On Dec. 3, Laura O’Brien will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 39th annual FN Achievement Awards. Below is an article from the magazine’s Dec. 1 print issue about how the executive director of The Atlanta Shoe Market persevered to build up the industry’s top trade show.
For Laura O’Brien, it all boils down to passion.
“What I love the most about my job is helping my members, helping the retailers, helping the manufacturers. And that’s what I do — I’m in the service industry. I’m here to service them and do the best possible job to bring the industry together twice a year,” said the executive director of The Atlanta Shoe Market.
In her more than 40 years leading The Atlanta Shoe Market, O’Brien has grown the trade show from a regional gathering to the largest footwear show in the U.S. At the most recent edition, in August, more than 1,800 brands exhibited, with retail buyers attending from all corners of the country and abroad.
Glenn Heidkamp, president of sales at J. Reneé Group, said that success is due primarily to O’Brien and her incredible ability to negotiate favorable contracts and find outcomes to benefit everyone. “The Atlanta show would not exist without Laura,” said Heidkamp, who serves as president of the board of the Southeastern Shoe Travelers Association (the corporate name of the organization). “She is excellent at understanding what the future will look like and making the correct decisions to put the organization in the best place going forward.”
As for how she built the show into a national event, O’Brien said that was never the specific intent but rather the result of quiet diligence over the decades. “I just stayed in my lane and kept trying to get better. And hopefully I achieved that. I’m still trying to achieve that, in a sense,” she said.
The Atlanta Shoe Market team (from left): Robin Foster, Alex Voelks, Laura O’Brien, Justine Opera.
Courtesy of The Atlanta Shoe Market
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, O’Brien said she learned the value of perseverance from her grandparents, who immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the early 1900s. She recalled that they came over not knowing the language but managed to build a family and careers. “My grandfather originally worked at Homestead Steel Works in Pittsburgh, then did landscaping in the evening and then that became his primary career,” O’Brien said. “It keeps me in focus to think about what they had gone through, giving me the courage to get through the adversities that I’ve had to deal with in my life.”
As a young woman, O’Brien got a degree in medical technology and worked in hospitals for several years before stepping away for a decade to raise her two children. Then in 1984, following a divorce, O’Brien and her kids made the fateful decision to move to Atlanta, picking the city somewhat on a whim — “my son liked to play golf,” she recalled.
Then serendipity hit. One day after moving into their home, the Sunday edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution arrived on O’Brien’s doorstep. She searched the classifieds section for jobs and came across an assistant role with the trade show.
Though she had no experience in events or marketing — “I hadn’t even done any typing since high school,” she joked — O’Brien landed the job, in part, she believes, because of her flair for style, something that continues to be her trademark, as show attendees can attest.
There is a lesson to be learned in that experience, according to O’Brien. “Never be afraid to take that leap of faith,” she said. “It was as scary as all get out, but I didn’t have a choice. I had my kids to think about. So when you’re faced with those challenges in your life, you just have to do it.”
After several months with the trade show, the director position became available, and O’Brien threw her hat in the ring. “The board said, ‘You’re probably not ready for this.’ So I said, ‘Give me six months. If you’re not happy with me, I’ll leave.’ That was 41 years ago.”
Laura O’Brien, early in her career with The Atlanta Shoe Market.
Courtesy of The Atlanta Shoe Market
O’Brien is quick to credit the SESTA board with their unwavering encouragement over the years. Though she was young and inexperienced — and a woman in a leadership role when such things were rare — the board members gave her their trust and support.
And that continues today. Mark Cranford, key account manager for Aerosoles, is chairman of the SESTA board, all because of O’Brien. “Laura is the reason I joined the board,” he said. “She has the ability to look globally between the vendor community and the retail community, and find what’s best for both parties. It’s a common-sense way of approaching things.”
In her early years, O’Brien also benefited from the mentorship of Ann Aiken, who at the time was executive director of the industry-leading WSA trade show. “Ann was always very willing to help and share whatever she could, and that’s why I love to do it now with people, because everybody needs a mentor,” said O’Brien.
Over her four-decade tenure, O’Brien has faced many challenges, both professional and personal. In 2013, her second husband died after a prolonged illness.
As for the trade show, it survived a risky venue change in 1996, moving from downtown Atlanta to the Cobb Galleria Centre in the city’s northwest corner.
And the COVID shutdown in 2020 brought its most tense moments. “I didn’t know if we were going to survive that because we are a nonprofit association, so we don’t have the funds to keep us going if we don’t have a trade show,” O’Brien recalled.
Georgia was one of the first states to reopen, so The Atlanta Shoe Market returned in February 2021 after missing only one event. “That’s what I think put us on the map to become a national show, because people were coming from all over, and we were the only show that was back,” said O’Brien.
To overcome those moments of adversity, she said she relies on a positive attitude, her faith in God and, well, staying busy. “When my husband was sick, we spent a lot of time in hospitals and the doctors used to say, ‘If you want to find her, she’s in the corner over there working on her computer.’ So it was always my job that got me through the difficult times,” said O’Brien.
Now as she looks ahead, the trade show executive has no plans for retirement, but she is thinking about her legacy. “I would hope that I would be remembered as being a good person, a caring person, and always doing the best job that I could for the association,” she said. “And I hope that whoever takes over the show one day keeps going with what we’ve created.”
For 39 years, the annual FN Achievement Awards — often called the “Shoe Oscars” — have celebrated the style stars, best brand stories, ardent philanthropists, emerging talents and industry veterans. The 2025 event is supported by Caleres, Listrak, Nordstrom, Skechers, Vibram and Wolverine Worldwide.
