The Quiet Connector: Lauren’s Story of Books, Community Building, and Beyond
In this inspiring episode, I sit down with Lauren Moore, a content strategist and the founder of Book Huddle, to explore her incredible journey from an avid reader to a community builder who is changing lives.
Lauren's path is a testament to what happens when you follow your passion, show up with discipline and love, and rewrite your story with the joys of childhood. From her early days lost in the pages of books in Vancouver, BC, to becoming a key player in growing major brands like MTV and Subaru, Lauren has always found a way to merge her passions with her professional life.
In our conversation, Lauren shared:
How she discovered her inner voice and overcame the challenges of being an introvert.
Her battle with imposter syndrome and how she conquered it.
The evolution of her relationship with money and how she balances passion with financial stability.
Insights on building a community that aligns with her values and fosters meaningful connections.
Her vision for the future of Book Huddle and the transformative power of reading retreats.
Lauren's story will resonate deeply with you whether you're a creative, a dreamer, or someone looking to find inspiration in your everyday life.
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Chandresh
What happens when you follow that inner voice and passion, sincerely and consistently. What happens when you show up with discipline, love and a willingness to grow in life. What happens when you rewrite your story with things, experiences and stories that you always enjoyed as a child? This episode is very special to me. I sat down with my friend Lauren who's living a life that I believe can inspire many creatives and dreamers.
Lauren first impacted my life deeply when she wrote for Break The Norms, Leila and my website as a copywriter. I was so impressed by her work ethic and understanding of words and storytelling. And later and recently, she inspired my life 100 times more by simply showing up for her art, channeling the power of social media authenticity and creating a community that's changing the lives of thousands of people.
Her formal bio says Lauren Moore is a content strategist who helps brands find their voice and grow their online presence for business results. Her work has increased the organic reach of clients including major brands like MTV Suburu and many more contributing to over 12 million combined follower growth in collaboration with Phil Pallen Collective.
She has guided and grown over 350 brands globally. Lauren is the founder of book huddle, a vibrant community of 230,000 book enthusiasts that hosts reading retreats across USA. Lauren believes anyone can achieve their dreams with hard work and an open mind. And what I feel, what her formal bio doesn't say is that Lauren's journey can inspire you to pause, cut down the external noise and inspire you to reflect upon your journey, your goals and motivate you to show up for your art,
your self expression. And think about what you can do today to unfold the next big step in your journey. In my conversation with Lauren, we speak about how she discovered her inner voice and overcame the challenges of being an introvert her battle with imposter syndrome and how she conquered it, the evolution of her relationship with money and how she balances passion with financial stability.
Her insights on building a community that aligns with her values and cultivates a meaningful connection with everyone, whether you are a creative, a dreamer or someone looking to find inspiration in your everyday life. I sincerely believe Lauren's story will resonate deeply with you. Enjoy the episode. I'm Chandresh Bhat BJ and this is the Lia show.
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Chandresh
So glad to have you, Lauren. How are you feeling? How's life?
Lauren Moore
I'm feeling great. I'm always excited to speak with you, Shandra. Let's be honest. Any conversation I have with you is going to be so good and life is really, really good right now.
Chandresh
Yeah, I know, I'm feeling, by the way, very excited. I think I'm going to learn a lot from this conversation. This podcast is a selfish podcast because I'm here to learn all the tricks of the trade from you today. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Thank you for being here.
Lauren Moore
I feel like all the best podcasts are selfish to be quite honest because the host gets to lead with curiosity and you can kind of be a fly on the wall. Those are my favorite ones to listen to at least.
Chandresh
So being selfish is good. Yeah, I agree. I absolutely agree. You know, from the time I've known you and it's been few years I call myself introvert. And when I meet him, like this is another fellow introvert and I think your introverted, this is visible. Like I think I sometimes do an ok job of hiding it because I speak a lot in, in public. So people are like, oh, you are not introvert. But when I speak with you, I'm like, yes, I can feel there is an introvert who's, you know, stepping out
and using the words to do, you know the magic. So the first thing that blew my mind when I saw your journey in the book, huddle space as an introvert. How did you navigate the challenge of just putting yourself out there and build this community and engage with this community. How did it start with you go as like deep as you want to with this one.
Lauren Moore
When I first started posting on tiktok, I had zero expectations. And for me, I had realized through lots of therapy, that part of the reason why I was holding myself back from sharing the, the real me and sharing my voice in the world was for a few reasons. So first of all, I come from an upbringing and I come from really a a society like most of us that rewards extroversion, but also rewards, sacrificing your well being for the sake of serving others.
I've been an overachiever my entire life and everything that I had basically done for decades was all for the sake of having an image that people wanted to see or being helpful with helping other people build their brands and get ahead. And it always required a lot for me as an introvert to be able to constantly just give and give and give and you know, this from working with clients, it can be super fulfilling.
But at the same time, it can also be really, really draining. And I, I realized that I didn't know what my voice was as an individual because so much of my identity had been entrenched in helping others find their voices. So I didn't really ever want to post on social media because first, I didn't know what I wanted to say, especially if it's not through the lens of helping other people.
