Discover Lafayette

Judge Jules Edwards has served in the 15th Judicial District Court for 27 years. He joined Jan Swift of Discover Lafayette to discuss what he's learned from working in the state court system and his concomitant desire to help at-risk youth address behavioral problems before they end up in jail. Judge Edwards is a candidate for Lafayette City Court Judge in the upcoming election on November 3, 2020.

A native of New Orleans and a graduate of Loyola and Loyola Law School, Jules Edwards has served as a Judge for the 15th Judicial District Court since January 1, 1993. He has been a pioneer in effectively rehabilitating offenders and turning around lives through drug courts and re-entry courts. Judge Edwards thanked his parents for stressing servant leadership and the importance of obtaining an education.

Jules Edwards, Jr., father of Judge Jules Edwards III, operated Edwards Shoe Service in New Orleans. He would famously say, "I will heel you, I will save your soul, I will even dye for you!"

Judge Edwards has distinguished himself with lifelong service to our country, state, and community. He enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve in the summer of his freshman year in college in 1977; he served in the Louisiana National Guard until 2007, retiring as a Colonel and recognized as the best Staff Judge Advocate in the United States. At the request of Major General Gary Whipple of Louisiana, Edwards served as Inspector General, working to ensure that the units were following proper procedures. He credits his time in the military for building his character, teaching him discipline, and instilling honor and integrity into his daily actions.

"Serving in the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve taught me perseverance and how to work well with others in a selfless manner. At times, the relentless challenges we faced in training were overwhelming, but I learned that I could get through each moment, one moment at a time. "

A former Chair of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, Edwards was inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame in 2013. He is Past-President of the Louisiana District Judges Association.

Edwards is currently a member of the Advisory Council on Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education, and a Member of the Louisiana Drug Policy Board. He has worked with the Louisiana Sentencing Commission to assist the judiciary and the legislature in formulating and implementing a uniform sentencing policy to ensure that judges throughout Louisiana provide consistency in their rulings. Edwards has created and taught classes through the Judicial College to train judges on how to utilize evidence-based practices, and how to respond to people in highly charged environments by being attentive and respectful.

Judge Jules D. Edwards, III is married to Orida Broussard Edwards, and they have three adult children. His wife, Orida, has been practicing law since 1986, daughter Juliesa has been practicing law since 2016, daughter-in-law, Brittany started her practice in 2019, youngest son Julien is a financial advisor, and oldest son Jules, IV is a veteran, student, and co-owner of a small business.

Anytime a person is arrested in Lafayette Parish on a drug charge, they are assigned to Judge Edwards' Court. His goal is to nudge the drug offender from "'The Road to Perdition' to the road to success." He shared that "one of the principal difficulties in society is that we don't do an adequate job of socializing, there is no focused effort to develop young people's character. While this is not done on purpose, they make decisions based upon what brings pleasure at that moment. They don't think about eventual pain or how their behavior impacts others. But there are evidence-based procedures to get someone back on track."

Dr. David Fisher, World War II Army veteran and lifelong educator, joined Jan Swift of Discover Lafayette, to discuss his storied life and the many adventures he has enjoyed in his 94 years.

We salute this hero among us who on October 2, 1945, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his extraordinary service in the Pacific Theatre. Well-known for his lifelong dedication to education, he and his family are the proprietors of Fisher Early Childhood Education Centers in Lafayette

While his birthplace, the community of Evangeline, is no longer on the map, he recalled a happy childhood in the town that was the first site of the drilling of an oil well in Louisiana. For the story of that first oil discovery and commercial well drilled in Louisiana in 1901, visit http://www.energyglobalnews.com/jennings-oilfield-the-birthplace-of-louisianas-oil-industry-in-1901/.)

Born in 1925, his grandfather and father worked for Gulf Oil, and the town was full of shallow oil wells. Dr. Fisher remembers learning how to swim with the other kids in the salt dome tanks filled with the water diverted from the wells as drilling occurred. It was a time for simple pleasures. But his life would change at the age of 10 when his mother died from double pneumonia. The family moved to the "big town of Jennings" nearby soon thereafter and he lived with his grandparents.

David Fisher in 1927

After graduating from Jennings High School in 1943, Dr. Fisher joined the Army when he turned 18 and he trained to be a radio operator. He was placed on a B-29 crew and stationed in Guam, flying 22 missions over Japan.

