August 24, 2025 • 32 mins
Listen as Raven Heyward, founder and host of DiversifyHER, converses with Lauryn Taylor. She is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, double-majoring in Media & Journalism and Public Policy. She serves as the Class of 2026 Chief Marshal and is the founder of Girl Boss Gatherings, a campus community empowering female college students through career events, social experiences, and networking opportunities. During her time at Carolina, Lauryn studied abroad in London and gained professional experience interning at both a bank and an advertising agency. On campus, she’s represented brands like Grammarly, Bearpaw, and Uber Eats as a student ambassador, and she currently works with the Carolina Alumni Association to strengthen the post-grad experience while also hosting office hours for Hussman students seeking career advice.
Connect with Lauryn:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauryntaylor/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm excited to have
Lauren Taylor-Whitney.
She is a senior at UNC ChapelHill, double majoring in media
and journalism and public policy, is the founder of Girl Boss
(00:21):
Gatherings, a campus communityempowering female college
students through career events,social experiences and
networking opportunities.
During her time at Carolina,lauren studied abroad in London
and gained professionalexperience, interning at both a
bank and an advertising agencyOn campus.
She's represented brands likeGrammarly Bear, paw and Uber
(00:45):
Eats as a student ambassador andshe currently works with the
Carolina Alumni Association tostrengthen the post-grad
experience, while also hostingoffice hours for husband
students seeking career advice.
Thank you so much for beinghere with me today, lauren.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm doing good.
Thank you for having me, Ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I'm super excited to have you on the show today.
So I want to start with some ofyour early inspirations.
When you first started at UNC,you jumped right into leadership
and involvement.
So what motivated you to be sointentional about shaping your
Carolina experience from thevery beginning?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Be so intentional about shaping your Carolina
experience from the verybeginning.
Yeah, so I think throughouthigh school I had like a lot of
really good mentors who talkedabout like the importance of
college experience as like abooster for like the rest of
your life.
They said like this is kind oflike an incubated period of four
(01:47):
years where you can hyperfixate on just like your social
life, your social network, whatyou're doing, what you wish to
do, and that period is kind of agift because after your four
years of college, like otherthings start to get in the way
Like you have bills, you mayhave kids, you have a spouse,
like it's just different.
You don't get that samehyperfixation period.
And so when they really talkedabout that, they really
encouraged me to kind of map outwhat my one end goals were, or
(02:07):
some different versions that Iwould like to leave college as,
and then like what the differentsteps were to get to those end
goals.
So for me, coming intoundergrad I was actually like
pre-med, so like my whole endgoal was actually medicine,
which is very different thanlike what I think my end goal is
now.
But a lot of like my whole endgoal was actually medicine,
which is very different thanlike what I think my end goal is
now, but a lot of like mymentors really had me like
(02:30):
visually draw out like thedifferent steps I needed.
So obviously there was obviousstuff like certain classes and
like MCATs, but then there wasalso like curating your other
side, like whether that was yourextracurricular involvement,
your community service, like atthe time, like my clinical hours
, research and just starting tolike draw out the life you like
(02:52):
desired for yourself and for me.
I think like that, like havinglike a set time to really like
think and focus on what I reallywanted, helped me gain like a
lot of clarity and know how tomove like with each semester.
So like I feel like my semester,freshman year fall, was really
focused on like building like mysocial network.
(03:14):
So that was more like meetingdifferent people, going to all
like the first year Honors,carolina scholarship events,
making sure I was connectingwith like my professors and
actually getting to know all sixof them, just because that was
going to be like my base network.
Going to like I was doing stuffwith like the research
community and like going out tothe events there to meet with
PIs in different labs, and thatwas really my whole goal, like
(03:37):
fall semester was not really toget a leadership position or get
super involved per se, but tolike see everything out there.
And then my mentors kind ofdescribe it as like a pyramid.
Like your first year is likethe bottom of the pyramid and as
you like go up the years, likeyou get more focused and you get
higher up.
So like that's when you start,you know going for those higher
(03:59):
exec positions you go to likeadvisory boards, you're
representing your school and sothat's kind of how I treated my
four years.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I think that that period example is a really good
sort of analogy of what Ibelieve your four years have
actually been, and even the same.
Here I'm thinking back.
I actually remember meeting youbefore we even got to Carolina.
When what was it?
You before we even got toCarolina, when?
(04:28):
What was it?
It was like the superintendent,the board, um, that was within
Wake County, and we were likestudent leaders at our high
school, and during this time itwas still on zoom, but I even
remember you having a lot ofleadership positions in high
school.
So would you say that you kindof had that same sort of period
or pyramid mindset whenever youwere still in high school or in
(04:49):
middle school, like before evengetting to Carolina?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, definitely in high school I feel like I had
those goals.
I was like a Girl Scout, for,like I'm a lifelong Girl Scout,
so I feel like they've alsoalways encouraged like community
service.
So always encourage likecommunity service.
Um so like pretty much everylevel, like elementary school,
middle school, high school andgirl scouts you have the option
to complete like a communityservice project and even in
elementary school it was like a40 hour project, so pretty
(05:16):
significant for like how old youare.
And then in high school I thinkit was 80 hours.
Middle school was 60 hours umto like qualify to have
completed the project.
So, and the way they structure,it was 80 hours.
Middle school was 60 hours tolike qualify to have completed
the project.
So in the way they structure itwas also like kind of pyramid
like.
So like in your early years ofelementary schools you were
doing like training and earningbadges and going to like
programming about like communityservice, leadership and other
(05:38):
like skills, and then, as youlike, move through to like the
later years of elementary school, like fourth and fifth grade.
That's when you were likeplanning your project,
implementing it, and they didthe same thing for like middle
and high school.
So I feel like I've always beenprobably exposed to that whole
like pyramid and growth mindset.
But then, like in high school, Ifeel like I started to probably
lock in a little bit morebecause I just had there was a
(06:01):
clear like next step, like it'sdifferent with like elementary
school you graduate your middleschool is like pre-picked out
Middle school you graduate yourhigh school is pre-picked out.
High school is like your leavinghigh school is your first time
to make a decision of your ownand I knew like I wanted to take
a lot of ownership of that.
I wanted to have a lot ofoptions.
I wanted to have a lot ofdifferent program options.
(06:26):
So as I started to move up inhigh school, particularly my
sophomore junior year, that'swhen I started to do things like
the Superintendent LeadershipCouncil.
That's when I started to be onthe advisory board for our
athletics department.
I also did some other projectswith the Wake County
Superintendent, with DEI andgoing to the board meetings and
presenting.
And that's when I started tolike, when I reached like my
junior senior year, really be atthe top of my pyramid in terms
(06:48):
of involvement, leadership andthen starting to help like the
next round of kids slash, nextgeneration of leaders like
develop themselves and likeslowly take over different
things.
I had started.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I did not know that you were a lifelong girl Scout.
That is so cool.
That's an interesting, fun factabout you.
But I completely agree witheverything that you said and I
wholeheartedly agree.
