Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Lowrey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi 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.
I’ve been a full-time TV News Anchor since 2006, which means I’m always working under strict talent contracts. These agreements are quite clear in their language restricting an on-air person from using their image or likeness for the promotion of anything other than the TV station. But in the summer of 2021, at the age of 36 I felt the pull to begin working on a creative project outside of TV news.
The seed for the project was planted in 2019, as I began airing profile stories on high-achieving women in professional industries across Nashville. During my interviews, I found their personal stories of overcoming adversity to be far more interesting than the achievement for which I had come.
A typical TV interview for this type of story takes fewer than 10 minutes, but my interviews were stretching to 30 minutes and beyond. We would cover the gamut of spirituality, the metaphysical, belief systems and what they overcame in their own mindset to reach these high heights.
No matter the length of my interview, the story that aired on television was still only two minutes, 30 seconds long. The most incredible parts of my interview were left on the editing room floor. I grew frustrated by the time limits because I knew if people were to hear what I heard, their lives would change, too, just as mine had through conducting these conversations. I kept saying ‘people need to hear these conversations,’ and in the summer of 2021 the idea for AMPstigator was sparked.
I began secretly creating a video podcast that was at-odds with my talent contract. Repeatedly, my head would scream “YOU’RE BEING IRRESPONSIBLE,” while my heart had peace that I was doing what I was called to do. No one at the TV station had any inkling of what I was building.
My production of Season 1 was a marathon 3-day video shoot where we recorded 13 episodes in 3 days. I took time off work and prayed my gut instinct would be right — that somehow I wouldn’t be sued for breach of contract even though I’ve just put my face all over something that wasn’t owned by the televisions station.
The morning after, I came face-to-face with my new boss. You see, 36 hours before I started recording my podcast, the station I work for was sold to an entirely new company. My boss made small-talk with me and then asked “Lauren, if you were to start a podcast, what would it be about?”
My heart started racing and I began to share with him that I HAD, IN FACT, begun work on a podcast that I just wrapped shooting the night before. I shared the focus and the content. I shared the plan to batch-release 13 episodes all at once on February 15th, 2022, I shared confidently how my work in this space would be an asset to the tv station… and I prayed he bought it.
The first words out of his mouth were “I love this idea. This enhances your journalism!”
It was in that moment I realized I had been called to start something much bigger than my perceived limitations in a 13-page contract. I was tasked with starting a movement that began with my creative expression and that as long as I continued to keep the mission of my creation at heart (To change lives through the power of story. To turn judgment to curiosity. To create space for a person’s true narrative to emerge.), then my only limitations were in my mind.
Since the launch of my podcast on 2/15/2022, I’ve gone on to release 44 episodes that are each roughly an hour in length.
Each episode elicits the range of human emotions, rage, tears, laughter and thought-provoking statements from a diverse group of guests with widely varying backgrounds and life experiences. My podcast is in the Top 10% of all podcast streamed on Spotify and a Top 100 podcast in my genre. Creating the podcast also earned me a spot on the Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list for 2023 and allows me to speak to companies and organizations about how they can help their workers develop purpose within their corporate culture.
I’d say the risk was worth it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m an Emmy-Award winning TV News Anchor leading the 4pm, 5pm and 6pm newscasts for WSMV 4, the NBC affiliate in Nashville. My 17-year broadcast career has taken me into blizzards, hurricanes, mass shootings and bombings across the midwest and south.
In February 2022, I launched the AMPstigator video podcast where I serve as Founder, Host & Executive Producer. In the podcast I bring my extensive interview experience and my ability to go beyond the script to connect deeply with people about their struggles, life lessons and their journey toward purpose.
I’ve been named to the Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 for 2023 for my work within television and the podcast, as well as an American Heart Association Woman of Impact for sharing my near-death experience in 2018 after childbirth that adversely affected my heart.
In addition to interviewing change-makers, creators and entrepreneurs, I also help people share their story effectively through video. I have a knack for working one-on-one with female entrepreneurs who need help finding their authenticity on camera. In my years in television, I’ve consistently seen a disconnect between who someone is face-to-face, and then who they become on camera. The disconnect is keeping those same people from success. I help them overcome how *they think* things should be and instead help them meld personality with professionalism to make a real impact.
I’m an avid yogi, trail-walker, star-gazer, shower-singer and soap-maker. I’m also a former ballroom dancer, triathlete and do-too-mucher…. and I’m proud of all of it.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think the difference in people being creative vs. non-creative lies within the place in your body from which you choose to access ideas. We all have the same main energy centers –brain, heart and gut– and we each use them in different measure.
We know quite well that rational thought radiates from the mind. It involves logic, reason, and action. It’s based in black-and-white fact with little deviation. Rational thought is safely understood in our society so it’s relied on most heavily.
But should it be?
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
The gift, as Einstein refers to it, is creative impulses that emerge from areas other than the rational mind. It’s said Einstein would sit in his favorite armchair and daydream. The celebrated 18th century composer, Beethoven was said to take walks with a pen and paper so that when his mind was calm enough, genius could bubble up and he’d be ready to write it down.
We can access this same type of (dare I say CREATIVE) genius in ourselves by quieting the mind, dropping out of our heads and into the body. When we do that, we access our sacred creativity and it only emerges when we choose to listen to it. It isn’t like the brain that shouts without ceasing. This type of intelligence requires calm and silence.
In my view, what makes creatives different from non-creatives is the willingness to rely on these other areas of intelligence – the intuitive intelligence from where creativity springs. With practice, we rely on our strengthened intuition and skillfully move between the areas that bring rationale, creativity and instinct seamlessly. Each of these areas work in concert if we let them.
The result of this fluidity is a creative spark that acts like a nudge to write, build, do, and create something that didn’t otherwise exist. The rational mind isn’t capable of that by itself, but the intuitive and sacred part of you IS! The more we do this, we invite ourselves to lean less on the rational mind and more on something that isn’t tangible.
THAT’s what makes a person creative.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My podcast AMPstigator has 3 missions: To change lives through the power of story.
To turn judgement into curiosity.
To create space for a person’s true narrative to emerge.
My goal is to create conversations that open people up to the possibility of lessons lived through the lives of others. I also believe there’s power in creating a space for someone to speak their truth and let their narrative emerge. Rarely can we have the types of conversations I have every week on my podcast. I’m proud to bring such life-changing material in every episode.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ampstigator.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ampstigator/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauren.lowrey.TV
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-lowrey-923a9133/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenLowrey_tv
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjHP_rDWpLRRgPDM0CUBD0w
Image Credits
Photo Credit: Amelia Moore Photography