If it's just for me, what, what on earth do I wanna say? And then the other challenge was being a natural people pleaser. I was fearful of putting myself first and posting my content when I owed things to other people, other assignments that I was potentially late on or had a busy day full of meetings. And I didn't want to be seen as putting myself first and potentially disappointing other people.
So when I decided to start posting on tiktok, I had been first curious in the platform, I was spending like months as a consumer and I really, really loved it. And I was kind of thinking, ok, if I were to start posting on tiktok, what would it be about? And I knew I didn't want it to be about branding or copywriting, which is what I had, you know, have been worked in working in for the past decade.
I wanted to be about something that I would be endlessly passionate about even after the longest, most grueling day of work. And so books was like a natural thing for me to post about. I've been a lifelong reader, like an avid reader. I have a degree in English. I'm always someone who's brought a book with me wherever I go. One of my friends had said in university, you're the only person I know who reads books for fun, like I really have always loved them.
So I started posting about books and it actually became very, very natural for me because tiktok is a platform that rewards authenticity. And so I had to drop the persona, the mask, the script and really, really speak from the heart if I wanted to stand out. And over time, I found that the videos that I posted where I was sharing the real me, those ended up doing really, really well and attracting the community that I ultimately wanted to build.
So I didn't have any expectations when I first started posting at all. I certainly never thought that I'd be where I am today where this is soon gonna be my full time job. But I realized that it was relatively easy for me because I had to be myself and I had to speak and show my true self without thinking about other people if I wanted to do well on the platform.
Chandresh
Well, you have been an advocate for Tik Tok platform. You told me many times to be on it and only and only because of you because you motivate me. I go there post for a bunch of days and then I vanish and then I don't show up on it. Tell me, what did you do to stay this consistent? And I saw your post, they are genuinely, very, very authentic.
I don't see a pitch, a hook line and social media is filled with the narrative of hook lines and you are a professional copywriter and yet I don't see those cringe or even those generic, you know, hook lines. Is there a method to that, that space?
Lauren Moore
So I'm gonna answer your question by going back in time a little bit and you might, you might not know this about me, Chandra. And I feel like we know so much about each other when I first graduated from university and moved to New York with the goal of becoming a writer. I enrolled in improv classes. Do you know this about me? Not at all. So I did improv comedy for a few years and there is this improv school that Amy Poehler had founded called Upright Citizens Brigade and they offered
improv classes and I had heard about UCB, which is the acronym for the school. And every Sunday they would have this, this show that was called as Cat 3000. And you'd wait in line for an hour and you'd be led into this little theater. And then all these incredible comedians who have been on like SNL would show up randomly and do improv for an hour.
It was amazing. I'd be in the front row seat, sitting on the ground and Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, like all these incredible, like, very inspiring comedians were there. And I started loving this and I would look forward to this every single Sunday. And I just thought the creativity and the on the spot. Like the comedy was so, so so inspiring.
So I started taking classes in improv. I don't necessarily think I was very good at it, but it did teach me to kind of relax and trust my instincts and really read in the moment instead of forcing a joke that was in the back of my head and trying to make it work with whatever my partner was doing at the time. And I really, really believe that that at a improv helped me start building that muscle for thinking creatively on the spot and really trusting my intuition to lead me to the right
creative outcome. And so flash forward to tiktok, I try to create every single one of my Tik Tok posts within five minutes from the time I start filming to when I post. And I think that time Crunch just like an improv where you need to come up with something on the spot. That time Crunch helps me just speak with a lot of honesty about what's on my brain and what's in my heart without those gimmicks because I don't have time to be polluted by that marketing speak that a lot of people kind of
are susceptible to online. So I think that for me, I find the pressure of me trying to raise myself to create that content as quickly as possible, actually works really, really well. And it allows me to create content in a sustainable way I post on Tik Tok at least for my first year, three times a day, no matter what, I think I took one day off or something. I even posted on Christmas. And then I, now I've been sort of trying to figure things out with tiktok again just because you have to
film longer videos and I just haven't really had time to film longer videos, but I've been posting 3 to 4 times a day on Instagram. And I think that really, because I'm not giving myself time to question myself and I'm just sharing what's on my brain that has helped me like quite significantly.
Chandresh
That's what I thought that what's on the heart, it's on your Tik Tok and it seems like that's exactly what happened. So there is no writing that you do before or do you have a slight ideal keyword that I want to talk about a particular book or anything?
Lauren Moore
I don't really preplan anything before which is horrific. I don't want it to always be like that. I would love if I was planning things out a week in advance. But truly every single post you see, I come up with that and post it right away. Like nothing's preplanned right now. Again, I don't think that's sustainable. I don't necessarily recommend that, but it's worked for me so far.
Chandresh
So it's, for example, it's five pm here. So if I have to post on Tik Tok or, or even Instagram. So your guidances within next five minutes before 55, I should be done with the recording, right. With the retakes and everything.
Lauren Moore
Yep. If something takes me more than twice to film, I scrap the idea, write it down on my notes book and say I'll come back to this another day. I'm gonna do something that I know will be fast.