It is not common knowledge that WWII didn't end with the dropping of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When Japanese Emperor Hirohito refused to unconditionally surrender to the Allied Forces, the Last Combat Mission was flown on the evening of August 14, 1945. Dr. Fisher's crew was on one of the B-29's that strategically targeted the bombing of transportation centers and factories in Japan in this last effort to end the war. When their plane ran short on fuel on the return to Guam, they were forced to land in Iwo Jima, and that is where Dr. Fisher and crew learned on August 15, 1945, that the Japanese had finally surrendered.

Happy to see the war successfully completed, Dr. Fisher was honorably discharged on November 22, 1945. He returned to Louisiana and enrolled at SLI (Southwestern Louisiana Institute) at the age of 20 in the Spring of 1946, and happily recalls how he met his future wife, Shirley, when "she was in her last semester and he was in his first."

David Fisher and Shirley Rhodes Fisher during their college days.SLI Football Team Captain David Fisher in the 1940s.Shirley Rhodes and David Fisher at SLI Homecoming 1946.

Although he had never seen a college football game before he attended SLI, Dr. Fisher had a "successful athletic career" as he put it, and served as Captain of the football team. He was the youngest person on the team, as most of the players had served longer than him during WWII and were in their middle 20's and older. He also excelled in track, served as Co-Captain of the team, and tried out for the Olympics. As one of the youngest players, he recalls he was also one of the youngest in his air crew while serving during the war.

Fisher's athletic prowess was noticed by the pros, and he was drafted by the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Colts but declined, as he was more interested in returning home to Jennings where he had accepted a job as Assistant Coach at Jennings High. Dr. Fisher noted that at that time, professional football players weren't as highly compensated as they are now and he has never looked back on that chapter of his life.

Reggie Thomas, a thirty-year veteran of the Lafayette City Police Department who recently retired, shares his journey of growing up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, joining the police force in 1990, and how an effective police department works to build trust in the entire community in this edition of Discover Lafayette with Jan Swift.

In the aftermath of the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis, public outcry has caused intense scrutiny of the inner workings of police departments nationwide. Retired Deputy Chief Reggie Thomas is in a unique position to comment on the need for change as he has lived on both sides of the issue: growing up as a black teen in the 9th Ward in New Orleans, he was exposed to rampant neighborhood criminal activity.

Reggie was encouraged to escape his neighborhood by a kind mentor, Melvin, who led Reggie to join the Air Force upon graduation from high school. Reggie expressed special gratitude for Melvin, who took him under his wing, as Reggie's dad had been shot and killed when he was seven.

The traumatic event of his father's murder shaped Reggie's beliefs as to how law enforcement should operate as his family never got closure on his dad's death or learn who may have committed the crime. In fact, the only call ever made to his mother was in the middle of the night informing her of the death, and the promise to follow up with a visit by police never occurred.

Having never left New Orleans, Reggie was amazed at how clean and well-maintained Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio was upon arrival as a new recruit. It opened his eyes as to how the world could be.

After a stint in the Air Force, Reggie returned to New Orleans and worked in corrections with former Orleans Sheriff Charles Foti's office. He remembers the New Orleans police as being "thugs on the street" at that time. There was no diversity in the ranks and Reggie understood why no one would call to report police harassment as "there was no one to call because nobody cared. No one (in a position of power) took it seriously."

He shared an example of how he was mistreated right after he had gotten his badge from the Sheriff's office. Sitting on a porch with a group of his friends, police officers stopped when they spotted the group of young black men. "The police always stopped when they saw a group." Ordered to put their hands on the police car, Reggie explained that they weren't doing anything but talking and that he was an officer himself. When he showed his badge to the police officer, the officer kicked it across the street saying, "You're not a police officer, you're just a corrections officer." Sheriff Foti was quite upset at this incident, but it was representative of a larger problem of brutality for no reason.

Reggie moved to Lafayette with his wife, Lisa, in 1990 when she enrolled at USL. Her brother was a recruiting officer for the Lafayette City Police and he convinced Reggie to join the force. He remembers the department as being professional and respectful of its citizens, but the force was not diverse and black officers were lower in rank. Off-color jokes about race were common and he had to look the other way more often than not.