So now I want to talk about youfounding the Girl Boss
Gatherings.
So I know that one of yourbiggest initiatives has been
(07:23):
creating that, co-creating that,along with Nora and Anisa, who
just graduated class of 2025.
And I want to know, can youjust walk us through the vision
behind starting it and howyou've seen an impact with the
different women that are oncampus, with the different women
that are on campus?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah.
So I think my whole thing withlike founding things is I like
to like confirm that there islike an actual need or like
space for it.
And when I kind of like lookedaround at like the clubs slash,
like social communities aroundUNC, I was like a lot of orgs
here which I think these allserve their purpose, but like a
(08:07):
lot of the organizations hereare school-based.
So it's like women in business,women in econ, women in STEM,
future women in medicine and allof those orgs have their
purpose and are great, but atleast for me, like Hussman and
Public Policy, they have someprogramming like that, but they
weren't super strong or like asbig of like a social environment
(08:27):
as I would want it to be andlike sometimes it was reversed
it wasn't as big of like anetworking environment that I'd
want it to be.
So I noticed that gap and Ialso noticed like I already take
classes with people in publicpolicy, with people in Hussman.
I don't really I would want todiversify in terms of like a
social setting.
I don't want to just be aroundthem.
So it's like okay, that's kindof a gap.
(08:48):
Obviously there's otherorganizations that like exist
for women too, but like some ofthem I know like a lot of even
like clubs here like they have areally high membership fee or
like the events can sometimescost money or there's just like
other barriers to entry that mayprohibit someone from like just
really joining some of thoseorganizations.
(09:09):
And so I kind of thought aboutthat, which is why, like we
really wanted to opt to make ourorganization like none of our
events cost, just because incase someone like felt really
uncomfortable or that was likesomething that had previously
been turn them away fromdifferent organizations.
We wanted to make sure likethis was like fully accessible.
(09:30):
And so that was kind of how Ilooked at like the landscape of
like what was going on in oncollege campuses already and
like confirmed that there waslike possibly room for like one
more thing.
So then I was like okay, I'mgoing to do like girl boss
gatherings and I didn't reallywant it to be like a true club
or a nonprofit actually, but itmore just focuses on like
(09:53):
creating like third socialspaces for people, for women on
campus to network, socialize andalso just meet different people
outside of other groups theymay already be involved in,
because, although it'sdefinitely important to have
like your niche or your smallercommunities.
There's also so much value inlike reaching out to communities
that you don't interact withevery day.
Um, and I think like anexperience happens at like a lot
(10:15):
of the professional schoolshere where, like once you get
into like a Gillings, once youget into a business school, a
husband all of your classes arethere.
Like you never get theopportunity to like meet as many
different people anymore,especially for like our
upperclassmen, but I still thinkthat's very valuable and
something like a lot of peoplecrave.
Like you don't want to bearound necessarily the same
(10:35):
background interests people allthe time, because I feel like it
does limit your growth in a waya little bit.
So that's when we were likeokay, well, this is going to be
open to everyone.
Some of our events may havelike focuses like networking or
socializing or wellness, butthey're going to be for everyone
to participate in.
I also thought it was importantto have like things that span
(10:57):
across different grades, justbecause a lot of clubs at the
university level in nature arelike big freshman, sophomore
year things.
Like you join freshman year, youtry and get on an executive
sophomore, junior year, but thenby the time you're late junior
year, senior year rolls around,you're not really as involved
because you kind of have gone upand down like the ladder kind
of in the first two, three yearsand that's, although that's
(11:20):
like understandable, it's likehard then because, like freshmen
aren't really getting to seeseniors who may be on like the
same career path or the samejourney as them, and I think
it's important to kind of havethat like cross collaboration
across like the university.
So that was our really big thingand we also have exec in every
(11:41):
year.
We are about to announce likeour new first year exec member
and I just thought it wasimportant to like have as much
as possible everyone representedand like in leadership, like we
have girls who are insororities, we have girls who
are in other, like women inbusiness clubs who are like on
our exec team, and it's likecreates a really good
combination of people and likeeveryone just gets to talk about
like their general, likegirlhood experience and I think
(12:03):
that's been really positive yeah, I remember seeing you all pub
the original like first event.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I thought that it was so amazing that y'all were
doing that.
I even had the opportunity togo to one of the events last
year and truly the vision thatyou had for it.
I seen it come to fruition andI think it's so amazing and I'm
very proud of what you all havebeen able to do and accomplish.
I feel like, especially beingat UNC and within the various
(12:34):
fields that maybe a lot of uswant to go into, sometimes they
can feel male, dominated or alot of women will go through
imposter syndrome.
So, just being able to create aspace where we truly are all
there for each other, we want tohelp each other grow, see each
other, you know, be the bestversions of ourselves, I feel
like it's so important, andsometimes that's just fragile in
(12:56):
today's society with how I feellike mean things have been in
the past or just how competitiveit can be.
So it's very refreshing andnice to see when other girls are
cheering girls on and trulywanting us to be the best
versions of ourselves, and so Ialso.
Now I want to talk about yourglobal and your professional
(13:20):
growth.
In a sense, I know that you'vehad such a diverse set of
experiences with studying abroadin London, and even reading
your bio, you talked about howyou were interning at a bank, in
an ad agency.
So how did these opportunitiesshape your perspective on your
career paths and the type ofleader that you want to be?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah.
So, like I mentioned earlier, Ilike came into undergrad
pre-med and, like my thing, thatI had mapped out for me for
like my like medical relatedextracurricular that wasn't like
clinical hours was going to belike health marketing and
leadership.
I was originally planning to dolike and I still am doing.
But when I was like likebiopsych, whatever STEM major, I
(14:02):
was planning to do the healthcommunications minor as like
kind of my thing.
That made me different fromlike other applicants.
So I started working inmarketing for like campus health
and just like helping them dolike social media, about like
different initiatives on campusaround mental health, around
vaccines, around healthcareoptions that the student
healthcare plan provides, andthat was like kind of my pivot
(14:26):
into like the marketing slashbrand world.
That was kind of my pivot intothe marketing slash brand world.
And after that I really like toutilize different alum because
a lot of alum have already gonethrough some of the changes or
experiences that we're goingthrough as current students and
I'd say I have probably fivealum that I consistently call.
They're all on different typesof marketing business and even
(14:50):
one of them is still a doctorand she's just still my go-to
mentor, but they're all alsodifferent ages so they can
really relate and tell me aboutwhat these different stages are
going to feel like and justprepare me for what's happening.
So it was actually a mentor ofmine when I was like first
(15:11):
making the transitioning over tolike marketing and business who
suggested I study abroadthrough UNC because UNC would
give you like an internship andthat was kind of like one of my
first big internships, which wasa lot easier to get because UNC
like placed us within the alumcommunity abroad and that was at
(15:32):
Halpern, which is like anadvertising influencer
management agency and that waslike my.
