Female Founders: Lauren Banyar Reich of LBR PR On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
A Village. This is different than a tribe! The village is HOW you get things done, especially as a woman and as a mother. In today’s day and age you MUST build your own. Fill it with people who have skills and time and talents that you don’t have and then delegate delegate delegate! Your village will evolve as your life and business evolve, but this support system is what allows you the peace of mind, the time, and the space to succeed at growing your business. It’s also who you can rely on when there’s a miscommunication on date night!
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Banyar Reich.
For over fifteen years, Lauren Banyar Reich has utilized her PR experience to help professional service firms, law firms, health and medical professionals, business leaders and consumer lifestyle brands gain visibility and credibility that moves the needle. Her firm, LBR PR, focuses on thought leadership and combines high-touch service and impactful results with a transparency and authenticity that is unique to the PR world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I made two very important decisions when I was 18 — I picked a fabulous boyfriend out of the crowd who ended up being my husband, and I chose to study PR and Journalism. I’ve always loved writing — and speaking — in fact, I never really stop doing either of those things. So when I was trying to choose a major and a school, someone suggested PR and the rest was history.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I don’t know if this is interesting or not, but it was a really important lesson that finally sunk in a few years ago: There is no magic bullet. There are authors, consultants, coaches, operating systems, software — you name it — out there that purport to solve all of your business woes or show you the clear path the success. None of them are THE answer. I think THE answer to success is to find your own path. To find the tools and guidance that each of these sources bring to bear and then take what works for you and your business and apply it in a way that works for you. Talk to other founders, other women in business, ask questions and share experiences with them. Pilot an idea or a concept to see how it feels and if it works for you before pivoting your whole business to follow one idea. But understand that no one is going to give you the magic solution to the problems in your business — or your life — so continue to seek, to learn, to be curious, but always to follow your own path and what resonates most for you.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Juggling the responsibilities of being an entrepreneur, being married to an entrepreneur, and having a family and a life gets really hectic, and sometimes things fall through the cracks. A few years after starting my business there was a communication snafu and our boys were both left stranded at their respective after-care programs. The fallout was minimal, there were no tears, and this was the first (hopefully, only!) time it has happened in now more than a decade of parenting. One thing that was not lost in communication? That mom and dad were out on a date night!
The kids know this time is important to us — though typically it does not preclude them getting picked up on time… The lesson? When you have a village, in this case, one that we built around our family, these slip ups end up being a funny story and not a total disaster! You can’t do anything all by yourself in business or in life, and having a “village” of people who love you, help you and can pick up your kids in a pinch, is monumentally important!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The story begins like this: I have a lovely mother. I never knew I needed to be adopted, until I was taken under the wing of my “business” mother and mentor, Beth Bronfman. I’ll never forget how we met — she was my client, as the communications chair of a membership organization that had hired the agency I was working for at the time — and our first conversation was in the ladies room talking about Botox. Then we went into this meeting, and she was the same person, no airs, no ego, just authentic and real and there for the greater good, whether it was an experience share on the best doctors or how to get brand visibility for this organization.
We really hit it off, and when I went out on my own she was there every step of the way. Reminding me that these growing pains are normal, that business is business and not personal, telling me, “don’t whine!” and always taking a fair and measured look at any situation whether it resulted in constructive criticism or praise. She has been my biggest advocate and cheerleader and I am forever grateful.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think it’s the same feeling that is the root of why people do or do not take a chance on themselves: fear.
Being an entrepreneur is scary and wild and fun and that can be frightening for anyone, male or female. It’s human nature to stay in a situation until the pain of it outweighs the fear of jumping ship or making a change. Sometimes you get nudged out of the nest, like I did, and the question was: do I get another job or try and do this thing and start my own firm? I opted to “pilot” being an entrepreneur for six months and I never looked back. So, when women in particular have a job but want to make that shift to being a founder, it is a scary thing to make that shift, but it is important to feel the fear and then do it anyway!
