Smarty Pants Really Smart Consultant Andrea Lazar Houston

Smarty Pants is an independent consulting company founded by Andrea Lazar to help small businesses grow smarter.

Andrea Lazar is a successful entrepreneur who has created two, critically-acclaimed multi-million dollar businesses in Houston, Texas. Her strengths lie in business growth strategies, comprehensive content marketing, branding management, community partnership development and project management.

She has been recognized for her Wine & Spirits Programs at both Boulevard Bistrot and t’afia and was named Best Sommelier 2007 by The Houston Press.

Andrea is dedicated to the local food movement in Houston and is one of the founders of the Midtown Farmers Market. She also created and coordinated the RARE experimental dinner series (held at t’afia) showcasing up-and-coming chefs. She believes that food is the cornerstone of community and has seen how local food can bring disparate groups of people together to share experiences and effectively erase cultural and socioeconomic boundaries. She hasn’t just been serving good food all these years, she’s been actively promoting social change, one plate at a time.

Andrea has also been involved in the Houston arts community for many years. She was the Marketing/Public Relations Director at DiverseWorks Artspace from 1991-1994 and then returned in 1995 as Acting Director during the search for a new Executive Director. At t’afia, she created Artists Share, a curated silent auction in which proceeds are divided equally between the artist and a charity of the artist’s choosing. She also engaged local artists in all aspects of designing the four restaurants she has developed with her business partner and award-winning chef, Monica Pope: Boulevard Bistrot, 43 Brasserie, t’afia and Beaver’s.

Andrea graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Plan II. She then completed a dual degree program at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1991 with a Master of Business Administration (from the Cox School of Business) and a Master of Arts in Non-Profit Administration (from the Meadows School of the Arts).

Business Experience

Owner, t’afia, 3701 Travis St, Houston TX 77002 www.tafia.com

Owner, Beaver’s, 2310 Decatur St., Houston TX 77008 www.beavershouston.com

Community

Co-Chair, Advisory Board, Recipe for Success

Recipe for Success is a non-profit organization dedicated to combating childhood obesity through school-based programs.

Publicity

December 2, 2008
Let 100 (O.K., 8) Bartending Philosophies Bloom

By OLIVER SCHWANER-ALBRIGHT

The New York Times

t'afia named as a "bar on the cutting edge."

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