That was for me like a reallybig break because it's kind of
hard when you switch majors orswitch interests a little bit
into college because a lot oflike the paths that people were
using, like the MLTs, the SEOs,like those are closed.
Like I'm a second semestersophomore, like I'm just now
(15:54):
taking my first like econ class.
So although those paths areclosed, there's a lot of alum
who like maybe have experiencelike switching careers later,
switching careers after collegeand can like guide you to like
the little things UNC has thatcan kind of help you fully move
over.
So second semester sophomoreyear I studied abroad in London,
(16:16):
I got to do that internship atthe ad agency and during that
time I was using like thatinternship experience to like
really pitch myself to some ofthe like the sophomore programs
that existed and then pitchmyself to like summer
internships that were still open, and that was probably my game
changer.
Honestly, like for me I reallyrecommend like UNC study abroad
(16:38):
just because it for like our DCprogram, for our South Africa
program, our London program, youget to take one last class and
one less class and you get likeclass credit for your internship
and for me that really helpedme like level up and like take
this like new career directionto like a little bit of a more
serious level.
(16:59):
And then I was able to comeback junior year with like a
spring and summer internshipunder my belt and I think that
really helped propel me to likewhere I am now under my belt and
I think that really helpedpropel me to like where I am now
.
The summer after my sophomoreyear I had actually worked for a
UNC alum, antonio McBroom.
(17:21):
If you go here you know the Benand Jerry's on Franklin Street.
He actually owns that one andabout like 25 other Ben and
Jerry's along with like two orthree Starbucks.
Now he does like franchisedevelopment so I did marketing
for him and it was really coolbecause he like flew me around
to go see a bunch of differentBen and Jerry's locations and I
was able to like help each Benand Jerry's like team shape
their marketing for like thatcommunity.
(17:42):
So I went to see the Tampa Benand Jerry's which is more in
like a tourist area.
So we did like partnershipswith local aquariums, with local
boat rental companies, and thenI also got to go see the one in
UGA which is way more collegeoriented.
So we got to plan back toschool campaigns, reach out to
like different eventcoordinators at the school to
(18:03):
get Ben and Jerry's like intoevents like you know, like
Heelfest and like the first weekof events that we have here,
and so that really helped megain an understanding of what it
was like to kind of change yourmarketing strategy for
different geographic regions indifferent groups of people.
And then before I like studiedabroad in London I actually did
(18:26):
like I made my own like winterstudy abroad semester and I went
to Monrovia, liberia, to learnabout like political marketing
and government marketing.
Specifically they had a tourismagency that was really trying
to bring people to Monrovia andmake it one of the like go-to
(18:46):
locations for people visitingAfrica.
So I did some work for them.
And then there were some smallbusinesses who were looking to
expand to the general diasporaand get their products starting
to be shipped to America and tothe UK.
So I was helping them with somelogistics and then helping them
with some marketing on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Oh wow, I had no clue that you'd done all these
things.
This is very cool.
So, within all of theseexperience that you're having,
do you feel like it's now kindof helped to shape where you are
with your own sort of marketingthat you've done for yourself?
Now I know that, like Imentioned before, you've
(19:29):
represented brands likeGrammarly and Bear Paw and Uber
Eats and, you know, evenbuilding your own presence on
campus.
So, through all of themarketing internships and
experience that you have, whatdo you feel like you've now
learned, or how can thattranslate to personal branding
and still staying authentic toyourself while also working with
(19:54):
these bigger companies?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah.
So I think the one thing I'velearned about experiences you
can hate them, you can love them, but no experience is really a
waste, because every experienceprovides clarity.
So there's some brands thatI've worked.
I just either maybe didn't endup loving the product as much as
I thought I did.
I didn't love, maybe, thedirection their social media
(20:17):
team was trying to go and,although, like, maybe, I didn't
personally enjoy it, want tocontinue it after, like my
contract.
It gave clarity on, like thetype of work I wanted to do in
the future, which I ultimatelythink it's important because, as
much as everyone wants to findthe thing that they love and
that they want to do for therest of your life, you also need
to start X-ing things off, likeyou need to start figuring out
(20:38):
this is not the avenue I'd want,and that's been helpful for me,
like working.
I think now I've worked forover like three dozen brands
throughout college and likethat's like 36 brands, 36 like
teams that I've gotten to meetand for me that's really helped
me get clarity on the type ofjobs I want post-grad and the
type of careers I want, justbecause certain social media
(21:01):
teams or certain companies don'tprioritize their marketing.
That's just not their thing.
They really focus on productdevelopment.
So, as someone who wants to domarketing, it's not going to be
always the best fit for me to goto a company like that, because
maybe their event budget's alittle smaller, maybe their ad
budget's a little smaller,whereas some companies they
focus maybe a little less onperfecting the product but a lot
(21:24):
on getting it out there andtheir marketing teams tend to be
blessed with the big eventbudgets, a lot of options, the
traveling and that really, as amarketer, allows you to like
grow and have ownership in thatfield.
And that's what working withsome of these brands as like a
contractor, as a freelancer, asan ambassador, has really helped
me see like a lot of theinternal dynamics that shape
(21:45):
your experience at a company,because it's really not just the
name.
A lot of it is more just yourboss, your location, the team
budget Like those are the bigthings and that being like a
brand ambassador for so manydifferent people has helped me
just understand some of thoselike more complicated internal
dynamics.
(22:06):
But it's also like opened thedoors for me to do like crazy
things I had done, like some Ihad for Grammarly.
I had done a focus group forthem one time and from that
focus group, like two yearslater, they ended up doing like
a real life consumers likecommercial.
And I got an email from thislady who had done this focus
(22:30):
group with like two years ago.
She's like hey, like we reallyliked your personality, we're
trying to do a commercialfeaturing real people.
We would love for you to liketry out and like see if this
could work and like now I get tobe on like a commercial that's
like aired on like Hulu andYouTube and it's like so crazy
to see myself on TV.
But the only reason thatopportunity came around is
(22:50):
because I did like a littleproject and I think that like
really always confirmed thelesson for me.
But like people always talkabout like doing the small
things, volunteering, doing thefree thing for people, because
you never really know whatsaying yes that one time, what
you're really saying yes to inthe future.
And I think that's so importantbecause I think sometimes in
(23:11):
college you kind of get stuckwith like you kind of get stuck
chasing the big thing, the bigname, the internship, the job,
the leadership title, but a lotof the people you're interacting
with on your way to that goal,have the power to have you skip
all of those steps and instantlybe somewhere.
And that's just something I'vereally learned about.
No ask or person is too small.
(23:33):
You're never bigger than theprogram.
Like, and it's important tolike put your time in and like
give up things and give up yourtime when you can.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yeah, I remember that's literally what sparked me
being like, okay, time is toomuch.
Time has gone by where youhaven't been on my podcast.
When I saw that Grammarlycommercial I'm on YouTube and I
hear your voice and I'm like,wait a saw that Grammarly
commercial, I'm on YouTube and Ihear your voice and I'm like
wait a minute, like I know her,and I look at the screen and
it's you.
