Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brent Broussard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brent, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
The best way to describe the story behind why I chose to follow my entrepreneurial dreams can be traced back to 2012 when I was a Youth Group Coordinator for the church I attended at that time. I mentored the young men in the group and felt like there was something bigger that God was calling me to do with young people. From then, the idea and vision of a nonprofit organization was born and went through a series of ups and downs over time. My nonprofit organization, Acadiana Vanguard Institute for Youth Development, teaches youths, ages 10-18, necessary life skills such as job preparation, resume’ building, interview preparation, proper dress and etiquette for said interviews, mental health practices and financial literacy. The biggest part of the mission is that I want to be able to equip the next generation with all of the skills and tools that they are no longer learning within the current guidelines of the school curriculum. I wanted to give youths an advantage to look beyond what society wants them to become and see that there are many avenues for education and finding their life’s purpose. Most of today’s youths only aspire to be what they see on tv or Youtube and TikTok, but there’s more to being an entertainer, Youtuber or social media influencer. It’s through my nonprofit organization that I also want to connect these youths to a professional mentor in whatever profession they want to get into so they can learn hands on what it takes to be successful in that field and expand their minds to think further outside the box. It’s more than just a mission for me, its me doing what God called me to do and fulfilling my life’s purpose.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Allow me to introduce myself for those who may have never heard of or read about me. My name is Brent P Broussard, and I am the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The Broussard Enterprise Group, LLC. here in Lafayette, LA. The Broussard Enterprise Group, LLC was founded in 2022 as a small business development and management firm focused on building two separate businesses under the umbrella of the LLC, those businesses being my handmade jewelry design brand Beads by Brentley as well as my nonprofit organization, Acadiana Vanguard Institute for Youth Development. In 2021, I started Beads by Brentley after an assignment that was given to me by my therapist. I admired the tiger eye bracelets he wore in a session, and we had a conversation about me making some of my own as a tool to help teach me to be more patient in life. After making my own bracelets and doing research on what tiger eye beads meant, I thought that it could be a good idea to educate people of the holistic properties of the beads themselves. Upon doing further research, I found out there’s a plethora of natural gemstones that have other holistic and spiritual properties, such as helping with anxiety and depression. I began selling the bracelets through social media initially until I found placement inside a local retail store that I was getting most of my supplies from and have been selling them through retail since April 2022.
Acadiana Vanguard Institute for Youth Development has a history that dates back to 2012 and has gone through many iterations and renaming over the years. The rebirth of the nonprofit organization came to me in 2021 when I was enrolled in an entrepreneurial program given by the University of Louisiana- Lafayette and the Louisiana Economic and Entrepreneurial Development Center known as Accelerate Northside. This program was designed to give entrepreneurs on the Northside of Lafayette, Louisiana a chance to build their existing business or a side hustle into a business in an effort to help build up the economy in that section of the city. It was while I was in this program that I learned everything I needed to know to help start a business, without going back to school to get an MBA. Initially, I enrolled in the program to gain some knowledge to help build Beads by Brentley and gain a larger audience for the brand itself, but through meeting one of the mentors that spoke to us in class one week, I learned that my vision for the nonprofit organization needed to be worked and built from just a vision to a 501c3 registered with the IRS and the State of Louisiana. My mentor also informed me that I needed to form an LLC as an umbrella company that could manage both of these entities, thus The Broussard Enterprise Group, LLC was formed and registered in 2022.
Since all of this has happened, I was awarded a few business spotlights in 2022 by the LEED Center and the local chamber of commerce as an emerging small business owner. I have also expanded my services for The Broussard Enterprise Group, LLC to be a development firm for other small business owners to learn some of the same knowledge that I was given and have been continuing to research. In 2023, I became a certified life, entrepreneurship and business coach through the Transformation Academy, in an effort to grow the development firm itself and expand my reach within my community.
Outside of my entrepreneurial journey, I have become a very active member of the Greater Lafayette community. In 2022, I became a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Acadiana to be a mentor to a youth in the area, in which I am beginning my first year as a member of the Board of Directors for the organization. In 2023, I joined the local chapter of the 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette, Inc., an aphiliate of 100 Black Men of America, a nonprofit organization that works in the community under the four pilliars of education, economic empowerment, health and wellness and mentoring. Through joining the 100 Black Men, we have two mentoring programs working with youth, one at a local private elementary school and the other in conjunction with the local juvenile drug court division in Lafayette. I am extremely proud of the work that I am doing in the Lafayette community and hope to leave a lasting legacy and impact on the next generation of youth.
Have you ever had to pivot?
This question reminds of the question that is asked to guests on one of my favorite podcast shows that I watch on YouTube called The Pivot, hosted by three former NFL players Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor. I would have to say a time that I definitely pivoted in life was in 2017 when my father passed away. This was one of the most difficult times in my life, mainly because my father was a central figure to my life, not just as a father, but also a man that gave me incredible advice that I stick by to this day. In fact, much of what I’m doing today with my business, the nonprofit organization and being a mentor, came from some of the last conversations we had before he passed away. It was during that time that I fell into a deep depression and moved from Lafayette to Baton Rouge for a very unfulfilling job opportunity that only contributed to that depression. I moved back to Lafayette in 2019 after being laid off from that job opportunity, just a few months before the pandemic hit and started personal therapy in the summer of 2020 to learn how to cope with loss and truly understanding that the pain of losing my father will always be there, but I can still celebrate the man he was in the midst of the grief.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
For Beads by Brentley, I am currently revamping the website and selling the merchandise through my social media pages and I have a retail booth in a local retail store in Lafayette called Lone Wolf Gatherings
Contact Info:
- Website: thebroussardenterprisegroupllc.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/beadsbybrentley
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brent.broussard
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brentpbroussard