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

Lauren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Since birth I was born into a life of public service. My grandfather served as the town Fire Chief for 45 years. I was always taught to help & serve others. I honestly love that about my family and the person that it has made me today. His legacy lives on today as my uncle serves as Fire Chief now and one day my younger brother will hopefully continue the honor. Working as an advocate for Lupus & auto immune patients is very meaningful to me. My younger cousin was just recently diagnosed with Lupus as well friends and other family members. There is not enough known about this disease or appropriate care and I am determined to change that as well as form a support group for those who suffer from it.

Lauren, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Lauren Spencer. I grew up in a small town in south Louisiana. We have 3 traffic lights. I come from a well known yet humble family. My great grandparents were immigrants from Italy & Sicily. They settled in our small town and were strawberry farmers. Our town is small but it has very proud people. We are proud of our culture, our heritage, and we all come together to celebrate that. I love and am very proud of that. As a kid I was always an over achiever. I was in every sport that my parents would let me play, cheer, gymnastics, pageants, academic clubs. I was always very tall which is odd coming from a family with very short Italian women. I always knew I wanted to model from a young age I would see Nikki Taylor, Tyra Banks, and all the other cover girls and knew that is what I wanted to do. I started my career as a model with explore talent in my early 20s. I remember my first job as a featured extra. I had so much fun on set, I knew it was where I wanted to be. When my son was 4 years old he was starting T-ball and I remember being stuck on the set of Expendables 2 in New Orleans and I missed his game due to being on set over the time so I decided to quit the industry to raise him. I didn’t want to miss a thing. At the age of 24 I started to show signs of Lupus SLE but it wasn’t until the age of 30 that I suffered from a TIA and was clinically diagnosed. Now that my son is graduating and off to college I am back pursing my modeling career and using my platform to bring awareness to this daunting disease and hopefully raise money for much needed research!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I decided to build my audience organically on social media. I started by fishing at my family camp on the river on my TikTok lives and then posting on my stories. I have done giveaways and answered questions about Lupus and my life. Although I don’t have a big following my fans are more personable and I check on the ones I have become friends with. I truly care about them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part for me is being able to meet so many incredible people and to learn so much from them. So many talented people have shared their knowledge and experiences and I’m so grateful for it all!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecountrybarbie_?igsh=Y2tnZ3pubmcya2Rm&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DWzKp2qWY/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecountrybarbie_?_t=ZT-8vX8k7iQuNf&_r=1

Image Credits
Photo #1 (black outfit) Shot by Chris Rippy Creative Director All other photos-Courtesy of The Country Barbie outfits by Bear Creek Western Store