I'm like, oh, my goodness, noway, it's Lauren.
(24:04):
So I think even you mentioningyou know you never know what
you're saying yes to in thefuture and how baby steps, small
steps, matter.
I feel like that's super, superimportant.
And I also feel like it's hardkind of not to compare yourself
to others, especially wheneverwe are kind of all are at the
(24:25):
same point in life.
It feels like I think, thatbeing in college, it's kind of
the one time where all of youare still kind of all figuring
it out and figuring out what youwant to do.
So how are you kind of able tonot compare yourself to others
or feel that maybe somethingthat you see is working for
(24:48):
others if you try to do it andit doesn't necessarily work out
the same way, how are you kindof able to combat with that and
continue staying the course.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah.
So I think, like as much associal media has been like a
super positive force for me,like I've gotten so many
opportunities from likeInstagram, from LinkedIn, and
like I love that.
I do obviously recognize,though, that what, like I've
never posted anything like badabout my life that's happening
on Instagram or LinkedIn andlike by that metric, like no one
(25:19):
else probably does either.
And sometimes I think you canobviously get really caught up
in like comparing, but for me,like you can't compare, like you
don't really know people likeon social media, you just don't,
and like you don't really knowtheir goals, their vision, what
their future is.
So you can spend hours of yourweek comparing yourself to
(25:39):
people who don't even have thesame goal as you, who don't even
want the same things as you,and you're analyzing their
journey because you think itlooks good or appealing, but
those may not even be the rightsteps for what you want to do,
which is why I've really triedto align myself with like
mentors who, like, do have thesame goals as me, who all took
(26:00):
different avenues to it, and Iwas literally talking to like
two CMOs who both graduated fromUNC, one from the business
school, one from Hussman, onewent to get an MBA, one didn't.
One started at an ad agency,one started in-house.
They went to the same school,which is already coincidental
enough, but everything they didat this school and after that
(26:24):
school was totally different.
And now they're both CMOs attwo competitive companies,
companies that are constantlycompeting with each other, like
constantly competing with eachother.
And it's just funny because,like you're both in the same
industry, in the same space,doing the same roles at pretty
much identical companies, butyou both did it totally
different, other than the factthat you both went to UNC for
(26:44):
undergrad.
And things like that alwayskind of ground me because
there's just a thousand ways todo it.
There's not one way to do anygoal, there's not one way to
graduate, there's not one way todo college and you really have
to play to your own strengths.
Like for me, I was never like asuper big, like GPA girl, like
I was never going to be like the4.0 girl.
(27:06):
That's just like not where mystrength is.
So I really rely on things likebuilding like a really robust
portfolio.
So when I'm like talking torecruiters and stuff, it's never
going to be like oh, I tookthis econ class and that econ
one and I'm doing econ research.
It's always going to be.
Let me share my screen realquick.
Like let me show you myportfolio.
Like I've done content for thisbrand, I'm posted on this
(27:29):
brand's page.
Like I've done their events,I've represented them at this
festival, and I think you justhave to pick what's for you and
play to your strength, because,although it's important to
develop your weaknesses anddefinitely improve on them, you
still have your strengths andthere's nothing wrong with those
things.
You just have to figure out howin the individual market, slash
(27:51):
job slash world that you'retrying to succeed in, how you
can really make those work.
And for me that looks like alot more like cold outreach to
recruiters, having conversationswith people, because I know
like off first glance, maybe ifyou saw like my transcript,
you'd see like some of the STEMcourses and like just maybe feel
like, since I transitionedlater, I wouldn't have the
(28:13):
experience, slash likebackground.
But if I get like aconversation with people and I'm
able to like talk more talkabout like how some of these
like STEM classes I took havereally shaped my thinking in
terms of like psychology andprocess mapping, like I think
I'm able to win people over thatway, and I think you just have
to find which is for you.
(28:33):
And I think you can't and mymentors always encourage this
like you can't have one dream,you need to have like five.
So, like in like my dream, likepost-grad life, like I have like
a little dream of me like doingmarketing for like a political
campaign in DC.
I have like a dream of me doinglike influencer marketing in LA.
I have like a dream of me doinglike tech marketing in LA.
(28:54):
I have a good dream of me doinglike tech marketing in like San
Francisco.
And, like you know, although Imay have like favorites and
stuff, I have like fivedifferent semi things that I can
be working towards and be happywith.
And so I think like openingyourself up to like not just be
like I want to be a consultantin Boston, like that's a very
narrowed focus in something thatmay not happen when you're 23,
(29:16):
it may happen when you're 25,when you're 27, but you kind of
have to have different versionsof life that you're okay with
and that you can pictureyourself doing yeah, I think
that is really great advice andit's so much easier kind of said
than done, but it really issomething that I feel like is
(29:36):
important that we should allkeep in mind and do our best to
stick with.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
And again, I appreciate you so much for just
coming on and sharing yourjourney and your story.
I really think that it'sinspiring.
You have a really cool andunique journey, um that you've
just had within these last fouryears, and I'm super excited to
see where you end up, because Iknow you will go on to do
amazing things.
(30:03):
And to close this out, and Ihave a signature question that I
ask at the end of each episode,and it's what's one piece of
advice you'd give Gen Z?
To go out and diversifythemselves, whether it's through
experiences, knowledge orbuilding their own brand.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I think I would tell people to hang around people who
aren't like you.
That's my number one piece ofadvice.
If you want diverse experiences, you want different things.
You have to hang around peoplewho aren't like you I'd say my
top five closest friends.
(30:46):
None of them are in husbandwith me, none of them are in
public policy with me, andthat's because I value their
differences and I value whatthat brings to my life and how
like even it's just honestlystimulating from an intellectual
level.
Like I'd say like one example ofthis that I always think about
is there was like a techorganization here who had gone
(31:08):
to, like the Huston School andhung up flyers saying we're
looking for a social media execmember, we're looking for a
social media exec member.
Are saying we're looking for asocial media exec member, we're
looking for a social media execmember, and I honestly like
really respected that but also,like thought it was so cool that
, like, for whatever reason theyknew they couldn't source that
from their, I think, majoritylike BME majors, like that
wasn't a skill set that theywere finding within their
(31:29):
community.
So they like were like let'sactively look in another
community, and I reallyrespected that and I think, like
I hope like a bunch of Hussmanstudents saw that and were like,
wait, let me, let me run theirsocial, their club social media,
let me run their emails andstuff, because that's going to
bring you around differentpeople.
You could now be in a situationwhere you did their social
(31:50):
media for like a year and one ofthe kids who's doing
engineering at like a healthfirm is like, hey, my company is
also hiring marketing people.
Like, let me internally referyou because we've worked
together before.
Or hey, this lab on campus likeit's a paid opportunity.
They need marketing people tohelp make their PowerPoints and
(32:11):
their posters for conferences.
Like, let me connect you.
And those are the type ofopportunities that are going to
bring you like that breadth anddiversity of experience that
everyone so craves and desires,and so I think it's just like
you've got to be around peoplewho aren't like you.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
That's really good advice.
