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

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

CuGino may be relatively new to Lafayette’s restaurant scene, but there are generations of restaurant experience behind it. Hunter Moody grew up in one of Lafayette’s best-known restaurant families, while Gene Todaro brought authentic Sicilian cooking to Acadiana more than four decades ago as one of t...

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

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

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

But as Missy sh...

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

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

Alyson Habetz: Coming Home to Lead Louisiana Softball with Faith, Purpose and Heart

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

We were honored to have legendary coach Yvette Girouard join us for this conversation. Girouard founded the Ragin’ Cajuns softball program and coached Alyson during her years as a stud...

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

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

This...

Dr. Thomas Sammons – Bringing Technology, Compassion and a Preventive Approach to Dentistry

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

A Youngsville native and UL Lafayette graduate, Dr. Sammons grew up in Acadiana after his family moved here in 1995. His father, Tom Sammons, taught architecture at UL Lafayette, and education was strongly emphasized in the Sammons household. Dr. Sammons graduated summa cum laude with a Bach...

Lafayette Parish Tax Assessor Justin Centanni joins Discover Lafayette to explain the duties of his office, how property values are determined, and what property owners need to know about the upcoming 15-day assessment review period.

Justin is Lafayette Parish’s 26th Tax Assessor, but his professional path to the office was anything but traditional. With a background in technology and data management, he previously worked in Washington, D.C., for the Department of Defense, helping develop software behind the military’s smart identification cards. He later worked at IberiaBank, where he managed a team responsible for backend data...

Jessica Moroux, owner of Acadiana Hyperbarics in Lafayette, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the personal experiences that led her to the field, and her belief in giving the body the conditions it needs to heal and function at its best.

A Lafayette native, Jessica earned her nursing degree from UL-Lafayette and began her career at Lafayette General, working on several different floors as she searched for the area of nursing that felt like the right fit. Her professional path eventually moved beyond traditional hospital care and into Rolfing, movement therapy, and integrative wellness.<...

Sylvia Turner, affectionately known to generations of Lafayette families as “Ms. T,” joins Discover Lafayette to reflect upon a remarkable life of teaching, music, faith, and service to others.

For more than five decades, beginning in 1972, Sylvia taught children and adults to swim in the backyard pool of her Lafayette home. But anyone fortunate enough to have taken lessons from Ms. T knows she taught much more than swimming.

She taught safety. She taught respect. She taught children to encourage one another, to follow rules, to appreciate their parents, and perhaps most importantly, to believe they...

Discover Lafayette welcomes Katie Ferguson, whose remarkable story is one of resilience, advocacy, and choosing purpose in the face of life’s most unexpected challenges.

A Lafayette native, communications professional, and passionate community advocate, Katie has lived through two extraordinary journeys. First, she became the long term caregiver for an Army veteran whose life changed forever after a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Years later, while feeling completely healthy, a free heart screening uncovered a life threatening ascending aortic aneurysm caused by an undiagnosed congenital heart defect, leading to open heart surgery that ultimately saved her life.

Leadership isn’t about managing time. It’s about making better choices.

That is the central message from Christina Olivier, co-founder and Managing Partner of Excelerant, whose thoughtful conversation on Discover Lafayette challenges many of the assumptions we make about work, productivity, and success.

Christina co-founded Excelerant in 2003 with business partner Elise Bouchner after realizing that growing companies needed more than legal advice or technical expertise, they needed leaders who knew how to develop people. What began as The Training Source evolved into Excelerant, an award-winning, woman-owned leadership development and organizational consulting firm serving organizations thro...

For many of us, reading to a child feels like a cherished bedtime ritual. But what if the benefits begin long before birth?

In this fascinating episode of Discover Lafayette, we visit with Dr. Joe Abraham, physician, research biologist, award-winning author, former president of the Lafayette Parish Library Foundation, and president of the Acadiana Educational Endowment, about the life-changing impact of reading with children beginning in the prenatal period.

The Acadiana Educational Endowment, founded in 1989 to support public education across Acadiana, has invested more than $650,000 in educational initiatives over the years. Today, its primary focus...

Our guest is Stacey Knight Mejia, an attorney by training but better known throughout Acadiana as “Sensei Stacey,” co-owner and chief instructor of Acadiana Karate.

A ten-time national forms and weapons champion, Stacey has spent decades teaching martial arts, confidence, and practical self-defense to children and adults. Her message is simple but powerful: “The goal isn’t to live in fear. The goal is to live with awareness, confidence, and the ability to trust yourself.”

As Stacey explains, avoiding violence begins long before physical self-defense becomes necessary.

“Ninety to ninety-five percent of all self-defense...