Reggie Thomas as a young man. He joined the Lafayette City Police Department in 1990 and retired after thirty years of service in May 2020.

His career started off in narcotics which is dangerous work. And the worst case scenario happened on one occasion when he was returning from inter-department work in Patterson LA on an undercover drug deal. Reggie was still on duty, driving back down the highway in an old car and dressed the part of a drug dealer, admittedly speeding. He was stopped by a state trooper and ordered to "Put your hands on the hood!

Ben Berthelot has served as Executive Director of the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission since 2012 and in that role, is an enthusiastic and effective spokesperson for the restaurants, hotels, and related industry tourism professionals that support our region's unique cultural attributes. In this episode of Discover Lafayette, Ben visits with Jan Swift about the devastating impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on the tourism industry and the hopeful signs he is witnessing as Louisiana enters Phase 2.

Currently serving as Chair of Louisiana Travel Association, Ben Berthelot was appointed to the Resilient Louisiana Commission Hospitality/Tourism Task Force that counsels Gov. John Bel Edwards on the needs of the tourism industry as it emerges from the shutdown.

52% of local unemployment claims have come from people working in food service or accommodations. Since mid-March, Lafayette has lost 38,540 room nights with a $51 million impact to the economy which accounts for the typical meeting, sports, and convention traffic. This number does not include the loss of $50 million from the cancellation of Festival International or the additional loss from leisure and corporate travelers, and the many other annual festival attendees who stop in Lafayette while in the region.

Nationwide, eight million jobs have been lost in the tourism industry since mid-March 2020, which is nine times more than that affected by 9/11. In Lafayette, the effect has been dramatic; in mid-March, the room occupancy rate was down to 23% and revenue dropped by 70%.

One major shot in the arm that has helped local hotels and restaurants is the reopening of the youth sports market, which is a major draw for families around the region. In early June, a softball tournament that drew teams to the area netted over $1 million in economic activity and a 65% room occupancy rate on the Saturday night of the tournament.

While one night's economic burst won't turn the market around to profitability, Ben stated that it does go to show the immense power of the youth market on tourism in our market. He also pointed out that major investments made in sports complexes in Youngsville, Broussard, Carencro's Pelican Park, and Erath are tremendous assets that will continue to draw in crowds. Further, many of the sports activities that attract the crowds are amenable to the social distancing requirements and limiting the numbers in attendance; most youth sports draw parents and grandparents rather than huge crowds of other spectators, and limiting the number of people in the dugouts to 10 can easily be accommodated.

Ben shared a few examples which highlight the impact on local employment: the Doubletree Hotel, Lafayette's largest hotel, was down from 130 employees to 12; the Cajundome staff was down to 2 employees and has been dealt a major blow in revenue with the cancellation of the Cajunland State Fair, multiple concerts, and other events. At this point, no one knows when concerts will be allowed to take place.

The Resilient Louisiana Hospitality Task Force has made it known to state officials that Local venues must know by July 1, 2020 if events will be allowed to occur so that planning for Festival Acadien and other events may move forward, according to Berthelot.

Eat Lafayette began earlier than scheduled this year to help local restaurants with marketing and to remind area residents of the need to patronize locally-owned restaurants. With all registration fees waived, over 200 restaurants are participating; usually over the past 16 years, about 100 restaurants would participate. With Phase 2 allowing 50% occupancy in restaurants, Ben is optimistic that the restaurants will now enjoy a more stable base of customers returning to their establishments.

"Homelessness is one paycheck away for many people in America and Covid-19 is really testing this," says Leigh Rachal, Executive Director of Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing ("ARCH). Leigh has served in this capacity for four years and each day she is guided by her "belief in the wild idea that housing is a basic human need and that everyone should have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing."

Leigh joined Jan Swift on Discover Lafayette to provide an overview of the homeless situation in Acadiana as of early June 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edward's moratorium on evictions is set to end on June 15, 2020; Louisiana law mandates five days notice for nonpayment of rent and that means that by June 20, the first wave of homelessness is set to unfold. A second wave is expected by August 23rd as the CARES Act Eviction Moratorium is lifted and landlords owning properties that were federally financed or assisted will be able to evict their tenants.