Chandresh
That's crazy. And that's so inspiring. So motivating, I'm about to work on my youtube channel after I, I've been on it for 12 years again. I post I vanish, I post I vanish. But this time I'm more committed. But I'm going to actually, this resonates with me a lot, by the way, this feels very aligned with how I feel the muse speaks to you. This is fascinating and what I also find interesting going to improve classes is that I would have never connected this improve, contributing to this,
this business, you know, and I think the society, the social construct has trained us to think if you want to create a community. First of all, this is a bad idea, right? Work a 9 to 5 job. This is not at all something you should do. And if you must do this, get a degree in again, XYZ. But I feel what has worked for you is just opening up creatively that I feel creativity is the only fuel that has been helping.
Lauren Moore
Is that correct? I think that's completely correct. I, I felt like my entire life has kind of been me learning how to drop perfectionism and drop achievements and just be creative really. And I don't, it's so funny because I don't think of myself as a creative still. You're probably like, shocked, like, I don't think of myself as a creative person, which is like, objectively ridiculous.
But I remember about six or seven years ago I had my birth chart read for a horoscope, reading. And I'm sure you probably know a lot more about this than I do. But my south node is in Virgo and my north node is in Pisces. And evidently what this means is your South node is who you were in a past life or what you already have mastered. And with Virgo, that's organization and achievement and being rigid and rule based.
And with Pisces, it's actually a creativity and feminine energy and softness and nurturing other people or being a mother. And so it was very interesting because the astrologist said, I can see that there's this battle between you and I want you to just let go and come to your creative and softer and more feminine self. And it very, very much resonated with me because I feel like my whole life has been aiming for straight A's gunning for the awards, being Student Council President
for two years and you know, always been about accomplishments and achievement and not really listening to what my heart was wanting and because of that being in that gray area of creativity where there is no right or wrong or good or bad, it just is, has been uncomfortable for me.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
But ultimately, it's been the most rewarding I believe.
Chandresh
I think, I know the astrologer who guided you.
Lauren Moore
Yes, I think so too.
Chandresh
She's incredible young, bless her. She's amazing. How's the process of shedding those belief systems and being the good Laurent? right? The obedient. The A grader, the scholar Lauren, how was the process of letting go of that particular identity? And if you want to speak about the therapy process because I feel that has contributed in your journey. I would love to know how the shedding of that identity. Is it still happening?
Lauren Moore
Yes, I have been seeing a therapist for about two years now and I wanted to start going to therapy because I really didn't like myself. I didn't like who I was. I would hear compliments from other people and think like that's not true. There's no way they're being insincere. They don't mean that and had these really, really horrific, cruel beliefs that were constantly in my mind.
And there was just kind of one incident that happened where I was like, I need to figure this out. I need help to like enjoy being in my skin and like who I am. I don't think it's a coincidence that I started seeing a therapist within two weeks of my first Tik Tok video, which is very interesting and it's been a real process of understanding who I am, what systems I've been part of what messages I've been absorbing from day one from, you know, my family structure from society, what
messages or values have been passed on to me from previous generations and which ones I want to continue living with and which ones I'm ready to let go of and also just being comfortable with putting myself first again because people are always going to be disappointed by you. Someone is not gonna like what you're doing, someone's gonna have an issue with you.
Someone is gonna think that you're dumb or useless or XYZ fill in the blank. But at the end of the day, it's your life and you get to decide how you want to exist in it and learning that through therapy has been just pivotal. It's been an incredible catalyst for the person that I am today and hopefully the person that I'm gonna be 2030 50 years from now.
Chandresh
And if I may ask how many sessions per month would you recommend to anyone who's about to get inspired by you right now?
Lauren Moore
I go to a therapist weekly for me. I need that constant reminder to be able to go through the ups and downs of every week. Some of our sessions are me talking about an email that really irked me or a client that really annoyed me others are talking about really, really, really deep, traumatic awful stuff from 20 years ago. I never know what's gonna happen in the session.
But it is so helpful for me to have that person I can go to where I'm in a safe place. I can be myself. And most importantly, I can have someone witness the patterns of my brain and patterns of the different groups that I'm part of in my life and help me connect the dots between those.
Chandresh
And how did you choose the therapist? Was there a, a website criteria that he or she has to meet this criteria?
Lauren Moore
I found my therapist online through, I believe a psychology today or some kind of like system that listed them. And I had seen therapists on and off for the past 10 years or so at different points of my life in different places where I would feel like I needed some help. I would see them for a couple of sessions, but they just didn't connect with me or they would do something that I knew.
It just wasn't a good fit. And interestingly with my therapist. Now I had the session with her and I immediately knew that she was the one I just knew because I tend to hyper intellectualize things. I'm always in my head, I'm very, very cut off from my body. I rarely feel or take the time to listen to what's going on in my body and what my body is saying to me and I'm not saying meaning that in a medical way, I'm more meaning that in terms of an intuitive way.
And I just knew that she would be able to help me bridge that gap because she was specialized in things that were so beyond my comfort zone. Like I don't need more tactics to learn about how I'm thinking or how to improve or, you know, checklists or things to do. I need someone who can help me think, not necessarily in a spiritual way, but to help me really unpack the areas that I'm not as comfortable with that are more related to emotions.
