WEBVTT - Ep 349: Being Ambitious Is Not Easy ft. Lauren Maillian 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:13.800 Hey, Hey, Hey, we're black. We're back. We're brown ambition, 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:19.880 ambition and ambition. We're extra brown today. Hey, Mandram, how 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:20.200 are you? 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:21.320 Hi? 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:23.480 Beautiful, I'm doing pretty good. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:25.959 How are you? I'm good. I'm good And we just popped. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:27.960 A couple of extra strength talent all so I'm rare 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:28.400 and to go. 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.840 We have some extra brown in this SEU. I love 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.239 what I say this su. I feel so cool. We 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.159 have some extra brown in the sue today. Super special 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.280 because she's like super impressive, but she's also my friend friend. 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.120 Let's welcome Lauren and Melman to the studio. 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:47.199 Welcome Lauren. 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:52.440 She's a change agent committed to diversity, innovation, equity, and inclusion. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:57.200 She's an award winning marketer, prolific investor, advisor, entrepreneur, and 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.600 board member with a multi house you hyphen It career 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.039 spanning over fifteen years. She's advised invested in over forty 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:10.800 starters in her portfolio represents over five billion in market cap. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:11.600 Okay. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.280 She's the founder and the CEO of LMB Group, a 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.640 strategic marketing and advisory company partnering with brands like CoverGirl. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:22.400 She also started Straight Up and Successful Women focused community 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.600 and professional development firm. She discovers and sees this hidden 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.520 profitable value across retail CpG, lifestyle brands, luxury goods, YadA, YadA, YadA, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.920 it's about pioneer stuff. She's based at the bomb dot Com. Okay, Oh, last, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.000 but not least. When she was nineteen, she became the 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:41.399 youngest winery owner girl in the country, co founding the 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.560 internationally recognized Sugar Leaf Vineyards. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.440 Oh my gosh, this is incredible, Lauren. I'm exhausted and 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.560 I don't need la is a mama of two beautiful kids. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:57.920 On top of her now I'm dead not also a 0:01:57.920 --> 0:01:58.919 badass my mom. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:00.840 And she got that. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:02.600 Her mom is so awesome and she got a bad 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.360 as mama. 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.880 And it's self proclaimed. Would you call yourself a rich 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:07.920 auntie in this space? 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.160 Oh me, I call myself like a dinosaur in this space. 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:11.800 An auntie. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.360 I'm just like the auntie dinosaur because I've been around 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.959 this for a long time. Like Tiffany says, we've known 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.720 each other a long time, so I've been able to see, 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.760 you know, her glow up and you know the beginning 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.000 of this incredible podcast. But I just feel like I 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.040 feel like a lot of people's auntie in this space 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.079 because I have been around since we were all starting 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:35.880 and we're still here and now we're all thriving. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.720 So I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. Yeah. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:42.720 Well, it's such a pleasure for me. This is my 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.400 first time meeting you, and I feel like just from that, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.280 just from getting to know you a little bit, I'm like, oh, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.480 Brown ambition personified. Obviously. Why haven't you we had you 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.520 on before? Well, tell everybody, Like, I mean, there's so 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.560 much you have going on, and I feel like, you know, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.320 seasons come and go as far as like entrepreneurship, So like, now, 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.560 what are you focusing on because I or are you 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:04.040 going to tell me that you do everything perfectly and 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:04.680 you can do it all? 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:05.799 No? 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.160 The babies in the vineyard and the venture capital and 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.640 all that, well, let me decide you. 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:11.720 My babies are not babies. 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:13.960 So first of all, my babies are at the age 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.520 of being like useful. So I know everyone thinks that 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.400 I have like these little babies and it's like, girl, 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.440 how are you doing all this and wrangling like toddlers. 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.480 Luckily I've already gone through that stage. They are well 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.760 potty trained, they can cook they can. My son is 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.480 about to start driving, So I have a fifteen year 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:32.720 old son and. 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.160 A thirteen year old daughter, and so they keep me busy. 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:37.720 For sure. 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.440 I'm more like a chauffeur than anything until they can 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:42.760 take them as all everywhere they need to go. So 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.200 it's a good age for sure. And the things that 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.360 I'm working on now as an entrepreneur, it's been really interesting. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.560 I think I'm in I'm in the stage of my 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.280 life where Rando we're talking about this before we went live, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:03.880 where the bar is heightening, right, it is raising, and 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.520 both by design but also by choice, because I want 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.080 to do more and I have found ways to do more. 