Thank you so much again forcoming on, lauren.
I will be sure to include yourLinkedIn and any other contact
information you like me to inthe bio of this episode for
everyone to connect with you ifthey have any other questions
that they'd like to ask you.
Thank you all so much forlistening to this episode of
(32:49):
Diversify Heart and I'll catchyou next time.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm excited to have
Lauren Taylor-Whitney.
She is a senior at UNC ChapelHill, double majoring in media
and journalism and public policy, is the founder of Girl Boss
(00:21):
Gatherings, a campus communityempowering female college
students through career events,social experiences and
networking opportunities.
During her time at Carolina,lauren studied abroad in London
and gained professionalexperience, interning at both a
bank and an advertising agencyOn campus.
She's represented brands likeGrammarly Bear, paw and Uber
(00:45):
Eats as a student ambassador andshe currently works with the
Carolina Alumni Association tostrengthen the post-grad
experience, while also hostingoffice hours for husband
students seeking career advice.
Thank you so much for beinghere with me today, lauren.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm doing good.
Thank you for having me, Ofcourse.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I'm super excited to have you on the show today.
So I want to start with some ofyour early inspirations.
When you first started at UNC,you jumped right into leadership
and involvement.
So what motivated you to be sointentional about shaping your
Carolina experience from thevery beginning?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Be so intentional about shaping your Carolina
experience from the verybeginning.
Yeah, so I think throughouthigh school I had like a lot of
really good mentors who talkedabout like the importance of
college experience as like abooster for like the rest of
your life.
They said like this is kind oflike an incubated period of four
(01:47):
years where you can hyperfixate on just like your social
life, your social network, whatyou're doing, what you wish to
do, and that period is kind of agift because after your four
years of college, like otherthings start to get in the way
Like you have bills, you mayhave kids, you have a spouse,
like it's just different.
You don't get that samehyperfixation period.
And so when they really talkedabout that, they really
encouraged me to kind of map outwhat my one end goals were, or
(02:07):
some different versions that Iwould like to leave college as,
and then like what the differentsteps were to get to those end
goals.
So for me, coming intoundergrad I was actually like
pre-med, so like my whole endgoal was actually medicine,
which is very different thanlike what I think my end goal is
now.
But a lot of like my whole endgoal was actually medicine,
which is very different thanlike what I think my end goal is
now, but a lot of like mymentors really had me like
(02:30):
visually draw out like thedifferent steps I needed.
So obviously there was obviousstuff like certain classes and
like MCATs, but then there wasalso like curating your other
side, like whether that was yourextracurricular involvement,
your community service, like atthe time, like my clinical hours
, research and just starting tolike draw out the life you like
(02:52):
desired for yourself and for me.
I think like that, like havinglike a set time to really like
think and focus on what I reallywanted, helped me gain like a
lot of clarity and know how tomove like with each semester.
So like I feel like my semester,freshman year fall, was really
focused on like building like mysocial network.
(03:14):
So that was more like meetingdifferent people, going to all
like the first year Honors,carolina scholarship events,
making sure I was connectingwith like my professors and
actually getting to know all sixof them, just because that was
going to be like my base network.
Going to like I was doing stuffwith like the research
community and like going out tothe events there to meet with
PIs in different labs, and thatwas really my whole goal, like
(03:37):
fall semester was not really toget a leadership position or get
super involved per se, but tolike see everything out there.
And then my mentors kind ofdescribe it as like a pyramid.
Like your first year is likethe bottom of the pyramid and as
you like go up the years, likeyou get more focused and you get
higher up.
So like that's when you start,you know going for those higher
(03:59):
exec positions you go to likeadvisory boards, you're
representing your school and sothat's kind of how I treated my
four years.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I think that that period example is a really good
sort of analogy of what Ibelieve your four years have
actually been, and even the same.
Here I'm thinking back.
I actually remember meeting youbefore we even got to Carolina.
When what was it?
You before we even got toCarolina, when?
(04:28):
What was it?
It was like the superintendent,the board, um, that was within
Wake County, and we were likestudent leaders at our high
school, and during this time itwas still on zoom, but I even
remember you having a lot ofleadership positions in high
school.
So would you say that you kindof had that same sort of period
or pyramid mindset whenever youwere still in high school or in
(04:49):
middle school, like before evengetting to Carolina?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, definitely in high school I feel like I had
those goals.
I was like a Girl Scout, for,like I'm a lifelong Girl Scout,
so I feel like they've alsoalways encouraged like community
service.
So always encourage likecommunity service.
Um so like pretty much everylevel, like elementary school,
middle school, high school andgirl scouts you have the option
to complete like a communityservice project and even in
elementary school it was like a40 hour project, so pretty
(05:16):
significant for like how old youare.
And then in high school I thinkit was 80 hours.
Middle school was 60 hours umto like qualify to have
completed the project.
So, and the way they structure,it was 80 hours.
Middle school was 60 hours tolike qualify to have completed
the project.
So in the way they structure itwas also like kind of pyramid
like.
So like in your early years ofelementary schools you were
doing like training and earningbadges and going to like
programming about like communityservice, leadership and other
(05:38):
like skills, and then, as youlike, move through to like the
later years of elementary school, like fourth and fifth grade.
That's when you were likeplanning your project,
implementing it, and they didthe same thing for like middle
and high school.
So I feel like I've always beenprobably exposed to that whole
like pyramid and growth mindset.
But then, like in high school, Ifeel like I started to probably
lock in a little bit morebecause I just had there was a
(06:01):
clear like next step, like it'sdifferent with like elementary
school you graduate your middleschool is like pre-picked out
Middle school you graduate yourhigh school is pre-picked out.
High school is like your leavinghigh school is your first time
to make a decision of your ownand I knew like I wanted to take
a lot of ownership of that.
I wanted to have a lot ofoptions.
I wanted to have a lot ofdifferent program options.
(06:26):
So as I started to move up inhigh school, particularly my
sophomore junior year, that'swhen I started to do things like
the Superintendent LeadershipCouncil.
That's when I started to be onthe advisory board for our
athletics department.
I also did some other projectswith the Wake County
Superintendent, with DEI andgoing to the board meetings and
presenting.
And that's when I started tolike, when I reached like my
junior senior year, really be atthe top of my pyramid in terms
(06:48):
of involvement, leadership andthen starting to help like the
next round of kids slash, nextgeneration of leaders like
develop themselves and likeslowly take over different
things.
I had started.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I did not know that you were a lifelong girl Scout.
That is so cool.
That's an interesting, fun factabout you.
But I completely agree witheverything that you said and I
wholeheartedly agree.
So now I want to talk about youfounding the Girl Boss
Gatherings.
So I know that one of yourbiggest initiatives has been
(07:23):
creating that, co-creating that,along with Nora and Anisa, who
just graduated class of 2025.
And I want to know, can youjust walk us through the vision
behind starting it and howyou've seen an impact with the
different women that are oncampus, with the different women
that are on campus?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah.