Many people have never heard of Ryan Furby, yet they have likely experienced the impact of the work he does.

After an international career with some of the world’s largest corporations, including FedEx, Philip Morris International, and Biogen, Ryan returned to Louisiana and quietly built a consulting practice that helps organizations navigate complex business challenges through strategic communications, public affairs, and reputation management.

Today, as CEO of RAF Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, he advises companies while also giving generously of his time to Acadiana’s nonprofit and civic organizations.

In this epis...

For more than five decades, Trent Angers has dedicated his life to journalism, publishing, and preserving the stories that define Louisiana and its people. As founder, editor, and publisher of Acadian House Publishing, Trent has edited and published 126 books over a 45-year career while also authoring six books of his own. His work has ranged from Cajun history and Louisiana political figures to military ethics, faith, and inspirational storytelling.

A graduate of LSU’s School of Journalism, where he was named Outstanding Graduating Senior and received the Hodding Carter Award for Responsible Journalism, Trent followed in the fo...

Few people have shaped environmental policy and conservation efforts in Acadiana as persistently as Harold Schoeffler.

Known to many as part of the family behind Schoeffler Cadillac, Harold’s legacy extends far beyond the automobile business. For more than six decades, he has been a tireless advocate for protecting Louisiana’s natural resources, improving public policy, mentoring young people through Scouting, and encouraging citizens to become active stewards of their communities.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Harold reflects on a lifetime of work that has touched everything from oil recycling and waste reduction to flood control, wild...

For many people across Acadiana, Allen & Gooch attorney Troy Broussard is known as a respected litigator and senior partner who has practiced law in Lafayette for more than three decades. But in this episode of Discover Lafayette, listeners meet another side of Troy: novelist, storyteller, songwriter, painter, observer of South Louisiana culture, and thoughtful chronicler of the complicated racial history woven into life in Acadiana.

Troy joins us to discuss his recently published novel, Where Lies the Truth, a Southern coming-of-age crime story set against the bayous and backroads of St. Landry Parish. The novel opens in...

Independent films and film festivals are thriving in Louisiana, and on this episode of Discover Lafayette, we welcome three passionate advocates helping shape the future of filmmaking across the state: Southern Screen Festival Founder and Executive Director Julie Bordelon; filmmaker and Director of Public Relations for the Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival, Jenika Kolacz; and Lafayette native Kelly Swift, Film Programming Director for Manship Theatre and Events Director for the Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival.

The conversation explores Louisiana’s growing independent film ecosystem, the importance of film festivals in building creative communities, and the realities filmmakers fa...

Lafayette Police Chief Paul Trouard joins Discover Lafayette for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about nearly three decades in law enforcement, the rapid evolution of policing technology, and the realities of leading a modern police department in one of Louisiana’s fastest-growing communities.

Appointed Lafayette Chief of Police in February 2025 after serving as interim chief, Trouard brings more than 28 years of law enforcement experience to the role. A graduate of the FBI National Academy, he also holds a master’s degree in organizational management and leadership from Columbia Southern University, a Bachelor of Science degree from University of L...

Few public servants in Louisiana history have worn as many hats, or told as many stories, as Jay Dardenne. Having served as State Senator, Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor, and Commissioner of Administration under John Bel Edwards, Dardenne has spent decades shaping and promoting the state. But in this conversation, we explore a different dimension of his life: historian, storyteller, and documentarian.

Dardenne is the creator and host of Why Louisiana Ain’t Mississippi or Any Place Else, a production of Louisiana Public Broadcasting that brings Louisiana’s complex history to life. What began as a live pres...

Danny Gillane, Director of the Lafayette Public Library System, joins Discover Lafayette for a timely conversation about the evolving role of our parish libraries and the tax renewal on the ballot Saturday, May 16, 2026.

Gillane has served Lafayette’s library system for nearly two decades, following earlier work with public and academic libraries including UL-Lafayette and the Louisiana State Library. He earned a master’s degree in library science from Louisiana State University.

Serving Lafayette Parish through nine branches, the system has grown steadily over the past two decades, with major regional libraries in Carencro, Youngsville, Scot...

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we welcome Nancy Landry, Louisiana’s 45th Secretary of State and the state’s chief elections officer. A Lafayette native and former State Representative for District 31, Landry brings both institutional knowledge and a deep personal connection to Acadiana as she returns home to discuss a pivotal moment in Louisiana’s election landscape.

