WEBVTT - Investing Like a Boss (How-To Monday) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.359 Oh iba fam, It's time for another Hola back Monday. 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:07.880 This week we're featuring a mega entrepreneur. Yes, this is 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.760 my friend. I just saw her the other day, Lauren Mailman. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.440 Lauren has advised and invested in over forty startups and 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.480 her portfolio represents over five billion in market capitalization. Lauren 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.520 is that chick. Okay, she's gonna talk about everything you 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.280 need to know about investing. And like I said, I 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.240 just saw her, so I don't believe in coincidences. Okay, 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:28.920 give it a listen. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:41.320 Hey, hey, hey, we're black. We're back. We're brown. 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:48.840 Ambition ambition, ambition, ambition. We're extra brown today. Hey, Mandram, 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:49.360 how are you? 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.639 Hi, beautiful, I'm doing pretty good. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:53.080 How are you? 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:54.200 I'm good. I'm good. 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.240 And we just popped a couple of extra strength talent 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:57.520 all so I'm rare and to go. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.040 We have some extra brown in the STU. I love 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.400 what I say this, dou I feel so cool. We 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:08.080 have some extra primes to today. Super special because she's 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:12.080 like super impressive, but she's also my frian friend. Let's 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.319 welcome Lauren and Melman. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.319 To the studio. Welcome Lauren. 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.640 She's a change agent, committed to diversity, innovation, equity, and inclusion. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.360 She's an award winning marketer, prolific investor, advisor, entrepreneur, and 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:30.280 board member with a multi health hyphen it career spanning 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.679 over fifteen years. She's advised invested in over forty starters 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:40.000 in her portfolio represents over five billion in market cap. 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:40.800 Okay. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.440 She's the founder and the CEO of LMB Group, a 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.800 strategic marketing and advisory company partnering with brands like CoverGirl. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.560 She also started straight Up and Successful women focused community 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.760 and professional development firm. She discovers and sees this hidden 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:59.440 profitable value across retail CpG lifestyle brands. Luxury goods, YadA, YadA, 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.320 YadA is about pioneer stuff. She's basically the bomb dot 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.279 com Okay. Oh, last, but not least. When she was nineteen, 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:09.280 she became the youngest winery owner girl in the country, 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.639 co founding the internationally recognized Sugar Leaf Vineyards. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:15.480 Oh my gosh, this. 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:16.320 Is incredible, Lauren. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.080 I'm exhausted and I don't even is. 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.560 A mama of two beautiful kids on top of. 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:27.400 Her now I'm dead. I'm not also a bad as 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:28.120 my mom. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:31.400 And she got her mom is so awesome and she 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.600 got a bad as mama. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.040 And it's self proclaimed. What'd you call yourself a rich 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.080 auntie in this space? 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:37.680 Oh me? 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.040 I call myself like a dinosaur in this space, an auntie. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.560 I'm just like the auntie dinosaur because I've been around 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.119 this for a long time. Like Tiffany says, we've known 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:50.880 each other a long time, so I've been able to see, 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.000 you know, her glow up and you know, the beginning 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.200 of this incredible podcast. But I just feel like I 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.200 feel like a lot of people's auntie in this space 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.239 because I have been around since we were all starting 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.040 and we're still here and now we're all thriving. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.880 So I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. Yeah. 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:11.920 Well it's such a pleasure for me. This is my 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.600 first time meeting you, and I feel like just from that, 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:16.440 just from getting to know you a little bit, I'm like, oh, 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.680 Brown ambition personified. Obviously. Why haven't you we had you 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.680 on before? Well tell everybody, Like, I mean, there's so 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.720 much you have going on, and I feel like, you know, 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.000 seasons come and go as far as like entrepreneurship, So like, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.519 right now, what are you focusing on? Because I or 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:32.760 are you going to tell me that you do everything 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.640 perfectly and you can do it all? No, the baby's 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:37.640 in the vineyard and the venture capital and all that. 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:40.880 Well, let me decide you. My babies are not babies. 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.120 So first of all, my babies are at the age 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.680 of being like useful. So I know everyone thinks that 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.560 I have like these little babies and it's like, girl, 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.640 how are you doing all this and wrangling like toddlers. 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.640 Luckily I've already gone through that stage. They are well 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.960 potty trained, they can cook, they can my son as 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:03.440 much as are driving, So fifteen year old son and 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.360 a thirteen year old daughter, and so they keep me busy. 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:06.880 For sure. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.600 I'm more like a chauffeur than anything until they can 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:11.560 take them with all everywhere they need to go. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:13.480 So it's a good age for sure. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.320 And the things I'm working on now as an entrepreneur, 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.200 it's been really interesting. I think I'm in I'm in 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.280 the stage of my life where ran and we're talking 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:30.440 about this before we went live, where the bar is heightening, right, 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.680 it is raising, and both by design but also by choice, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.120 because I want to do more and I have found 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.680 ways to do more and I think the epiphany season 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.640 that I'm in right now is that as women, especially 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.279 as founders and entrepreneurs, we try to create a life 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.800 that gives us the license to do the things we love. 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.640 We try to create a life that allows us to 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.240 move in these spaces. So, you know, ten years ago, 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.560 when I wrote my best selling book, The Path We Defined, 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.560 I have this chapter that was so enlightening for everyone, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:07.560 and it's entitled, build a life That's serendipitous by design, 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.119 And I just think I'm doing that at that next level. 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.120 So it's like, you know, serendipity is not happenstance. It 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.960 is still strategic and it's by design if you keep 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.920 around good people, good ideas come, good businesses come, good 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.599 investments come right, like one thing kind of begets the other. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.599 So I think, you know, as women, we spend a 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.240 lot of time trying to create our careers, our lives 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.840 that give us the license to do the things we love. 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.320 And that often means having the ability to do the 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.680 next thing right. So we spent so long talking about 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.360 you know, the next level, the next chapter, next, next, next, 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.360 and next really means move on from one thing and 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.039 replace it with another. And I think I'm in the 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:53.279 season of accumulation right, and like portfolio building, legacy building, 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:55.360 where I want to do more, But it doesn't mean. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:56.280 To replace something. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.320 It means to be good enough and have great teams 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.919 and infrastructure and systems that allow you to create a 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:07.080 portfolio that is an ongoing repertoire of all the things. 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.159 And so it's about building instead of replacing. So the 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.560 season that I'm in right now is about building, bigger, building, 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.359 more building at scale, bigger impact. So it is a 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.120 lot of what I've always done when you ask what 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.080 am I up to the same things, but in the 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.880 season of building for scale, for impact, for global for 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.560 global awareness, which just looks different because I'm not looking 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.400 to replace it. I still want to sustain and maintain 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.520 the things that I've already done well and established, and 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.800 I want to establish something else, right, I want to 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.760 layer on top of it. I want to want to 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.239 make it more complex and more robust, want to. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.120 Again have that scale. 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.359 And I think we think about scale and businesses, but 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.800 I'm starting to think about scale in my life and 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.680 in my career and in the people that I'm able 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.960 to help and influence and advise and. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.440 Invest in and I've got a feeling when you say portfolio, 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.120 you ain't talking about index funds like me and the 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.000 basic the basic bs out here still trying to like 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.160 make sure we're investing. I mean, you are an investor 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.240 in businesses, you have your own you have your own 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:08.320 VC firm, Is that right? 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.720 I do so, I have a family office. I had 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.320 started a VC more than ten years ago. Tend my 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:17.600 capital partners really early to the game in terms of 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.440 creating founder friendly capital, which was not cool in twenty eleven. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.800 Two thousand eleven was very much the time of the 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.080 VC and not the time of the founder. So the 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.280 idea of founder friendly capital was like this, humh, like, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.400 you're either one or the other. You're either on this 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:34.960 side of the table as the founder or you're on 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.400 this side of the table as the funder and show 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.119 my capital. And my role was to really say, hey, look, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.680 founders can become funders, and we can be really great 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.679 funders because we know what it's like to be the founder, 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:47.320 and so we're going to do more than just give 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.080 you money. We're going to give you money, but we're 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.200 going to make sure that you use that money in 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:52.960 the right way that you stay on the right track, 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.040 that you know the right people, that you're around the 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.440 right networks, because the money enough alone is not enough 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.440 to achieve what you want. And so yes, now I 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.720 have this incredible portfolio that has been just so fun 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.320 and exciting to build because I could have never imagined 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.120 that it would take me to where it has today. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.760 So now I look back and it's, yes, it's angel investments, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.040 it's real estate, it's art, it's growth equity investments that 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.640 I've made of later stage into later stage companies. It's 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.080 you know, a year and a half ago, meeting into 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.040 the spack world of special purpose of acquisition companies and 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.720 being a partner investor and athena consumer and helping to 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.359 pay companies public trading on the New York Stock Exchange. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.679 So it's been that for me was probably the beginning 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:42.240 of the build. 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.760 When I talk about build not replace, right, it's like 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.839 it's not you know, stocks for crypto and like moving 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:48.680 from one to the other. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.679 It's like, no, how do you create a portfolio that's 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:51.760 a little bit of everything? 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.160 Right? In my case, I don't do crypto, but just 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.760 as an example, a lot of people are like going 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.240 to the next thing right, we think about a gold rush, 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.760 it's still like being one thing to rush to another. 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.959 It's not building upon what you have to create a 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.640 larger portfolio that can become even more valuable. 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.520 So that's the season I'm in and the lessons. 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.760 That I've learned that continue to kind of dictate the 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.800 steps that I take in my career. But also I'm 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.000 a big believer that proof is in the pudding. So 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:22.920 like you look at you look at the pudding, and 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.800 it's profitable, and the companies are growing, and there's unicorns 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.520 in there, and there are companies that are getting acquired 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.480 and that are really meaningful and that are changing lives and. 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:33.760 Making a difference. 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.080 And that's the portfolio I always wanted to have, Right, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.440 So it's not always going to be the unicorns, it's 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:41.760 not always going to be the. 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.040 You know, the companies that are just in one sector. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.880 I've always looked at my life as this medley, and 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.280 I think the world is finally catching up to this idea, 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.960 like this is what innovation looks like, because if we 0:09:55.120 --> 0:10:00.160 stay in one lane, we get stale and stagnant, even 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.960 if we keep researching, right, Like I look at Tip, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:04.680 like Tip's been doing budget. 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.720 Okay, budget, but not all budgets are created equal. 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.400 One minute, you budget in for saving money, then you're 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.000 budgeting for doing something big. Then you're budgeting for acquiring 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.680 an asset. Right, Like, not all budgets are the same. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.560 They have different purposes. And you begin to build that 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.800 portfolio where you want to go, but we all have 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:21.679 to start somewhere. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.600 That's a good like segree into like where what did's 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.280 starting look like for you? You know, because I feel like 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.920 you started so young, you know, starting your winery at nineteen, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.040 but as far as like this where you are now? 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:36.600 You know, if someone was like, oh my gosh, I 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.240 want to chart the course that Lauren chart and I 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.320 want to create a portfolio for myself, but I have 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.200 no idea where to start. So someone is listening, like 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.360 what does that look like? We're like how what's the 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.120 iteration of? Like Lauren, like we started here and I 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:51.920 learned this and I did this, Like what did that 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:52.360 look like? 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:52.959 Your journey? 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.360 I think the journey is a series of baby steps. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.040 Like I look at the baby steps I was making 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.720 early on in my career, and they were quick succession 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.680 of baby steps because it was much easier to break 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.360 down the big, lofty goal into these short, achievable goals, 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.920 and in the early days, it was really easy to 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.200 get to those next little milestones, especially when I was 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.440 only focused on that one thing, because I was still 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:22.120 trying to establish subject matter expertise, right, So you can't 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:25.400 create the expertise and build the portfolio at the same time. 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:26.840 I think that's difficult. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:30.360 To do, and so I learned a lot of ways 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:35.840 to achieve what I wanted to achieve, and also realizing 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.440 what had the most leverage, what had the most influence, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.600 what had the most power. A lot of times people 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.880 think it's money, but then there were times when as 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.120 a founder, I didn't always have the money, but I 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.720 had the network, and the network showed up for me 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.000 in ways that were more powerful and opened more doors 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.160 than the money would have. And I think a lot 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.720 of those experiences were happening to me, which were the 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.120 lessons that I was designed to learn to determine in 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:05.040 which path to take when conventional traditional methods and books 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.040 and articles would say to go one way. I would 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.760 have these series of aha moments within my baby steps 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.640 of achievement. And I was also able to very quickly 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.679 figure out, Okay, well, if this is not going the 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.440 way that I want it to, I'm I'm not going 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.800 to keep trying something that's clearly not working right because 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.160 if it's a baby step, okay, your step a little bit, 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.160 you go stop, and you're going to go onto something 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:29.920 else because you're not trying to leap, so you can 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.080 figure out sooner what's not right for you. And I 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.680 think that the accumulation of those lessons for me, combined 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.440 with taking those baby steps, allowed me to be where 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:45.160 I am now, but also allowed me to a mass 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:52.120 networks knowledge, access, acumen, and expertise at the same time. 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.400 So I was absorbing information from top sources because in 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.840 that moment, especially ten eleven years ago. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.960 Women or not, there was not the movement that we 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.720 have now. There was not a spotlight on us. 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.000 I mean to if you remember this, this was not 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.760 how this ecosystem was, and so I think there weren't 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.680 a lot of us that were paying attention to the lessons. 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.280 And I think when you paid attention to the lessons 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:22.920 and kept learning and kept your intentionality, you saw a 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.840 lot of movement. 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.120 You saw the needle moving in ways. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.040 That were important, but a lot of us didn't know 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:30.800 what to do with that, and so I spent a 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.680 lot of time listening as much as I was learning, 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:40.400 you know, researching, analyzing, but also trying to figure out 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.640 how I someone who was completely self made, who did 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.160 not come up with the soilver spoon in their mouth. Yes, 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.360 my parents worked really hard to give you what they have, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.760 but I always say like, if I had had siblings, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:53.960 I would not have even been raised the same way. 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:55.640 Like my parents told me all the time, we had 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.440 enough money to we ave money, we had to send 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.400 you to school by yourself. Like there was only one 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:01.920 there was three or four of you would not have 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.880 been going on the same school. So you know, where 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.439 do we learn these lessons if we don't grow up 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.280 with families that can tell us how it's done, or 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.360 that can usher us through that process. And so for me, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:20.440 that's what starting looked like. And I was also really 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.520 grateful to have people in my life in my career 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:28.360 who gravitated towards me because I was so persistent. So 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.000 my persistence was very off putting to a lot of 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:32.080 people for a long time. 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:33.360 It was like, ah, it's. 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.600 Too much, But if you don't ask, you don't get 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.160 and the people who saw me continue. 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:40.960 To ask were like, Okay, we see you. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.960 And people started telling me even then, ten eleven years 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.400 ago that they weren't initially going to take my meetings 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.360 for gin Way Capital, but when they saw my emails 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.200 coming in at you know, one, two, three, four o'clock 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.600 in the morning, they were like, okay, she's serious, right, 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:57.200 I wasn't sitting there scheduling send for seven am. No, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:58.480 if I was up in the middle of the night. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:14:59.840 I was up in the middle of the night. But 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.320 that's what people paid attention to. That's what folks noticed. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:08.080 It was that consistency, that dedication that allowed me to 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.520 start and allowed me to realize the way in which 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.680 I wanted to build a portfolio or the ways in 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.520 which I wanted to be diversified based upon my experiences, 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.560 but also based upon the opportunities that were coming to me. 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.280 And so some of the greatest opportunities for me as 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.240 an investor, as a founder, as someone in media, as 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.640 a women's advocate came from people saying, hey, look, maybe 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.280 you don't have the expertise, Lauren, but what you do. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.600 Have is the drive and the persistence. And so if 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.840 we can just teach you these things. We want to 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:44.800 watch you go. And there was a lot of that. 