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FP: Do you tive out there by yourself?
IF: I live there with my boyfriend. He also went to UGA,
and I met him working at Jittery Joe's. We actually had a
class together in college, sat on opposite sides of the lecture
halL He remembered me later when we figured that out—he
thought I was a brat because I raised my hand and I was
a teacher's pet. Funnily enough, almost six years later, we
haven't driven each other completely crazy yet. But, yeah, he
lives there with me. He also has a dog, and I have a cat so we
have a zoo. Yeah, two Great Danes, a German Shepherd and a
cat, and three chickens now that are, like, two months old and
hilarious to me. I have no experience with barnyard animals of
anjckind, so that was really going out on a limb.
I bake a lot in my spare time. I took some culinary school
at the Art Institute of Atlanta and studied pastry arts, so I do
that a lot
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Lauren Felten was on her lunch break when I approached
her for an interview. She seemed excited when she said,
Tve lived here for 10 years and have never been in Flagpole
before."
From getting to'know Lauren, it's clear she is a true renais
sance woman. When she's not crunching numbers and working
with finances at First American Bank, she may be taking pho
tographs, gardening in her backyard or even baking "gender
reveal" cakes.
Flagpole: You said you've lived here in Athens for 10 years.
What do you do here?
Lauren Felten: I moved here in 2002 to go to UGA... I
studied photojournalism at UGA and worked at Jittery Joe's for
a long time. I actually still occasionally pick up shifts there—
I've worked there since 2004. After I graduated, I went to go
look for a big-kid job, but I didn't want to leave Athens yet so
I ended up working at a local
bank: I work at First American j5i
Bank. It has nothing to do §
with photojournalism at alL g
Honestly, I don't think I g:
would like working at a bank 40
if I worked at a big bank, like
SunTrust or Bank of America or
anything like that, but they're
a community bank. It's still
locally owned, the president
and CEO is, like, right inside
the front door when you walk'
in, and that really appealed
to me. I just started working
there as a full-time teller—I •
still didn't know what I wanted
to do—and discovered that
I actually was really good at
my job and ended up getting
a couple of promotions. So,
now I work in electronic bank
ing... I miss seeing customers
face-to-face, but I still get
to talk to a lot of them over
the phone, and it's a lot of
the same people that I would
see every day at Jittery Joe's,
which is kind of the whole
draw of Athens to me. It's
something my parents don't really understand because they've
never lived in a town like this, but I see someone I know
everywhere I go, which I guess that can be a blessing and a
curse sometimes. .
FP: Where did you live before you came here?
LF: I moved to Georgia right before seventh grade, so kind
of in middle school, right in the middle of my formative years.
It was kind of traumatic—coming from Detroit to the South
was a big change, and it definitely took me a few years to
adjust. And, you know, it's just a completely different culture
down here. I've lived in Georgia ever since then. Yeah, growing
up in Detroit and then coming down here was a big change.
Both of my parents grew up up there, too.
FP: Were they both from Detroit?
LF: My dad grew up in Ohio, and my mom grew up in
Michigan, and then they met at the University of Michigan.
They had the very typical "dad was a football player; mom was
a sorority girt." Then they had two kids—a boy and a girt—and
a dog and a cat.
FP: So, it sounds like... Are you not really looking for that
kind of "ideal"?
LF: Not really. I always kind of felt out of place in a super-
suburban environment I bought a house in Athens about two-
and-a-half years ago. It's kind of out near Athens Tech, you
know, more out, like, almost in Hull where it's kind of countiy.
And both of my neighbors are in their 80s, and they farm, and
they're awesome—I love it you know. I have a garden and...
I have chickens now, and my parents think I'm insane. And I
have two Great Danes that tdve to run around my yard.
FP: So, it's, like, for a party
to announce the gender...
LF: Right. Like, instead of
having the technician tell them
in the office, they put it in an
envelope and seal it and then
they give it to the baker... And
so they don't know until they
have the party and they cut
the cake open with everybody.