Evicted tenants are not legally absolved from paying back due rent and will still owe these monies while trying to come up with sufficient funds to find a new place to live. The reality is that 45% of renters in Louisiana are housing "cost-burdened," meaning that they pay more than 35% of their income on housing costs with no safety net to back them up or cover these delinquencies.

ARCH's main funding is derived from HUD as a Continuum of Care (CoC) agency that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals. ARCH is the lead agency for HUD in Acadiana and covers an eight parish region which includes Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion. The agency is client-centered and utilizes national best practices working to get people housed first and then providing "wrap-around support" to make sure they stay housed. ARCH also assists people who may just need a rent deposit or help negotiating with a landlord to get needed repairs done. She mentioned that many elderly and disabled persons don't have access to adequate plumbing or a working kitchen in homes that they own and ARCH assists with those needs.

COVID-19's impact on the economy and jobs has strained resources available to help the homeless, with an increase of 58% or over 200 families rendered homeless since the coronavirus shut down in mid-March. These families were not leaseholders but were doubled and tripled up with family or friends or staying in a hotel because they had lost their job and home before COVID hit. Money ran out or the stress of too many people under one roof led to their homelessness. Leigh spoke of the "hotel trap" many find themselves in; hotels are expensive and it can be hard to save up for a deposit and the first month's rent when you expend all resources before the end of the month, month after month, with no savings.

Shelters have reached maximum capacity and the closure of the Salvation Army this week (which was planned before COVID) exacerbated the shortage. ARCH has negotiated with local hotel owners to put up homeless families at a reduced rate, and the hotels are also extending the offer to "get an extra room free if two are paid for." Community donations have generously been collected to go toward this effort and emergency funding was also utilized. (Donations may be made here.) The Louisiana Housing Corporation is covering hotel costs now through the Emergency Solutions Grants fund, but this fund is not unlimited.

"We know there will be an enormous need for help with rental assistance once the moratorium on evictions begin. People keep asking me, 'What's the plan?' Right now, there is no plan because there are no resources to meet the need. Without housing stability, we can't get back to normal if employees don't have ...

Olivia Savoie, co-founder of Raconteur Story Writing Services, has built a successful enterprise preserving lives and legacies through the written word.

In this Discover Lafayette podcast with host Jan Swift, Olivia shared her lifelong love of writing and the joy she has always felt when in the company of older people. She has incorporated these passions into a business built upon gathering information and photos which result in heirloom stories and tribute books.

A high school teacher encouraged Olivia to be a biographer so she could do the things she loved and utilize her talents to the best and highest use. She took that sound advice and recounted that on the same day she graduated from UL - Lafayette in 2016, she "walked out of her last final exam and into her first client's home to do a life story interview." Raconteur means "storyteller" and Olivia selected this French name for her business as it seemed a good fit for her business as well as a loving memory of her grandmother who spoke French.

Joshua Savoie, husband and co-founder of Raconteur, "does everything but write the life histories", handling the scheduling, helping with the photographs, and working with the families. He also brought banking experience to the upstart business. The two met at church, and Joshua is a 2015 graduate of UL - Lafayette.

Raconteur produces four types of books: (1)"Life" storybooks which capture the life events and memories of a living person; (2) "Tribute" books which honor a person who has passed away; (3)"Couple's" Life Story which captures the stories of an elderly couple, starting with tales of each of them as a youth, moving onto to their love story, and then the path their lives took together; and (4) Corporate Histories which document a company's rise to prominence and details of its longevity.

Olivia conducts in-home interviews to gather information, and will typically spend three hours per day over a four to five day period of time. She asks between 200 to 300 customized questions, depending on the type of book being prepared, and provides a custom photo list to guide the client on the type of photos they should gather in preparation for the book. A scanner is used to copy the photos while in the client's home, and Olivia emphasized that she never takes precious pictures off-premises. Once the information is gathered, the Raconteur team works for a few weeks to compile the story into book form.

"It is important to keep the voice of the person, their quips, their way of communicating as their story is told," Olivia Savoie of Raconteur Story Writing Services says. The books are between 50 to 200 pages long, depending on the type of work commissioned. She has gotten to know Louisiana's unique culture well and hears recurring stories such as people who got in trouble for speaking French or the "hog killings." Photo by Romero and Romero.

