Jennifer Armand

Jennifer Armand relocated to Houma 13 years ago with a newborn baby girl and no job prospects. She arrived like all outsiders, a stranger in a new place, but it’s what she did upon her arrival that helped propel her to a successful career and entrench her in the Terrebonne Parish business community.

A graduate from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, Armand moved to the area with her husband and realized she couldn’t commute to Baton Rouge on a daily basis and would have to relinquish her job as communications coordinator at Georgia Gulf Corporation.

“Matthew, my husband, told me, ‘You can start your own business,’” said Armand, who called her husband her greatest inspiration. “I just thought that was so crazy. ‘What do you mean? How do I do that? I’ve never done that?’… Moving here and not having any job opportunities n not that I sought any with a newborn baby n but I decided, well, I guess he’s right. I’ve got to try it.”

She tried it and conceived Armand Creative. What started as a part-time job geared at expanding the brand of a few companies has morphed into a multi-platform, multi-functional business that handles the communications of more than 28 clients.

The company’s client list includes high-profile nonprofits such as LA 1 Coalition and Restore or Retreat, and for-profit companies Gulf Island Fabricators, Coastal Commerce Bank and Aggressor Fleet, a Georgia-based international live-aboard diving company.

Armand credits the evolution of her company to meeting people through community involvement, including the completion of Leadership Terrebonne in 1998, which she enrolled in six months after she arrived.

“I have always said I can’t translate any direct business to Leadership Terrebonne, but no other program that I did helped me become a true member of this community, both from a business perspective and just as a resident,” Armand said.

As a member of the debate team at Tuerlings Catholic High School in Lafayette Parish, she fostered a love for current events and developed her communication skills. She had the wherewithal to succeed, but she needed the opportunity to prove this to prospective clients.

Her chance came through a contact she made when working in Baton Rouge.

“My very first client was the LA 1 Coalition and Roy Francis, who was the director there,” Armand said. “I had previously met Roy through another job when I worked for Department of Environmental Quality as their press secretary. I had met Roy back then, and was fortunate enough to get the LA 1 Coalition business and from there I got Gulf Island’s business, too.”

As Armand’s business has expanded, her focus has shifted to properly juggling assignments to maintain the success and keep all of the clients happy. Armand said hard work and self-discipline have helped her work-from-home business.

“In general, everyone who knows me knows that if I say I’m going to do something or make a commitment, I’ll follow through,” Armand said. “I don’t like to not show up for things or not turn in things if I am supposed to. I’m a big stickler for that. Whatever I get involved in, I put myself in 100 percent.”

Title: Partner, Armand Creative

Age: 42

Family: Husband Matthew, daughter Elise (13) and son Emile (10)

Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism from LSU; minor in political science

If you could add one more hour to each day, you would: Exercise

First job: Cleaned syringes while working for her dad, a veterinarian, when she was 15

Describe yourself in one word: Committed

Best advice to a woman in business: “Keep our focus on the fact that we are not just businesswomen, but businesspeople.”

If you were doing something else, what would it be? Travel agent.