It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

Every business has an origin story: the moment where it all clicked and made sense. Most of the time, it’s the stuff of myth and legend. Successful businesses rarely fall from the sky and bonk you on the head. Unless, Sir Isaac Newton had it in his mind to bottle gravity and sell it. 

For most entrepreneurs, getting from the idea to success is more about force of will than innovation, especially if you work in a niche industry. For Brent Broussard, inspiration came from therapy. 

Brent took an interest in his therapist’s beaded bracelet, and his therapist suggested making bracelets might help Brent work on his patience. So Brent got to work, and in 2021, Beads by Brentley was born. 

Brent’s bracelets are made with earthy beads like obsidian, lava, turquoise and tiger eyes. Right now, his company is mostly e-commerce end-to-end. He sources the beads online and sells them through Facebook and Shopify, with some inventory sold at Lone Wolf Gatherings in Lafayette. 

Brent also operates a nonprofit called Acadiana Vanguard Youth Initiative. The program helps young people on Lafayette’s Northside develop financial literacy skills, as well as life coaching and business coaching. Both the nonprofit and Beads by Brently are housed under Brent’s company Broussard Enterprise Group. 

Brent grew up on the Northside and spent years in sales before moving into entrepreneurship. 

"Politics is Louisiana’s favorite sport," the saying goes. But it’s not necessarily a big industry. The landscape for political communications and strategy is relatively narrow and limited to policymakers in Baton Rouge.

Breaking into the business from outside the Capitol is not an easy thing to do. You’ve got to ride a wave of victory to get somewhere in politics, and that can be hard with small-time candidates and causes, who often don’t have big budgets or name recognition.

Azi Yazdi-Kaufman is a political strategist and created the Blue Jay Strategic Consulting Group, a firm she launched in 2023. Azi had worked around communications and marketing for years, but moved officially into political strategy while working to change a piece of legislation that would have prohibited some foreign nationals from owning property in Louisiana. Azi is the daughter of an immigrant and she brought that perspective to her lobbying work. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know the saying: They don’t build them like they used to. When it comes to homes and buildings, that’s usually said like it’s a bad thing. But with a changing climate and changing marketplace, building things like we used to — brick by brick, nail by nail — just doesn’t cut it any more. 

Enter modular construction.

The idea isn’t totally unheard of. Prefabricated buildings have been around for decades. But New Iberia's Tiago Atwi and his brother have brought a new twist on the concept with their comany, Boxy Construction. 

Boxy designs and delivers steel framed, modular structures for residential and commercial construction. Think of it like real-life legos. Boxy ships all the parts you need, pre-fabricated with the fastenings and holes you need to set up the building quickly. 

Tiago is a mechanical engineer by trade and worked on wind turbines out of college, getting his start on modular construction for a company based in Atlanta. He decided to bring the concept home to New Iberia where he grew up. And Boxy was born. 

It’s not just building standards that have changed. They don’t make soap like they used to either. Ebony Robert figured that out when her son had a stubborn case of eczema. On a trip back home to visit family in Orlando, her great grandmother encouraged her to make him some old fashioned lye soap. 

It worked. And suddenly, Ebony had a good problem on her hands: she needed to make a lot more soap. That journey led her to founding Ebony’s Beauty Hair and Skin Care. By 2015, she was selling her products in stores and online. In 2018, she opened a storefront in Lafayette’s Northgate mall.

The brand has grown tremendously. Ebony’s products are sold by Amazon, Walmart and carried by Doordash. Her shop carries about 3,000 different beauty and wellness products. But her handmade soaps are still the star of the show — and Ebony still mixes, labels and ships them all herself. 

In 2020, Ebony opened the Entrepreneurship Learning Academy to help others learn how to run businesses. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Lilliana Morgan at itsacadiana.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Balance is everything. Greek philosophers thought of it as the key to happiness — the Golden Mean, the happy medium between extremes. 

When you’re out of balance —emotionally or physically — things can go wrong real fast. 

In the context of health, we often think of balance as a problem that primarily affects older patients. But there are a wide variety of illnesses and conditions that can quite literally knock you off balance. 

Our sense of balance is created by delicate, complicated systems. And so it takes a very specialized approach to treat. FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Center, located in Lafayette, is a doctor-owned clinic set up specifically to treat vestibular disorders — the range of conditions like vertigo that impact human balance.

Jenee Leger, is Fyzical’s physician liaison. Her job is to connect the center’s services with doctors and other providers in the Lafayette area. She came to the company with a background in medical sales. 

