Lauren Bermudez works as the Transportation Program Manager at the Downtown Memphis Commission.
Her work focuses on ways to add mobility options to everyday life in Memphis and how to creatively reduce parking demand downtown. Lauren’s projects include sidewalk improvement, parking-demand management strategies, electric vehicle infrastructure, bicycle education programs, and more!
On Just Bluffin’, Campfire Collective talked to Lauren Bermudez in the summer of 2023, just before DMC’s new Mobility Center opened.
In addition to her work in Chicago and Memphis and her vision for Memphis’ transportation and mobility future, we also heard about her surprising past as a self-described Elvis historian.
Lauren discovered a passion for biking when she was a college student studying Spanish at the University of Memphis.
“Biking became a form of transportation, and then it became a hobby that allowed me to meet a group of friends,” she said. “And then biking became a big part of my identity.”
Eventually, Lauren began working in bike and pedestrian safety, education, and outreach, starting in Illinois, where she worked at the Chicago Department of Transportation through a nonprofit called the Active Transportation Alliance.
“I started out doing bike and pedestrian outreach on a team called the Safe Routes ambassadors. I learned how to change conversations and how to get people to try a new mode of transportation.”
Lauren ended up managing the program, went to graduate school, and got another degree that would allow her to scale up the work that she was doing.
“I moved back to Memphis when I got a job here,” Lauren said.
As the Transportation Program Manager at the Downtown Memphis Commission, one of Lauren’s biggest recent projects is the Mobility Center, a new development in what was a surface parking lot next to the Orpheum Theatre.
“One of the things we wanted to do with the Mobility Center was to get cars off the street so that we have more space for pedestrians and more safety on the road,” Lauren explained. “Something that we definitely see happening downtown when people are looking for a place to park is that they just keep driving around a block or two looking for the best spot they can get. It's clogging up traffic, adding fossil fuels to the air, and it's generally unsafe because the drivers are not really looking out for people. The Mobility Center gets cars off the road by adding parking in a highly desirable location.”
The seven-story Mobility Center includes retail space, electric vehicle charging stations, and more than 2,000 square feet of artwork from 16 local artists. When the Mobility Center opened in August of 2023, it instantly added hundreds of parking spaces to the downtown area.
When we asked Lauren about her favorite Memphis memory, she couldn’t pick just one.
“There’s a couple,” she said. “One, I got married in Memphis at Court Square Park. It was a pandemic wedding. And when we finished our little tiny family-only wedding in the park, we did a second line parade with Lucky 7 Brass Band down Main Street.”
Another favorite memory: working at Sun Studio.
“Most people don't know that I was a tour guide. I like to say I was an Elvis historian. It was really fun living in that world and talking about Memphis music all day. I wore red lipstick every day and had kind of a ‘50s look. Some days I was like who am I? But it was awesome.”
To listen to our full conversation with Lauren Bermudez, click here. And don’t miss any of our future conversations with Memphis leaders! Subscribe to Just Bluffin’ wherever you get your podcasts, and learn more about the team behind the mic at buildacampfire.com.
Campfire Collective is a Memphis-based marketing and communications agency that seeks to ignite creativity for community-focused organizations. Learn more at buildacampfire.com