Most of Olivia's clients are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. A few have always wanted to write a book and her assistance provides just the right amount of help to get the job done. Most, however, are just interested in documenting their story to hand down to their descendants and Olivia and her team will write the whole book based upon the information provided through the oral interviews. "It is important to keep the voice of the person, their quips, their way of communicating as their story is told," Olivia says. The books are between 50 to 200 pages long, depending on the type of work commissioned.

Raconteur's business has grown and Olivia travels across the Southeast to meet with clients personally. About 2/3 of her work is done in Louisiana, throughout the state.

A favorite quote is by George Meredith: "Memoirs are the back stairs of histo...

Marilyn Castle, Chief Judge of the 15th Judicial District Court covering Lafayette, Acadia, and Vermilion Parishes, joined Jan Swift on Discover Lafayette to discuss how the operations of the courthouse have been impacted due to the pandemic shutdown.

Judge Castle received her Juris Doctorate from LSU in 1976 and then served early in her career as an Assistant DA. From 1979 until her election to the bench in November 1998, her practice focused primarily in the areas of business and commercial litigation. She has served as President of the Lafayette Parish Bar Association and is active in her community both in her church at Asbury United Methodist Church and the Bonaparte Mardi Gras Krewe.

No stranger to leading during times of crisis, Judge Castle also served as Chief Judge during 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The pandemic, however, has altered operations in the courthouse in ways no one has ever experienced and which called for unparalleled crisis management.

Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber took swift steps to close off the jail facility from outside traffic in his effort to keep the prisoners safe from the coronavirus, which actions have prevented an outbreak in the jail. Any new arrestees are put under a fourteen-day quarantine. No inmates have left the facility to appear in court, and the number of visitors going into the jail has been extremely limited. Most "court" appearances by prisoners have been conducted by video conference, although under Lousiana law some appearances, such as sentencing, must be conducted in person. Glass partitions separate the prisoners from visitors such as Judge Castle, and all visitors have to have their temperature checked before entering. Prisoners are separated in smaller numbers into pods to cut down exposure from the greater population.

From March 16, 2020 until the courthouse reopened for general business on May 18, 2020, all hearings were conducted by video, except for emergency hearings involving juvenile matters or for people seeking protective orders. Staff worked from home, and there were no in-court, in-person proceedings except for the emergency matters mentioned herein.

A large number of criminal court appearances such as pre-trial matters, criminal trials, and rules originally scheduled to take place during the shutdown were missed, and people whose hearings were postponed are now mandated to go to the courthouse to receive "re-service of their summons" to obtain their new date of criminal hearing, as outlined in the 15TH JDC Phase 1 Order. Based upon the alphabet according to the individual's last name, the dates to visit the courthouse for this mandated re-service are as follows: A - I: Tuesday, May 26; J - Q: Wednesday, May 27; and R - Z: Thursday, May 28. Large tents will be set up on the E. Main side of the courthouse and people will be directed to the service desk by a bailiff. People who fail to show up can expect a sheriff's deputy at their door with a bench warrant for their arrest.

People whose criminal hearings were postponed are now mandated to go to the courthouse to receive "re-service of their summons" to obtain a new date for their criminal hearing, as outlined in the 15TH JDC Phase 1 Order. Pictured: Chief Judge Marilyn C. Castle speaking at City Hall. Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

Most of the civil trials that were scheduled during the shutdown have been reset for later this year. The majority of cases heard by the court are criminal in nature and the judges are having to work out how juries will be selected and how they will accommodate the spacing issues involved. Only a few courtrooms have a large enough capacity to seat jurors six feet apart, and the size of jury pools will be limited; people called f...

Meet Gerald Gerami, owner of Rug Gallery by Gerami’s, who has followed in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his late grandfather, Joseph Patrick Gerami, who opened his first retail establishment in Lafayette in 1920.

Gerald Gerami sat down with Jan Swift, host of Discover Lafayette, to share his experience as a successful vendor who has survived the ups and downs of the marketplace in Lafayette. This interview is full of nuggets of wisdom from someone who jumped out of his comfort zone, believed in his ability to meet the needs of his community, and took the risk of opening his own retail establishment.