Fyzical itself is a franchise, with several hundred locations across the country. The Lafayette location opened in 2018, and is owned by a group of ear nose and throat doctors — otolaryngologists, if you’re into proper names.  The centers offer the kind of specialized balance treatment you might find in a hospital setting. And it can also offer adjacent services like an on-site audiologist.  

Vestibular disorders commonly affect military veterans. And Jenee works with local veterans groups to do outreach and education about those disorders and how to treat them. Jenee grew up in Franklin and is also the author of a children’s book called I Know Just What I Want to Be. 

When George Mills was in Texas, you might say his life got out of balance. He landed there to go to rehab and stuck around. The program didn’t take and he went through another. George has been clean since 1994 and the journey brought him to a career in behavioral health. 

For 25 years, he worked for the treatment program that helped him. He left that role to become the executive director of The Extra Mile, a nonprofit organization that fills gaps in behavioral health left by government services. 

The Extra Mile primarily offers programs for families, with an emphasis on support for families dealing with addiction, trauma and severe mental illness. It’s free clothes shop distributes $48,000 worth of donated clothes each quarter. The Avec Les Enfants program provides space for noncustodial parents to visit their kids. Meredith’s Place is a residential addiction treatment center for pregnant women or women with dependent children. 

George grew up in Michigan and has served as executive director of the Extra Mile since 2020.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Lilliana Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making a living in healthcare is a pain.  Whatever side of it you work in, at some level you’re dealing with people. That’s the case if you’re a doctor, a researcher or even an entrepreneur. 

When people buy what you’re selling, theoretically at least, they’re hoping to improve their lives. And not just in the way a nespresso machine would. This can be a matter of life and death. Or pain and comfort. No pressure. 

It’s one thing to conceive of a new way to brew coffee. Another thing entirely to think of a new way to treat wounds and bring that idea to market in an intense and thorny regulatory environment. 

Wound care is the primary product for Tides Medical, a biotech company headquartered here in Lafayette and founded by Joe Spell. Joe has a background in marketing and worked for years selling medical products. He launched Tides in 2009, seeing an opportunity to improve customer care. But the company took off after it landed on its signature innovation: advanced wound care products sourced from donated placenta. 

Tides is now the largest commercial biotech firm in Louisiana and opened the state’s first tissue bank. The company now operates in 50 states with a salesforce of over 200 people, on top of 130 people employed in Louisiana. 

Joe is originally from Milton and is a recent graduate of Harvard Business School. 

Treating pain is tough. Imagine going anywhere when your body hurts. Trouble is, when you’re in pain is often when you most need to move. Motion is lotion. 

Alix Sorrel is a physical therapist and the founder of Integrated Physical Therapy and Pilates. Her practice combines conventional PT with Pilates classes to help clients manage pain from injuries, chronic illnesses and more. 

Alix came to the idea as a patient, after trying pilates to treat pain before her wedding. She launched Integrated Physical Therapy in 2012 and added the pilates studio in 2013. Today, her practice sees about 30-40 patients a week, ranging in age from seven to 94. 

Alix grew up in New Iberia and holds a doctorate in physical therapy. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Lilliana Morgan. at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes the best business ideas are hereditary. And I don’t mean family businesses. 

Every family has a secret sauce or skill: maybe a green thumb or a gift for gab. Turning the family tradition into a business may not be so easy — unless you’ve inherited the entrepreneurial gene. That’s because everyone is trying to sell the family recipe these days. Especially in Acadiana, where every last name seems to have a seasoning blend.

But not every spice entrepreneur knows krav maga, like Kisha Formica.

Spice

Kisha is maybe best known for Kitchen Bravo, her online cooking and recipe brand. It started as a hobby, a way to share her love of cooking with the world wide web. But it’s also become a vehicle to sell Gunpowder Spice, based on a blend developed by her grandfather, who was an avid game hunter. 

The product has been a family staple for decades, but it was Kisha who brought it to market in 2022, packaging it in a bottle shaped like a shotgun shell and a pair of dueling pistols — all of it a nod to her grandfather’s love of hunting.  

Kisha is from the Lafayette area and also teaches krav maga. 

Skincare

If you pick up a product by Bea’s Bayou Skincare, you’re buying a little homage to Arielle Brown’s grandmother, Beatrice. 

Beatrice was an herbalist and an entrepreneur in her own right, known for her legendary pies. When Arielle began making skin products, she turned to her grandmother’s gift for horticulture for inspiration. The result: a line of creams, serums and solutions made with Louisiana plants like saw palmetto, blue green algae, sassafras, nettle and sugar cane. 

Arielle's flagship product — Good Biome Scalp Relief Solution — was developed as a salve for her own skin issues. The solution took off on Etsy and spurred Arielle to expand her product line. Arielle has turned the concept into a successfully formula, winning thousands in funding from pitch competitions like Fund Black Founders and the Essence and Aveeno Skin Health Pitch. 

