COOKING UP SUCCESS

COOKING UP

Photography by Todd Stone

SUCCESS

In Albany, women who found success as young adults in the more traditional professional world are now, in midlife, cooking up second careers. Get to know three amazing ladies with varied backgrounds and specialties who are enjoying newly-found success in the culinary world.

Tlaura piovesana

hrough her popular cooking classes, Laura Piovesana, affectionately known as “Chef Laura,” has brought the taste of authentic Italian cooking to Southwest Georgia. During the last three years, she has taught hundreds of area residents how to expertly roll gnocchi, hand toss a homemade pizza with finesse and concoct the perfect meatball. And she does it all with warmth, enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye.

“My cooking classes are really an immersion into the Italian culture right here in Albany,” she said. “We don’t just cook; I share stories about life in Italy, people ask questions, and we have a lot of fun!” “Things took off really quickly, and classes started selling out,” she recalled. “I felt welcome here in Albany from the very beginning.”

Piovesana also embraced the community, donating her cooking services to silent auctions and fundraisers, and also teaching healthy eating classes at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

“My cooking is a way that I can give back,” she said, “and that’s very important to me.”

In 2018, Piovesana began importing many of the gourmet sauces,olive oils and condiments which she now sells at Pool Brothers.

A native of Conegliano, Italy, Piovesana learned to cook as many children do – by helping her mother and grandmother in the kitchen. When her husband’s education led the couple to Galveston, Texas, Laura left behind a career in marketing with The Walt Disney Company. Once stateside, she began entertaining new friends by preparing authentic Italian meals for them. Soon, her friends were asking for cooking lessons, and her business, The Italian Wooden Spoon, was born.

In 2016, Piovesana found herself relocating again when her husband’s career as a physician brought them to Albany. Circumstances aligned and, by the end of the year, she was teaching cooking classes at the Pool Brothers’ showroom off U.S. Hwy. 82. Piovesana has expanded her cooking classes with locations in Tifton at the Conger LP Gas showroom and in Thomasville at Bobby Dollar’s Appliance Consultant, introducing even more people to the way of cooking that she knows and loves. For Piovesana, that means using fresh, local ingredients as much as possible.

“While many Americans think of Italian food as heavy and rich, they are actually thinking of ItalianAmerican dishes,” she said. “In Italy, we cook much more simply. We visit the market, see what seasonal produce is available, and then decide what to cook. If you start with the best ingredients, you will end up with a great meal. You don’t have to be a master chef.”

To see a schedule of

Chef Laura’s cooking

classes, visit her website, italianwoodenspoon.com.

Lquinetta hall

ots of people enjoy cooking. Some even have a passion for it. For Quinetta Hall, it is even more serious than that. For her, it is a calling.

While she had grown up baking by her grandmother’s side and always prepared goodies during the holidays, Hall never really considered her culinary skills marketable. That changed in 2013 when a friend, James Henderson, who is a former powerlifting champion turned motivational Christian speaker, ordered three cakes from her for his family reunion.

Hall recalled his words with a smile. “He told me, ‘I have been around the world from Finland to Germany to Amsterdam, and I have never tasted anything so truly delightful. You are a millionaire and don’t even know it.’ ”

At the time, Hall was working as a contractor at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, and really liked her job. A career as a baker was not anything she was seriously considering, but her friend kept urging her to take the next steps in that direction.

Somewhat prophetically, Henderson told Hall that she was not going to be at her job for much longer. “You may as well go ahead and take some ServSafe classes,” he said. So she did.

When she was laid off from her position at the base, Hall already had a plan of sorts. After passing the necessary certifications, inspections, and licensing, she turned a spare room in her home into a cottage bakery.

“I did well selling baked goods from my home,” Hall said, “but after about two years I heard a voice saying ‘Your time is up here.’"

She found a commercial space that she liked in the Merry Acres Shopping Center, but her determination was tested as she began renovating the shop. She suffered a devastating house fire and lost everything, a setback that might have derailed another but only made Hell stronger. She opened her storefront, Q’s Cakes, in 2016. In addition to her delectable baked goods, Hall offers healthy lunch options and cake decorating classes.

Now, Hall said she feels like she is where she is meant to be.

“I started with one box of cake flour, and now I have my own bakery. I’ve even had the opportunity to bake a red velvet caramel birthday cake for Paula Deen, who said it was the most incredible cake she’d ever tasted. What a compliment!” Hall said. “I am so glad that I stepped out in faith and just kept going one step at a time. It’s been an incredibly rewarding adventure.”

Visit Q’s Cakes at

1406 Dawson Road Albany

wlaura lynn carter

hen I was 40, if someone had told me that in the next 10 years I would become a cookbook author and a television host, I would have told them that they were crazy,” Lara Lyn Carter said with a smile. “But here I am.”

It all started when Carter was working at WALB News Channel 10, a local television station. The staff was challenged to come up with a locally produced show. Her idea, “Savor the Good Life,” featured food, entertainment and lifestyle content from Southwest Georgia. Carter jumped right in when she was unexpectedly tapped to host the program, which included cooking segments.

“Nobody else wanted to do it,” she said with a laugh. “I always say that I got started in television by accident.”

And a happy accident it was. Her next venture was a Georgia Public Broadcasting series, “A Thyme for Sharing,” which garnered her an Emmy award in 2016.

Carter’s busy lifestyle, combined with a pregnancy at the age of 43, began to take a toll on her health, however. Weight gain and other health concerns led her to seek answers through nutrition, experimenting with recipes as her whole family adopted a clean eating lifestyle.

“I cut out gluten and refined sugar, and, by the end of the first week, I could tell a big difference,” Carter recalled. Soon, she had dropped 50 pounds and regained her health. Wanting to share what she had learned with others, she compiled her revised recipes into a cookbook, “Skinny Southern,” which reinvents classic Southern dishes with clean, healthy ingredients. Released in 2019, “Skinny Southern” hit No. 2 on Amazon’s top new releases list, with the first edition selling out in 12 days. Carter is now working on a new cookbook, “Skinny Southern Baking.”

Carter’s career as a selftaught chef, an author and a television personality has led to opportunities that she never dreamed of, including a book tour through the United States and Canada, personal appearances at internationally-known food and wine festivals, and conversations with a national network about a potential new series.

Brimming with enthusiasm and full of ideas, Carter is looking toward the future but is also conscious of the good fortune that has already come her way.

“I’ve had a great time with this,” she said. “And while I certainly hope that it doesn’t end tomorrow, I can honestly say that if it did, it’s been an amazing ride.” ∞