Growing up, Fallyn Gonsoulin always wanted to help others, whether that was people or animals.

A native of New Iberia, Gonsoulin grew up knowing she could do bigger and better things if she branched out from her home on Main Street, but knows she’ll eventually come back.

“I want to get out of New Iberia and do things with my life and be an exotic animal vet,” Gonsoulin said. “But I know I’ll always come back because New Iberia is home because that is where my memories are.”

Gonsoulin dreams of Italy and South Africa as locations for research opportunities with animals.

“But I just want to pop around for a while, see what’s going on and share some stories,” Gonsoulin said.

The daughter of what she calls a Cajun and a Yankee, Gonsoulin always knew she wanted to help animals, but wasn’t sure what field she wanted to specialize in.

“As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a marine biologist, but I didn’t really know what that was,” Gonsoulin said. “I thought that was working with animals and as I grew up, I knew I wanted to work with animals, and I want to be the ones helping them.”

Now a student at Louisiana State University, Gonsoulin said she feels she picked the right path, knowing deep down in her heart that helping animals is what she was born to do.

“As I tunneled my vision a little bit, exotic animal rehabilitation really stood out to me the most and because it (involves) sanctuaries for tigers and helping them out,” Gonsoulin said. “It feels like close to home because the last tiger here (at LSU) had cancer.”

When she’s not attending classes at LSU, Gonsoulin serves as the 46th Frog Festival Queen, a title she said she holds very close to her heart.

“I would say, as of right now, it’s my greatest achievement,” Gonsoulin said. “But I hope to achieve better things.”

According to Gonsoulin, it’s just not a title, It’s an extremely important job for a year.

“Not only am I representing a festival, but I’m also representing people,” Gonsoulin said. “Not only is it a job, but it is an honor because they choose you out of the other people who competed to represent a town.”

Her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, as she was named one of New Iberia’s “20 Under 40,” an honor she said she wasn’t expecting.   

“I got the call when I was on the way to take my exams when Mrs. Karla (Borde, advertising manager at The Daily Iberian) told me that, I was in shock and I called my mom,” Gonsoulin said.

Even though she’s only 20 years old, Gonsoulin said she uses the honor as motivation.

“I’m not even 20 yet but people in my community have noticed I have gone out of my way to help everyone and anyone and see I have a passion for it,” she said.

Gonsoulin said it’s just means the world to her because she feels appreciated.

“It’s nice because other people think I make an impact and what I do is for the community,” Gonsoulin said.

“As I tunneled my vision a little bit, exotic animal rehabilitation really stood out to me the most and because it (involves) sanctuaries for tigers and helping them out.”                   

 — Fallyn Gonsoulin