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.160 And I think the epiphany season that I'm in right 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:17.120 now is that as women, especially as founders and entrepreneurs, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.159 we try to create a life that gives us the 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.320 license to do the things we love. We try to 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.760 create a life that allows us to move in these spaces. So, 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:28.839 you know, ten years ago, when I wrote my best 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.400 selling book, The Path We Defined, I have this chapter 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.720 that was so enlightening for everyone, and it's entitled build 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:39.080 a life That's serendipitous by Design, And I just think 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:39.840 I'm doing that. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.839 At that next level. So it's like, you know, serendipity 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:43.760 is not happenstance. 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.800 It is still strategic and it's by design to keep 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.719 around good people, good ideas come, good businesses come, good 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.440 investments come right, like one thing kind of begets the other. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.200 So I think, you know, as women. 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.200 We spend a lot of time trying to create our 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.719 careers are lives that give us the license to do 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.159 the things we love, and that often means having the 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:06.279 ability to do the. 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:07.440 Next thing right. 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.040 So we spent so long talking about you know, the 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.640 next level, the next chapter, next, next, next, and next 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.800 really means move on from one thing and replace it 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.279 with another. And I think I'm in the season of 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:24.680 accumulation right and like portfolio building, legacy building, where I 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:25.280 want to do more. 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.120 But it doesn't mean to replace something. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.160 It means to be good enough and have great teams 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.719 and infrastructure and systems that allow you to create a 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.880 portfolio that is an ongoing repertoire of all the things. 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.960 And so it's about building instead of replacing. So the 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.400 season that I'm in right now is about building, bigger, building, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.159 more building at scale, bigger impact. So it is a 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:49.960 lot of what I've always done. When you ask what 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.919 am I up to, the same things, but in the 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.719 season of building for scale, for impact, for global for 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.359 global awareness, which just looks different because I'm not looking 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:02.000 to replace it. 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.920 I still want to sustain and maintain the things. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.640 That I've already done well and established, and I want 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.320 to establish something else right. 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:10.520 I want to layer on top of it. 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.599 I want to want to make it more complex and 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.240 more robust, want to again have that scale. And I 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.159 think we think about scale and businesses, but I'm starting 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:20.880 to think about scale in my life and in my 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.240 career and in the people that I'm able to help 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.200 and influence and advise and invest in. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.360 And I've got a feeling when you say portfolio, you 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.320 ain't talking about index funds like me and the basic 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.000 the basic bees out here still trying to like make 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.640 sure we're investing. I mean, you are an investor in businesses, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.680 you have your own you have your own VC firm, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:39.120 Is that right? 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.520 I do so, I have a family office. I had 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.159 started a VC more than ten years ago. To my 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.440 capital partners, really early to the game in terms of 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.760 creating founder friendly capital, which was not cool in twenty 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.640 eleven twenty eleven was very much the time of the 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.839 VC and not the time of the founder. So the 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.080 idea of Founder Friends Capital was like this, humh, like 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.240 you're either one or the other. You're either on this 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:05.800 side of the table as the founder or you're on 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.880 this side of the table. That was the funder and 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.960 shom My Capital, and my role was to really say, hey, look, 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.480 founders can become funders, and we can be really great 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.520 funders because we know what it's like to be the founder, 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.160 and so we're going to do more than just give 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:19.920 you money. We're going to give you money, but we're 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.040 going to make sure that you use that money in 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.800 the right way, that you stay on the right track, 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:25.880 that you know the right people, that you're around the 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:30.280 right networks, because the money and alone is not enough 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.240 to achieve what you want. And so yes, now I 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:38.559 have this incredible portfolio that has been just so fun 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.160 and exciting to build because I could have never imagined 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.920 that it would take me to where it has today. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.600 So now I look back and it's yes, it's angel investments, 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.840 it's real estate, it's art, it's growth equity investments that 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.040 I've made of later. 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:54.560 Stage into later stage companies. 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.640 It's, you know, a year and a half ago, meeting 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.880 into the stack world a purpose of acquisition companies and 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.560 being a partner investor and athena consumer and helping to 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.160 take companies public trading on the New York Stock Exchange. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.480 So it's been that for me was probably the beginning 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:13.040 of the build. 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.600 When I talk about build not replace, right, it's like, 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.600 it's not you know, stocks for crypto and like moving 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:19.520 from one to the other. 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.480 It's like, no, how do you create a portfolio that's 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:22.600 a little bit of everything? 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.000 Right? In my case, I don't do crypto, but just 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.600 as an example, a lot of people are like going 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.040 to the next thing. Right we think about a gold rush, 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.560 it's still like leaving one thing to rush to another. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.800 It's not building upon what you have to create a 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.840 larger portfolio that can become even more valuable. So that's 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.600 the season I'm in and the lessons that I've learned 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:46.240 that continue to kind of dictate the steps that I 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:47.240 take in my career. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:49.959 But also I'm a big believer that proof is in 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.040 the pudding. So like you look at the. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.120 Pudding and it's profitable, and the companies are growing, and 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.560 there's unicorns in there, and there are companies that are 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.679 getting a fired and that are really meaningful and that 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.680 are changing lives and making a difference. And that's the 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.080 portfolio I always wanted to have, Right So it's not 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.160 always going to be the unicorn's, it's not always going to. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.040 Be the you know, the companies that are just in 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:15.840 one sector. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.680 I've always looked at my life as this medley, and 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.120 I think the world is finally catching up to this idea, 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.839 like this is what innovation looks like, because if we 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:30.960 stay in one lane, we get stale and stagnant, even 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.800 if we keep researching. Right, Like I look at Tiff, 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.520 like Tip's been doing budget. Okay, budget, but not all 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.800 budgets are created equal. One minute, you budget in for 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.480 saving money, then you're budgeting for doing something big. Then 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.600 you're budgeting for acquiring an asset, right, Like, not all 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.360 budgets are the same. They have different purposes, and you 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.840 begin to build that portfolio of where you want to go. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:52.520 But we all have to start somewhere. 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.400 That's a good like segue into like where what did's 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.040 starting look like for you? You know, because I feel 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.080 like you started so young, you know, starting your winery 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:01.760 at nineteen. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.880 But as far as like this where you are now? 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:07.360 You know, if someone was like, oh my gosh, I 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.400 want to chart the course that Lauren charted. I want 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.440 to create a portfolio for myself, but I have no 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.200 idea where to start. So someone is listening, like what 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.920 does that look like? We're like, what's the iteration of 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.440 like Lauren, Like we started here and I learned this, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.160 and I did this, Like what did that look like? 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:23.800 Your journey? 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.160 I think the journey is a series of baby steps. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.840 Like I look at the baby steps I was making 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.520 early on in my career, and they were quick succession 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:36.520 of baby steps because it was much easier to break 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.280 down the big, lofty goal into these short, achievable goals. 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.800 And in the early days, it was really easy to. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.040 Get to those next little milestones, especially when I was 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.240 only focused on that one thing, because I was still 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.880 trying to establish subject matter expertise, right, So, like, you 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:56.040 can't create the expertise and build a portfolio. 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:57.480 At the same time. I think that's difficult to do. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:02.840 And so I learned a lot of ways to achieve 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.200 what I wanted to achieve, and also realizing what had 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.600 the most leverage, what had the most influence, what had 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.120 the most power. A lot of times people think it's money, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.360 but then there were times when as a founder, I 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.000 didn't always have the money, but I had the network, 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.040 and the network showed up for me in ways that 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.320 were more powerful and opened more doors than the money 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:25.520 would have. And I think a lot of those experiences 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.440 were happening to me, which were the lessons that I 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.000 was designed to learn to determine which path to take 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.240 when conventional, traditional methods and books and articles. 