor company and met many of the greats in the industry such as Jordan and Fetzer. In the meantime, brother Gene opened two liquor stores, one in New Orleans and one in Lafayette in the old La Promenade Mall. When Gene decided to reopen Marcello’s Restaurant in 1993, Marcello and Carlos returned from Memphis to help in the family venture. Carlos reminisced how they started selling wine on the sidewalk outside of Marcello’s to make extra money to float the restaurant’s expenses.

In 1994/95, Marcello’s Market moved to its current location at 2800 Johnston Street and Carlos says, “It’s been successful since Day One.” It was the first wine retailer in the area, way before Total Wines or other box stores. With all of the acumen and discernment Carlos brought to Marcello’s Wine Market, he says he never trained formally. “I am self taught. You don’t really know anything until you go to wineries and see the process. I always learn from others. There is always someone who knows more than you.”

Simplicity is a way of life for Carlos Todaro today. Of course he enjoys his wines and speaks highly of his favorite, Pinot Noir, although he says rising temperatures in California is changing the Pinot Noir grape skins, causing the wine to be more full-bodied. “The weather is very important. The soil stays the same.” He also enjoys “good Sicilian wines, Chianti, whatever strikes my fancy. Côtes du Rhône is always a good value. The history of wines is fascinating.”

You’ll have to listen to this interview to truly hear Carlos’ humility and warm spirit. He shares tips for wines, saying that “middle of the road’ today is anything under $20. “French wine is different from California wines, as on any given day, California is about 1 degree warmer than France, especially in Bordeaux. California wines are more exuberant in taste profile because of the warmer stock. French wines are more restrained.”

We thank Carlos Todaro for sharing his love of community and knowledge of wines with Discover Lafayette. Look for him at Champagne’s Market and take advantage of a treasure trove of knowledge and experience!

Ben Broussard, Chief of External Affairs for Catholic Charities of Acadiana, joins us to discuss the nonprofit’s mission. Since 1973, Catholic Charities has worked to provide essential services to the most vulnerable people in our community who experience hunger, homelessness and poverty. A separate nonprofit organization from the Diocese of Lafayette, many services are 100% donor funded and others are buttrosed through grants from government and private organizations.

The organization has traditionally taken care of our most vulnerable neighbors through outreach efforts for disaster response, as well St. Joseph Diner, St. Joseph Shelter for Men, St. Michael Center for Veterans, the Stella Maris Center, and the Monsignor Sigur Center.

In the past several years, other critical services have been added to Catholic Charities’ umbrella of services including The Emily House in 2018, which offers an emergency shelter for homeless women and children. They have also added new responsibilities by taking over the Immigration Services and Deaf Action Center formerly run by the Diocese of Lafayette, as well as assuming management of FoodNet Food Bank and Rebuilding Together Acadiana.  In 2019, Catholic Charities also became entrepreneurs by taking over ownership of Crossroads Catholic Bookstore, which is now known as Crossroads Collective. 

“I feel that all of us are called to do something for our neighbor who stands to suffer. It is easy to think about it during the cold weather or a disaster, but in someone’s every day disaster or situational crisis, they also need help.”

The recent extreme cold snap in January 2024 has presented a challenge to the organization as our community’s homeless population has risen dramatically. And then, the ancient heating system in St. Joseph’s Diner broke on January 15, 2024, and needs to be entirely replaced.

Day in and day out, Catholic Charities is here for our community. It’s time for more of us to be there for them.

A quick background on Ben Broussard: for eleven years, Ben previously worked as Chief of External Affairs for the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association with the late Don Briggs. His heart was always in sync with service to others, so when Kim Boudreaux, Executive Director of Catholic Charities, approached him to serve with her organization, Ben’s temperament and ability to mobilize the troops when needed was a ready fit.

Ben is an articulate and passionate spokesperson for Catholic Charities and is inclusive in his call for help in whatever way concerned community members feel they can step up. You do not need to be Catholic to be involved, nor do you need to be an active church-going member of any congregation.

“The entirety of the 70501 zip code in Lafayette is a food desert. We have very vulnerable clientele come in and St. Joseph Diner is one thing they can bet on, that they can get a meal there. It is very much a very volunteer-centric operation with many volunteers coming in throughout the day.”

On any given day, Catholic Charities’ St. Joseph Diner feeds 700 to 800 meals…..breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days per week. On any given night, Catholic Charities also houses about 160 people, including men, women, children and Veterans. With the recent deep freeze, Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit gave the OK for more people to be sheltered than would normally be allowed by law to accommodate the dire need for a warm space.

