Lauren Valencia, Grindr

💭 Thoughts on Gossip’s ‘Real Power’ album, Bratz, and cutting out the BS.

Lauren Valencia is a multi-hyphenate marketer with expertise in all things social, influencer, and experiential. She is obsessed with pop culture and the unadulterated brain rot of the internet and has been lucky to bring that into her work spanning the tech, beauty, travel, and automotive industries. She truly thrives when she’s learning new things and loves to mix things up as a way to fuel her creativity. 

At Grindr, she gets to combine all of her experience to bring to life their 360 marketing campaigns, collaborating with tons of different functions and partners across disciplines. As a cis, straight woman, working at Grindr is a privilege for Lauren because she gets to create campaigns specifically serving the queer community with a brand that isn’t afraid to get sassy, down and dirty 😈.

Beyond work, Lauren is passionate about hosting dinner parties, exploring new restaurants (HELLO Leopardo!), and planning her next adventure to Japan, one of her favorite places in the world.

🎯 Current focus

We just launched the newest Grindr content series, Host or Travel, and spoiler alert, it’s one of my favorite projects ever! The series follows queer travelers as they explore new cities and connect with locals through the app to get an insider's view of the city. It underscores a real-life app use case and is quite literally the antithesis of a TripAdvisor list–we show how uncovering the city’s hidden gems and safe spaces for the queer community is just a chat away :). Our trips to Madrid, Rio and LA are now live and upcoming episodes can be found on Grindr’s YouTube channel, airing each Thursday through the end of the summer.

We have a ton of fun at Grindr, but there’s also an important purpose aspect intrinsically linked to everything we do. We modified how our app functions in the Olympic Village specifically to protect users, while supporting their right to be who they are. I’m so proud to work at a company that thinks in this way and be an ally in a world where LGBTQ+ rights continue to be threatened.

📞 Answer the Call

I am incredibly energized by the momentum around Kamala Harris! The Gen-Z of it all, the Answer the Call movement, the coconut tree/brat/meme-ification of her campaign is everything we need right now. Many people are feeling a collective hope (myself included), and while the state of our country is still insane, it’s clear that we need to band together for the good of our country.

🎶 Gossip’s Real Power

I’m late to the party, but Gossip’s newest album from earlier this year, Real Power, has been on repeat lately. I’ve been a fan for years and got to see them live at my very first Coachella in 2010. 🥲 They stopped making music for a decade plus and are making a comeback – give it a listen!

🪓 Cutting out the B.S.

Cut the bullshit! It’s so SO easy to think of a million excuses about why we don’t want to do something, but when you cut the bullshit and focus on your goals, you can literally do anything! I’ve found that creating mini goals for myself makes things more achievable, plus you get that sweet dopamine hit when you complete what you’ve set out to do. Win-win. 

⚽️ Being sporty in San Diego

I’m a sporty spice, so I’m excited about heading down to San Diego to see ManU play next week. Truth be told, I’m a proud Arsenal girlie, but I couldn’t pass up a fun day trip with my girlfriends. We’re taking the Amtrak train down so it’ll be a cute adventure.

👟 New Balance re-defining the athlete endorsement landscape

New Balance is really doing things on so many levels. They have been killing the dad shoe style for years, and now are emerging as a true player in re-defining the athlete endorsement landscape. Coco Gauff, Shohei Ohtani, Bukayo Saka (go Gunners!) all possess a grit and determination to be at the top of their game while being doubted and facing intense challenges and scrutiny. It’ll be fun to see how they continue to evolve in this space, especially since the strategies of major players like Nike and Adidas have gotten a little stale. 

🤩 Can’t live without… 

I am obsessed with my HyperIce Hypervolt massage gun. I get neck and back pain pretty easily and realized that I could literally fix it just by using the gun. Miracles can happen! It’s amazing for muscle recovery and overall health and wellness.

My other honorable mention is the Megababe Thigh Rescue. Even though LA has a quote-unquote dry heat, those who know KNOW. This is a must-have item for me all summer long and you can get in a mini size to take on the go. Adorable AND convenient! The founder, Katie Sturino, is also an incredible body acceptance activist that I respect and admire.

🎀 Bratz

It feels so funny to say, but the Bratz IG and TT absolutely slays. They do such a great job inserting their product into cultural conversations in real-time. This (likely) more planned post during Pride month was iconic, but referencing the ‘this will ruin the world tour’ controversy within 24 hours in a way that kept the brand and product at the forefront?! I am here for it!

💅 SSense

SSense also continues to impress with its truly unhinged Instagram presence with a healthy dose of fashion news and trend spotting. This post is a perfect example of why I can’t get enough. 

Follow Lauren on Instagram & Linkedin.

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