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:38.160 Would say to go one way. 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.680 I would have these series of aha moments within my 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:46.880 baby steps of achievement, and I was also able to 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.160 very quickly figure out, Okay, well, if this is not 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.240 going the way that I wanted to, I'm not going 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.600 to keep trying something that's clearly not working right Because 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:55.760 if it's a baby step. 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:57.880 O your step a little bit, you go stop, and you're. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.880 Going to go onto something else because you're not trying 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.480 to leap, so you can figure out sooner what's not 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.360 right for you. And I think that the accumulation of 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.000 those lessons for me, combined with taking those baby steps, 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.400 allowed me to be where I am now, but also 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:20.560 allowed me to a mass networks knowledge, access, acumen, and 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:25.520 expertise at the same time. So I was absorbing information 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:30.600 from top sources because in that moment, especially ten eleven years. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.560 Ago, black women were not There was not the movement 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.560 that we have now. There was not a fotlight on us, 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.040 if you remember this, This was not how this. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.800 Ecosystem was, And so I think there weren't a lot 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.000 of us that were paying attention to the lessons. And 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.800 I think when you paid attention to the lessons and 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:54.040 kept learning and kept your intentionality, you saw a lot 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.720 of movement. You saw the needle moving in ways that 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.920 were important. But a lot of us didn't know what 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.800 to do with that. And so I spent a lot 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:08.559 of time listening as much as I was learning, you know, researching, analyzing, 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.000 but also trying to figure out how I someone who 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.040 was completely self made, who did not come up with 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.760 the soilver spoon in their mouth. Yes, my parents worked 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.920 really hard to give you what they have, But I 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.080 always say, like, if I had siblings, I would not 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:24.800 have even been raised the same way. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.480 Like my parents told me all the time. 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.920 We had enough money to weve all money we had 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.480 to send you to school by yourself, like there was 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:32.240 only one of you, there was three or four of 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:34.200 you would not have been going on the same school. So, 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.440 you know, where do we learn these lessons if we 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.360 don't grow up with families that can tell us how 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.840 it's done or that can usher us through that process. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:49.160 And so for me, that's what starting looked like. And 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.160 I was also really grateful to have people in my 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.840 life in my career who gravitated towards me because I 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.240 was so persistent. So my persistence was very off putting 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.160 to a lot of people for a long time. It 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.480 was like, ah, it's too much. But if you don't ask, 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.480 you don't get. And the people who saw me continue 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.559 to ask were like, okay, we see you. And people 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.160 started telling me even then ten eleven years ago that 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.040 they weren't initially going to take my meetings for Genera Capital, 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.400 but when they saw my emails coming in it, you know, one, two, three, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.400 four o'clock in the morning, they were like, okay, she's serious, right, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.040 I wasn't sitting there scheduling send for seven am. No, 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:29.280 if I was up in the middle of the night. 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:30.760 I was up in the middle of the night. But 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.160 that's what people paid attention to. That's what folks noticed. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:38.920 It was that consistency, that dedication that allowed me to 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.360 start and allowed me to realize the way in which 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.480 I wanted to build a portfolio or the ways in 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.320 which I wanted to be diversified based upon my experiences, 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.400 but also based upon the opportunities that were coming to me. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.120 And so some of the greatest opportunities for me as 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:00.800 an investor, as a founder, as you know, someone in media, 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.320 as a women's advocate, came from people saying, hey, look, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.880 maybe you don't have the expertise, Lauren, but what you 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.200 do have is the drive and the persistence, and so 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.080 if we can just teach you these things, we. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.280 Want to watch you go. And there was a lot 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:15.640 of that. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.640 There were a lot of people that I just knew 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.680 wanted to see if that energy of Lauren, like how 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.119 long they could sustain that for And that was exhausting 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.080 because that was the game of proving myself essentially right, 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.640 But that's what's allowed me to build. 