We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Skemp a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Sophomore year of high school, I enrolled in an Entrepreneurship class. We were tasked with creating a business that would be competing in a national “shark-tank-like” competition. Earlier that year, I was at a high school convention and a speaker played a game where they asked everyone to raise their phone light if the statement resonated with them. It started with basic questions, such as “raise your light if you have been to a high school party. Raise your light if you have had a falling out with a friend.” Then, it got a little more serious when she asked us to raise our light if we have ever considered suicide. In a gym of over 500 high school students, every single person had their lights up.

After this experience, I knew I wanted to help in some way. Additionally, I had struggled with depression and bipolar disorder for many years, so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with my business creation. My friend and I decided to create a mental health app called MyInk for our class. MyInk was formed to allow teens a safe place to organize their thoughts and track their mental health habits. We wanted to be able to allow teens to take the first step to receive the help they truly deserve, without having to feel embarrassed or pressured.

A few months later, my business partner and I won the national competition.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am involved in multiple industries. The biggest thing that I believe sets me apart from most people is my work ethic. I have accomplished a lot in a short period of time that many people have told me is fanciful and overimaginative for most. However, I heavily disagree with statements like that.

Before I turned 18, I created a mental health business/prototype, wrote a YA distopia book, acted in an amazon film, and was successful in my studies. My “brand” is simply hard work. I fully believe that creativity and a healthy work ethic will get you anywhere, and I am proof of that.

When I was 16 I started writing my dystopian society book, Elite, and by the time I finished the second draft in 2021, it had a huge online presence. I was shocked with how many people on social media, tiktok namely, supported me. I would post updates on my progress throughout the year and ended 2021 with 65k followers, all eager to read the book I hadn’t even sent to publisher yet.

When I was 15 I completed the MVP/Prototype and pitchdeck for my mental health app, MyInk. My business partner and I went on to win a national “Shark Tank-like” competition. This is what orginionally opened the door in my life that made me realise how capable I truly am.

In all of this, my true love and passion lies in the film industry. I have been professionally acting under an angecy in Los Angeles for about a year now. I have trained in LA and NYC with industry professionals, constantly pushing to better my craft.

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

I always thought I had to be the person on social media that other people wanted me to be.

I was oh so wrong.

I always had the goal to increase my follower count and gain a social media presence. I would try to post the things I thought people would find interesting. I would edit all of my videos so I looked perfect and acted “normal.”

But as soon as I posted a video on TikTok that was simply ME… it blew up to 5 million views.

Yes… 5 Million.

I posted a random video on TikTok about a funny joke in my family. It was purely for my enjoyment and to share a story with my friends. I filmed it after a long day of school with no makeup on and messy hair. Within a few days, suddenly had 50k followers and people demanding a “part 2.” I was stunned. In the one video I posted that showed my authentic self, sense of humor, and looks, I got the attention and social presence I always dreamed of.

I then started to post about the book I was writing. I had always been self-conscious about talking about my book because I thought it was “uncool” or “nerdy.” However, I ripped off the bandaid and the first video I posted about my book received 600k views.

I had found my niche. People enjoyed my videos where I shared funny stories and talked about my books. I didn’t have to look or dress a certain way to get attention, I simply had to be me.

So, as cliche as it sounds, my advice is to be yourself. Growing up in the acting world, I was always told that you will book the job once you walk into the audition room as yourself and not as who you THINK they want to see. This advice has come true for me on multiple platforms in my life. As soon as I stopped worrying about what I thought would be a good post and just posted what I wanted, it paid off.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Connections!!

The biggest thing I was always told at a young age is that your connections are what get you places. I witness this firsthand as an aspiring film actress as well. From my point of view, life is 30% talent and 70% who you know. Yes, of course, you have to be hardworking as I mentioned before. However, that hard work is not to better your talents but rather to prove yourself to your peers as a capable ally in the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://laurenskemp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauren.skemp/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-skemp-0096831ba/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenskemp