I graduated in 2009 and the job market was dismal to say the least. I was an education major on track to become a teacher when I suddenly decided to change course during my junior year and pursue marketing. Because I didn’t have time to change my major, I became very proactive about joining clubs and organizations, volunteering and getting internship experience. My goal was to create connections and develop business acumen outside of my coursework. I worked very hard during my senior year to land a job—I like to say I was the career center’s poster child—however, I still graduated without any offers.

I moved to Los Angeles after graduation and, through a family friend, landed a job working in admissions for USC. I wasn’t thrilled about the position, but my rent wasn’t going to pay itself! The hardest part of this transition was spending 40-plus hours a week at a job I didn’t enjoy. I was extremely ambitious, but was totally lost on how to channel that ambition, find a direction and move my career forward. Not enjoying my job, industry or company really pushed me to think about what I did like, what I was passionate about and what would create a more engaging and satisfying career.

Honestly my day-to-day role at CC shares a lot of similar responsibilities and tasks as my role at Hulu, such as developing and implementing strategy, brand marketing and even recruiting practices. However, the biggest difference is probably the resources and brand name support. The brand name creates a bit of a security blanket and, of course, opens more doors. I’m naturally risk-averse and leaving the comfort of Hulu to go out on my own was terrifying! I’ve managed to switch gears as gracefully as possible through the support of the CC team and other female entrepreneurs.

I was inspired to create Career Contessa after navigating my own professional learning curve. My less-than-perfect post-college job left me feeling lost and frustrated because, although I was ambitious, I had no idea what career to pursue. I discovered recruiting as a career during a work assignment in my first job and experienced a positive reaction to the recruiting work I was doing.

To find answers about the job and career path of a recruiter, I browsed the Internet for career resources and yet, I couldn’t find one that simply said, “Hey, here are real recruiters, here’s what their day-to-day is like and here’s how you can get the job.” So I started reaching out to strangers via LinkedIn to gather information about a career in recruiting. Speaking directly to people in recruiting provided the insight and direction I needed, but also was a very time-consuming process. As I continued to have conversations around recruiting I was able to really narrow down my focus to university recruiting and working for a startup. To this day, I’m convinced Hulu hired me, not because I had the most recruiting experience, but because I could clearly communicate why and how I could bring value to the company and the career. This process of researching careers, searching through online resources and ultimately carving my own path to a job in recruiting was the first spark of my idea to start Career Contessa.

The second spark came while I was writing my thesis on millennial women and career resources. As part of the project, I created a career resource to test on focus groups. The response was overwhelmingly positive and showed that there was really a need for a career resource designed for women. Building on that positive feedback and momentum from my thesis, I decided to create Career Contessa to bridge the resource gap, utilizing real career stories from successful women to help provide information, inspiration and direction for different career paths. 

From the beginning, I knew I wanted the interviews to read like a story, I wanted to only feature women and I wanted to ask the questions that would give realistic insight into specific occupations. However, I underestimated how much time it takes to put together well-written and well-photographed features while carrying a full-time job. I worked on creating content for about fourteen months and spent five months developing a website.

I take a lot of cues from Hulu when it comes to developing CC’s company culture. CC embraces a casual and collaborative environment while setting the bar at the highest quality. Quality over quantity is key, as is being able to wear multiple (sometimes all) hats. Some days I’m knee-deep in admin duties, other days I’m all about strategy. The team has to be flexible and willing to adapt quickly, but I think that also adds to the fun of working for a startup.

Creating a team happened very organically. About six months into collecting content, I realized having a team would be vital to the success of the site. I first met Mallory Benedict, our Photo Director, through a mutual friend, and Mallory introduced me to Carrie Waller, our Editorial Director. Building a team was the best decision I made. Work with your strengths and find others with complement you with their own strengths. That is what builds a lasting and efficient team.

Developing a professional website was extremely important to me because it’s the first impression readers and interviewees get of the Career Contessa brand. I had weekly meetings with designers and developers to make sure the site delivered an ideal user experience by keeping the site simple and the attention on the great content. Working through the process was time-consuming, but so necessary because it forced me to clearly define the company’s mission—something I refer back to whenever I’m unsure about a future direction.

I usually have Contessas in mind when creating content. When we are targeting specific industries, jobs or cities so we can make sure we have plenty of variety, I’ll scroll through our Contessa submission form, reach out for referrals and select a handful to contact at one time. We do send cold emails when we get an occupation request or come across a woman whose story is too good not to share on CC.

We keep a very organized editorial calendar and Google doc that tracks each stage that an interview is in. When you have a team that works remotely, it is beyond important that things stay up-to-date and people remain in the loop.

I’ve always been big on organization—my closet, my day planner, my time, etc.—so I actually really enjoy having multiple projects going at once. That is not to say that I don’t have moments where my plate it too full and I have to hit pause. I’m old school and manage my to-do list with a pen and paper. I schedule everything (even exercise!) into my calendar, maintain an organized inbox and travel with a laptop in my purse so I can quickly take care of any issues that arise. I think having a lot of passion for the projects you’re juggling helps, too—passion is the best energy driver!

I’m pretty serious about my morning routine and, luckily, I’m also avery early bird. Every morning starts with some exercise—usually a run or exercise class (I’m currently into kickboxing). Next comes coffee, answering emails and diving into my to-do list. It’s a nice thing to be able to start work knowing I’ve gotten some “me” time in already and it sets the rest of my day in motion.

I’m more creative in the morning so I like to take on projects around strategy or writing at that time and spend a big chunk of my afternoon either in meetings, fulfilling admin duties or checking in with the team. 

I think it’s great to see so many sites dedicated to women and careers! I wish there were more when I was first thinking about what job to pursue. One day we might offer the specific career advice a woman is looking for, and the next day another site might offer that advice. Together, we all bring more awareness around the topic of women’s careers and that’s what really matters. Plus, I have never found being unfriendly or unsupportive to another career-focused site to be the answer for growing your business—quite the opposite, actually. 

As far as our industry niche, one of my biggest job hurdles was lacking direction, so I made sure Career Contessa focused on providing career direction in a relatable and simple way. Many websites want to use data or an algorithm to give you career advice, but careers are personal. We want to share the unique story behind each Contessa and her job. We want to give our readers the opportunity to relate to the Contessas on a personal level, and to use the Contessas’ various career paths as examples for thinking about their own career goals and dreams.

Just get started! If you look at most people’s careers you’ll notice that many moved from job to job before they found the right fit, so don’t wait for the perfect job to knock on your door. 

My other piece of advice when you don’t know what job you want to pursue is to focus on the company. Find a company culture that fits you. It will take some effort to research, but make the process fun and just keep moving forward. A little effort is always better than no effort.

This sounds so cliché, but every morning I wake up excited to work on Career Contessa! I still get jazzed reading the CC interviews and putting together content that solves our readers’ biggest career frustrations. I’ve been in the exact same place as our readers, and I’m on a mission to create a career platform that helps women replace job searching with job found.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lauren is now a Career Contessa Mentor! Click here to book personalized career advice with her.