We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren LoGrasso a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me! First, I’d love to introduce myself: I am a multi-passionate creative best known for my career as a singer/songwriter, an award-winning host and producer of my podcast called Unleash Your Inner Creative, executive producer of many other hit podcasts and I also coach people on both their podcasts and other creative and business ventures. For the sake of this conversation, I’d like to focus on my podcasting career, because I think it provides valuable lessons for people trying to get their start.
The short answer to this question about learning my craft is that I learned how to produce and host podcasts by being a voracious fan of the medium, volunteering my time in exchange for knowledge, learning on the job, and when all else failed, searching for the answers on the internet. The most essential skills I learned were how to make compelling content, the power of a title, how to edit audio and do sound design, guest booking, how to write interesting questions and how to interact with and coach all different types of people. The main obstacle that stood in my way of learning more was time–some things can only be learned on the job and that takes time.
The long answer is this: My radio and podcasting career started because I was a massive fan of the medium. When I was driving to my music gigs back in 2013 and 2014, I would listen to SiriusXM in my Ford Taurus. One day I happened upon a station called Cosmo Radio. It was love at first listen. I had never heard programming that was specifically geared toward women and I felt seen. This was the first time I was able to deep dive into talk radio and I fell in LOVE with the medium. I discovered its ability, when done right, to make the listener feel less alone and like they were part of something–like they had a friend. This caused an obsession with audio. I would sometimes listen to up to 5 or 6 hours of content a day. Before I ever worked professionally in radio or podcasting, I studied the medium as a true, deep fan.
Without knowing it, I was learning by osmosis. To the point where when I got my first opportunity to audition for a big station in LA–KFI AM 640–shout out to a wonderful human named Chris Little who is the news director there and brought me in for the audition–I came in with a full rundown (a radio term for a document that separates the run of show into segments with various timeframes) for my potential show, without ever learning how to make one. I figured it out just from listening and deconstructing what I heard, kind of like a geometry proof, but with radio.
While I didn’t get the gig at that time, the fact that Chris and the KFI program director, Robin Bertolucci, brought me in to audition, gave me faith and put me in the mindset of, “okay, I could do this professionally.” It was also the first time I’d heard anyone mention that maybe I could become a producer, in addition to host.
After that, I got an opportunity to audition for AfterBuzz TV, and that time, I got the gig. I worked at AfterBuzz TV as a host. I was in my mid 20s, at that time and well past college-age, but I decided to volunteer my time and become an intern there (in addition to hosting) in order to learn more about producing. I knew learning more about the medium would be necessary, if I wanted to get a gig producing AND hosting down-the-line. Some people would look at interning beyond college age as a waste of time…however, when you consider that usually you have to pay for an education, someone who will teach you for free, in exchange for work for them, is actually a pretty good deal. That was where I first learned to do basic audio edits, run a tricaster, video edit and creatively produce.
That internship led directly into my first real professional radio gig…Through the founders of AfterBuzz TV (Keven Undergaro and Maria Menounos) I was able to meet the head of female programming at SiriusXM and she created a role for me as an associate producer and on air talent on Maria Menounos’ radio show. During the first 8 months on the show at SiriusXM, I was a part time employee and worked two other jobs to make ends meet.
I put in a lot more than part time hours into the show during that time, but since I was still pretty green professionally, I had to do it to learn the craft. It was grueling and incredibly stressful, but I can honestly say that work made me a warrior and is a huge part of what allowed me to advance my career so quickly. At the end of the 8 month period, I was able to elevate to the full time producer of the show due to the hours I put in learning on the job and making myself the best producer and on air talent I could be.
The day after I was officially hired full time at SiriusXM, my first edited episode of the show was due. While I had a VERY basic understanding of audio editing, I really didn’t know much besides boost the volume and cut at the top and bottom of the audio, which wasn’t enough to complete the task…So that night I watched a youtube video, practiced on a test show and learned everything I needed to learn so that I could audio produce our Friday, “Best of” episode. My quick study worked, and the show went off without a hitch.
I will say, whether it was from my music training/career or from being such an avid podcast listener, I did have some natural ability. However, a lot of it was just learning on the job and putting in the work until I figured it out. Could I have learned it faster? Maybe. But I honestly don’t know. I think with a lot of creative mediums, you need a base amount of knowledge and the rest you learn on the job.
You study the craft, then try and fail and try again…and do the occasional deep dive online. Anyway, you can go to school for something, but until you’re on the job, you never fully know what the role takes. I am happy with the way I learned. I am happy that I know so many different parts of the medium. I think to get really good at something, you simply need to put in the hours…You can learn it at a basic level, but you get a level of expertise by doing, and doing again. So while I’m impatient, I think every hour and all the sweat, blood and tears I put in needed to happen so that I could function at the high level I do now.
In the midst of all this, I want to say that I also had a wonderful coach, Valerie Geller, who was the very first person to believe in me as an on air talent. She taught me a lot about hosting and even coached me before I did my first huge interview with DJ Khaled, which ended up going viral. Coaches need coaches too, and Valerie is mine, so shout out to her!
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?
I will tell you a little bit about my story and journey! I got a BFA in Theatre and a BA in Communication from Michigan State University. I started my time in LA with an internship on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and when that wrapped I started pursuing acting full time. After that, I transitioned into music, which led me into radio and podcasting. Today I am a professional podcast host, producer and singer/songwriter, as well as a podcasting/media coach and public speaker. I will share a few more facts about my media career below!
Some career highlights as a podcast host and EP include helping to create and produce hit shows such as We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us, Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain, Lauren Conrad: Asking for a Friend, The goop Podcast, Girlboss Radio, Meaningful Conversations with Maria Shriver, From the Heart with Rachel Brathen (aka Yoga Girl), Queerified with Gigi Gorgeous and Mimi, No F*cks Given Podcast, Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen and my own show, Unleash Your Inner Creative with Lauren LoGrasso, as well as many more. All of these shows premiered on the Apple top charts and continue to chart regularly in multiple countries.
Unleash Your Inner Creative, which I executive produce and host (under my company Lauren LoGrasso Productions LLC,) recently won a Signal Award, four communicator awards, a Hermes Platinum Award, a W3 Award, and has been nominated for multiple People’s Choice Podcast awards. It is frequently on the top 200 charts in multiple countries, was on Apple’s New and Noteworthy 37 times and has a solid 5 star review.
I was named one of the twenty two unsung heroes of podcasting by Podcast Magazine, one of the top 10 inspiring women to follow by CEO Weekly and a Webby Award Honoree for my podcast, Unleash Your Inner Creative.
As an interviewer I’ve talked with the Likes of Guy Raz (NPR,) Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way,) DJ Khaled, Melody Beattie (Codependent No More,) Sharon Stone, Kathy Griffin, Jim Kwik (Kwik Brain,) Ledisi, Mira Sorvino, Amanda Peet and many more.
Previous work includes my time hosting and producing at AfterBuzz TV for AfterShows such as Ozark, Big Brother, and Grace and Frankie and Executive Producing and co-hosting Maria Menounos’ radio show at SiriusXM and guest co-hosting on The Mitch Albom Show.
What sets me apart is I have vast experience both in front of the mic and behind-the-mic, giving me a 360 view of what is needed to make a successful show and career in media.
If you want to work with me as a host, producer or coach, you can reach out to me on my website https://www.laurenlograsso.com under the contact tab.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was early in my career I rebranded every disappointment as a failure and let it negatively color my self-esteem, love for my craft and ability to pick myself back up. I have had to unlearn this pattern throughout the years.
This was displayed most profoundly in my acting career. When I first moved to LA, all I wanted to do was act and I wanted it badly. I had some success: I joined SAG, got a few small parts, did some theatre, but the rumors about acting are true–there’s a LOT of rejection. Eventually it started wearing on me and I took it very personally.
Every time I didn’t get a part, if a manager didn’t want to sign with me, or I couldn’t get the audition I was dreaming of, I felt like I failed. I let it inform how I felt about myself and my worthiness as a human. Eventually, I had to take a step back from acting, because as you can tell, it was almost like an abusive relationship for me.
While I’m grateful, in a way, that I stepped back because it was what allowed me to discover my passion for writing and performing original music and podcasting, at the time, it was incredibly painful and I truly felt defeated. I have healed since then and still continue to act here and there, but not getting the success I desired in that area had definitely remained a bit of a pain point for me.
Flash-forward to spring 2022, I was going through a dark night of the soul where I, once again, realized I simply could not continue to put my self-worth into my work. It had never served me from my acting days until then, and I knew I needed to change my perspective. It was through that reflection on the unnecessary meaning I had given to my success or lack thereof, at times, that I had this realization…Because I wanted my dream of acting so badly, I had wrapped it up with my identity and took every disappointment or setback as a deep personal failure, when it simply wasn’t.
Had I just said, “Well, I’m disappointed with that” and moved onto the next thing, I might have had a very different outcome with my acting career. But the truth is, I gave up due to heartbreak, after only a few years of trying. Most career paths, regardless of what you pursue, can’t be built in such a short amount of time. It’s a shame I couldn’t have been a little gentler and more realistic with myself. Anyway, had I been able to detach my own worth from my career, I think it would have been easier to see the low moments as simple disappointments, and move on toward my goals.
I don’t believe in regret, because as my friend Mitra says, when we regret, we’re assuming the best possible outcome would have happened if we made a different choice–we can’t know that, therefore regret is pointless. But I do look back and wish I could have given myself grace. It’s what I’m trying to do now.
Anyway, that situation gave me two valuable lessons: do not rebrand disappointments as failures and know that your worth is not in what you do and your accomplishments–your worth is in who you are. Who you are is the best thing about you!
Have you ever had to pivot?
Oh gosh! All of the above. I mean, I really discovered I was a songwriter because acting broke my heart and I needed something to release my pain-enter my guitar and a microphone. When I was on my way to my music gigs, I started listening to SiriusXM and fell in love with radio, which led to my hosting and producing gig on AfterBuzz TV and then SiriusXM. From SiriusXM, I went into podcasting, which while it’s still audio, is a different medium and had to pivot again. My career has really been about walking through open doors. Now that I have stability and success within my podcasting career, both as a host/producer and coach, I am seeking to bring that same stability and success to music and public speaking careers, with my eventual goal being to bring all of my passions and talents under one roof. More on that soon!
Contact Info:
- Website: laurenlograsso.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/laurenlograsso
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurenlograsso
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenlograsso/
- Twitter: twitter.com/laurenlograsso
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/laurenlograsso
- Other: Podcast: https://tr.ee/w7TmyxmMf7
Image Credits
Farrah Aviva, White House VP Photographer