Meet Vivian Gamel | General Manager at Pie Bar

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vivian Gamel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vivian, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
I am: Healthy, well and fully of energy
Competent, capable, and highly motivated
Calm, cool, collected and easy going
Strong, secure, happy and optimistic
Intelligent, independent and free
I have 100% recall.

My biology teacher in high school would have us repeat this mantra out loud before every exam we would take. To myself and many others, she was more than just a teacher — she was an advocate for students both personally and within the classroom. I have this mantra saved on my phone and posted up at my at-home desk, and often refer to it when I feel overwhelmed.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One of my roles within Pie Bar is digital marketing — which means I spend a lot of time doing food photography and videography. If I shared my phone’s camera roll publicly, it would probably be 80% photos of coffee & pie, and 20% photos of my dog.

Previously, I had no experience with food photography specifically. Coming from an Editing, Writing & Media background in college, I spent a fair amount of time writing articles and photographing accordingly, however food photography is entirely a world of its own. I now had to consider things like “What angle does this pie look best at? How melted should the ice-cream be on top of it? Does this look too dark? Too bright? What can I change about this to make it ‘drool-worthy’?”

I think my favorite part about getting acclimated to food photography or photography in general is that I have been able to look back and see the growth, both personally with my own photography eye and also with the growth of the industry in general. Many social media platforms are moving into video-based content. We are seeing this presently with Instagram pushing Instagram reels, and so the major challenge has been adapting to the latest trends, both in regards to skill-set and being able to stabilize engagement.

Regardless of the platform or the content I am putting it, my priority is always one of our core values: community. Pie Bar has many small business partners for anything ranging from our locally handcrafted rolling pins and locally roasted coffee to local farms that grow our pecans, blueberries, and peaches for our pies. Being able to highlight these businesses is what personally brings me a lot of joy on my day-to-day.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite thing about being located “OTP” in Atlanta (otherwise known to locals as “Outside of the Perimeter”) is that you are able to enjoy things both in the city of Atlanta, as well as in many other “small town pockets”. I’m an avid hiker, so I would recommend going for a hike at Red Top Mountain, which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from our home.

I am also a foodie, so I love to enjoy a cocktail and pizza at Two Birds Taphouse — our neighbor in the Marietta Square. For a good brunch, Fellows in Roswell is sure to have the best breakfast (and cinnamon rolls to my sweet tooth folks) in the Atlanta area.

My husband works in the arts, so if we’re visiting the city, we’re probably watching a show at the Fox theatre and grabbing a cocktail and a bite at ‘Bon Ton’ just a few blocks away, which is a Vietnamese-Cajun fusion eatery.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to Lauren Bolden. Her and her husband, Cody Bolden, co-own Pie Bar together. Working alongside a fellow woman entrepreneur has been inspiring and eye-opening. One of the beauties of working for a small business is truly having creative freedom and seeing your impact facilitate its growth, alongside the growth of the team members within it. Through Lauren, I have learned so much about small business in general and with that, I feel like I can attribute a lot of my personal and leadership growth to her.

Website: www.OrderPieBar.com

Instagram: pie_bar

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivian-gamel-4239b5138/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderpiebar

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pie-bar-woodstock

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@piebar7973