The original Gerami family business was started by Joseph Patrick Gerami who had immigrated to the United States from Sicily and settled in Lafayette after he returned from WWI. Gerami's opened first as a furniture market in 1920 with the financial assistance of the iconic businessman, Maurice Heymann, who believed in investing in solid business people who could use a helping hand. Although Joseph Gerami was originally a furniture craftsman, his retail operation evolved into the opening of a second store offering flooring. This store is still open today on Jefferson Blvd. in downtown Lafayette, some 100 years after it was first opened by Joseph Gerami, and is run by his grandsons Gary and Greg Gerami.

Members of the Gerami family: Glenn, Greg, Gerald Sr., Gary, and Gerald Jr.

Gerald Gerami, Jr. had been influenced by his maternal grandfather, L. D. "Dudley" Foreman, who was a longtime banker at First National Bank in Lafayette. Post-college, Gerald first went into banking as a young man and then in the late 1980s was courted by his college buddy, Don Hargroder of Courtesy Automotive, to go into auto sales.

After about 10 years in the auto business, Gerald was ready to open his own business and decided to return his family's retail roots with a twist: he decided there was a good opportunity in Lafayette to open a stand-alone rug location which could offer complementary pieces to the flooring options his family was selling. The original Gerami's Flooring store didn't have the room to offer an expanded selection of area rugs, and the natural synergy between the two stores could be utilized to enhance the business of both.

In 1998, Gerald Gerami, Jr. opened Rug Gallery by Gerami’s to meet a needed niche in Lafayette’s retail market as homeowners increasingly installed hard flooring and decorative rugs were becoming more popular. The timing was good and the original location in Time Plaza on Johnston St. was a high traffic locale with a convenient location across town from the original Gerami's. In 2014, Gerald moved his store to its current location at 105 Englewood Drive, facing the busy Ambassador Caffrey corridor and allowing him to roughly double his showroom space.

In 2014, Gerald moved his store to its current location at 105 Englewood Dr., Lafayette LA.

Gerami's clientele is mainly women who make the home decorating selections. The store's experienced manager, Monica Cagle, has worked with Gerald since its inception. Gerald's wife, Carla, while not full-time, travels to market to help with the selection of the rug and accessories inventory, and with day to day decisions.

Gerald and Carla Gerami with Alex Pekar at a rug market in Atlanta.

Many people think that Gerami's only offers rugs, and expensive Oriental rugs at that, but the store offers rugs in all price brackets as well as accessories to complement your home decor. Its staff will help you select the appropriate rug and accessories and you have the opportunity to take the merchandise home to see if it works with your existing decor before committing to the purchase.

Business success is contingent upon effective sales strategies, no matter what field you're in. Looking for guidance in surviving today's trying economic times, Jan Swift of Discover Lafayette called upon Reece Theriot of Fulcrum Sales and Marketing to share his expertise.

Reece Theriot is young, thirty years old to be exact. Yet, he has over ten years of experience in sales and marketing. A graduate of UL - Lafayette in public relations, he realized quickly that this is not a big market for publicists. Wanting to stay in Lafayette, Reece joined Arthrex, the largest medical device sales company in the U. S. He learned that he had a knack for listening to what his doctor clients needed and was able to find effective solutions. He earned his MBA from UL-Lafayette during that time.

As an instructor of Sales and Entrepreneurship in the B. I. Moody III College of Business for nine semesters, Theriot would open the class with the infamous clip of Alec Baldwin playing "Blake" in Glengarry Glen Ross where he berated the beleaguered salespeople and yelled at them that they should "Always be Closing (ABC's)" no matter what it took. Theriot stressed that this stereotype of salespeople provides a lesson in all the wrong ways successful relationships are built with potential clients.

As a professor, he learned that it was difficult for his students to get hired, as most companies preferred to hire experienced salespeople over an entry-level candidate. As a sales trainer and consultant, he also realized that the majority of companies didn't need sales training, they needed someone to "own the problem" of sales and help them solve it. As Theriot says, "They didn't want the recipe book; they wanted someone to cook the recipe."

Theriot took these lessons and opened Fulcrum Sales & Marketing to provide meaningful opportunities for sales professionals to become certified in the best techniques. Fulcrum also outsources a "boots on the ground" sales force that companies can hire to help them find new business opportunities, make product pitches, and create customer relationships. They assist with inbound and outbound marketing strategies, which used to be referred to as "pull and push" marketing.

