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Discover Lafayette

Discover Lafayette

Written by: Jan Swift
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 The Gateway to South LouisianaDiscover Lafayette© Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
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  • Bee Organized Lafayette – Heather Borges

    Bee Organized Lafayette – Heather Borges
    Jan 1 2026
    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 particular, exposed her to how people actually live in their homes and how clutter can affect safety and daily functioning. Burned out after COVID but still wanting to serve with compassion, she began researching professional organizing and discovered Bee Organized, a nationally based franchise that is locally owned and operated. After years of prayer and discernment, she made the leap, supported by her family and husband, calling it a step away from security but toward purpose. Heather describes Bee Organized as a tight knit franchise community based out of Kansas City, Kansas, with regular Zoom meetings and a strong culture of encouragement. She explains that the company’s approach is grounded in compassion, sustainability, and truly understanding how each client functions in their space. As she puts it, “We’re not just going to make things look pretty on the shelf. We’re really listening to you and seeing how you function, how you want it to function.” A recurring theme of the conversation is how overwhelmed people feel by their belongings. Heather says many clients tell her they feel paralyzed, explaining, “They go into the room, and then they just back out and close the door… ‘I can’t. I don’t know where to start.’” Her response is reassurance and process: “Nope, we got it. We are going to help you go through it.” Bee Organized prefers clients to be present during sessions so the systems created are realistic and maintainable. “Our goal is for you to be able to maintain it,” she says. Heather walks through Bee Organized’s complimentary in-home consultation process, where she assesses personalities, volume of belongings, and how a client wants a space to work. She emphasizes that square footage alone doesn’t tell the story: “A 1,400-square-foot home may have double the stuff as the 1,400-square-foot home across the street.” During consultations, she takes notes, photos, and measurements, and provides an estimate within 24 hours. She also offers flexible options for those who prefer to send photos or videos instead of an in-person visit. A key part of Bee Organized’s philosophy is recognizing different organizing personalities. Heather explains several types, including the “Crammer Jammer Stacker,” which she describes as “organized chaos,” where someone has a lot in one space but knows exactly where everything is. She also discusses the “Aspire,” who buys supplies for hobbies they hope to do someday; the “Just in Case” person who stocks up out of caution; the “Memory Keeper,” who holds onto sentimental items; and the “Money Minded,” who struggles to part with expensive purchases. These insights help her team, called “the Bees,” approach each job with empathy and strategy. Some of the most moving moments come when Heather talks about memory-based organizing. She shares stories of helping clients preserve meaning without forcing them to discard cherished items. One example involved turning her own late grandfather’s Western shirts into teddy bears for grandchildren, with the remaining shirts donated to a nursing home. “We do not force you to get rid of things because those memories are special to you,” she says. Bee Organized also offers keepsake boxes, memory albums, T-shirt quilts, and access to a local vendor list to support these projects. Beyond home organization, Bee Organized Lafayette provides packing and unpacking for moves, downsizing support, commercial organization for spaces like coffee shops and spas, donation drop-offs, help selling items online, and pre-estate-sale organization. Heather notes, “We’re not an estate sale company… we’re charging you our hourly rate,” emphasizing transparency and flexibility. Concierge services include holiday decorating, gift wrapping, personal shopping, and seasonal setup and takedown. Heather also shares practical advice listeners can use immediately. One of her favorite tips is the “this-and-that bucket,” where items that accumulate during the day go into one container and must be dealt with within 24 hours. “Everything has a home,” she repeats throughout the conversation, explaining that visual clutter often becomes mental clutter. She encourages people to finish the task of grocery shopping by putting groceries away, rather than leaving them on ...
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  • Dr. Mary B. Neiheisel – Living Legend of Service