Recorded on March 19, 2026 at Vermilionville during the LFT Fiber Powered by Connectivity Summit, this episode of Discover Lafayette captures a powerful conversation about leadership, innovation, and the role of connectivity in shaping Acadiana’s future. The summit’s theme, Growth Powered by Fiber – Where Technology Meets Community, comes to life through the perspective of Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, newly appointed seventh president of University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Dr. Kolluru’s story is deeply intertwined with Lafayette itself. Reflecting on his journey from India to Acadiana, he shares, “This is not where I was born. I grew up in India...

Destin Ortego, Executive Director of the Opportunity Machine, known as the “OM,” joined Discover Lafayette to discuss the OM’s role as a driving force behind Lafayette’s growing tech and startup ecosystem. This special edition of Discover Lafayette was recorded at LFT Fiber’s Powered by Connectivity Summit hosted at Vermilionville on March 19, 2026.

Set against the theme of “Growth Powered by Fiber—Where Technology Meets Community,” Destin offers a candid and insightful look into how connectivity, relationships, and resilience are shaping the future of entrepreneurship in Acadiana.

From the outset, Destin emphasizes that success isn’t about laun...

Today on Discover Lafayette, we welcome Dale Clark, Ursula Quoyeser, and Kelly Viator to talk about the upcoming fifth annual Fin Feather Fur Food Festival, known as F5, benefiting Team Gleason Foundation. The event will be held April 30, 2026, at Blackham Coliseum, and if you’ve ever attended, you already know it’s one of those rare gatherings where incredible food, community spirit, and a powerful mission all come together.

This conversation brings us to the heart of why F5 matters, and why this cause continues to resonate so deeply across Acadiana.

Team Gleason is a 501(c)(3...

At the historic grounds of Vermilionville, beneath the oaks and along the bayou that so vividly reflect our region’s living history, this special episode of Discover Lafayette was recorded during the second annual LFT Fiber Powered by Connectivity Summit on March 19th, 2026.

The summit’s theme, Growth Powered by Fiber, Where Technology Meets Community, comes to life in a conversation with Whitney Savoie, Chief Marketing Officer of FlyGuys, a Lafayette-based technology company operating at the intersection of innovation, safety, and cultural preservation.

This LFT summit showcased local leaders and gathered their thoughts on the powe...

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we welcome Deb and Paul Lindsay, the enthusiastic co-chairs of the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary April 10–12, 2026 in downtown New Iberia. Centered around the Sliman Theater, Shadows-on-the-Teche, and other historic sites, this year’s festival brings together literature, music, food, history, and community for a full weekend of programming. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Rick Bragg is being celebrated as the 2026 Great Southern Writer, with sessions, book signings, museum tours, a book fair, and more planned throughout the weekend.

Deb and Paul’s story is, in man...

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we visit with Maureen Dugas Foster, founder of Designing Women of Acadiana, a collaborative network that has spent the past decade bringing together women interested in architecture, design, creativity, and community. What began as a simple idea during a challenging personal moment has grown into a vibrant organization that has hosted more than 100 events across Acadiana, connecting creative professionals and curious minds while highlighting the role design plays in our everyday lives.

Maureen’s inspiration for launching the organization came in 2016 during a time when she found herself unexpectedly unemployed and qu...

For more than six decades, LARC has quietly served one of the most important missions in Acadiana—supporting individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities and helping them live meaningful, independent lives.

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we sit down with Nicole Harrison, Chief Operating Officer and Interim CEO of LARC, along with Karon Davis, Marketing Director, to learn how this remarkable nonprofit touches hundreds of lives every day.

Founded over 60 years ago by parents who wanted better opportunities for their children with disabilities, LARC has grown into a multifaceted organization providing day programs, residential se...

From a volunteer-run initiative in the 1980s to a regional continuum of care in 2026:

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we sit down with Claude Martin, CEO of AcadianaCares, to talk about what it looks like when a community builds an institution out of necessity, and then keeps rebuilding it for four decades.

AcadianaCares began (originally as “Lafayette CARES”) in 1985, during the earliest, scariest years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when fear and stigma shut down many traditional systems of response. “CARES” stood for “Concern for AIDS Relief, Education and Support.”

Claude remembers those first...

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we welcome Charles Boustany, a retired cardiovascular surgeon who served as the U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s Third Congressional District from 2005 to 2017. Most recently, he earned a Master’s degree in history from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Dr. Boustany was honored with the Richard G. Neiheisel (Phi Beta Kappa) Graduate Award, recognizing the graduate student with the highest academic accomplishment in a classical arts and sciences degree.

Dr. Boustany reflects on a life that has bridged medicine, public service, and now scholarship, and what lifelong learning means at ever...

