We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Barnett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.
Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
Growing up in a single parent household, I was raised by my Mom. I always talk about this very important thing my Mom got right, she never ever silenced me, she encouraged me to speak up and have an opinion. Even as a child she would encourage me to stand to anyone that got in my way.
I remember this specific traumatizing event. I witnessed two police officers verbally abuse a pregnant woman in Discovery Bay Jamaica, the police men were from Kingston. They had come to arrest my neighbor’s husband but he wasn’t home. They told the woman that they would kick the baby out of her stomach. She was crying uncontrollably. They said some of the nastiest things I’ve heard in my life. Being a young girl who had no father, it really painted men in a very negative light for me. I stood on my porch in plain sight so they could see they had a witness. When I told my Mom I was going to report the incident to the police station and find out why it happened, she encouraged me to do it.
I was at the St. Anne Bay police station before 10am the next day. I sat down with the inspector in charge and went over what I saw. I was roughly around 12 years old at the time and he shook my hand at the end. He said he would love to see where I would end up in a couple years. He said it in a I’m proud of you type of way, not condescending.
To this day, even in my work place when everyone looks away from suspicious happenings in the name of keeping their jobs, baby! if I see something is off, there is no question I’m going to speak up. I quit a job I loved, over obvious favoritism and racial profiling.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I got introduced to the television when I was 16, participating in a reality tv, it was a modeling show that thankfully not many people remember. Then I cohost a fashion count down show, from there the rest is history as they say. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of people in amazing projects. Communications is truly a field I am passionate about.
After relocating to the US and married my husband, I had to start over from scratch. I reinvented myself and the process was scary and draining. During COVID I struggled with my mental health, I was working all the time for a well known tech company and they couldn’t care less about the work load they were laying on us during a difficult time.
I created Good Body Lifestyle as an immigrant that gets the job done, and want to encourage people to live their best life. I knew that there were others out there that felt like me, so I started researching wellness and became obsessed with how our mental health is attached to our physical health and why the two needed to be synchronized. I wanted to create a fitness platform that fused the two. I had purchased countless workout guilds, diets and exercise program, but saw nothing like mine on the market at the time.
Yes, my brand is a fitness brand but we identify as wellness because we look at the whole picture without alienating the body. My clients get one on one coaching and lifestyle hacks to build habits they will take with them for life. Fast, Talk and Detox your way back to a healthier lifestyle, that is our mission.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think it’s so important to let go of who you think you are sometimes, we can’t be married to our identity. What I mean by that is, we are in a constant cycle of change and evolution, who we were five years ago is not who we are today and who we are today won’t have anything in common with the person we will be in ten years.
When I was living in Jamaica, I was LaurenOLauren, I worked in entertainment and had a cute little life as a socialite on a small island, where everybody knew everybody and it was easy to get connected. When I relocated all of that didn’t matter, if I was married to who I was, I would be stuck. I had to pivot and forget the old me. I went back to school and worked two jobs while doing a four year degree in two years.
Being willing to switch my direction has lead me where I am today, I have had to reinvent myself so many times! I haven’t been in my comfort zone for the past ten years. Every opportunity that has come my way has required a new version of me, it starts with acceptance.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your firm or practice?
I was prepared to start small and grow piece by piece. I knew it wasn’t going to be a flawless start, and luckily for me, my business required more time to start than it did money. However in 2020, time was the one thing I did not have a lot of, funny how that works eh?
I had to create a business that I could do without getting external funding, because COVID made everything uncertain. We didn’t know where the world was heading, so it was important for me to be present in the world’s current situation planning ahead. I had enough saved so I started my business with money that I had, if it failed I wouldn’t lose much. I have made a lot of mistakes in the last two years since my business launched, but I wouldn’t have known those things could happen if I didn’t go for it. The best way to fund a business? keep your 9-5 and use the money from that until you’re able to quit. However, depending on the size of your project you might have to quit, dedicate all your time and seek additional funding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://goodbodylifestyle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodbodylifestyle/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-barnett-09b52ba/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCTO_tZvvaWdSCVLs_WRTQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=VVB3ZgT-c-f0tUC4ysMUyg&utm_source=ishare
- Other: My Blog was my first individual project started it over fifteen years ago, still loving it – http://www.laurenolauren.com
Image Credits
All photographs belong to LaurenOLauren