Reece Theriot with student Jack Stromain upon completion of Fulcrum Sales and Marketing's Apprenticeship Program.

While most companies today engage in digital marketing efforts, it can be a scattershot effort aimed at "selling to everyone and making money." Theriot says it is important to define "who" your ideal client is so that you can understand what your marketing campaign should look like and who it should target. By proactively defining your customer and identifying your company's core strength, you can offer the specific solution for what the buyer needs to solve their problem/weakness.

The challenge is to position your product in the mind of the consumer so you can stand out as being different and distinguish your product from that offered by competitors. Theriot gave an example of service companies who will tell potential clients, "What makes us different from others is the quality of our service." This is ineffective because everyone says that. He counseled that if you can show people how your service is similar to that which they have experienced but different in a way that meets their particular needs, the customer will recognize your value. It's a lot easier to sell "different" than "being better," according to Theriot.

Theriot quoted UL - Lafayette Business Professor Geoff Stewart who is known for saying, "Where the seller's strength lines up with the buyer's weakness, this becomes the seller's opportunity." Every company has external opportunities and threats. A professional salesperson will identify "who" their ideal c...

Isabella de la Houssaye is our guest on Discover Lafayette with host, Jan Swift. Isabella is a native of Crowley and has worked and traveled all over the world, first as an international finance lawyer at White & Case LLP, then as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, and currently as the co-owner of Material Culture, in Philadelphia, a retail establishment and auction house.

Isabella is also an endurance athlete, mountain climber, and a certified yoga instructor. She has run marathons in every state in the U. S (and then some), competed in 10 Ironmans, and 20 ultramarathons.

A non-smoker, Isabella was diagnosed in February 2018 with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Lung cancer disease kills more women and men in the U. S. and worldwide than any other cancer. People mistakenly believe that only smokers get lung cancer, when in fact 65% of people who get new lung cancer diagnoses never smoked or are former smokers. Scientists believe the rise in cases even as the rate of smoking decreases is linked to environmental factors such as pollution driven by fossil fuels and exposure to radon.

We spoke by telephone on Good Friday, April 10, 2020, as she was in her hometown, Crowley, Louisiana, stopping for a brief visit with family before continuing the last 1000 miles of her 3000-mile cross-country bike ride across the U. S. She is on a mission to raise awareness of the symptoms of lung cancer to facilitate early diagnoses as well as educate on the importance of researching effective treatments. She began her trek on March 10, 2020, in San Diego, CA, and finished April 20, 2020, on the Atlantic coast in Jacksonville, FL. While she had originally had plans to bike as part of a larger group and hold cancer awareness events across the U. S., including the Miles Perret Center in Lafayette, the Covid-19 pandemic changed all that. She plans to come back when it's safe to be in a crowd and hold public events.

Isabella de la Houssaye and her husband, David Crane, biked across the U. S. to raise awareness of lung cancer, its symptoms, and the importance of research for treatments. To learn more about Isabella, lung cancer, and enjoy her beautiful blog on mindfulness, please visit https://bikebreathebelieve.org/

Lung cancer is typically diagnosed at late Stage III or IV and there are few symptoms until the cancer has advanced and spread throughout the body. For people with Stage IV lung cancer, the five-year survival rate is less than 10%.

When de la Houssaye was first diagnosed in early 2018, the cancer was in her lungs, adrenal glands, bones, spine, and six tumors were in her brain. She had been experiencing severe Level 10 pain in her sacrum in her back area, and doctors initially thought it must be a pulled muscle because she was so active. No doctor thought that she might have lung cancer, and she had continuing racing and winning her age group in marathons and the Ironman competition. But by the time of her diagnosis, her sacrum was 100% eaten up by tumors and she was bedridden, dying.

Ironically, an MRI taken to diagnose what was thought to be a sports injury revealed tumors in her spine and a CT scan confirmed Stage IV cancer, yet her insurance company didn't want to approve a PET scan because she was dying. She fought to get this biomarker test and the results allowed her physicians to target the best treatment based upon her specific genetic mutation. Within 24 hours of ingesting Avastin, she felt an immediate difference in her body as it responded positively; she was also able to avoid tough, old-school chemotherapy which would have been much more brutal. The tumors in her spine shrank over the next few months. She was one of the lucky ones for whom the targeted treatment worked.

“Never give up.