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
I think we need to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Instead of jumping to a distraction — scrolling social media, shopping, eating, drinking (all of which I’d much rather do than be uncomfortable!) — we need to sit in that feeling a bit more. Breathe through it, phone a friend, journal, etc. but force yourself to face the fear and look at why you are so afraid. It’s kind of corny, but if we all did a little more of this, we might be able to get out of our own way when it comes to taking bigger risks with bigger opportunities for success in business, but also to perhaps build some bridges in the community and the world that are certainly in need of repair.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I don’t know if this is a woman-thing or not, but I think as people we often try to hedge our bets. Make a decision that feels risky but calculated. Look for a path that offers some sort of security or guarantee. And the truth is that NOTHING is guaranteed, and no one is coming to save you. This may sound negative or depressing, but I see it as the ultimate freedom. It means that no one — no boss, company, significant other or superhero — is going to rescue you, so you better start believing in yourself and act accordingly.
For me, this meant starting my own business despite having no cornerstone clients, no business plan and two small kids under five. If I was going to work this hard for something, I wanted it to be on my own terms, win, lose or draw. And the best part? This also means that we as female founders get to write and break and re-draft the rules in a way that supports the kind of life and business we want to have. I think that is the ultimate reason to become a founder.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
You don’t have to know everything! Over the years I have worked under women founders, albeit from a different generation, and I was always confounded that they wouldn’t admit when they didn’t know the answer to a client question. They would talk around it, answer the question poorly or deflect, but never simply say, “I don’t know. Let us look into it and get back to you.” Maybe this was related to the era in which they came up and they thought it was seen as a weakness, but I see admitting you don’t know something as a sign of strength. Show your clients and your team that you are always learning, curious, honest and willing to do the work to get them a great answer instead of a garbage answer. It’s not about you and your ego, it’s about doing great work and providing value to your clients.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Can everyone be a founder? Sure. But you have to have a great number two… and a three and a four and so on. The team matters so much when it comes to the success of any business and the people in those roles are critical, so truly great people have to want to be in those roles too.
On paper, someone may have every skill that would make them a stellar founder, but they may not be comfortable using those skills. Just because I can write doesn’t mean I want to sit down and create the next great American novel. I want to use those skills in pursuit of my — and my client’s — other goals and interests. A good friend of mine once told me, “Lauren, not everyone wants to be in charge all the time.” I was dumbstruck. Really? Because I do. But not everyone does, even if they have those skills.
I think it’s less about having a specific skill set than it is about what you want from your life, what your values and goals are — and also where you are in your career and your personal life at any given moment. This is when necessity can become the mother of invention… I was not set up to be a founder until I was. I didn’t have the experience or the vision or the work ethic, especially early on. I didn’t get it. Then things started clicking and my life started to reveal itself to me and different things, like mentoring younger women and having control over my own time and working with clients that aligned with my values started to matter more. So it became more about following that vision, which certainly changes for all of us as we progress in our lives.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
- A Tribe. Whether it’s simply a group of amazing women who will support you or fellow entrepreneurs, success breeds success and growth-minded individuals make magic happen! In my case I have multiple tribes that I look to for support. When I first piloted my idea of having my own PR firm, the first group I told was my book club. They supported me unconditionally right out of the gate and even shared their own networks and expertise to help me get my business off the ground. Later on, I found Entrepreneurs Organization and joined the NYC Accelerator program which has been an incredible community to be a part of. Having a group of peers to learn from and share with is simply invaluable. Find people who will share their experiences without “should-ing” on you, who will be vulnerable about what has worked for them and what hasn’t and who you can help grow by sharing your own experiences.
- The Ability to Listen to Your Own Intuition. Every single time I have had to convince myself to do something — taking on a client, adjusting a retainer fee, hiring someone I didn’t love because I was in a pinch — I have been sorry afterwards. I felt those red flags in my gut, but because I was afraid, or swimming momentarily in a scarcity mindset, I went against my own intuition and did the thing… and it was always disastrous. Not ruinous, but a mistake. For example, one client begged and flattered and cajoled us to take them on at a severely reduced rate. She signed the contract, paid the first month’s retainer and then worked us harder than any client has ever before! We continued in good faith well into the second month of work when they ghosted us entirely and then refused to pay even a deeply reduced prorated rate for the hours of work we had already completed. All along, I knew that this was going to be a stretch for her financially, but I believed in her passion and her mission, so I ignored the signs… and lost a few thousand dollars over it. All in, a cheap lesson to learn EARLY and not repeat. Now I know why and how to tune in and really listen to my own intuition in these situations.
