Meet Lauren Gary, the social media strategist who has worked with everyone from TikTok to Netflix and Drake.
Join Lauren Gary’s Workshop Series in July 2021, “Understanding Social Content, From Start to Finish!” - RSVP & Register here
Lauren Gary, who now lives in L.A. after spending her formative working years in New York, is a creative whose journey is testament to not just staying in one place. Having cut her teeth at the in-house creative agency of Vice Media, she has since stepped into roles that have allowed her to work directly with brands like Netflix, Bumble and bumble and Byte Dance (perhaps better known as the parents of Tik Tok). Now, at creative studio Omerta, she is one of the brains behind all of Drake’s creative output (bar the music).
Today, Lauren feels like all her experiences and encounters in the industry can come together for the “weird combination” that helps her help brands to tell their stories; even her early years waving flags as part of Color Guard have helped her become the creative thinker she is today. She explains the story behind that, and more, below.
“I’m from Southern California, Orange County. Where I’m from is predominantly white, and highly conservative, and I'm none of those things! My dad is Black and my mom is Mexican. I actually grew up in a pretty heavily Mexican community, because I lived really close to my mom's family. My grandma went to the same high school that I went to. It was definitely a bubble. Everywhere I went, from my kindergarten through to my bachelor's degree, were all within a 10 minute walk from my mom's house. To escape from all of that, I got into performing arts. I did this thing called Color Guard. It's basically like marching band, but like the dance part of marching band, where there's flags, and you spin rifles – not real ones! It sounds very American, I'm sure! That’s when I was able to travel, and learn about different places, and experience new things outside of my really small town.
“I majored in communications with a focus in entertainment from college, just because that's kind of what I was doing already! And after my bachelor's degree, I was just doing my own thing, teaching and performing, but then I felt like, ‘okay, now this is kind of getting small.’ My world was starting to get smaller and smaller. Like, I want to work like in the real world now: what does that life look like. I wanted to be like Janet Jackson’s choreographer or something like that, but that industry is so hard to get into. I moved to New York and got my master's degree in Media Studies from the New School.
“My whole thing was how to take my 15 years of experience in a different world into something new. Just because it's different, that doesn't make it not valuable, because you can always translate your past experiences into what you want to do. I understood how to tell stories in a very unique, weird way with flags – how did I take that skill and translate it into something else? Similarly, l got into digital storytelling – telling stories through platforms that people weren’t necessarily familiar with yet. It’s always about finding unique ways to use platforms, like Instagram, in ways that even Instagram didn't think up yet. More engagement strategy, not social media management.
“It really sucks that people often have to go through certain things – jumping through hoops and shit pay – in order to have rich experience in the creative agency world. Still, I don’t regret it at all. Now, I’m working for Drake. In between, I think I have just a lot of those experiences where it feels like (the role) is getting smaller, and I want to know what I can do to add to my skills. Like, . what should I do next, and how can I get there in a way that's gonna make me a better person and keep me interested.
“I think I've been very like fortunate to be able to like find these things, but like, that's that doesn't go to say that like I wasn't, you know, miserable in between sometimes. I definitely had my moments of misery where it's like, oh god, how am I going to pay my rent. But I think one of the reasons it’s worked out for me is it’s less about saying I have all of this knowledge about Instagram, and Facebook ads, and all that. Instead, it’s about how I can make that information valuable for you, and relevant to what you’re doing as a brand. I'm never afraid to be, whatever, let's just try it. I think one thing I probably get in trouble for saying so often, but I just never think anything is that serious. If you take office stuff so seriously, you’ll stifle yourself. And if you make mistakes, you can just figure out how to fix it.” – Lauren Gary
1) What does a typical day look like for you?
At agencies you are juggling a lot every day, because each brand has its own needs. You're kind of responsible for fulfilling all of those needs, all at the same time. So, the typical day for me is time management, and prioritization.
2) One thing you wish you'd known when you were starting out?
I wish I had known what my worth and my value was. There are so many resources out there that can like help you like understand your value, and I really do recommend people look into that for themselves because it’s really important.
3) What’s your favourite campaign or piece of work you ever worked on?
This is like a throwback, and also the most stressed out I've ever been, but also the most fun: when I worked with Netflix. The Netflix fandom is so rich. I did the OA, I did some wild shit like Narcos… I love when the digital stuff blends with IRL.
4) Who is someone on-the-rise in your field you think people should know about?
Elyse Fox, the founder of Sad Girls Club. She doesn’t have the same job as me, but I really like what she's doing from the perspective of using social for social good. And she's actually my friend now!
- Written by Claire Marie Healy.
Join Lauren Gary’s Workshop Series in July 2021, “Understanding Social Content, From Start to Finish!” - RSVP & Register here
