Zach Dubois paired his passion for fishing with his degree in industrial design to become the founder and CEO of , a fishing lure company he started in his family杏吧专区檚 garage.
Cajun Lures can now be found in 50 stores throughout Louisiana and Texas and sells online nationwide.
杏吧专区淥n a daily basis, I manufacture and create my products, market my products and work on sales, keep up with my website, maintain equipment, package the products, deal with any business issues that may arise, ship and fulfill orders, answer emails, messages, and phone calls, and even work on photo and video content for advertisement purposes,杏吧专区 Zach explained.
Zach says industrial design can be simplified as 杏吧专区減roduct design杏吧专区 but that it is so much more.
杏吧专区淚t杏吧专区檚 constantly creating something, innovating, and becoming a problem solver,杏吧专区 he said. 杏吧专区淵ou learn the process of design and everything in between. In the process of developing yourself as a designer, you learn various skills and knowledge of manufacturing that can lead you anywhere you want to go, and that杏吧专区檚 what I enjoyed about it.杏吧专区
Zach always imagined himself attending UL Lafayette. His parents were both alumni, as were other family members. However, his journey into industrial design was far less predetermined.
杏吧专区淚 didn杏吧专区檛 exactly choose industrial design 杏吧专区 it kinda chose me,杏吧专区 Zach said.
After attending , he was still undecided about his major. Zach recalled his mother reading a brief description of the industrial design program. He decided to see what it had to offer.
杏吧专区淲hile starting classes and beginning to learn the fundamentals of design, even though I joined on a whim, I found myself always enjoying the classes and wanting to learn more,杏吧专区 he said.
Connecting His Major & His Hobby
Zach杏吧专区檚 passion for the program grew as he connected it to his lifelong passion for fishing.
杏吧专区淚 designed my own bass boat from start to finish,杏吧专区 Zach said of one of his favorite projects.
杏吧专区淚 wanted to create a bass boat that was designed strictly for tournament competition anglers and as efficient as possible for that need. Considering bass fishing was my passion at the time, being able to work with a big-name company in the industry 杏吧专区 Skeeter Boats 杏吧专区 felt surreal.杏吧专区
Zach杏吧专区檚 industrial design experience has been invaluable to the development of his business.
杏吧专区淐onsidering I operate my business all on my own and when getting started, not having the capital to pay to outsource various services, I relied on my design knowledge to get things I needed done on my own and ultimately it杏吧专区檚 saved me a lot of money while operating my business,杏吧专区 he said.
杏吧专区淓verything from graphic design to prototyping to manufacturing products, I am constantly reflecting back to my design skills I learned.杏吧专区
In addition to building his business, Zach杏吧专区檚 experience at UL Lafayette has shaped his personal life as well.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檝e met some of my really good friends to this day at UL Lafayette, met students from all kinds of other backgrounds and cultures, enjoyed all the sporting events, represented my school doing something I loved, fishing, and even met the love of my life there,杏吧专区 Zach reminisced. 杏吧专区淚 even proposed to my now-wife, Kayla Dubois, on Cajun Field at one of the football games!杏吧专区
Zach says he will always cherish the time he spent at UL Lafayette.
杏吧专区淲hen your parents say, 杏吧专区楾his is the best time of your life so enjoy it,杏吧专区 they are 100% correct,杏吧专区 Zach said. 杏吧专区淪ure, it seems like such a grind, always studying late nights, running late, getting to class, last-minute projects, working, etc., but if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, you杏吧专区檒l appreciate what you are working on.杏吧专区