So I think my whole thing withlike founding things is I like
to like confirm that there islike an actual need or like
space for it.
And when I kind of like lookedaround at like the clubs slash,
like social communities aroundUNC, I was like a lot of orgs
here which I think these allserve their purpose, but like a
(08:07):
lot of the organizations hereare school-based.
So it's like women in business,women in econ, women in STEM,
future women in medicine and allof those orgs have their
purpose and are great, but atleast for me, like Hussman and
Public Policy, they have someprogramming like that, but they
weren't super strong or like asbig of like a social environment
(08:27):
as I would want it to be andlike sometimes it was reversed
it wasn't as big of like anetworking environment that I'd
want it to be.
So I noticed that gap and Ialso noticed like I already take
classes with people in publicpolicy, with people in Hussman.
I don't really I would want todiversify in terms of like a
social setting.
I don't want to just be aroundthem.
So it's like okay, that's kindof a gap.
(08:48):
Obviously there's otherorganizations that like exist
for women too, but like some ofthem I know like a lot of even
like clubs here like they have areally high membership fee or
like the events can sometimescost money or there's just like
other barriers to entry that mayprohibit someone from like just
really joining some of thoseorganizations.
(09:09):
And so I kind of thought aboutthat, which is why, like we
really wanted to opt to make ourorganization like none of our
events cost, just because incase someone like felt really
uncomfortable or that was likesomething that had previously
been turn them away fromdifferent organizations.
We wanted to make sure likethis was like fully accessible.
(09:30):
And so that was kind of how Ilooked at like the landscape of
like what was going on in oncollege campuses already and
like confirmed that there waslike possibly room for like one
more thing.
So then I was like okay, I'mgoing to do like girl boss
gatherings and I didn't reallywant it to be like a true club
or a nonprofit actually, but itmore just focuses on like
(09:53):
creating like third socialspaces for people, for women on
campus to network, socialize andalso just meet different people
outside of other groups theymay already be involved in,
because, although it'sdefinitely important to have
like your niche or your smallercommunities.
There's also so much value inlike reaching out to communities
that you don't interact withevery day.
Um, and I think like anexperience happens at like a lot
(10:15):
of the professional schoolshere where, like once you get
into like a Gillings, once youget into a business school, a
husband all of your classes arethere.
Like you never get theopportunity to like meet as many
different people anymore,especially for like our
upperclassmen, but I still thinkthat's very valuable and
something like a lot of peoplecrave.
Like you don't want to bearound necessarily the same
(10:35):
background interests people allthe time, because I feel like it
does limit your growth in a waya little bit.
So that's when we were likeokay, well, this is going to be
open to everyone.
Some of our events may havelike focuses like networking or
socializing or wellness, butthey're going to be for everyone
to participate in.
I also thought it was importantto have like things that span
(10:57):
across different grades, justbecause a lot of clubs at the
university level in nature arelike big freshman, sophomore
year things.
Like you join freshman year, youtry and get on an executive
sophomore, junior year, but thenby the time you're late junior
year, senior year rolls around,you're not really as involved
because you kind of have gone upand down like the ladder kind
of in the first two, three yearsand that's, although that's
(11:20):
like understandable, it's likehard then because, like freshmen
aren't really getting to seeseniors who may be on like the
same career path or the samejourney as them, and I think
it's important to kind of havethat like cross collaboration
across like the university.
So that was our really big thingand we also have exec in every
(11:41):
year.
We are about to announce likeour new first year exec member
and I just thought it wasimportant to like have as much
as possible everyone representedand like in leadership, like we
have girls who are insororities, we have girls who
are in other, like women inbusiness clubs who are like on
our exec team, and it's likecreates a really good
combination of people and likeeveryone just gets to talk about
like their general, likegirlhood experience and I think
(12:03):
that's been really positive yeah, I remember seeing you all pub
the original like first event.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I thought that it was so amazing that y'all were
doing that.
I even had the opportunity togo to one of the events last
year and truly the vision thatyou had for it.
I seen it come to fruition andI think it's so amazing and I'm
very proud of what you all havebeen able to do and accomplish.
I feel like, especially beingat UNC and within the various
(12:34):
fields that maybe a lot of uswant to go into, sometimes they
can feel male, dominated or alot of women will go through
imposter syndrome.
So, just being able to create aspace where we truly are all
there for each other, we want tohelp each other grow, see each
other, you know, be the bestversions of ourselves, I feel
like it's so important, andsometimes that's just fragile in
(12:56):
today's society with how I feellike mean things have been in
the past or just how competitiveit can be.
So it's very refreshing andnice to see when other girls are
cheering girls on and trulywanting us to be the best
versions of ourselves, and so Ialso.
Now I want to talk about yourglobal and your professional
(13:20):
growth.
In a sense, I know that you'vehad such a diverse set of
experiences with studying abroadin London, and even reading
your bio, you talked about howyou were interning at a bank, in
an ad agency.
So how did these opportunitiesshape your perspective on your
career paths and the type ofleader that you want to be?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah.
So, like I mentioned earlier, Ilike came into undergrad
pre-med and, like my thing, thatI had mapped out for me for
like my like medical relatedextracurricular that wasn't like
clinical hours was going to belike health marketing and
leadership.
I was originally planning to dolike and I still am doing.
But when I was like likebiopsych, whatever STEM major, I
(14:02):
was planning to do the healthcommunications minor as like
kind of my thing.
That made me different fromlike other applicants.
So I started working inmarketing for like campus health
and just like helping them dolike social media, about like
different initiatives on campusaround mental health, around
vaccines, around healthcareoptions that the student
healthcare plan provides, andthat was like kind of my pivot
(14:26):
into like the marketing slashbrand world.
That was kind of my pivot intothe marketing slash brand world.
And after that I really like toutilize different alum because
a lot of alum have already gonethrough some of the changes or
experiences that we're goingthrough as current students and
I'd say I have probably fivealum that I consistently call.
They're all on different typesof marketing business and even
(14:50):
one of them is still a doctorand she's just still my go-to
mentor, but they're all alsodifferent ages so they can
really relate and tell me aboutwhat these different stages are
going to feel like and justprepare me for what's happening.
So it was actually a mentor ofmine when I was like first
(15:11):
making the transitioning over tolike marketing and business who
suggested I study abroadthrough UNC because UNC would
give you like an internship andthat was kind of like one of my
first big internships, which wasa lot easier to get because UNC
like placed us within the alumcommunity abroad and that was at
(15:32):
Halpern, which is like anadvertising influencer
management agency and that waslike my.
That was for me like a reallybig break because it's kind of
hard when you switch majors orswitch interests a little bit
into college because a lot oflike the paths that people were
using, like the MLTs, the SEOs,like those are closed.
Like I'm a second semestersophomore, like I'm just now
(15:54):
taking my first like econ class.
So although those paths areclosed, there's a lot of alum
who like maybe have experiencelike switching careers later,
switching careers after collegeand can like guide you to like
the little things UNC has thatcan kind of help you fully move
over.