- Know That Freaking Out Never Helps. This is a lesson that I learned directly from Beth Bronfman. I was interviewing her for a project we were working on together and she said that this is one thing that she wished she had learned sooner. Me too! Months after having this conversation, we were going through a slow patch with new business and several clients had wrapped successful campaigns with us all at once, so the pipeline was not flowing as freely as I had hoped. Sometimes this is the nature of entrepreneurship, but that doesn’t make it fun or easy. When I had first been though a cycle like this early on in my business I really freaked — I wasn’t sleeping, I was irritable and as a result I wasn’t my best self as a mom, wife, or boss. This time, with Beth’s advice in my ear, I made a conscious decision not to freak out and instead focus on the things I knew I needed to do to find and win new business. I focused on the things I could control — the way I spent my time, the amount of networking events I attended, the number of emails and phone calls I could make to shake the trees, how I could reconnect and help those in my network to remind them of our value (and our work!), etc. Low and behold, the worm turned. No one — me, my family and friends, my team — had to suffer as a result and the outcome was the same. Often this is much easier said than done, but I relied on breath work, mantras, physical activity, and my own conscious decision to choose to be positive and I was able to keep those helpless freak-out feelings at bay.
- Have Faith… Especially When it is Hard. Faith comes easy for many, but not for me. I want to know how we are going to get to where we are going, what we are going to need along the way and what happens when we get there. Alas, this is not how much of life works. Especially when you are a business owner. Years ago, I wrote out a vision for my day — from dropping the kids of at school to getting in a morning run, meeting my team at an awards luncheon where our firm was being recognized and ending the day with a networking event with my husband. At the time we only had one kid, I was working for someone else and commuted to the city five days a week. This vision felt like a fairy tale or a pipe dream. I was so scared it wouldn’t come to fruition that it took me months to get the courage to even write it down. About a year after starting my business I found this paper stuffed in a book and read it and cried. I had done and could do all this and more, ALREADY! If we can dream it the faith and the success will follow. I’m saying this now even as I stall on putting my next vision to paper (which will be much bigger and grander!), but I do know that having faith in myself and my vision will help me get there faster and with less resistance.
- A Village. This is different than a tribe! The village is HOW you get things done, especially as a woman and as a mother. In today’s day and age you MUST build your own. Fill it with people who have skills and time and talents that you don’t have and then delegate delegate delegate! Your village will evolve as your life and business evolve, but this support system is what allows you the peace of mind, the time, and the space to succeed at growing your business. It’s also who you can rely on when there’s a miscommunication on date night!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I love helping young women navigate the world and build the life and career they want. Sometimes this has meant advocating for them for raises and promotions, or hiring and mentoring them at LBR PR. It can also mean having a conversation with a colleague’s sister’s friend’s cousin’s daughter about getting her first PR gig. The guys are not excluded here, but there are so many women in PR and communications — plus my passion for walking the walk as a female business leader — that this is often who I am speaking with and helping to connect within my network.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Before I get myself into trouble, I want to say that my husband and I have one of the most “equal” marriages and divisions of household duties of almost any couple I know… and yet. If I could inspire one movement, it would be to more equitably share the invisible workload of women, mothers and especially working mothers. I think it begins by modeling equity in the home and at the office and by placing value on the work of caregiving and family. In fact, it’s the men who advocate for things like paid leave or flexible work schedules who can help move the needle on this for all of us.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Tina Fey. She’s hysterical — if you haven’t read Bossy Pants, pick it up immediately — and a baller writer and producer in an industry where it is very difficult for women to rise to the top. She’s authentic and honest, a working mom and she’s from Philly near where I grew up. I figure I will just ask her a million questions and then we can talk about Wawa hoagies and feminism. It would be great!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Lauren Banyar Reich of LBR PR On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.