The minute Lauren logged onto our video chat, we both started squealing. We had sat near each other at our office before our team went fully remote, so we had missed each other!
“It’s so good to see you, buddy!” Lauren exclaims. Lauren calls almost everybody “buddy” — but when she says it to you, you really believe that you’re her buddy.
We caught up a little bit, swapping stories about roommates and what we did in quarantine. (Lauren spent her time rollerblading.) Somehow we got on the topic of odd jobs we had during college. Lauren worked at Coldstone, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Olive Garden, and she says that this experience is why “Cool Under Fire” is her favorite value at Blue Wheel.
“I've worked in customer service since I could have a job, so this is super important and valuable to me,” she says. “Cool under fire is also perfect for this agency life in general. I’ve seen a lot of our leadership team embody this, and it means so much.”
Lauren’s no longer slinging ice cream and pasta — now, she’s a Senior Paid Social Specialist here at Blue Wheel. How would she describe what she does to her grandparents?
“People are so confused when I say I work in digital advertising. They wait for me to keep talking. As soon as I say I make Facebook and Instagram ads, people assume I do the graphics and stuff like that. But really I make the campaigns, write the ads, and actually try to find a way to target people.”
As much as Lauren loves her job, she did not always dream of working in advertising. “I was originally in broadcasting. I wanted to be a news reporter.” But, like many college students, Lauren realized that there are a lot of factors to take into account when you’re choosing a career. So she shifted gears.
“When you go to school, everything is so career oriented. All you think about is your career, because that’s what you’re trained to do from high school, but you don’t really think about what else you want or why you want it. I didn’t take into account everything else that would come with a job in broadcasting as far as my personal life — would I find a husband or have kids or be mentally there for my family in an industry like that?”
Her advice to her younger self? “I would have told myself to take a deep breath and calm down, but also imagine what your life will look like in 15 years outside of your career.”
Lauren laughs. “I can just tell this to my little sister instead of my younger self. I’m the first person in my family to have a degree, so I could never go to anyone for advice when I was figuring out my career. I want to be that for my sister.”
Her sister is one of the things Lauren is most grateful for in her life. “I very much dislike when people are like ‘I hate people,’ even casually! I always try to count my blessings and be grateful for people in my life like my family and friends, but also those random interactions, like the person at the drive-thru who was really nice to you. I’m grateful for that too.”
As you talk with Lauren, you can just tell she’s full of love — love for family, life, friends, and work. So when she told me that she was a hopeless romantic, I couldn’t say I was surprised. “My playlists are all country love songs, and my Netflix queue is all romance movies,” she tells me. “And this is very embarrassing, but I have a frame on my nightstand with no picture in it because I'm waiting to put a picture of me and my future husband in there.”
If you know of any rollerblading, romantic-comedy-watching, people-loving dudes out there, hit us up. We’d love to help Lauren put a picture in her frame.
Want to work with people-loving teammates like Lauren? We’re hiring!
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