Laura Bento

Publisher, Good Grit

Atlanta

In July of 2014 Laura Bento found herself reading an article in the New York Times written about Alabama. As a Savannah native, she was enamored by the revitalization and localization movement happening in Birmingham. Seeing as this had taken place in Savannah long before she was born, she was excited to watch it in action in another great city.

As she read the article she became enraged. She felt that people in other states, states outside of the South, were writing and reporting better about us than our own region. She made a call to a friend and mentor in the publishing business and decided that day to start a magazine. Most people would call her crazy….and they did. She had never even had a magazine subscription in her life, so her new calling required a significant amount of research. She decided no one was competing with Garden and Gun, so she accepted that challenge. Bento researched her niche, went and worked for free at a magazine to learn the business, and built a business plan. InDecember of 2014 she pitched her idea to one man, and with his investment, Good Grit was born.

Eleven issues later, Bento continues to challenge herself, her team, and the industry by continually striving to create a better product in a way that is certainly non-traditional. She surrounds herself with talented people she believes in, and they all continue growing and learning together as they create each issue, insisting that each one be better than the last.

When Bento is not reinventing the magazine business, she is a single mom who enjoys spending time with her 13-year- old son. He attends a prep school about 45 minutes north of Birmingham where he boards during the week to accommodate her travel schedule.