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:46.800 There was a lot of people that I just knew 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.880 wanted to see if that energy of Lauren, like how 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.280 long they could sustain that for? And that was exhausting 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.280 because that was the game of proving myself essentially right. 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.800 But that's what's allowed me to build. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:01.480 Can we talk about out? I mean, I'm just listening 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.520 in the common theme I'm hearing are things that I 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.880 love to talk about, which is the secret sauce of 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.680 people and relationships and networking. So you mean you early 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.400 in your career, I know you owned a winery, you 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.600 worked in modeling, but eventually someone showed you it was 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.040 possible to become a founder and an investor and an 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.080 angel investor in all of that. And for someone like yourself, who, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.000 like you said, you haven't grown up surrounded by those 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.600 types of people, how did you because of so many people, 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.560 somebody of us struggled with that, especially as you know, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.600 minority women getting ourselves in even the same orbit as 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.120 people who can help us think bigger? So how did 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.320 you start putting yourself in those spaces to feel like 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.280 it was possible and then make those connections translate into 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.440 I'm going to enter this new path from myself and 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:48.360 I'm going to make it happen. 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:49.680 That's a great question. 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:55.160 I think when when I really analyzed my career to date, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:01.000 it's that my approach is one that most people don't forget, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.800 either because I am persistent, or because I am outspoken, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.800 or because they meet me in a room at a 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.640 conference and I walk in and I'm the six foot 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.480 tall black woman and I'm like, well, where did she 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:12.080 come from? 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:13.240 But it's always he. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.480 Seems so calm, but like I'm imagining, like when you 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.520 say your approach, I'm just like, what do you do 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.000 to these people? Intimidates them? 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:20.600 Well? 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:21.560 It does. 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.280 It does intimidate a lot of people, but it also 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.320 intrigues them. And so there was so many times and 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.520 again it was like you've got to be comfortable knowing 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.520 that you're being tested, right, So in those instances, it 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:36.600 was like, Okay, I want to be in this room, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:38.440 but I know why they're inviting me in this room. 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:39.119 I'm not silly. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.840 I know why they're asking me if I can show 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.840 up this way or if I'm available to. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:45.840 Speak on X Y Z topic. 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.560 But I had to be strategic about what my presence 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.879 in those moments were going to mean to me, not 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:53.520 what they were going to mean to the audience that 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.840 was inviting me in the room, because for me, that 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.280 was no different than like having your one shot at 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.760 the meeting, right of being invited to conferences and on 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.119 stages to speak because I had been outspoken, because some 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.639 people considered my opinions to be radical, because if it 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.080 was in the corporate sphere, they could bring me in 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.639 to talk about it far easier than someone on the 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:15.400 inside that wanted to say the same thing. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.840 Knew they couldn't, right, And so I knew that how 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:19.679 I showed up. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.800 In those moments was going to create my reputation, was 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.879 going to create an opinion of me. 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.320 And I do think I was. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.000 Really thoughtful in that process of what is it that 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:35.880 I What is it. 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.320 That I want them to leave feeling or knowing about me? 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.520 That's different, right, because what they knew about me was 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.600 the obvious, But what they didn't know about me, what 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.320 was here or what was driving me from here? And 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.960 so that's what I spent and I know some people 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:53.000 are going to be listening to it, so I was 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.000 touching my head and I was touching my heart in 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:57.840 terms of they don't know what's in my mind. They 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.000 don't know my ideas. They don't know how I strategize, 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:01.720 how I analyze. 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:02.240 They don't know the. 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.760 Intellectual property that I could bring to their companies or 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:07.359 to their clients or to their projects. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.199 They don't know how driven I am. They don't know 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.040 the integrity that I come to work with. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.800 And so when people were able to see that and 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.400 experience that, even if it was in short engagements, those 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.359 same people, many of whom are the ones that would 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.159 circle back and say, it doesn't matter, Lauren, that you 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:29.159