Catholic Charities’ permanent housing program has traditionally been an extremely successful tool to help our homeless population get back on their feet in a stable environment while dealing with the underlying causes that led to homelessness, such as addictions, mental illness, physical disabilities, etc. Before COVID, Lafayette’s occupancy rates were at about 80% and Catholic Charities could work with landlords to negotiate affordable rates for their clients. Now, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Ida, people have come to Lafayette and ended up staying permanently, filling up the affordable housing stock which would usually be available. There are literally no housing options and folks have ended up in shelters or on the streets. Ben says, “The longer you are homeless, the barriers just continue to get higher.” And to clarify a misconception, Ben says, “Many people assume that our homeless population consists overwhelming of people from other towns. This is not true. 85 to 90% of our homeless are from right here in Lafayette and Acadiana.”

Catholic Charities received a grant from the Urban Land Institute to facilitate a four part series of forums for a community -wide discussion on how to best to collaberate and find long-term solutions for our region’s homeless population. Future meetings will be held March 21 and May 5.

For a comprehensive look at how you can help by contributing your time, money, or talents, please visit https://catholiccharitiesacadiana.org/.

We thank Ben Broussard, Executive Director Kim Boudreaux, and the entire team at Catholic Charities of Acadiana for their tireless and effective efforts to provide life-sustaining services to our most vulnerable neighbors.

Third-generation restauranteur Madonna Broussard, proprietor of Laura’s II Café, is our guest. Located at 1904 W. University Avenue, Laura’s II is named after Madonna’s grandmother, Laura Williams Broussard, who originally started a restaurant in her home kitchen on Voorhies Street in 1968.

Laura’s II offers the comforting soul foods Madonna was taught to cook by her mother, Dorothy Mae Broussard, who was in turn taught by her mother-in-law, Laura. When people ask what is her secret behind her delicious food, she says “The secret is all about time and consistency. It is a science: start cooking, cook for hours, and taste, taste, taste.”

The staples of stuffed turkey wings, fried catfish, fried pork chops, fried chicken, red beans and rice, smothered okra, and much more….all with a heavy emphasis of rice and gravy, are beloved by Madonna’s longtime customers as well as newcomers who flock to experience the rich soul consistently food offered day in and day out, from 10:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. every day except Mondays.

Lauras’ II opened on January 8, 2000, and just celebrated 24 years in business. The delicious food Madonna and her team offer have become known both in the U. S. and internationally due to the incredible exposure she gained through the late Anthony Bourdain and superblogger Mark Weins. People travel in from all over just to taste Laura II’s food. Locals also happily wait in line to enjoy the comforting Creole food cooked only like Lauras’ II can.

Madonna reminisced about the beautiful Sunday dinners she grew up on, at her grandmother Laura’s home: “My grandmother’s Sunday dinners were exceptional, like Thanksgiving every Sunday. We had beef tongue, rice dressing, beets, rice and gravy, every great staple you can think of.”

Madonna’s grandmother was the leader of this successful restaurant business concept and the menu she originally developed in 1968 is still found at Laura’s II. Madonna’s mother, Dorothy, was the one who instilled in Madonna the need for kindness and love for their clientele. “It’s about respect for your customers. We want you to feel comfortable and come back.”

Madonna says she spends “99.9%” of her time at work at the cash register. Greeting people and welcoming them into the restaurant is most important. “We want to know people’s names and have them want to come back.”

She credits Sid Williams for introducing her to Anthony Bourdain in 2018, who showed up with ten minutes notice one Sunday morning to film a segment for his CNN show “Parts Unknown.” Bourdain’s team was in the area to film a Courir de Mardi Gras Chicken Run, but rain prevented them from participating. They were looking for an alternative venue to shoot on the day that was both Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day. Sid had them call Madonna and she “got ten minutes heads up. He was subtle, very subtle. To have him come, as such a Foodie, was a great experience. I met him at the door. He looked around and saw people together in the dining room and asked if it “was always like this with all these people together. He said keep it like this.’ That meant a lot to me as he gave such affirmation, particularly about our culture.” People still clamor to sit at the table where Bourdain feasted on the ever-popular stuffed turkey wing dinner.

Madonna Broussard and Lauras’ II have survived 24 years in business, learning along the way how to keep the books, meet business needs, and go with the flow. The challenges presented by the COVID shutdown led Madonna to stay open, set up a tent, and learned how to be “car hops.” She described being outside in the rain and all the elements, with a note pad and pen, taking orders, while a “day care” inside consisted of kid and grandkids running around. “We curbsided a lot food!”