So second semester sophomoreyear I studied abroad in London,
(16:16):
I got to do that internship atthe ad agency and during that
time I was using like thatinternship experience to like
really pitch myself to some ofthe like the sophomore programs
that existed and then pitchmyself to like summer
internships that were still open, and that was probably my game
changer.
Honestly, like for me I reallyrecommend like UNC study abroad
(16:38):
just because it for like our DCprogram, for our South Africa
program, our London program, youget to take one last class and
one less class and you get likeclass credit for your internship
and for me that really helpedme like level up and like take
this like new career directionto like a little bit of a more
serious level.
(16:59):
And then I was able to comeback junior year with like a
spring and summer internshipunder my belt and I think that
really helped propel me to likewhere I am now under my belt and
I think that really helpedpropel me to like where I am now
.
The summer after my sophomoreyear I had actually worked for a
UNC alum, antonio McBroom.
(17:21):
If you go here you know the Benand Jerry's on Franklin Street.
He actually owns that one andabout like 25 other Ben and
Jerry's along with like two orthree Starbucks.
Now he does like franchisedevelopment so I did marketing
for him and it was really coolbecause he like flew me around
to go see a bunch of differentBen and Jerry's locations and I
was able to like help each Benand Jerry's like team shape
their marketing for like thatcommunity.
(17:42):
So I went to see the Tampa Benand Jerry's which is more in
like a tourist area.
So we did like partnershipswith local aquariums, with local
boat rental companies, and thenI also got to go see the one in
UGA which is way more collegeoriented.
So we got to plan back toschool campaigns, reach out to
like different eventcoordinators at the school to
(18:03):
get Ben and Jerry's like intoevents like you know, like
Heelfest and like the first weekof events that we have here,
and so that really helped megain an understanding of what it
was like to kind of change yourmarketing strategy for
different geographic regions indifferent groups of people.
And then before I like studiedabroad in London I actually did
(18:26):
like I made my own like winterstudy abroad semester and I went
to Monrovia, liberia, to learnabout like political marketing
and government marketing.
Specifically they had a tourismagency that was really trying
to bring people to Monrovia andmake it one of the like go-to
(18:46):
locations for people visitingAfrica.
So I did some work for them.
And then there were some smallbusinesses who were looking to
expand to the general diasporaand get their products starting
to be shipped to America and tothe UK.
So I was helping them with somelogistics and then helping them
with some marketing on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Oh wow, I had no clue that you'd done all these
things.
This is very cool.
So, within all of theseexperience that you're having,
do you feel like it's now kindof helped to shape where you are
with your own sort of marketingthat you've done for yourself?
Now I know that, like Imentioned before, you've
(19:29):
represented brands likeGrammarly and Bear Paw and Uber
Eats and, you know, evenbuilding your own presence on
campus.
So, through all of themarketing internships and
experience that you have, whatdo you feel like you've now
learned, or how can thattranslate to personal branding
and still staying authentic toyourself while also working with
(19:54):
these bigger companies?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah.
So I think the one thing I'velearned about experiences you
can hate them, you can love them, but no experience is really a
waste, because every experienceprovides clarity.
So there's some brands thatI've worked.
I just either maybe didn't endup loving the product as much as
I thought I did.
I didn't love, maybe, thedirection their social media
(20:17):
team was trying to go and,although, like, maybe, I didn't
personally enjoy it, want tocontinue it after, like my
contract.
It gave clarity on, like thetype of work I wanted to do in
the future, which I ultimatelythink it's important because, as
much as everyone wants to findthe thing that they love and
that they want to do for therest of your life, you also need
to start X-ing things off, likeyou need to start figuring out
(20:38):
this is not the avenue I'd want,and that's been helpful for me,
like working.
I think now I've worked forover like three dozen brands
throughout college and likethat's like 36 brands, 36 like
teams that I've gotten to meetand for me that's really helped
me get clarity on the type ofjobs I want post-grad and the
type of careers I want, justbecause certain social media
(21:01):
teams or certain companies don'tprioritize their marketing.
That's just not their thing.
They really focus on productdevelopment.
So, as someone who wants to domarketing, it's not going to be
always the best fit for me to goto a company like that, because
maybe their event budget's alittle smaller, maybe their ad
budget's a little smaller,whereas some companies they
focus maybe a little less onperfecting the product but a lot
(21:24):
on getting it out there andtheir marketing teams tend to be
blessed with the big eventbudgets, a lot of options, the
traveling and that really, as amarketer, allows you to like
grow and have ownership in thatfield.
And that's what working withsome of these brands as like a
contractor, as a freelancer, asan ambassador, has really helped
me see like a lot of theinternal dynamics that shape
(21:45):
your experience at a company,because it's really not just the
name.
A lot of it is more just yourboss, your location, the team
budget Like those are the bigthings and that being like a
brand ambassador for so manydifferent people has helped me
just understand some of thoselike more complicated internal
dynamics.
(22:06):
But it's also like opened thedoors for me to do like crazy
things I had done, like some Ihad for Grammarly.
I had done a focus group forthem one time and from that
focus group, like two yearslater, they ended up doing like
a real life consumers likecommercial.
And I got an email from thislady who had done this focus
(22:30):
group with like two years ago.
She's like hey, like we reallyliked your personality, we're
trying to do a commercialfeaturing real people.
We would love for you to liketry out and like see if this
could work and like now I get tobe on like a commercial that's
like aired on like Hulu andYouTube and it's like so crazy
to see myself on TV.
But the only reason thatopportunity came around is
(22:50):
because I did like a littleproject and I think that like
really always confirmed thelesson for me.
But like people always talkabout like doing the small
things, volunteering, doing thefree thing for people, because
you never really know whatsaying yes that one time, what
you're really saying yes to inthe future.
And I think that's so importantbecause I think sometimes in
(23:11):
college you kind of get stuckwith like you kind of get stuck
chasing the big thing, the bigname, the internship, the job,
the leadership title, but a lotof the people you're interacting
with on your way to that goal,have the power to have you skip
all of those steps and instantlybe somewhere.
And that's just something I'vereally learned about.
No ask or person is too small.
(23:33):
You're never bigger than theprogram.
Like, and it's important tolike put your time in and like
give up things and give up yourtime when you can.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yeah, I remember that's literally what sparked me
being like, okay, time is toomuch.
Time has gone by where youhaven't been on my podcast.
When I saw that Grammarlycommercial I'm on YouTube and I
hear your voice and I'm like,wait a saw that Grammarly
commercial, I'm on YouTube and Ihear your voice and I'm like
wait a minute, like I know her,and I look at the screen and
it's you.
I'm like, oh, my goodness, noway, it's Lauren.
(24:04):
So I think even you mentioningyou know you never know what
you're saying yes to in thefuture and how baby steps, small
steps, matter.
I feel like that's super, superimportant.
And I also feel like it's hardkind of not to compare yourself
to others, especially wheneverwe are kind of all are at the
(24:25):
same point in life.
It feels like I think, thatbeing in college, it's kind of
the one time where all of youare still kind of all figuring
it out and figuring out what youwant to do.
So how are you kind of able tonot compare yourself to others
or feel that maybe somethingthat you see is working for
(24:48):
others if you try to do it andit doesn't necessarily work out
the same way, how are you kindof able to combat with that and
continue staying the course.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah.
So I think, like as much associal media has been like a
super positive force for me,like I've gotten so many
opportunities from likeInstagram, from LinkedIn, and
like I love that.
I do obviously recognize,though, that what, like I've
never posted anything like badabout my life that's happening
on Instagram or LinkedIn andlike by that metric, like no one
(25:19):
else probably does either.
And sometimes I think you canobviously get really caught up
in like comparing, but for me,like you can't compare, like you
don't really know people likeon social media, you just don't,
and like you don't really knowtheir goals, their vision, what
their future is.
So you can spend hours of yourweek comparing yourself to
(25:39):
people who don't even have thesame goal as you, who don't even
want the same things as you,and you're analyzing their
journey because you think itlooks good or appealing, but
those may not even be the rightsteps for what you want to do,
which is why I've really triedto align myself with like
mentors who, like, do have thesame goals as me, who all took
(26:00):
different avenues to it, and Iwas literally talking to like
two CMOs who both graduated fromUNC, one from the business
school, one from Hussman, onewent to get an MBA, one didn't.
One started at an ad agency,one started in-house.
They went to the same school,which is already coincidental
enough, but everything they didat this school and after that
(26:24):
school was totally different.
And now they're both CMOs attwo competitive companies,
companies that are constantlycompeting with each other, like
constantly competing with eachother.
And it's just funny because,like you're both in the same
industry, in the same space,doing the same roles at pretty
much identical companies, butyou both did it totally
different, other than the factthat you both went to UNC for
(26:44):
undergrad.
And things like that alwayskind of ground me because
there's just a thousand ways todo it.
There's not one way to do anygoal, there's not one way to
graduate, there's not one way todo college and you really have
to play to your own strengths.
Like for me, I was never like asuper big, like GPA girl, like
I was never going to be like the4.0 girl.
(27:06):
That's just like not where mystrength is.
So I really rely on things likebuilding like a really robust
portfolio.
So when I'm like talking torecruiters and stuff, it's never
going to be like oh, I tookthis econ class and that econ
one and I'm doing econ research.
It's always going to be.
Let me share my screen realquick.
Like let me show you myportfolio.
Like I've done content for thisbrand, I'm posted on this
(27:29):
brand's page.
Like I've done their events,I've represented them at this
festival, and I think you justhave to pick what's for you and
play to your strength, because,although it's important to
develop your weaknesses anddefinitely improve on them, you
still have your strengths andthere's nothing wrong with those
things.
You just have to figure out howin the individual market, slash
(27:51):
job slash world that you'retrying to succeed in, how you
can really make those work.
And for me that looks like alot more like cold outreach to
recruiters, having conversationswith people, because I know
like off first glance, maybe ifyou saw like my transcript,
you'd see like some of the STEMcourses and like just maybe feel
like, since I transitionedlater, I wouldn't have the
(28:13):
experience, slash likebackground.
But if I get like aconversation with people and I'm
able to like talk more talkabout like how some of these
like STEM classes I took havereally shaped my thinking in
terms of like psychology andprocess mapping, like I think
I'm able to win people over thatway, and I think you just have
to find which is for you.
(28:33):
And I think you can't and mymentors always encourage this
like you can't have one dream,you need to have like five.
So, like in like my dream, likepost-grad life, like I have like
a little dream of me like doingmarketing for like a political
campaign in DC.
I have like a dream of me doinglike influencer marketing in LA.
I have like a dream of me doinglike tech marketing in LA.
(28:54):
I have a good dream of me doinglike tech marketing in like San
Francisco.
And, like you know, although Imay have like favorites and
stuff, I have like fivedifferent semi things that I can
be working towards and be happywith.
And so I think like openingyourself up to like not just be
like I want to be a consultantin Boston, like that's a very
narrowed focus in something thatmay not happen when you're 23,
(29:16):
it may happen when you're 25,when you're 27, but you kind of
have to have different versionsof life that you're okay with
and that you can pictureyourself doing yeah, I think
that is really great advice andit's so much easier kind of said
than done, but it really issomething that I feel like is
(29:36):
important that we should allkeep in mind and do our best to
stick with.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
And again, I appreciate you so much for just
coming on and sharing yourjourney and your story.
I really think that it'sinspiring.
You have a really cool andunique journey, um that you've
just had within these last fouryears, and I'm super excited to
see where you end up, because Iknow you will go on to do
amazing things.
(30:03):
And to close this out, and Ihave a signature question that I
ask at the end of each episode,and it's what's one piece of
advice you'd give Gen Z?
To go out and diversifythemselves, whether it's through
experiences, knowledge orbuilding their own brand.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I think I would tell people to hang around people who
aren't like you.
That's my number one piece ofadvice.
If you want diverse experiences, you want different things.
You have to hang around peoplewho aren't like you I'd say my
top five closest friends.
(30:46):
None of them are in husbandwith me, none of them are in
public policy with me, andthat's because I value their
differences and I value whatthat brings to my life and how
like even it's just honestlystimulating from an intellectual
level.
Like I'd say like one example ofthis that I always think about
is there was like a techorganization here who had gone
(31:08):
to, like the Huston School andhung up flyers saying we're
looking for a social media execmember, we're looking for a
social media exec member.
Are saying we're looking for asocial media exec member, we're
looking for a social media execmember, and I honestly like
really respected that but also,like thought it was so cool that
, like, for whatever reason theyknew they couldn't source that
from their, I think, majoritylike BME majors, like that
wasn't a skill set that theywere finding within their
(31:29):
community.
So they like were like let'sactively look in another
community, and I reallyrespected that and I think, like
I hope like a bunch of Hussmanstudents saw that and were like,
wait, let me, let me run theirsocial, their club social media,
let me run their emails andstuff, because that's going to
bring you around differentpeople.
You could now be in a situationwhere you did their social
(31:50):
media for like a year and one ofthe kids who's doing
engineering at like a healthfirm is like, hey, my company is
also hiring marketing people.
Like, let me internally referyou because we've worked
together before.
Or hey, this lab on campus likeit's a paid opportunity.
They need marketing people tohelp make their PowerPoints and
(32:11):
their posters for conferences.
Like, let me connect you.
And those are the type ofopportunities that are going to
bring you like that breadth anddiversity of experience that
everyone so craves and desires,and so I think it's just like
you've got to be around peoplewho aren't like you.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
That's really good advice.
Thank you so much again forcoming on, lauren.
I will be sure to include yourLinkedIn and any other contact
information you like me to inthe bio of this episode for
everyone to connect with you ifthey have any other questions
that they'd like to ask you.
Thank you all so much forlistening to this episode of
(32:49):
Diversify Heart and I'll catchyou next time.
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