Layla Gunn – The Melting Pot
Busy schedules seem to come naturally to Layla Gunn. She and her husband Mark Gunn, are co-owners of four metro Atlanta Melting Pot locations where her main role is heading up marketing and assisting with logistics. In addition, Gunn is a dedicated philanthropist with children charities her focus.
Gunn’s eight years in the hospitality industry have included stints as a server, bartender and manager. She has been part of the opening team at new Melting Pot locations, lending her expertise in design and decor.
Prior to working in hospitality, Gunn worked as a pharmacist, a career she says could never compare to that of a restaurateur.
Gunn’s passion for children’s charities began with her husband Mark through their work with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital more than ten years ago. After raising more than $300,000 through fundraisers and personal donations, she decided to create a charity of their own. “I believe it’s important to teach children to be compassionate toward other children in less fortunate circumstances and pay it forward,” Layla Gunn said.
She launched Pure Imagination, a unique Atlanta-based children’s charity that encourages children to help each other. The vision of the group is built around three core values. Pure Imagination encourages children to “form lifelong friendships with other children that are chronically or terminally ill by sharing experiences allowing these children to escape hospitals, protocols, intense scheduling and difficult daily challenges and embrace hope by creating lasting memories beyond their imagination”.