Chandresh
Was it important to you to have a therapist of a particular gender? Or were you open to man, woman? Anyone?
Lauren Moore
I felt like I would be more comfortable with a woman personally at some point in my life, will I see a male therapist? Sure. Is it a deal breaker? No, given some of the experiences that I've been through in my life that have been pretty heavy and pretty traumatic. I felt like I would feel more comfortable talking about them with a woman.
So that was part of why I thought of female therapist, but again, not a deal breaker by any means. I have plenty of friends who are identified as women and see men as therapists and they have really, really great relationships with them.
Chandresh
OK, thanks for sharing. And this is very helpful, very inspiring to just listen the whole process. So I'm just noting down the strategies that I worked for you therapy is one of them in pro classes. One of them, right. What else has worked toward recharging your batteries, resetting, recharging the batteries. What else do you consistently or on and off you don't go into, to recharge.
Lauren Moore
I read books every single day and I need to, books for me are my form of meditation. I'll do a meditation app here and there. But I'm like, not like you chandresh, not at all. But books are the one thing that helped me truly leave my brain, like leave my thought process and just immerse myself somewhere else. It truly is meditative for me. I read every single morning and every single night no matter what.
And usually I will also read at lunchtime or take a little midday break to read. And so that's one of them. And the other thing I always, always, always, really need to do is a long walk, ideally at the start of every day and ideally like outdoors. So one of those walking pads in my office wouldn't work for me. And so I will start my day. I'll have some coffee, I'll read for 20 minutes or so.
Then I'll go head outside, put pop in an audio book or one of my favorite podcasts. And then I'll go for a walk that's at least 45 minutes. I am a creature of habit. I take the same route basically every single day. And it's nice because I can just zone out and not think about it. I just, I just, I'm like, I end up at home and I'm like, oh, wow, walks over, how did I get here?
And so though, I find that the walks are really, really nice way to start my day, especially before I head into meetings or check my inbox or again, open myself up to a situation where people are kind of asking things of me or requiring things of me. I need that quiet time. That's just mine.
Chandresh
I'm a big believer in daily walks. I think that you leave house as one person, you come back as a different person. Many times. Can I ask you a little bit more about the, the reading space? I've been trying to read. So I think how you relate to meditation. That's how I relate to reading fiction or even I, I used to read so much as a child, you know, and even in college, I would read every single day because, you know, New York Subway is like two hours I'll spend in trains.
So I would read. But now not so much. You know, my first question, it's a silly question. I was like, what time you wake up because you go for a walk and then you read, what time the day begins for you?
Lauren Moore
I usually wake up around 515 or 530.
Chandresh
Ok, of course.
Lauren Moore
Yeah, I'm naturally a mourning person and I feel like I had been fighting that for a lot of my adult life. I don't feel great when I go to bed late. Like my prime time is getting in bed around nine or 915. And then I read until I fall asleep if I miss that window and I am in bed by like 1030 or later, I get this second wind of energy and then I feel like garbage. The next day I can't fall asleep. That's just how I'm wired. And so that's how it works for me. I'm very lucky because I live in a very safe
neighborhood. And so I'll wake up around 515 or 530 read for 1520 minutes. So I'm usually out the door starting, I walk before 6 a.m. Sometimes the sun hasn't even risen. And yeah, and I'll go for my walk and come back around 630 or seven, depending on how, how that goes. And then usually in my current job, I'll, I'll cluster meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So generally the meetings will start around 730 or so am.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
And so I've got about half an hour before meetings start and then in the afternoon again for 2030 minutes.
Lauren Moore
Yeah. So I try to cluster my calls so that way most of them are done by 130 or two. And granted, I'm in the process of changing careers. So I'm not going to be having as many meetings as before. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. But usually around 130 or so, that's when I'll have lunch and then I'll read for 20 or 30 minutes during that time while I'm eating.
And I'll, if it's like a nice day I'll go eat out on the balcony or something. If it's a really, really, really nice day, then I'll actually like, again, put on the audio book and go for a walk again. So, yeah, I, I mean, I wanna ask you Sean Dress, what books did you like as a child?
Chandresh
You know, as a child? So, you know, growing up in India, I didn't read nonfiction. I only read fiction. So they were local stories, like, you know, folk stories, traditional stories, there were comics, lots of comics. So my town had this arrangement, you could rent the comics. I would read so many comics every single day. Plus there were magazines, you know, with, stories from ancient Indian history and everything.
I've read all of those stories. This is why I think everything I do like my podcast, everything. There are stories in it, in school. People used to call me. Why are you always telling stories? And I was like, no, I don't. But, yeah, I was because I was reading them every day and then it just stopped.
Lauren Moore
Yeah. So interesting. I wonder if you would like graphic novels, then there's some pretty incredible ones out right now.
Chandresh
I used to love them growing up. It all stopped. I think when I left India and moved to New York, I think a lot of things stopped for me. I think it was the culture shock moving away from my friends, my family. So a lot of playfulness just, it paused. I didn't realize it until very recently. I used to sing star songs that stopped also. But yeah, I'm bringing it back, you know.
