Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Polmear.
Hi Laura, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been in Atlanta since 1983. I grew up in Peachtree Corners, did my undergraduate in Neuroscience at the University of Georgia, and moved back to the city of Atlanta upon graduation. I have worked in various sectors in the city such as education, healthcare, events, retail, and restaurants. I began to realize what I loved to do while working in the retail and restaurant sectors. I truly love educating and empowering people and, above all else, I am genuinely interested in people’s stories. I find that this genuine interest leads me to make easy and authentic connections with those I encounter.
While in the restaurant sector, I started organizing pop-up dinners at a local restaurant in 2018 with my head chef and bar team. After countless conversations with chefs, and aspiring chefs, I began to see a pattern of disconnect in this unique sub-sector of the industry. Just before Covid shutdowns in Feb. 2020, I started a community meet-up for these chefs called Heard Atlanta. I chose “Heard” as a play on the meaning of “Herd” (that working in a herd mentality would help those involved succeed by sticking and working together) as well as the word “heard” being synonymous in the restaurant industry with meaning “I hear you, I got you, all good” It’s a unique and special term to the industry.
The goal was to pool resources for these burgeoning chefs so they did not have to go it alone in organizing, booking venues, hiring staff, finding equipment, wondering what was expected to be charged for doing an event, etc. During Covid times, we worked hard to stay connected through group pop-up events and eventually regrouped when restaurants started opening again. Countless other fans of the pop-ups, as well as the chefs themselves, have all stepped in to make the community more cohesive and push it to the next level. We now have the Heard Atlanta Discord group (the Discord platform being an idea introduced by Matt Reeves of Brave Wojtek) which is a virtual platform version of the person meetups that Heard started.
There is also now a permanent brick-and-mortar pop-up stall at Ponce City Market hosted by Punk Foodie who turned from a food fan into a pop-up host entrepreneur. Overall, I have prided myself in helping establish meaningful and long-lasting connections with the hopes of uplifting everyone involved. I have now moved into the commercial real estate sector to help those I know and may have yet to meet, to build the next steps of their business. It is greatly satisfying to help find permanent homes for local and independent businesses in the city I have always called home.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Hahaha no! I have wielded myself in and out of so many different fields to get to where I am. It is because of my unique work background that I have the experience and knowledge that makes what I know and can do, invaluable. I know my path has been unique and cannot be replicated. I have done work from pre-med studies to wedding photography, to pop-up chef coordinator, to commercial real estate agent. The struggles are not getting paid for the work you truly love.
Networking is a labor of love and it takes knowing how to leverage that knowledge and experience, as well as the confidence to ask for being paid, to make a living from it. And, as much as it has been incredible to get to try so many things, it also makes it difficult to figure out exactly what that one thing is that I am made to do… At this point, I don’t think I’m ever supposed to be in one job or field for the rest of my life. I am here to support and educate others, simple as that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Heard Atlanta?
Heard Atlanta focuses on bringing resources together for existing and burgeoning pop-up chefs. It helps to build the community and help facilitate its growth and education for all those involved. To my knowledge, there is nothing else that exists like this for this community and other artistic communities I have encountered in Atlanta. My goal would be to have other start-up creative industries use our model to help their causes.
I am proud to have gone out and started this and to see others take the reins and continue to expand it in ways I had never thought of. I want people to know how difficult, and what a true labor of love it is, to truly bring food experiences to your/consumer’s lives. It’s a complete commitment of your life whether you own a fancy restaurant or you are popping up somewhere for just one night. Please don’t take it for granted and do anything you can to support local talent and art in your community. It’s what keeps a city growing and interesting for all involved.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Absolutely. The restaurant owner and team where I started in the pop-up world (George DeMeglio – the owner of a mano bistro who allowed us to host pop-up dinners in his restaurant, Chandler Cottingham – former head chef of a mano bistro – he came up with the idea of hosting these events because he came from supper-club dinner days and knew pop-ups were the new iteration of those, Ian Brown and Tiffany Howell – former bar staff and former bar director that help cultivate and curate bar menus paired with the pop-up dinners).
The countless pop-up chefs who taught me so much and shared their stories (especially Kamayan ATL as they were my first pop-up collaboration at a mano, Pho Cue owners Julian Wissman and Brian Holloway who were the cowboys of the pop-up scene during Covid! They cultivated large pop-up events in parking lots and took pop-ups to the next level.
And Seung He Lee of Korean Fusion for teaching me the art of pairing wine/beverage programs with pop-up menus), the other venues who have opened their doors and took chances on the chefs, and my now current boss, Perry King of King Commercial Properties, who recognized my spirit and drive to help others and has helped leverage that in the commercial real estate world. Matt Reeves of Brave Wojtek pop-up and Sam Fleming of Punk Foodie have also now taken the reigns of supporting and pushing the pop-up scene in Atlanta to new levels.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kingproperties.net
- Instagram: @lpcommrealtor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-polmear-0a98157/
Image Credits
Mike Schweiger
