Meet Lauren LoGrasso

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren LoGrasso. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lauren, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I get my work ethic from my strong Italian and Sicilian American ancestors, my Parents, and from being raised in the great state of Michigan—I love that Midwestern work ethic.
I could go on and on about all of the above, but for this, I want to delve deeper into my amazing Grandparents. My paternal Grandfather, Matteo LoGrasso, grew up in Marsala, Sicily. When he was just 15 years old, he immigrated to the United States by himself. His mother begged him to leave Sicily after his father and older brother died at sea as fishermen. Wanting him to have a different fate, he headed to Detroit via Ellis Island. After taking many odd jobs, he ended up working at the Ford plant for many years. He didn’t drive and had to take three buses to get to work. I think I got my sheer will, capacity to work, and bravery from my Grandpa LoGrasso and from the many other hard workers who came before him in our generational line.

My maternal Grandmother, Elida Ribaudo, was also an incredibly hard worker. She opened her own beauty shop at just 16 years old. Once she got married, she had five kids and was always busy with creative projects: silk flower arrangements, cooking gourmet meals, interior decorating, working at the local Catholic store, working as an usher at Music Hall in Detroit, cleaning every crevice of her house until it sparkled, and more. When her kids grew up, she watched her Grandchildren (including me) so that our parents could work and we could still be with family. She never stopped moving, was always generous with her time and talent, and had an incredible capacity to multitask and excel at anything she tried. I learned these skills from her.

My maternal Grandfather, Lorenzo aka “Larry” Ribaudo, taught me how to work in a different way. My Grandpa had charisma for days. He taught me the power of working efficiently and using the gift of gab and your love for people to help you accomplish anything in life. My Grandpa was a natural entrepreneur—he owned a TV repair business when he was younger and later shifted into financial planning. Always making his own schedule—that was important to him because he was NOT a morning person. Neither am I! Anyone who knew my Grandpa, Larry Ribaudo, would say that he was at his best when understanding, loving, and entertaining people. My Grandpa taught me how to captivate a room, make other people feel special, and how to truly connect. He taught me the power of entrepreneurship to give you freedom and that you can and should work to cultivate joy in your life and work. This is the type of work ethic that I am trying to embody most in my life right now.
I am so proud of the people and the place I come from. They taught me well, and I take their lessons with me everywhere I go.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a multi-passionate creative best known for being a Multi-Webby Award-Winning Podcast Host and executive producer, singer/songwriter, public speaker, and creative coach.

What I feel is most exciting about what I do is that I am constantly shifting through mediums and that every day I learn something new. I love the fact that I get to connect with people through my podcast, music, coaching, and speaking. I am also an indie creator in both podcasting and music and I feel very strongly about encouraging fellow independent artists and creators.

My podcast, Unleash Your Inner Creative with Lauren LoGrasso, just won two Webby Awards in the same category as much bigger companies. It was wild to be at the Webby Award show and see my company, Lauren LoGrasso Productions, right next to MSNBC, PBS, Vox Media, iHeart Media, etc. Five years ago, I took a chance on myself as a host because no one else would. It is beautiful to see where that belief has led me so far, and I can’t wait to see where it leads me next. I want to encourage all independent creatives to take chances on themselves—you never know where your belief may lead!

I also have some big plans for the other parts of my career. I will be releasing a new batch of music starting this August. The first song that will come out is a very cool cover of a song by one of your favorite 90s pop princesses. Then the next couple of songs after that will come out in the fall and winter. They have to do with healing from codependency, confronting the personal shadow, and epigenetic healing. At this point, I say that my true music genre is personal and family healing—at least for this next batch of songs. That and 90s pop, because it’s the best. It’s been almost three years since I put out a new song, so this is very exciting and it feels good to increase my musical legacy!

I am also starting to put myself out there more as a public speaker and am working to put that into the forefront of my career. What I love about my speaking journey is that it is an opportunity to bring everything I love under one roof. In the speaking I’m doing, I get to use my voice to talk, interact with and ask questions of people, and sing and play my original music. It has been incredible to be able to use so many of my creative outlets at once to connect with people. My speaking revolves around helping people unleash their creativity and become their authentic selves. It has been a joy and a privilege so far, so look out for more speaking events, classes, and workshops in the near future. If you need someone to talk about creativity and self-love, you can feel free to reach out!