Lauren Moore
So, yeah, I really think that there is a book or a genre out there for everyone. You just have to try out some things to see.
Chandresh
I love Khaled Hussein. I don't know if you're kite runner.
Lauren Moore
Oh yeah. Kite runner is incredible.
Chandresh
Yeah, I'm trying to get into that space. So that was my next question. How do you pick these books? You know? So which one to read? Is it the same book or different books?
Lauren Moore
I have a process for finding books to read and there's a few different categories or book needs that I need to fulfill. So the first one is I have a virtual book club that unbelievably has over 250 members in it. And every month we will do a book discussion on Zoom and it's where there's one book for four different genres each month. So we've got one for fiction, one for romance, one for mystery thriller and one for fantasy.
So I really try to prioritize diverse voices and I also try to prioritize books that have only been out for 2 to 3 months. And so that helps me kind of make my selection book talk, which is the hashtag or the book community on Tik Tok is really, really great at uncovering new and buzzing books. So I'll always look there. I subscribe to a lot of publishers newsletters as well to see what new ones they're pushing.
And then I also use goodreads as a way to look at lists of thrillers out in April and take a little gander and see if there's anything that I think is unique or, or that potential to really take off. So I've got my book club and that definitely keeps me quite in the trenches in terms of like what authors are up and coming, what debut authors are, have a lot of potential, things like that.
And then I've got my reading retreats as well and it's a similar format where we've got the four books that are focused on at the retreat. And with those, it's pretty exciting because now I'm starting to actually meet with publishers and we are able to start getting books that aren't out yet for their treats. So we just did that for the second time with the Catskills retreat. That was a few weeks ago, one of the books that we studied for the fiction book isn't out until June and the
retreat was taking place in April. So everyone got her an early copy, which was really, really cool. So, for that, I really look to the experts and the publishers and see what books they're really, really excited about and which ones they're also wanting to push that will potentially connect with the community.
Chandresh
Does it ever happen? You start reading a book that you believe is important book, popular book, respected book, but you don't connect to it? Do you still keep reading or, or do you just leave it?
Lauren Moore
Yeah, there is a term that's used in the book community called DNF, like ID NF. The book. So did not finish the book. I feel compelled to read the book to the end even if I don't love it because first of all, like writing a book, even if it's not a book that I particularly love is a really, really big, gigantic venture as you know, from being a published author yourself. And I feel like as a reader, the least I could do is hear the author out until the end.
So that's me. There's also, of course, the over deep side who doesn't want to give up. But sometimes what I'll do is I'll put a book on ice. So I'll be like, I think I'm just gonna pause that for a second and I'll come back and finish it when the time is right. So there are a few books that I've had that I do intend to finish, but it's been about a year since I've cracked them up and again.
Chandresh
But that sounded so respectful and sweet that, you know, you're honoring the effort of the author. Right. That's very sweet. I think that's the kind side of you. And I also feel you underestimate your great qualities. You, you'll throw a certain, certain spin on it. But this is, yeah, this is very, very kind, very sweet. I was curious.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
So when you read a book, like three times a day, is it the same book all three times or different books, usually it will be the same book or potentially two different books.
Lauren Moore
So my audio book will be different from whatever I'm reading with my eyes. So that's always a different book. And I do usually listen to audio books on my daily walks and then I'll have a book on that I read in the mornings and during the day and evenings, sometimes if I'm reading a print book and it's nighttime I always read with my kindle at night
before I go to bed because otherwise the bedside table lamp keeps me up and doesn't help me fall asleep. So I would say usually it's between 2 to 3 different books on the go. Hm.
Chandresh
Is there a book that just changed your entire life or created a significant turn one book or more than one book?
Lauren Moore
Yes, there are 10 books that have changed my life. And the reason I know this list is because for our last retreat, we partnered with this local bookstore called One Grand Books. It's fascinating. The concept of the store is that each shelf is curated by a public figure and they choose 10 books that they would take with them on a deserted island or 10 books that profoundly shaped their life.
And I don't know how this happened, but the owner actually asked me to create a shelf. It's not physically in the store, but it was at our book fair that we had at the reading retreat. And it's also online at bookshop.org. I don't know if this would bore your listeners, but I could give a quick little run through of those books.
Chandresh
Don't quickly run through it. I got very alert. You know, the moment you started sharing this, please tell me that's so inspiring. I'm not surprised by the way, I'm not at all surprised with. I remember telling you this. Whenever we connected in the past, I would see this enormous potential in you.
I didn't know, what was that potential for. I just saw that grand aura around you. I was like, yeah, maybe, you know, this is where she's putting her efforts and the universe is so generous. I believe it's absolutely rewarding your, your kindness and your patience for life.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
So bravo, this is, that means so much.
Lauren Moore
It's so hard. It's so hard to just see things yourself, you know, because I feel like my, my entire job up until this point is, has been to see the potential of other people and help them capture that through branding and copy and visuals. And so it's been clear as day to me when I look at other people but really, really tough to do for yourself and you're sure you want me to go through all 10 books.
