Dr. Erika Hamer is the new chair for the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce’s Ponte Vedra Beach Division. She is the owner of Ponte Vedra Wellness, and this is the third time she has held a chair position at some point since joining the Chamber nearly two decades ago.
Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
My name is Dr. Erika Hamer and I started Ponte Vedra Wellness Center in 2004. I graduated from chiropractic school at Life University in Marietta, Ga. and I hold a special post-graduate designation of diplomate in chiropractic neurology and am also fully licensed in nuero-electrodiagnostics.
I am absolutely excited to serve as chair with the Ponte Vedra Beach Division.
Is this your first time in the role of chair with the Chamber?
I’ve served in this role before but it’s been about nine years.
I also served in 2020 as chair of the countywide chamber, which was during Covid and it was a challenging time.
Do you feel like the fact that you’ve had the chair role before will help this time around?
I do feel like having done these roles will definitely make a difference, and I will surely lean on that experience.
One of the things where I feel that I can help the most is that I have a good understanding of the needs of the local community and the Chamber’s members.
Being a small business owner myself I feel gives me the ability to give insight and help direct to make sure the local business community is going in the direction we all want.
Knowing the community is so vital and I have a good grasp on that.
Not only have I spent time in the role of chairs at multiple levels, but I have also held positions at various spots throughout the Chamber and I believe I have taken something from each and every one of those experiences.
What have you found out about the Ponte Vedra Beach community in your years as a member of the Chamber?
Ponte Vedra Beach is a very tight knit community and I’ve worked on being involved even before I was a member of the Chamber.
For about 20 years I’ve had my business now and it has allowed me to develop relationships with so many people.
What have you gained from being a member of the Chamber all these years?
Throughout the years, the Chamber has changed and adapted to what the business needs of the community are. As they change, so should we continue to.
We know the Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot when it comes to business hours, especially when you’re a small business, but as a Chamber we’re here for those businesses.
It’s all about making sure the needs of our local businesses remain at the forefront of what we strive to do.
Do you have goals for the Ponte Vedra Division while in the role of chair?
I’m a big planner and always have been. I like to plan everything.
A big goal of mine would be that we do as much community outreach as possible, because that is the best way to not just offer help to someone but also to find out what the needs are out there.
Once we know the needs we can then create the best plan moving forward.
I also want to focus on continuing to get the word out about the Chamber and make sure that every business in the community knows that we’re here and the services that we can offer.
We have a great board that supports our division, and that’s a great place to start.
We want to make sure that we have the ability to create additional opportunities for every business that calls our community home as well.