Wild Child Wines is one of those rare downtown spots that feels instantly like a neighborhood living room—warm, inviting, and full of discovery. In this episode of Discover Lafayette, we sit down with Katie and Denny Culbert, the couple behind Lafayette’s signature natural wine shop and wine bar, to talk about how Wild Child began, how it grew, and why it’s become a destination for locals and visitors alike. Along the way, we also explore their other creative ventures—Katie’s long-running boutique, Kiki, and Denny’s career as a professional photographer whose work has taken him deep int...

On this episode of Discover Lafayette, we sit down with two leaders deeply involved in shaping student career readiness at University of Louisiana at Lafayette: Brandi Hollier, Director of the B.I. Moody College of Business Internship Program, and Kim Billeaudeau, Director of the Office of Career Services.

Together, they share how internships, professional preparation, and employer partnerships come together to help students transition confidently from the classroom into the workforce — while also supporting local businesses looking to grow talent.

Kim Billeaudeau: A Career Built on Mentorship

Kim Billeaudeau has served in Career Se...

Stephanie Manson, President: FMOL Health/ Our Lady of Lourdes, joins Discover Lafayette to talk about leadership, mission-driven Catholic healthcare, and the most significant hospital expansions Lafayette has seen in years.

Stephanie shares her deeply personal journey into healthcare administration, her love for Louisiana and Lafayette, and how Our Lady of Lourdes is expanding capacity, technology, and compassionate care through the Advancing Acadiana initiative, while staying grounded in a values-based mission that puts people first.

Stephanie has dedicated her professional life to Catholic health care and the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. She began...

Bob Miller, CEO and Founder of IRGame, is a technology entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience across cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

He’s a pioneer in using AI-powered gamification for incident response (“IR”) training, designed specifically for busy executives who can’t spend full days in training but must make high-stakes decisions quickly during real crises. IRGame puts executive teams through realistic scenario such as ransomware, data breaches, business email compromise, and AI-related incidents, so they can practice decision-making under pressure.

Returning to Lafayette and building startups

Bob graduated in 1988 from University of Louisiana – Monroe in...

Don Dupuis is a Louisiana technology pioneer whose work quietly shaped how businesses across Acadiana and far beyond learned to operate in the early days of the digital age.

Don founded Acadiana Computer Systems in 1969, at a time when most offices still relied on adding machines, paper ledgers, and manual calculations. Long before “IT services” was a common phrase, Don saw that businesses, especially medical practices, needed help navigating billing, coding, payroll, and data management.

What began as a small, homegrown operation became a regional force, supporting doctors, lawyers, oilfield companies, universities, public offices, and even...

Discover Lafayette welcomes Melissa Bonin, celebrated artist, poet, lyricist, and author whose work is deeply rooted in the landscape, language, and spirit of South Louisiana.

A native of New Iberia with French and Acadian ancestry, Melissa is widely recognized as one of Louisiana’s leading contemporary landscape painters. Her work weaves together emotion, mythology, nature, and memory—often inspired by bayous, waterways, mist, and the movement of water.

Melissa’s multidisciplinary voice is beautifully expressed in her 160-page book, When Bayous Speak, which pairs poetry and paintings spanning more than two decades of her artistic career...

Discover Lafayette welcomes Heather Borges, owner of Bee Organized Lafayette, a professional organizing and life-transition company serving the Lafayette area.

January is National Organizing Month, and this first conversation of 2026 kicks off the new year with practical insight into why organization is so personal and so powerful.

Heather shares her path from nursing to professional organizing. A graduate of UL-Lafayette  in 2009, she spent 16 years as a nurse, including work as a dialysis nurse, in home health, and as a school nurse for Lafayette Parish for 11 years.

Heather explains that home health nursing, in p...

Discover Lafayette welcomes a true living legend of service to Acadiana: Dr. Mary B. Neiheisel.

Dr. Neiheisel was the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Lafayette Civic Cup, one of the highest honors for civic service in our community. Her journey in Lafayette began in 1966, when she started teaching at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL Lafayette), launching 59 years of impact in education, healthcare, and community leadership.

With quiet determination, Dr. Neiheisel helped build UL Lafayette’s Nurse Practitioner Program, serving as its first coordinator and director and laying the foundation for graduate nursing education across th...

Andre Michot, a driving force behind Louisiana’s cultural soundscape and a founding member of the Grammy-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss Michot Accordions.

Widely known for pushing Cajun music forward while remaining deeply rooted in tradition, Andre’s influence extends well beyond the stage. He is also the proprietor and craftsman behind Michot Accordions, where he builds, restores, and customizes traditional Cajun accordions entirely by hand, creating instruments that don’t just make music, but carry culture.

We sat down with Andre right before Christmas 2025, inspired in part by a recent Acadia...