Chandresh
Yeah, I think the titles will be helpful. It will be helpful to me and to many readers.
Lauren Moore
Yeah. OK. All right. Be careful what you wish for. If you're bored around book seven, just like interrupt, we can put in the show notes. So the first book is called House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. And this was the first magical realism book that I ever read. And for listeners who haven't read magical realism, it's essentially like a historical fiction or contemporary fiction, but there are little glimmers of magic that just show up in that ordinary setting or environment,
but the story isn't driven magic. So this was the first one that I read. It was part of my IB English class curriculum in high school. And as soon as I finished it, I just started it again to read it for a second time because I loved it so much. It's a multigenerational story and it's based in Chile, which is really cool. The next book is the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I don't know if you've ever read that one. Seares. It's like a classic.
Chandresh
There are going to be many embarrassing moments for me. I know I haven't read many of these books, but that's why I said I'm here to learn from you in this one. So I'm going to be buying many of these books.
Lauren Moore
It's awesome. I'll send you the link so that you could purchase the shelf from this bookstore online. So the, the Scarlet Letter, it's, it's like qualifies as classic literature, classic American literature. When I was in university, I was completely indecisive about what I wanted my major to be in. I transferred and changed programs about 3 to 4 times in the span of a couple of years.
I could not decide fun fact. I have a minor degree in health sciences because I was really into Grey's Anatomy and was like medicine. Great. And so anyway, I couldn't make up on my mind. And then my friend, Phil, our mutual friend who we met at school, we love Phil. And Phil was the one who had said, you're the only person I know who reads books for fun.
So why don't you try English and try writing for the school newspaper? So I tried out an American literature class. This was the first book of the term. I completely fell in love with it. I transferred to the English department, got my degree in English moved to New York after, to get writing internships and jobs. I met my partner of 13 years now within a year of moving to New York City and it was all because of this book.
So that was a very, had a very profound impact. I can see that. Yeah. The next book is called Pachenko by Min Jin Lee. It was turned into an Apple TV Plus Show that was released about a year ago. I haven't watched it, but the book is incredible. I believe it's pretty much as close to perfection as a book can get. So it's historical fiction. It's another multigenerational family story.
It has complex characters and it's an immersive exploration of cultures. It really gives you a front row seat into Korean and Japanese cultures and it just might kind of go to historical fiction recommendation. It's really a beautiful and moving story. The next one is the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. So I was obsessed with the Narnia books growing up.
And luckily for me, there is a summer camp called Camp Narnia that was near where I grew up. It still exists to this day. And it was really, really cool because you would choose whatever week you wanted to go to based off whatever book you wanted to focus on with the Narnia and the counselors would take you through the book's plot throughout the week.
It was a blast. So anyway, some of my like, best childhood memories are there and, and it's still around, it's still, still gone. So it's great. So next up is Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. And it's my favorite memoir of all time. It's by the founder of Nike. And it really, really takes you through Nike's origin and growth from when he first got the idea as a track athlete to all the way to making it the company that it is today.
It is fascinating. And what I really appreciate about this book is that Phil Knight doesn't hold back from sharing his mistakes along the way. But you are really, really hoping that he finds success because he is so committed to the vision of Nike. It's very, very powerful. I listened to the audio book for this and he is the narrator and I highly recommend it. It's really, really wonderful.
Chandresh
I want to add this one. You mentioned this long time ago to me about the, the Nike book. I remember checking it out on Amazon. I don't think I got it on my audible, but I think that needs to happen.
Lauren Moore
Yeah, it's fascinating like he discovered back in the day, which was I believe in the late seventies or early eighties that Japanese made shoes were the highest quality in the world from a manufacturing perspective. So he flew to Japan not knowing a word of Japanese to find a manufacturer to help him design the perfect shoe back when This was when Nike was called Blue Ribbon Athletics.
It wasn't even called Nike. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah. The next book I'm recommending is The Historian by Elizabeth Kova. So, this is the best vampire book that I've ever read. And I've read a lot of vampire books. I love Dracula. I love anything with vampires. I think it was really, really fun. Yeah. And this one is the best. I can't believe that it is not more popular. It's about a scholarly father and daughter duo who are based in reality.
It's based in the real world, but they are on a mission to discover if Dracula is actually real. And it's incredible. It has very dark academia vibes. You get to explore a lot of Eastern Europe. It's just absolutely beautiful and it has a very, very like satisfying ending. So I love that one. The next one is Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass. And you're probably laughing because I boast about this book every other.
Chandresh
I speak a lot about Sarah J Mass, right? I have seen that on your website on your tiktok.
Lauren Moore
It's, yeah, she's my favorite author of all time. I love her books so much. She's amazing. So this is the first book in my favorite series of all time. It's really, really incredible. It's easy to dismiss the on a Glass as a Y A book. That's just simple, but it is so much more than that. It has amazing character development, incredible writing the world buildings next to none, the action, the magic. It's just, it's like, oh, it's incredible. So that one's on there.
