LAUREN'S STORY
Often, when you see an “About” page on a website, you see the very formal outline of what the company does, who it serves, and what the qualifications are of the people who work there. And yes, that’s important (and is why my buttoned up bio is at the bottom of this page).
But you know what else is important? The actual human behind the company. This is my real story.
I started my career by having four different careers (meeting planning, accounting, sales, and finally,
human resources). I was good at meeting planning, but didn’t love it. I was so-so at accounting, but sort of hated it. I was absolutely terrible at sales, which led to the head of our office’s region tapping me on the shoulder to do what he knew I would be good at: human resources. I will be forever grateful for that tap, because it not only led me to a 20-year corporate career in HR, but also to where I am and what I do today.
As a heart-centered high achiever, I spent my days doing everything in my power to support the companies I worked for and serve the people in those companies. I got to see both how I helped the people and the business thrive. I was invited into rooms, offered a seat at the big kid table, put in charge of projects because I could balance ideas with forward motion, and brought in to planning meetings to settle disputes.
How did I get all of that done? Thanks for asking! I worked 80 to 100 hours a week, which included nights, weekends, holidays, and secretly-checking-my-phone-while-I-was-with-friends. And in my “spare” time, I was side-gigging as an executive coach.
After 15 years, that way of life began to take its toll, and while I was so easily able to help companies, employees, and coaching clients, turning the mirror on myself felt too hard. I thought I had created a monster of a work life that I could never get out of.
(Just checking in with you, reader: does this sound like you?!)
I was the Vice President of Whatever-You-Need. Whenever a new project, problem, or opportunity came up at work, my hand went up (or I was “voluntold” I was on the project team). If an employee asked for five minutes—which was actually at least a half hour—I said, “Yes!”
For nearly 20 years, I woke up thinking about work, checked my email until I was falling asleep at night, and dreamt about work when I slept.
It wasn’t until a Roomba, a glass lamp, and a pair of socks taught me a giant lesson, that I realized I’d fallen face first into fine, and settled into it like it was my home.
In 2019, while trying to do too many things at once (as usual), I noticed my Roomba vacuum zooming toward the unplugged cord of a glass lamp, as the lamp sat on a table near the front door, awaiting its donation to a thrift store. In an effort to prevent disaster, I instead caused it by running to catch the Roomba, sliding across the floor in my socks, launching into the air, landing face first on the floor, and breaking both of my shoulders.
The first joke from my friends: Look who can’t be a hand-raiser anymore.
While breaking both of my shoulders chasing a vacuum (that did, by the way, turn away from the lamp cord before causing a disaster, as it was trained to do) was definitively the worst thing that ever happened to me, it was also the wake up call I needed to start changing the way I looked at my own career, which ended up changing my entire life.
My secret? I finally hired an executive coach for myself. Because it turns out, when you’re the helper who doesn’t get help, you burn all the way out.
My huge life lesson was that even the high-achieving, hyper-independent, rock star performers like me (and you) need, deserve, and thrive in our careers and lives.
Today, I’m living the life I never could have dreamed about when my brain was so busy with work. And I’m living authentically in a way that serves my clients in making powerful changes, and I also live and work in a way I’m proud of.
What I did to change my life wasn’t any kind of spectacular feat. I was able to make it happen because I got the support I needed to rebuild how I managed my own career.
As high achievers, we are taught to keep doing bigger, better, faster, and more, but we forget that we’re not made to go without stopping. We all deserve to follow our dreams, create our own futures, and to build incredible things for our companies, teams, and ourselves.
LAUREN'S BIO
Fine is a Trap was founded on the principle that no one feels “fine”. As humans, we have much stronger feelings than that, and if we’re saying we’re “fine”, we’re usually avoiding sharing what’s actually difficult. When we get willing to address the “fine”, we have the opportunity to create something amazing!
Lauren is an Executive Coach, partnering one-on-one with corporate leaders (individually or company-sponsored) ready to overcome burnout, create healthy boundaries, reduce busyness, develop executive skills, elevate or change their careers, and find joy in their work.
Lauren is a Keynote Speaker, speaking about the meaning of “fine”, burnout, boundaries, and busyness. She speaks virtually and live, and is a regular panel moderator for Hacking HR, a global HR community with more than one million members.
In addition, Lauren is a Fractional Chief Human Resources Officer for companies with up to 100 employees supporting times of change. She offers strategic human resources services, employee training, organizational development planning, and systems selection and implementation.
She’s also a certified Laughter Yoga Instructor, offering virtual employee wellness sessions!
A former corporate Human Resources and Operations executive, Lauren has more than 25 years of HR experience in for- and non-profit companies and has been coaching for more than 20 years. She’s managed, consulted with, and coached c-suite and emerging leaders in a variety of departments and industries.
Lauren has a BA in Psychology, is a Professional Certified Coach (ICF PCC), a Certified Ontological Executive Coach, and holds Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and Senior SHRM Professional (SHRM SCP) certifications.