    Dr. Mary B. Neiheisel – Living Legend of Service
    Dec 26 2025
    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 the region. Beyond academia, her heart for service shines through her long-standing work at Faith House of Acadiana, where she serves as a nurse practitioner and advocate for survivors of domestic violence. Her legacy of compassion is now honored through the Mary B. Neiheisel Patron of Hope Award, created in her name to recognize extraordinary servant leadership in our community. From South Texas to Lafayette “I grew up in a very small town in South Texas, about 40 miles from San Antonio, called Stockdale.” Dr. Neiheisel traces her path into nursing back to her mother’s influence. “My mother always said that she concentrated on me being a nurse when she was pregnant. She said it was implanted. Consequently, she bought me the Cherry Ames nursing books when I was very young. Any medical shows on TV? We watched them. My mother started out to be a nurse, but she wanted to get married. And in those days, they did not allow the nurses to be married. So I think, you know, it was just her wish on me.” Dr. Neiheisel received her early education in San Antonio, completing her baccalaureate degree at the University of the Incarnate Word before moving to Austin and later earning her master’s degree at the University of Colorado in 1965. She shares how she met her husband, Richard Neiheisel, then a USL history professor, and how that connection ultimately brought her to Lafayette in 1966. USL in the 1960s Reflecting on her early years on campus, Dr. Neiheisel recalls the realities of nursing education at the time: “We were actually in a condemned building.” She describes a small campus, modest facilities, and close-knit classes, noting how both the university and its nursing program have evolved into institutions that are now nationally known. Answering the Call to Teach Dr. Neiheisel explains what drew her to nursing education: “I felt like there was a real need for more faculty, more teachers in nursing, to help students learn the things that would be best in caring for their patients.” She speaks candidly about advocating for nursing education in what was largely a male-dominated academic environment, addressing disparities in pay and recognition while helping shape curriculum, meet state board standards, and recruit new faculty. “In 1984, Acadian Ambulance came to our college to ask about starting an EMT program in our college. And I had worked some in emergency room. Not that much, but I had actually taught some emergency room classes. So I was asked to work with Acadian Ambulance on that program. That was a great experience, Acadian Ambulance is really the business model. They knew what they wanted, and we put this together and then we needed a coordinator for that program in our college. Since I had been working with it, the dean asked me if I would be the coordinator of that program. And I said, no, I’m waiting for the graduate program. And she kind of looked at me like, you’re dreaming. But we continued to talk about our graduate program, and probably it was 1988, we actually were given permission to open our nursing graduate program, and I was offered the position of the first graduate nursing coordinator, which that was really exciting. Building the Nurse Practitioner Program Inspired by Dr. Loretta Ford, whom she calls “the mother of nurse practitioners,” Dr. Neiheisel carried a long-held vision for advanced nursing practice. Dr. Loretta Ford, known as “The Mother of the Nurse Practitioner Program, was a profound influence on Mary Neiheisel. Dr. Neiheisel says, “The year that I graduated with my master’s degree, Dr. Loretta Ford, who is considered the mother of nurse practitioners, the superwoman of nurse practitioners, actually came to our class and told us about the nurse practitioner program that she was starting, and she was a pediatric nurse. So it would be a pediatric nurse practitioner program. I was fascinated by the description that she gave for nurse practitioners and the independence that they would have and the way that they would be able to help patients, help people, help the population, not only in illness but in health, to maintain their health, to prevent disease. And I continued to kind of follow Dr. Ford and read what she was doing and seeing these programs opened. And she did start her program at the ...
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  • Andre Michot – Michot Accordions

    Andre Michot – Michot Accordions
    Dec 19 2025
    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 Acadiana Profile article highlighting local craftsmen who help preserve the region’s musical heritage. Andre reflected on the shrinking number of Cajun accordion builders, noting that while there are now “maybe 10 or 12 accordion builders in South Louisiana,” there were once “30 or more in the 70s and 80s.” A Family Steeped in Music Andre’s musical roots run deep. He grew up surrounded by Cajun music through his father and uncles, who started playing together as Les Frères Michot, an all-brothers Cajun band, in 1986. The individual musicians have played with each other and with numerous other groups since then. Although accordion music was always present in his home, Andre didn’t begin playing the instrument himself until age 24. Before that, he filled in on guitar with his family’s band in the mid-to-late 1980s. “That’s what I play with Lost Bayou Ramblers,” Andre shared, explaining that he learned accordion by borrowing instruments from his father, uncles, and anyone else who would lend him one. In 1998, Andre and his brother Louis formed Lost Bayou Ramblers, with Louis playing fiddle at the same time Andre took up accordion. Learning the Craft Andre’s path to accordion building began through curiosity and mentorship. A pivotal moment came when his friend Ray Abshire encouraged him to learn tuning from Randy Falcon, a respected accordion builder known for a sound associated with Cajun music from the 1930s through the 1970s. “There’s probably no playbook,” Andre explained. “It’s mostly done by ear.” While machines help with precision, tuning ultimately depends on feel: air pressure, reed response, and how notes interact when played together. Andre described the Cajun accordion as “quite a feat of engineering,” with “a hundred little metal reeds” held in place by beeswax. Unlike guitars, which rely on resonance, the accordion produces sound through air compression, making it both mechanical and deeply physical to play. Inside a Cajun Accordion Technically known as a melodeon, the Cajun accordion features ten buttons on the melody side and two bass buttons for rhythm. Pressing a single button opens air channels to four sets of reeds across different octaves, producing layered sound from one note. The bellows, expanding and contracting, drive both airflow and rhythm. “It’s very physical,” Andre said. “When I started, I would get halfway through a song and be out of breath.” He later realized he had been breathing in and out with the bellows themselves. Cajun accordions are diatonic, meaning each button produces different notes depending on whether the bellows are pushed or pulled. This design creates the distinctive rhythmic pulse central to Cajun music. From Repair to Building Andre’s transition from tuning and repair to full instrument building came when Randy Falcon offered to teach him how to build rather than sell him an accordion. With a background in carpentry and furniture-making, Andre found the process both challenging and deeply satisfying. After building his first accordion, word spread, especially as audiences learned of his craft through Lost Bayou Ramblers’ performances. Orders followed from family, fellow musicians, and fans. “That gives the accordion its soul,” Andre said of the delicate reed work. “That part has got to be right.” Materials, Sound, and Customization Most accordion components can be sourced locally, including wood, often cypress, sometimes supplied by customers themselves. Certain parts come from Italy, where Andre says, “80 to 90% of the accordions and accordion parts in the world” are produced, particularly reeds and bellows, which require a highly specialized manufacturing process. Andre customizes each instrument based on how a musician plays. He listens to recordings, watches hand positioning of the artist, and considers tonal preferences. Differences in reed materials, zinc versus aluminum plates, steel reeds, block shaping, and tuning style, all can dramatically affect sound. “It helps playing the accordion in addition to building them,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to put those two together.” The Joy of Completion Building an accordion takes Andre an estimated 80 to 100 hours, from cutting raw wood to final tuning. As he approaches the final stages, ...
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