Summary: About our Guest: Lauren Washington co-founded KeepUp in 2014 and as CEO is focused on the long-term vision and strategy of the company. She co-founded Black Women Talk Tech in 2017 to help black women create billion-dollar tech companies. Ms. Washington received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in Journalism and Mass Communication and her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with majors in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Marketing, and Finance. Episode Summary: Lauren talks with us about her app, KeepUp, and being selected out of 7,000 other companies to win the 2014 43North competition and $250,000. She also shares how listening to her market, and pivoting, to scale up has led to her success. Insight from this episode: Not thinking twice to move to Buffalo, NY after winning $250,000 and incubator space in the first class of the 43North Competition in the beginning stages of building the app Path from teaching with Teach for America to online marketing to Founder & CEO and the turning point that said it was time to create her billion dollar idea Lauren’s 3 personality traits of an entrepreneur: creative, organized, & flexible Challenging aspects she has faced: managing financials, bringing in investors, & keeping the company afloat Role model Jessica Matthews and Bozoma Saint John teaching Lauren that leadership can be different than what is the “norm” of what she consistently saw Plans for keepUp app and Black Women Talk Tech You’ll learn: How to be open, and willing, to take a risk and finding opportunities to grow Pivoting a business model to become a more sustainable business Staying organized and communicating within a team while taking care of you Building an app through considering it a business Developing your peer groups and realizing who should not be a part of it Not apologizing for who you are or what you look like Guest Quotes: “It’s not about taking a great title or figuring out where I’m going to make the most money. It’s where am I going to grow as a person and where am I going to grow my skill set?” Lauren Washington, Episode #85 “Follow the people who are saying that they need something and create a solution for it” Lauren Washington, Episode #85 “The people who are making the changes are the people that are going off the beaten path” - Lauren Washington Episode #85 “Humans are resilient. Keep going and in the end it’s all going to work out” Lauren Washington, Episode #85 Resources Mentioned: http://www.43north.org/winners/keepup/ https://www.keepupapp.com/ https://www.blackwomentalktech.com/ Lauren’s Favorites Book: But What If We’re Wrong? By Chuck Klosterman Quote: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end” John Lennon Lauren’s 3 keys to Create Your Best Life: Take a risk- don’t be afraid to go after your dream Be true to yourself Keep your eyes on the prize Stay Connected: Create Your Life Series: https://www.facebook.com/cylseries/ https://www.instagram.com/cylseries/ Kevin: www.kevinybrown.com www.instagram.com/kevinybrown www.twitter.com/kevinybrown www.facebook.com/kevbrown001 Lauren: Instagram: @ldubs48 Twitter: @ldubs48 Facebook: laurenwashington48 Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on itunes, google play, stitcher and www.createyourlifeseries.com/podcast