And that was really stress
ful for me because I was the
only person that knew, and it was for a co-worker of mine, and
I had to keep it a secret for almost a week and not tell him
every time he came in my office: "You're having a boy!"
Melissa Hovanes
FP: When did you do that?
LF: I didn't completely
finish, which really bums me
out—I would have liked to
finish. But I could only take
classes 1 on the weekends, and
it just kind of became unfeasi
ble with my schedule anymore
at work, and financially, too,
it was kind of a strain. But in
my spare time now, I still take
a lot of orders for cakes. I've
started doing some "gender
reveal" cakes lately, which is
something I had never heard of
before, but I guess it's the new
big thing.
FP; So, do you think maybe you would enjoy baking less if it
became your fulL-time job?
LF: I don't know. I think if I eventually decided to try to
start a business... I actually feel like my job has equipped me
really well to do that some day. I'm really comfortable with
finances, and I work with a lot of small business owners.
FP: You kind of know what it entaib, so you won't be in over
your head.
LF: Right. Which is why, every time people ask me, "When
are you going to start a business?" I'm like, "It will be at least
five years." I want to take care of all the boring stuff before I
just take a leap of faith... But, this is a great town for small
businesses, and hopefully it will stay that way.
FP: So, are you interested in trying to do something with
your photojoumab’sm degree?
LF: You know, I worked so hard at it in school, and I loved
it so much, but at the same time, I realized that it wasn't
necessarily the lifestyle that I wanted. It involves, sometimes,
a lot pf travel... maybe the inability to have a family... also
having to cover a lot of events that are just heart-breaking.
I really want to spend 40 hours a week doing something that
makes people happy, that brings people joy. That's why I
enjoy baking so much—because it's always for some kind of
celebration.
GEORGIA theatre
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www.georgiatheatre.com
215 North Lumpkin St. • Athens, 8A
18 S over / ID reqd Isckels available online and at Georgia Theatre 8ox Office
SATURDAY, JUNE 9
a OLD SOUTH RECORDS PRESENTS
2: I*- ha mm ii
' ” RADIOLUCENT
w/THE WHISKEY GENTRY
S THE PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE
DOORS 8:00pm • SHOW 9;00pm
MONDAY, JUNE 11
SHAMELESS: A COMEDY SHOW WITH £
AMY SCHUMER, J
CHRIS PATTON. CALEB SYNAN S HOST JESSE ROSOFF /W?
DOORS 8:00pm * SHOW 9:00pm C IK
DJ MAHOGANYw/special GUEST THE BREAKS
DOORS IC:00pm • SHOW 11:00pm • 21- • [MEidMifTMilG
- Sfc.-
TUESDAY, JUNE 12
THE GET UP GET DOWN $2 ROOFTOP DANCE PARTY FEATURING
THE GOLD PARTY & TWIN POWERS
.D£fl)R$ 11:00pm * 21-
THURSDAY, JUNE 14
jff *j!k HERE COME
THE MUMMIES
000RS 8:00pm * SHOW 9:00pm
WSBS&
FRIDAY, JUNE 15 ’
GYPSY FARM PRESENTS
THEHUMMS PMA
w/ THE ROONEY KINGS, GHOST f M ’ ,*,
LIGHTS. FIGBOOTS. KOKO BEWARE M 'I
DOORS 8 00pm • SHOW 9.00pm ^ %
SATURDAY, JUNE 16
GEORGIA THEATRE
CHILI COOK-OFF
PRIZES AWARDED TO WINNERS OF
EACH CATEGORY
(BAR/RESTAURANT. INDIVIDUAL.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE) *
APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE AT CLAYTON ST BOX OF
PICE OR EMAIL GATHCHIUCOOKOFf GMA1l.COM
DOORS 12:00pm • COOK-OFF 1pm
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JUNE 6,2012 FLAGPOLE.COM 27