Chandresh
Can I interrupt you in this when you read these books? I think you mentioned four or five books already, right. So when you read these books, I can see they, each book inspires you. Has it inspired you enough to write one of your own.
Lauren Moore
I have not written a book on my own, but I definitely am hoping to, I have about four different book ideas that are within me that I haven't seen done before that are pretty crystallized in my mind. I just haven't totally had the time to be able to do to make them. But I'm hoping that in one year from now I'll have a manuscript done for one of them.
Chandresh
I'm looking forward to reading that and to root for you to share that on my stories.
Lauren Moore
And everywhere Lauren is an author, you know, we'll see, I, I haven't written creatively for a very, very, very long time and I definitely have been burned in the past because I remember in university we had to apply to get into the creative writing class and you had to submit a short story. I really, really, really, really wanted to be in it and I was declined and I didn't even get any feedback as to why.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
And so I've been too scared to write creative going to be your story of being the hero.
Chandresh
Yeah, I absolutely see that happening.
Lauren Moore
Yeah, I'll use that in the press and talk crap about the professor that didn't let me in.
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
It's going to be a powerful story and many people, a real David and Goliath situation.
Lauren Moore
Ok. So the next one you might remember it. I'm not sure it's called Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott Odell. So this was required reading, I think back in third or fourth grade. And it's about a young girl who is stranded on a deserted island and how she survives and becomes resourceful and creates weapons and befriends local wildlife. It's really, really nostalgic for me.
I think it's a really beautiful story. It's also I believe it was written in the fifties or something like it's really timeless and incredible. So I loved it. The next book is Set Boundaries Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawab. I love you. Read this one. Love that. Yes. So this book I read and then it inspired me to start the exploring or thinking about seeing a therapist.
And so I realized that a lot of my discontent in life, a lot of my anxiety, a lot of my just baggage that I was experiencing was because I had really, really weak boundaries and I hadn't really had any boundaries modeled for me in my life. So because I came across this author on Instagram who now has almost 2 million followers or something amazing.
And she's a therapist. And then I bought her book and that book had a profound impact on me. Then I realized that I just, I needed help. That was not a tool that I had in my arsenal. And so that really helped. That was one of the many reasons that I went to go see a therapist which catalyzed a very major life change. And as mentioned, I don't think I would have been inspired to start book huddle if I hadn't taken that leap.
So that book means a lot to me. And the final book, we're already on book 10. If you can believe it is The Hobbit by Jrr Tolkien. So some people love Lord of the Rings. I personally love the Hobbit. I loved this book growing up and I loved it so much that I remember in fourth grade, I stood up in front of my class and I basically was like giving a presentation trying to convince the other kids to read this gigantic fantasy book.
And I included it in this list because I think that it's pretty poetic how I'm essentially doing the same thing today. But virtually trying to convince the masses to read gigantic fantasy books. And I really, really loved, loved this novel.
Chandresh
This is by the way, I was not expecting this diverse list. This is actually, I think this is going to appeal to everyone. I'm curious when you these 10 books and many other books. How did they speak to the inner woman? I write a lot about feminine energy and I know it's the moment you say feminine energy, it becomes some sort of new age, spiritual,
you know, concept. But I want to know how the woman, the inner woman, the Little Lauren in this entire process. How did she bloom? Do you want to share anything about that?
Lauren Moore
I have always been drawn to characters who are strong and brave, but for the right reasons and they always make decisions with their hearts before their brains. And I think in pretty much every book that I just listed most of the characters do that. These are women characters who figure out how to channel their feminine energy as strength instead of leaning into hyper, masculine energy. And I find that very, very inspiring. Thr Alas, I promise this isn't gonna turn into sur mass
propaganda. Theron Alas has, I would argue the best, best women characters that have ever been written ever. Multiple ones. As soon as you think that one character is selfish and catty and you think you've got them on shallow and you've got them all figured out they do something completely redeeming and you understand why you really were misogynistic and misjudged that character. Really, really amazing.
Chandresh
Oh Thank you for sharing this. I find this very fascinating how the inner feminine continues to bloom, evolve, heal as you are healing and evolving. In, in your space. Next question I have. I know it's it's going to appeal to many people. It's about monetizing your passion, how the relationship has changed a lot. And with the money from, let's say, 10 years ago, five years ago and now it's becoming a, a solo show.
You know, you're showing up as an entrepreneur, not just running the retreats. I bet there's a lot happening on the business side, you know, managing a lot of stuff. How's the relationship with money evolved in the last 10 to 15 years for you?
Lauren Moore
My relationship with money has been like a lot of things in my life where I just work to the ground hourly, to get it and to make it. And I'm scared to not work and to not make money, it's really, really hard for me to take time off and not be in air quotes productive, especially if I know that there's money to be made out there. It's just kind of always been the way that I've been wired.
I've been really lucky to kind of co found a mastermind with about seven other women business owners. In the past year. We're all in very, very different stages of our businesses. But each person brings such incredible unique experiences and insights that has really opened my eyes. And there's one person in particular who I actually met through tiktok and I invited her into the mastermind after we'd gotten to know each other who I find very, very inspiring.
