We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Gumport. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.

Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

You could say that I was “classically” trained in public relations. I started my career at one of the biggest global PR firms in the states, at Ketchum’s office in New York City.

As agency PR focuses on working with clients, client service was always top of mind. “No” was never an appropriate response, and moving quickly, writing well and being available around the clock was always a must. For a starry-eyed 22 year old new to Manhattan, this was a crash course in what it means to be a PR firm for fortune 500 brands. During my time at Ketchum I worked on MasterCard, Nestlé and even Obamacare at one point.

After I decided to move abroad to Tel Aviv, this training helped me secure communications roles to help Israeli startups bring their products and narratives to global audiences – big ones, that drive revenue. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, agency training, always having a solution-oriented mindset, and writing nonstop, would help me incredibly in my career in Israel’s hi-tech scene.

Now, as someone who works in house for a brand rather than at an agency, I try to treat other teams like my clients. As the VP of Communications & Brand at Faye Travel Insurance, my team is tasked with copywriting for Product, creating ad campaigns for Growth, crafting company messaging for executives and more. Having a responsive, client-oriented approach still serves me to this day.

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

I am the Vice President of Communications & Brand at travel insurance disruptor, Faye. We’re the new kid on the travel insurance block with a modern approach to an industry that’s in dire need of change.

But more importantly, I’m a travel addict ad passionate about how the combination of travel and tech transforms experiences.

I have 10+ years of experience in launching high-growth startups to global audiences. My data-driven approach to storytelling has helped burgeoning brands reach international markets and driven their growth exponentially.

My commentary has been published in outlets including BuzzFeed, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes and in my free time, I advise early stage startups on their media relations strategy and execution to help them build their brand footprints and grow.

This journey wasn’t easy, especially as someone who has really built a career abroad. So to answer your question, I’m most proud of my journey from New York City PR into Tel Aviv’s fast-paced, ever-changing hi-tech scene. Not only are the cultures dramatically different, it’s a completely different way of living and working, much of which is intertwined.

If you had told 25 year old me before I moved abroad that I’d be living in the middle east with a booming career, I would have laughed. It was incredibly hard to get started, to find mentors, to build a community and to find others in my field to lean on for advice. But it was definitely worth it!

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

Sometimes we all make silly rules for myself. One of mine was: I’ll never join a SUPER early stage startup. They MUST have at least Series B funding.

I threw that rule away when the right opportunity with the right people, boss, role and product came along. I’m now at a 30-person, seed-funded company and couldn’t be happier.

My point is – reevaluate these silly rules you create for yourself, and see if there’s wiggle room to jump outside of your comfort zone.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

Faye, the brand that I work for, has a pretty big goal: To power carefree, confident world exploration. We do so with comprehensive travel protection that has travellers’ best interests at heart 24/7.

So how do you make the feel good nature of your brand come to life? Sometimes all the stars align, and earlier this year they did.

DJ couple Jeremy and Adam were traveling with Faye Travel Insurance and got stranded in NYC due to hurricane Fiona – they were on their way to elope in Puerto Rico. About to turn back home to Colorado, we knew we couldn’t let them do so unmarried. So our team decided to marry them ourselves in New York City to turn what could have been a disastrous trip into a one-of-a-kind memory.

Though we’re not in the business of weddings, extraordinary circumstances led us to take extraordinary measures so this couple could get hitched. It took all teams working together – from securing a marriage license to flying in an ordained Faye employee to sourcing a venue – and all the other details in between.

It was all worth it, and we’re now incredibly close with Jeremy and Adam, who have already bought their next travel insurance policy with Faye.