The other exciting projects I’m working on are classes, community building, and coaching. In the next couple of months, I am planning on starting up a group creative coaching and a mastermind. I am also always doing individual coaching sessions–I do podcast and creative coaching. And this fall, I’m going to be launching a self-paced version of my podcasting for self-expression course to help you find your authentic voice and launch your dream podcast! This will be a great and economical way to learn all you need to know to have success in the podcasting industry. I will teach you the same tools I’ve used to produce my own Webby Award-Winning show, Unleash Your Inner Creative, as well as dozens of other hit podcasts, including We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, Unlocking Us with Brené Brown, Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen, and many more! If you want more info on any of my offerings, check out my website, laurenlograsso.com, and sign up for my email list for updates on all of the above!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Oh, I love this question! Okay…I’d say the number one thing that has helped me on my journey is that I have a willingness to learn and a general curiosity that leads me through life. When I don’t know how something works, I not only want to figure it out, I believe I have the capacity to figure it out, teach myself, and excel at said thing. See podcasting. When I began my career, I knew nothing about podcasting/radio other than that I loved it. Never underestimate what raw passion, curiosity, and an ability to perform a good Google/YouTube search can do! If you’re looking to develop this in your own life, start asking more questions, seeking more answers and always look out for possible solutions vs. listing roadblocks.

Next, I would say resilience. I have had to reinvent myself and find new open doors many times during my career. To give you an example: when I moved to Los Angeles, I didn’t know how to do any of the things that I do now. I didn’t know how to produce, write music, play guitar (other than a couple of chords badly), record myself, edit audio, coach, public speak, or podcast…I didn’t even know what a podcast was! I learned it all by staying open and when one thing didn’t work out, looking around for another open door and walking through it. I really credit my optimism and, I guess, some level of delusion to think I could do anything I set my mind to. If you’re working on this and you’re down right now, I would say look at another time in your life when you were knocked down and you got back up. Ask yourself what you did in that moment, and do your best to employ that tactic now.

Third, I would say my love for people. I am proud to say that in all my life, my love for people has never wavered. I love connecting with, seeing, supporting, and helping people. My relationships bring me the greatest joy, and I understand that it is more important to invest in people than places, things, or even ideas. People are everything. With the right people, the most miserable job could be tolerable or even enjoyable. With the wrong people, the best job in the world could be miserable. I’ve seen both sides of the spectrum. I think that my ability to connect with people has taken me far. If you’re looking to improve this in your life, first try to shift your perspective to believe that people are generally good. I know that’s hard if you’ve been through a lot with people, but it really and truly does make a difference in the types of people you energetically attract into your life. Then, try to make genuine connections with people by being curious about who they are—see them, lift them up, share, connect. I think too often, especially in Los Angeles, people go into relationships of all sorts trying to “get” something. Instead of trying to get anything out of anyone, try to build a connection with people. You will be amazed at how much better your relationships become, and how much faster you move toward your goals when you’re surrounded by loving, supportive, and kind people.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, I am! I am always looking for more music producers and co-writers to work with, especially women producers. Also, if there’s an amazing guitarist or piano player reading this, it would be great to collaborate! I have also been thinking about doing a new chat show—either a podcast, YouTube show, or both—with a co-host. As much as I love hosting alone, hosting with someone would be so much more fun. I would like to experience this for a while. It would really, really have to be the right fit from every angle—personality, work style, business sensibility—but working with a co-host is something I am toying with right now.

On a higher level, I am currently looking for an agent and/or manager to collaborate with who supports all of my creative endeavors and really gets what I am trying to do as a multi-passionate creative and how it’s all connected. I have been grinding it out all by myself as a solo act for a really long time, and I am so deeply proud of what I have accomplished by myself. I can only imagine how much my creativity and career could grow if I had someone who was truly in my corner. So I am looking for that, if you know anyone! Also, I would like to partner with one or more speakers’ bureaus in the next year, as I grow my speaking career. If you’d like to collaborate, please reach out at my website, laurenlograsso.com or on instagram or linkedin, @LaurenLoGrasso or linkedin.com/in/laurenlograsso/

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Farrah Aviva
The Webbys

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