hello! i’m lauren

CEO & Founder of the la.rue brand

Since I was a young girl, there have been many people that have contributed to planting one very important seed in my mind. A seed that would eventually blossom into my life’s purpose. I was told time and time again: from competing in pageants, and competitive dancing, to always running around with a new idea or a new dream, that I was meant for something “more” or something “different.” People always told me I was going to do “big things…” and they were right. For years, that seed would sit there, untouched, until one day, it would start to blossom.

It’s hard to pinpoint where your own journey really starts. But, I believe my true story starts in college. On my 18th birthday, I moved into my Freshman dorms at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, where I majored in English Literature. As glamorous as it sounds to attend college in Manhattan, a lot about those four years changed my life in many different ways…

In my freshman year of college, my brother and only sibling, Joshua, was killed in a motorcycle accident at 22. In a matter of seconds, everything about my life changed. Over the next four years of college, a lot happened. It was filled with many good memories. But, what I didn’t know, and was never willing to acknowledge, was how much the grief of losing my brother was still haunting me. I wouldn’t realize this until years later when the grief had already changed me.

the journey continues

throughout college

Don’t get me wrong, my college experience was truly extraordinary. But looking back, I can see how much I was still living in my own protective shell. I graduated in May of 2019, and just a few short months later, I moved home to Florida under the guise of a knee surgery. It’s a surgery I desperately needed, but it was a cover for a much larger issue going on in my life. I had absolutely no. clue. who I was or who I wanted to be.

In March 2020, we hit the four-year anniversary of my brother’s death, and the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the entire world. At that same moment, I realized just how much I didn’t want to be a part of this world anymore. My fight or flight kicked in, and I had a choice to make. Survive, or live my life the way I always wanted to.

From March to October 2020, I spent every waking moment healing, growing, and changing. In those five months, I let myself become real with who I was and what I wanted out of life. I owned up to my thoughts, my grief, and my pain. I started working with a Life Coach, therapist, and EFT practitioner to heal my heart, my mind, my brain, and my body. Those five months changed the trajectory of the rest of my life.

the start of something new…

A little over a year into my journey with La.Rue, I had decided this was it—this is my purpose, my expertise. THIS is my “more” and my “different.” I knew it was time to take my next leap of faith and bet completely and entirely on myself and move my life and my business back to the city I call home. In January 2022, I moved back to New York City/ Jersey City, and a new chapter had begun.

Here, my story continued to grow and expand. Shortly after moving back to the city, I was ready for another uplevel, thus, the birth of the La.Rue Creative Studio. For years, friends, family, and even strangers have admired my creative abilities. I built my website and branding materials from scratch, and it was obvious how much passion and love I had put into them. I decided I would expand the brand even further to offer creative services to brands I believe in. This expansion meant it was time niche down even more and the La.Rue brand took another transformation.