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.440 Can we talk about I mean, I'm just listening in 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.560 the common theme I'm hearing are things that I love 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.280 to talk about, which is the secret sauce of people 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.640 and relationships and networking. So you mean you early in 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.560 your career. I know you owned a winery, you worked 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:48.040 in modeling, but eventually someone showed you it was possible 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.200 to become a founder and an investor and an angel 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.920 investor in all of that. And for someone like yourself, who, 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.800 like you said, you haven't grown up surrounded by those 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.440 types of people, how did you Because so many people 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.360 somebody of us struggled with that, especially as you know, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.440 minority women getting ourselves in even the same orbit as 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:08.960 people who can help us think bigger? So how did 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.160 you start putting yourself in those spaces to feel like 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:16.080 it was possible and then make those connections translate into 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.280 I'm going to enter this new path room myself, and 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:19.200 I'm going to make it happen. 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:20.520 It's a great question. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:26.000 I think when when I really analyze my career to date, 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:32.280 it's that my approach is one that most people don't forget, 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:36.600 either because I am persistent, or because I am outspoken, 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:38.640 or because they meet me in a room at a 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.480 conference and I walk in and I'm the six foot 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.920 tall black woman, like, well, where did she come from? 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:44.080 But it's always he. 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.320 Seems so calm, but like I'm imagining, like when you 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.320 say your approach, I'm just like, what do you do 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.840 to these people? Intimidates them? 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:51.440 Well? 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:52.360 It does. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.160 It does intimidate a lot of people, but it also 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:00.120 intrigues them. And so there was so many times and 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.320 again it was like you've got to be comfortable knowing 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.359 that you're being tested, right. So in those instances, it 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:07.400 was like, Okay, I want to be in this room, 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:09.240 but I know why they're inviting me in this room. 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:09.919 I'm not silly. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.680 I know why they're asking me if I can show 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.119 up this way or if I'm available to speak on 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.280 X y Z topic. But I had to be strategic 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.760 about what my presence in those moments were going to 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:23.600 mean to me, not what they were going to mean 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.560 to the audience that was inviting me in the room, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:27.960 because for me, that was no different than like having 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:29.520 your one shot at the meeting. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:29.920 Right. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.120 So I started being invited to conferences and on stages 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.320 to speak because I had been outspoken, because some people 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.560 considered my opinions to be radical, Because if it was 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.040 in the corporate sphere, they could bring me in to 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.920 talk about it far easier than someone on the inside 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.760 that wanted to say the same thing, knew they couldn't, right, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.479 And so I knew that how I showed up in 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.920 those moments was going to create my reputation, was going 0:17:54.000 --> 0:18:00.760 to create an opinion of me. And I do think 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.520 I was really thoughtful in that process of what is 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.440 it that I What is it that I want them 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:12.560 to leave feeling or knowing about me? That's different, right, 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.119 because what they knew about me was the obvious. But 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.919 what they didn't know about me, what wasn't here or 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.960 what was driving me from here? And so that's what 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:22.919 I spent and I know there some people that are 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.160 going to be listening to it. So I was touching 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.120 my head and I was touching my heart in terms 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:28.920 of they don't know what's in my mind. They don't 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.959 know my ideas, they don't know how I strategize, how 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.600 I analyze. They don't know the intellectual property that I 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.359 could bring to their companies or to their clients or 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.560 to their projects. They don't know how driven I am. 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.840 They don't know the integrity that I come to work with. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.600 And so when people were able to see that and 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.240 experience that, even if it was in short engagements, those 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.160 same people, many of whom are the ones that would 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.000 circle back and say, it doesn't matter, Lauren, that you 0:18:55.560 --> 0:19:00.480 don't have the resume experience. We trust you, trust that 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.240 you're going to figure it out, or we trust that 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.200 they're going to work really hard to figure it out 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.679 because we've been watching you and so for a long time. 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.440 You know, early on in my career, I was frustrated 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.760 that a lot of people would ask me to do 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.520 things and then there wasn't follow up, or the follow 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:18.840 up would be another invitation to do something else again, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.000 but not an answer to the feedback I was asking 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.080