Diamond Tack

So, your family has a business. You grow up around it. You love it. It’s the center of gravity for your family life. But…you swear you’ll never do it. You leave. You build something of your own. And then one day you look up and… Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in.

That’s one version of the story anyway.

There’s another where you just never really left. Either way, you inherit something: a lease, a reputation, a relationship with people who really know you through your family and what they do.

Family business is a big deal in Carencro. Charlotte Stemmans Clavier runs one that’s been in operation for almost 60 years. She’s the daughter of racehorse trainer Don Stemmans. Her family founded Stemmans Horse Supply in 1968 — one of the only specialty equine stores in the region, serving everyone from backyard horse people to the racehorse industry, with everything you need, as Charlotte puts it, from barn to bell.

Charlotte Stemmans Clavier, Mayor of Carencro and Owner of Stemmans Horse Supply. “People that like horses, that’s its own group of people and they love each other. They love to talk about horses -they like horses better than people.”

Charlotte has worked around horses her whole life. She started working at the racetrack at age eleven. By twelve, she was running the family store. She studied history and business at Tulane, worked for an attorney, and considered law school — before coming home. Over time, responsibility shifted to her. After her mother’s passing in 2002 and her father’s more recently, the store became hers to carry forward. Today, Stemmans operates two locations: the main store in Carencro and a second on the backside of Evangeline Downs. Charlotte is also a notary public, deeply involved in Louisiana horse racing organizations — and the mayor of Carencro.

Jewelry wasn’t Troy Raxsdale’s plan.

Troy grew up in Lafayette, served four years in the U.S. Navy, came home, and studied marketing and economics at UL — while working full-time in the restaurant business. His father started a home-based jewelry business and asked Troy if he wanted to help with sales. Troy said yes. They traveled together, selling out of cases, building territory — and eventually bought a storefront together.

Then Troy struck out on his own. In 1999 he founded Unique Wholesale Jewelry, which supplies retail stores across the country. And in 2021, when a Lafayette storefront called Southern Jewelers came up for sale, he bought that too.

Troy Roxsdale, Owner of Southern Jewlers of Lafayette and Unique Wholesale Jewelry explains the difference between natural and lab diamonds: they’re indistinuishable in every way except price.

Southern Jewelers carries the range you’d expect — necklaces, bracelets, charms, custom designs — but what keeps the lights on is repairs. About sixty percent of the store’s business is fixing things: resizing rings, resetting stones, restoring pieces that belong to somebody’s grandmother. It’s painstaking work, and it’s gotten more complicated as the market fills up with jewelry from online vendors and mass retailers, where what something looks like and what it actually is aren’t always the same thing.

Christiaan Mader hosts Out to Lunch Acadiana at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette

There’s a lot to be said for just enjoying life for what it is.Maybe that’s the simple pleasure of riding a horse, or admiring a precious stone. But in reality, nothing is as simple as it looks. Somebody has to provide the tools for keeping a horse healthy and happy. Somebody has to procure, display and sell precious stones. Troy and Charlotte are both contributors to providing life’s pleasures and treasures.