What’s your shangri-la? Traditionally, in Acadiana, that might be the great outdoors. This is, after all, the sportsman’s paradise.
Finding your piece of heaven usually comes down to the world around you. For a lot of folks, that means where you live — literally. Your home is your private paradise. For others, perhaps, it’s something less tangible. Shangri-la is not where you are but an extension of your imagination —a state of mind or a world you conjure far away.
Either way, someone has to build it or help you find it. Christiaan’s guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana are both in the business of making dreams come true.
Home
Aimia Doucet, making home ownership dreams come true
In the more conventional sense, Aimia Doucet helps families realize the traditional American dream — homeownership. She’s the mortgage lender and branch manager at GMFS Mortgage.
Home buying has changed a lot over the years, and Aimia’s specialty is helping buyers navigate the process, debunking myths and helping them find a home that suits them. She’s one of the top lenders in the state by loan volume and was ranked #1 in the Lafayette market in 2018.
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What about the world of imagination? If you’re working with bits and graphics and not brick and mortar, the possibilities are, theoretically, endless. Game development and design has become more cinematic, more detailed, more expansive.
Josh Perrodin, creating a game isn’t the same as playing a game
Joshua Perrodin is part of training the next generation of world builders at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Lafayette. The industry has exploded in the last twenty years, and programming and development have become in-demand skillsets. What students learn at AIE isn’t limited to gaming either. Programming and development is also useful in building simulations for training in other fields like the oil and gas industry.
Josh Perrodin, Aimia Doucet, Christiaan Mader Out to Lunch at Tula Tacos
This show was recorded over lunch at Tula Tacos and Amigos in downtown Lafayette. Photos by Lucius Fontenot.
