Career Advice
Lauren Conrad Says You Should Always Be Trying To Prove Something In Your Career
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Lauren Conrad really seems like she has it made. She was already one of those cool, popular high school girls when she got selected to star on the MTV reality show Laguna Beach. The audience and producers were so captivated by her that she was then selected to star in her own show focusing on her journey into adulthood, the iconic The Hills. By the time she was 22 Lauren Conrad was a huge celebrity and was getting paid $75,000 per episode. She was famous for just being her, not for her education or career skills. A lot of people (including most of her friends/castmates on The Hills) were just fine with using the fact that they were on television as there way of making money and keeping their name in their spotlight for the rest of their lives but Lauren was different. She didn’t want to have to fall back on her celebrity to leverage her career. In fact Lauren had to work extra hard to prove she was more than a celebrity.
Lauren, who turned 27 on Feb. 1, told Lucky Magazine:
“The TV show did not help my reputation very much. It was difficult to be taken seriously. But I think the fact that I went to school to study fashion and worked in the industry helped me. I think it’s a good thing to feel like you have to prove something, because you’re always going to have to work a little bit harder.”
I think this can be applied to a lot of situations. You can’t rely on just one success carrying you through life. You have to keep pushing. You may have gone to that great Ivy League school but once you graduate you have to prove yourself all over again. And even if you had some great achievement that earned you notoriety, people will just ask you what is next. Some people, in your career, may have expectations of what you will be like or only got somewhere because of connections and you have to work very hard to change their minds and prove that you are up to the job.
Even when Lauren was offered another chance at a reality show which would have coincided perfectly with the launch of her clothing line Paper Crown, Lauren did not give up when MTV decided not to pass on it. She looked at is an opportunity.
“We were faced with the challenge of providing our own publicity for Paper Crown in a short amount of time. We got the word out through various social media channels, in addition to a cover we booked with Lucky Magazine, which featured Paper Crown pieces for the cover shot. Sales for our first season were beyond our expectations and we landed an account with Nordstrom. Even though the TV show failed to materialize, we were able to transform the setback into a marketing success and an opportunity to establish credibility.”
And look at Lauren now. In addition to her two profitable clothing lines, Paper Crown and LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s, she has written seven New York Times best-sellers, launched a beauty web site and started an online book club.
Well, we think she proved herself.
Do you find that you have to work harder to prove yourself to people in your career? Tell us in the comments!
I really love @LaurenConrad because she has done so much with her career. Instead of using her MTV fame and then coasting, she used it as a catalyst. I find her career path super inspiring.
#TeamLC
Love her and love this. What a great role model for our generation - watching her grow up while we did too. Go LC!
I love Lauren! I think her fame in MTV sort of worked to her disadvantage because she's bright and hardworking but being in the spotlight, funny enough, kind of diminished that. Like she said, people didn't take her seriously. I'm so proud of where she is now and a constant follower of her beauty site. She's great and totally on the ball when she said we always have to try to prove ourselves. Another way of looking at it is constantly challenging our skills and strengths and pushing forth to grow. Some say we can be comfortable or outstanding but never both. Hear ye!