Arielle is also a social worker and real estate agent and grew up in Lafayette.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A good product doesn’t just solve problems, it makes a customer feel good. And that can start with the buying experience itself. 

Smart retailers know how to balance a hard sell with a soft touch, making customers believe that they are in control, and most importantly they are special. 

For a lot of retailers, that means cultivating an experience. For Rusty Phillips, co-owner of The Bougie Bar in Downtown Lafayette, the experience is everything. 

Bougie Bar is essentially a candle-making activity center. Groups book time at the shop and bring snacks and drinks to enjoy while they make custom jelly candles. The shop also retails goodies like shirts, mugs and chocolates. 

The Bougie concept was a natural extension of Bourbon Royalty, the candle manufacturer Rusty founded with his business partner Jamie. Jamie made candles as a side hustle and the business grew into a pretty big producer, with around 800 wholesale accounts in 14 states. The Bougie Bar was born out of customer demand. Folks wanted to pop in the warehouse to make candles. In 2019, Bougie Bar was born. 

When you’re selling clothes, you’re selling something personal. All the more so when you’re selling something intimate, like bras and lingerie. 

Meaghan McCarron Savoy is the owner of La Femme, a bra fitting studio and retailer in Lafayette.

La Femme’s specialty is quality and customization. Meaghan's staff is expertly trained in fitting the hand-selected brands they carry. And they help customers think through all of the possible applications and needs for their purchases. They have a lactation consultant and an expert in mastectomy fitting on staff. 

It’s a complicated business. Women often hate bras. They can be uncomfortable to wear and awkward to purchase. La Femme’s answer is attention to detail and a community vibe. They’re selling confidence, Meaghan says. She would know. Meaghan was a loyal customer before she bought the shop in 2021.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Lilliana Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lafayette is home to two hospital systems and has a deep bench of medical providers. It’s the Hub City in a new kind of way. It’s Acadiana’s medical hub. So it might surprise you to learn that access to health care is still a problem. Every parish in Acadiana, except Lafayette, has a federally designated shortage of healthcare providers. 

Why?

Well, if the answer were easy, it wouldn’t be a problem. But suffice it to say the health business is complicated because health is complicated. And we can look at the issue from two ends: providers on the one, and patients on the other. 

Donna Aucoin is a medical psychologist and owner of Aucoin & Associates, a private therapy practice. 

Donna began her career in mental health as a social worker. After going back to school to become a psychologist, she worked for the state office of mental health as a regional psychologist, where she did clinical work and developed community programs. She left state employment and moved into private practice, her long-term goal, founding Aucoin & Associates. The practice has grown substantially and now offers a range of mental health services for individual patients, families and groups. 

In health care, it takes two tango. And the other partner here is the patient. Health education plays a big role in public health outcomes. And Gabriel Morley plays a big role in health education.

Gabriel is the CEO of Southwest Area Health Education Center, or SWLAHEC. AHECs are nonprofits set up by Congress in the 1970s to address health care shortages and can be found in every state. Gabriel’s office covers the Lafayette and Lake Charles areas and develops programs designed to help people make healthier lifestyle choices.

SWLAHEC also helps patients navigate the market for low- and no-cost health insurance and trains providers on community care. 

Gabriel holds a doctorate in adult education and came to his job at SWLAHEC after a career working in libraries. He grew up in Slidell and holds a doctorate in adult education.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s new is new, but what’s old can be timeless. 

We can get obsessed with new ideas in business. An innovation. A technology. A new place to put cheese on pizza.

But sometimes, a good business model is sourcing an old idea and bringing it back. As the salesman's famous closer goes, "Nobody ever regretted buying quality." That’s especially true in fashion, which we'll get to. And it’s true in farming too. 

When you look behind the American food distribution system, it’s kind of (pardon the pun) nuts. People in Florida buy oranges from Mexico. People in Louisiana buy shrimp and crawfish from China — they just don’t tell anyone about it. 

These are logistical innovations brought on by scale commodities and economies, and it’s totally reshaped our relationship with food. Mark Guidry saw that system and figured it was ripe for disruption. 

Mark and his wife Connie are the co-owners of Guidry Organic farms. The brand is maybe best known for their pecan products  — Guidry’s Pecan Butter is a best seller. But they also raise cattle and chickens and harvest blueberries. Whatever they do, they do it old school organic. The Guidrys practice regenerative farming. Byproducts from one side of the farm support growth on another. 

It’s kind of how farming used to be when organic food was simply known as "food". Mark didn’t grow up farming. But he did grow up in Lafayette. 

