We were lucky to catch up with Katie + Lauren Hamden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie + Lauren , thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Lauren and I came into this life together, and have shared the same dream for as long as we can remember. Our initial struggle is one that we feel that most people have to face. And that is overcoming the expectations of people around us sometimes. We talk a lot about hometown syndrome, in essence referring to the drawback that people face from being in their hometown, surrounded preconceptions about what is expected from you and your life. So we can safely say that the biggest risk that we took together, Was the decision to choose our dreams, and leave what felt safe without looking back.
.We think of how many people never chase their dreams, being held back in the same circumstances, and want to make a change in inspiring people to pursue their passions. You don’t necessarily have to pack your bags and leave everything behind, but in taking a risk and doing something that terrified us, we grew our confidence and gained a deeper understanding of what we truly value :)

We feel very fortunate to be able to travel the world, our minds opened this way, and we make it our purpose to encourage others to do the same.

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

We are Lauren and Katie Hamden Aussie identical twins who gained success through TikTok and Instagram. You won’t see us apart from eachother, having spent only a few months apart throughout the entirety of out lives :)
Although we look the same, Everyone who knows us describes us as TOTAL opposites, ying and Yang, but we combine forces with our content taking, focusing on fashion and travel and encouraging people to embrace their own creativity and take risks in their self expression.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

This question for us is a little bitter sweet. We started our journey at a young age, and as a result, have had our fair share of people take advantage of us over the years. We found ourselves being manipulated by companies and corporations who promised us the world but sadly in this industry whilst there are many amazing people, there are also people who take advantage of those they perceive as easy prey. But due to this we also learnt the valuable lesson of trusting our gut, sticking to our values and most importantly trusting each other. And so we make it our purpose to help guide other girls who may in the same vunerable position that we were when we started.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Recently we opened up about an experience we have been pushing through together for the past year, in attempt to help people stay safe and take actions to prevent the same thing happening to them. This industry comes with some dark sides, as you are of course exposing yourself to people on the internet, and over the past year we have had a stalker. We won’t go into too much detail, but it was a difficult thing to face, and so we encourage people to be cautious with sharing their location on the internet. We personally do not post our locations until after we have left them, and we urge people to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instagram.com/katiehamden_?igsh=MTV1bGdtYnp2Z2hoaQ==
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenhamden?igsh=MWF3ZmpnN3d4ZTJhcQ==
• Other: https://www.snapchat.com/add/katie-hamden
  https://www.snapchat.com/add/lauren_hamden