Episode #11 with Lauren Quaintance: from journalism to content marketing agency co-founder
Welcome to episode #11 of the Career Pivot Podcast, hosted by Bec Sands. This episode is available on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes and Google Podcasts, and if you enjoy it, I would love it if you could please subscribe and leave me a review.
In today’s podcast episode, I interview Lauren Quaintance, co-founder of award-winning content marketing agency Storyation. Lauren pivoted after building a successful career in journalism. She was General Manager of Travel for Fairfax Media in Australia, a reporter for The Sunday Times in London, and covered the 9/11 attacks in New York for which she won a New York Foreign Press Association Scholarship.
Lauren was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2018 B&T Women in Media Awards and has been named one of the top 15 women in the world in content marketing by US Chief Content Officer magazine.
Show Notes
1:40 Where Lauren started out in her career and the clear view she had of where she was going from a very early age
2:30 Why she pivoted out of journalism, despite being one of the least expected to make a big change
3:40 How Lauren found herself in New York reporting on 9/11, and the impact this experience had on her career and on her personally
8:10 How Lauren felt about moving from high-profile journalism into content marketing and what makes it professionally rewarding for her
9:30 The skills Lauren leveraged to go from journalism to marketing, and some of the key journalism skills that are very transferrable to a lot of different industries
12:45 The thought process that took Lauren from journalism into her own business and how she gained clarity on what she wanted to do
14:00 What Lauren would say to anyone thinking of pivoting into their own business, and one key decision that Lauren made in business that supported her the most
16:30 Some of the ways that Lauren has dealt with digital disruption in her career and business
19:20 Why events that are catalysts in your career pushing you out of your comfort zone can be the greatest gifts
20:15 Some of the biggest challenges Lauren faced when starting out in business and how she overcame those challenges
22:00 Lauren’s recommendations when starting out in business
23:20 What Lauren would say to anyone feeling stuck in their careers, or if the years have been rolling by and they still haven’t started the thing they want to do
24:00 Some of the skills you can learn before stepping into your own business and the one course topic Lauren recommends over anything else
25:00 The one book that supported Lauren in her career pivot that you can read too
28:00 How women are driven by perfectionism and this can hold us back - and what to do instead to succeed
30:00 Why it’s so important for women to promote themselves whether they work for themselves or someone else
Additional links:
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg
Find out more:
Lauren Quaintance at Storyation
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📸 Image: Dominic Loneragan