Now, as promised, let's turn to fashion. You probably buy your clothes off the rack. More likely off the internet. And you're prepared to trade fit for convenience and price.

Yes, your e-commerce clothes are affordable and they arrive in two days, but they don’t fit all that well. Tailoring is mostly a thing of the past, as the fashion industry sprinted toward fast fashion. But an old school method can make sense in a 21st century economy. E-commerce is a surprisingly good fit for custom, mobile tailoring. That’s the edge for Nathan Pearce, CEO of Pearce Bespoke. 

Pearce Bespoke offers suits tailor made on the go through a mobile shop. They come to you, get your measurements and whip up a design fit for you in about 3 weeks. 

Nathan’s been in the clothing business for most of his career as an entrepreneur. Out of college he launched Fraternity Collection, a custom t-shirt making business that was his first taste of success.  He owns several Pearce Bespoke locations, including the shops in Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. But he’s also franchised the brand, extending its reach to dozens of other locations, on pace to reach 50 by the end of this year. 

Nathan is originally from New Orleans, but now lives in Baton Rouge. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can see photos from this show and find out more about Out to Lunch Acadiana at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a well documented nursing shortage in the U.S. When Shelley Henry first started nursing, it was pretty common for one nurse to manage 10 patients. Today, it’s closer to 20. 

We tend to think of the nursing shortage as something impacting hospitals and primary care. But the shortage is impacting end of life care, too. Hospices need nurses, and it’s getting harder to find them as demand for hospice and palliative care is growing. 

Shelley spent 20 years as a hospice nurse and learned the ins and outs of the business. She saw a problem, and like any smart entrepreneur, came up with a solution: Amity  Group.

Amity recruits and supplies nursing staff exclusively to hospices. It’s the only staffing agency of its kind in Louisiana and one of relatively few in the country. Today, Amity serves about 60 clients, most of them independent hospices, with a staff of 22 nurses. 

It’s hard to find nurses. Of 20 interviewed, Shelley says she might hire two. She’s passionate about training and workforce development, and posts tips and advice videos for hospice nurses on social media. She also conducts an annual survey of nurses to help advocate for improvements in the healthcare industry. 

Shelley was born in Texas, but has called Youngsville home for most of her life. 

Standards of care are important in end-of-life businesses. It’s an industry built on empathy and a human touch. That’s no different when you’re dealing with grief, especially when a family loses a pet. 

Catherine Lemoine has made a career in animal care and in pet cremation. In 2023, she opened a Pet Passages franchise. Pet Passages provides cremation services, funerals and memorialization for bereaved pet owners.  The company organizes private or communal cremations, and puts together online memorials with music, photos and personal messages. 

It’s a tough business, she says, but not necessarily because of the subject matter. Families come to her for empathy and a high standard of services. Like hospice nurses, finding good employees who can maintain that level of care in the pet end of life business is the challenge. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. Photos by Dylan Babineaux.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leadership is a big deal in business. It’s actually a business all its own: Companies big and small operate executive training programs and the world’s most successful entrepreneurs write best-selling books about how they got to the top and what it means to be a real leader in business. 

But what about being a leader in your community? That takes a different kind of training. Enter the Leadership Institute of Acadiana, and its Executive Director Katrena King.

LIA operates several programs designed to connect professionals to Lafayette and Acadiana and, more importantly, how they can get involved. The flagship program, is approaching 40 years of cultivating new leaders. And the program has a reputation as a springboard for public service, not just in elected office but in community organizations.

Katrena herself is a cautionary tale. She graduated in leadership class 34 and threw her hat in the ring to run it. In 2021, she got the job as Executive Director. A a lawyer by training, Katrena previously worked in planning for local  and regional government agencies. She’s also pursuing ordination as a deacon. 

The U.S. Military might be the nation’s oldest leadership program. And for veterans, the American Legion is a way to keep their service going. Stephanie Hanks is the first woman commander of American Legion Post #69, a job she's piled onto her busy workload as a realtor and a legal assistant. 

Stephanie joined the service a little later than most, enlisting in the Navy at 26 and serving in a cryptology unit. After leaving the Navy she joined Post 69 but didn’t get too involved until she was pressed for duty as a junior Vice Commander. And in 2019, she became Commander. 

The post has been busy under her leadership. Its 145 members help with disaster relief and volunteer for community projects. Times have changed and so have the needs of today’s veterans, Stephanie says. And there are a lot of vets in Acadiana, around 31,000. 

Stephanie is originally from Virginia and is now one of Acadiana’s 3,000 women veterans.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. Photos by Dylan Babineaux.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.