The business side of running a restaurant is the hardest part from Madonna’s experience. Cooking is easy compared to paying and calculating taxes, getting the right CPA, and managing overhead. When asked about upgrading to the newest technologies, she says, “After all these years. I feel it is so OK to stay in the old school mindset. I can tell people my menu, whether I call it out, put it on paper, or have a chalkboard. I don’t want QR codes for my menu. My customer base includes many elderly people and I won’t do that to them.”

Madonna’s daughter, Lacey Broussard, has worked in the restaurant since she was little, peeling potatoes at the age of two. She has great passion for the business and is an integral part of Lauras’ II, working alongside her mother every day. Madonna says, “Lacey is a mini-me. She’s great.”

Madonna encourages up-and-coming restauranteurs to “Get all the business aspects together in line and in place. Have good people you can trust, who check and balance your money, keeping things on par. It’s hard to do it by yourself.”

Lauras’ II offers catering for events, both big and small, and will deliver to your place. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044976346735 or call (337)593-8006 to place an order.

Discover Lafayette is proud to showcase Madonna Broussard and Lauras’ II. If you haven’t eaten there yet, get with it! It is a true experience that showcases Acadiana’s beautiful culture and delicious food.

Our guest today is Charles Edwards, CEO and Founder of One Telemed, a telehealth service for mental health patients in underserved communities for a majority of the Medicaid Managed Care Organizations in Louisiana. 

One Telemed uses innovative HIPAA video/audio technology to connect individuals in need of licensed professionals, reducing the wait time for a new patient needing to see a Psychiatrist from 90 days to 3-5 days. For more information, please visit https://www.onetelemed.com/about

A native of Lafayette, Charles has worked in the mental health field since his first job out of high school 28 years ago. His life journey has been defined by the call for service, a call he heard from God who reached out to him with a distinct voice.

During the interview, Charles shares the story of the persistent voice that has led him to step up and serve others. His own life was changed by a traumatic brain injury he suffered the weekend before he left for De Vries Institute. He was playing basketball with buddies, and says, “That moment changed my life forever….I went up for a dunk, me and a guy got tangled there, and I landed from eight feet up onto my head. I had a blood clot on my brain and my spine. I didn’t breathe for about 3 to 5 minutes.” He regained consciousness but his brain started swelling and he was throwing up. The doctors didn’t think he would make it due to the length of time without oxygen and the brain swelling. Charles recalls awakening from his coma in his hospital bed and hearing a voice calling him. “I hear my name, the same voice that called out to me before. I opened my eyes and saw a tunnel with a hand coming out. And I took it. I remember looking down at myself. Then I looked up and saw this ball of energy, this ball of light. It was God!” God asked him if he wanted to stay or go back and do His work. While Charles wanted to stay, God wanted him to go back and do the work he was meant to do. This near death experience introduced him to a higher force that has led him to serve others in love ever since.

Charles is a persistent fellow who keeps going no matter the challenge before him. He has experienced miraculous events and circumstances that continually remind him that his life has purpose, as long as he follows God’s calling.

Before Charles founded One Telemed, he worked in a series of jobs, including as Community Liaison and a Regional Director of Community Relations for one of the largest mental health providers in the state of Louisiana. It was through that experience that he learned firsthand that people in underserved communities did not have access to mental health care. He came to realize that utilizing the traditional method of delivering services would not be an effective way to resolve the need for the growing mental health crisis. So, he heeded his higher power’s call for him to serve.

In August 2013, Charles pioneered the movement for Telepsychiatry services and started Advance Telehealth, a telemedicine technology company. In September 2017, he started a provider company and founded One Telemed with a goal in mind to improve patient outcomes by making mental health treatment accessible to all, no matter their income or location in Louisiana.

One Telemed provides trauma and grief counseling over video conferencing technology, thus allowing individuals to talk with a licensed professional from anywhere in Louisiana in a private and safe environment for healing and growth. Other services offered include Brain Tap Therapy, Transition Care Management, and Clinical Oversight for Behavioral Health patients.

Charles Edwards, owner of One TeleMed, received the Small Business of the Year Award by Junior Achievement of Acadiana in 2021. “I’ve always had a heart for service.”

One Telemed now employs 27 and is actively hiring. Approximately 40,000 patients in Louisiana are being served and Charles is currently in negotiations with a national provider to expand One Telemed’s outreach to millions more across the U. S.

We thank Charles Edwards and One Telemed for the critical services they are offering our most vulnerable. His story is inspirational and we encourage you to share it with others who may benefit who are in need of mental health treatment.