Meet Lauren V. Davis | Personal Branding, and Experiential Marketing Consultant, for Thought Leaders, Entrepreneurs, and Live Events

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren V. Davis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren V., we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When I was 19 years old, my boyfriend (at the time — now husband) and I decided to start a record, clothing, and accessories store in Rockford IL. This was in 2006, in the middle of a recession, and we faced a lot of hardships at first like flooding, lack of startup cash flow, which forced us to get REALLY creative.

I started putting our business on every platform that was available at the time. Myspace, YouTube, Twitter… eventually Facebook. I would create fliers to leave around town, created funky memorable business cards, design coupons to leave with everyone we knew.

I asked myself at some point… “what is it that I am doing here?” I remember googling it, coming up with “graphic design and marketing,” enrolled in a couple of college courses, and eventually got a degree focusing on the arts, but I came across it by accident. The real-life experience I received from building our business was the best education I would ever get.

I started pouring into our community and getting involved and soon other local businesses were asking me if I could do what I did for Culture Shock (our store) for their businesses too.

This lead me to create my boutique marketing and design business in 2010 called Lauren Davis Creative and I never looked back. Now I spend my days working closely with local businesses and personal brands alike to build memorable brands that make them money, but ultimately make them happy.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I believe that Social Media and Marketing doesn’t have to feel slimy or gross. I specialize in helping people reclaim or build their social media to develop their community and have long-lasting relationships. When you work with me, you aren’t going to learn short-term marketing hacks or gimmicks. We are going to build you a beautiful personal brand that not only makes you money but also makes you happy and feels aligned to who you are.

Starting when I was 19 years old into a new world of building business — it was NOT easy. But I always say, maybe we were too young and naive to realize it at the time. We worked side jobs, put in extra hours, spent every second trying to make sure we could hit what we called our “barely scraping by goal” for the day just to keep the lights on.

This scrappy motivation taught me a lot about running my own business when I decided to dive in a couple of years later. I have now been privileged to work with top podcasters, award-winning speakers, and best-selling authors internationally and the lessons I learned in my perseverance through my young adult years taught me how to look at a business from angles that others don’t.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If they were visiting me in Rockford IL, I would show them some great places. There are so many to choose from.

Some of my favorite restaurants and cocktail/brewhouses:
Octane, Lucha Cantina, Abreo, Olympic Tavern and Prairie Street Brewhouse!

The owners of these restaurants care a lot about the community and each place has its own unique vibe. Every time I bring someone to each of them, they say ‘WOW… this place is really something.”

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh, it is so hard to do this. There are a few big people in my life I would love to recognize. I would be nowhere without my friends and colleagues who provide the most impactful encouragement that I could never even ask for:
Chelsea Brinkley (Badass business owner)
Mike Kim (Author of You Are The Brand)
Kristina Hoyer (Wellness coach)
Linzee Richards (My amazing executive assistant)

As far as groups:
The non-for-profit I am heavily involved with locally, Winnebago Buy Local is full of over 300 businesses, and over 1000 business owners and managers, each inspiring me uniquely.

My Mastermind Groups who are full of people who always hold space for me.

I definitely could go on and on with others who are life-changing to me but there is only so much space.

Website: https://www.laurendaviscreative.com/show

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ldaviscreative

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldaviscreative/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/understandsocialmedia