Profile- Blaine Boudreaux

Blaine Boudreaux

Lei-Lani Michel

English 1001 Section 110

15 October 2007

Profile

James Corporation, an asphalt construction company in Opelousas, Louisiana was affected by Hurricane Katrina in different ways. I interviewed Mr. Hubert, the co-owner and accountant of the company. The interview went really well and I learned a lot about how this company was affected due to Hurricane Katrina. Business seems to change a lot due to major natural disasters.

James Corporation is located in Opelousas, Louisiana. It is uncertain how the company was started because I was unable to speak with the founder of the company, Mr. Laddie James. Unfortunately, Mr. James passed away recently. However, I was able to speak with a co-owner and the accountant of the company, Mr. Hubert. Mr. Hubert’s father was good friends with Mr. James. This is part of the reason how Mr. Hubert got his job at James Corporation. Mr. Hubert’s father had known Mr. James for many years prior to Mr. Hubert’s employment to the company. Mr. Hubert attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he majored in accounting. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He then decided to apply for employment at James Corporation where he is still working today.

Mr. Hubert was born and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana, the same city where James Corporation is located. He has been in Opelousas his whole life. He grew up on a farm in Lawtell, a small town outside of Opelousas. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker. He lived on the farm until he graduated high school. When he graduated high school, he moved to Lafayette and stayed in a residence hall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Upon graduating from college, he applied for employment with James Corporation. Mr. Hubert is still working there to this day.

During pre-Katrina, business was going pretty well. During pre-Katrina, the main business occurring was mainly road improvement projects. Normal business was about 2-3 road projects per week. Pre-Katrina, the road projects were going fairly well accomplishing 2-3 projects per week. Although business was doing reasonably well during pre-Katrina, it was soon to have drastic changes. Business changed drastically as soon as Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

During Hurricane Katrina, business was at the lowest it had been in several years. The business wasn’t accomplishing anything during Hurricane Katrina. There were no road projects being assigned to them at this time. This caused business to fall drastically. Natural disasters not only hurt businesses right then but also in the future. Natural disasters harm the business greatly because roads are destroyed and the business cannot start working on them until all the rubble and trash is cleared up.

Post-Katrina, in return, helped bring up the business. After the hurricane, business picked up rather quickly due to many much needed road repairs. Many roads had been destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. This caused many projects to be assigned to the company so that the roads would be fixed properly. The business was helped by this and helped even out the business from the loss that had occurred due to Hurricane Katrina.

I found that conducting this student interview for English 1001 was very helpful in getting the information that was needed to write this profile. Interviewing can teach one a lot about a certain subject that could possibly be needed to get information to write a paper about something. Interviewing Mr. Hubert taught me a lot about the company and the effects that occurred in the business during Hurricane Katrina.