And she is one of those people who is just so good at everything she does. She like went to an Ivy League University. She founded this start up and then she decided she wanted to write a book and got like a six figure book deal with Harper Collins. Like she's like amazing. And I had a conversation with her that was really eye opening for me where she said, you know, Lauren, the value of what you offer people, it can't be boiled down to hours that you work.
Like you have to start thinking differently about the way that you bill your time. And she said something that I was very impactful where she said she aims for nine out of every 10 people to say no to whatever service she's offering whatever coaching she's offering at an hourly rate. But she would rather work less and make more and actually have breathing room to spend with her child and her family and, and just being able to bring these creative ideas to life than be working around
the clock for a lower rate just for the sake of always having money coming in. And so that requires a lot of confidence to be able to raise your rates really, really high and have people potentially say no if they're interested in working with you. So that was something that really kind of shifted my mindset if I'm working with someone like in a one on one capacity.
The other thing that I found that has been really amazing with, this venture is I've realized that I can satisfy a lot more people if I can create experiences that are inclusive and that get more people in the door. So I have, for example, my in person reading retreats. And since I first started selling tickets to that, about 10 months ago, 260 people have bought tickets, which I'm really, really proud of.
And my goal actually is as these retreats go on is to be able to add need based financial assistance for a portion of tickets so that anyone who wants to come to these retreats can come. And the reason why that's so important is because after my first retreat, there has been a 40% return rate to future retreats that and I've only sold six total, but almost half of the people who came to just the first retreat alone have come back to another one.
And so it's in the for to everyone's best interests if we have more people attending these retreats, because more people want to come back and more people want to have friends and more people will be like become advocates for like the book huddle movement. And the other thing too that I learned is that again, creating opportunities for people to share their passions is really important.
So I mentioned my book club and my virtual book club, it does come with like a monthly or an annual fee. But in exchange, I try to really over deliver on what you so you get like early access to retreat tickets, you get coupon towards an annual retreat ticket, you get discounts on merch. And I try to really think of ways that I can continue to offer more and more within that fee. So I guess it's just kind of a I'm realizing talking aloud that my approach to money has changed in the sense that
in my broader community when I'm accessible at scale, I want to create as many opportunities for people to participate in the community. However, if people are going to be working with me in a one on one capacity, which isn't really aligned with where I want to go in the long run. But if I'm going to do it, then it really, really needs to be worth my time because it's going to be taking away me away from where my heart is barely being pulled to, right?
Chandresh
So I know there is someone listening to this now in the future, two years from now who want to follow exactly what you are doing? What advice would you give to a creative, who want to get into the space of following their passion? But the fear of money is holding them back.
Lauren Moore
If I look at the people who are of greatest inspiration to me, not just necessarily as creatives, but also as business owners, what has set them apart from other people is first of all, they believe in their ability to get back up if they fail, they believe in their ability to survive failure and to persevere. I find that very inspiring on a slightly different note, but also related, they don't give up.
So some of my favorite creators out there who have millions of followers and are doing incredible things have been posting for 12 or 13 years consistently and they all started at zero. The only difference is that they didn't give up and they kept posting and they, they stuck with it. I'm sure they've been through lots of ups and downs as I have as a creator, I've screwed up a bunch of times, had a bunch of content that's failed and has not done well, but you keep going because I do think
that it's a long game and you need to believe in your ability and your vision to find inspiration to keep going. And the last thing that I'll say is related to money. And it's advice actually from my dad and my dad had said when I started freelancing something along the lines of if the amount of money you're asking for doesn't make you embarrassed, then the amount you're asking for is too low.
Chandresh
I absolutely love that. I feel we have such a fearful, suppressive relationship with money and this needs to be understood on a very deep level. If it doesn't make you uncomfortable, you're not asking the right price. You know, I think this is going to be a separate real altogether what you just shared. I have two questions, Lauren, one is about the community and the other one is about their own ego management.
You know, as the journey continues to evolve, this is a lot of community are managing, not just the book Huddle Retreats, but now I'm getting to know there are membership spaces, mastermind or a lot of stuff is happening. What's the secret recipe? I'm running a community. And of course, there are challenges to maintain a certain vibe, a certain kind of space there. How do you make it happen?
Lauren Moore
I think it's very important to communicate your values and your expectations for any community that you are the host of and really it's kind of a boundary thing, think about it from the get go. So I make it really, really clear on my social media channels that if anyone is disrespectful or does personal talks to anyone else in the comments, you will be addressed by me.
You'll be asked to be kind and if not, you're blocked, you're removed gone. You do not have a place in my community. You're absolutely welcome to have differing opinions. That's great. That's encouraged. I want you to share your opinion, but I need it to be a space where people feel safe to share what's important to them and to share what's on their mind and that's not going to happen if I tolerate any kind of personal attacks or any rude language to other people.
So I have no shame in outright blocking people from my community. And some people might think, well, you're missing out on a potential customer, but I have to really focus on the people who have, who are part of my community and make it on are the heart and soul of my community. And I need to make it a safe space for them. And that is my responsibility as a creator.
And I take that very seriously in my book club, I make sure at the beginning of every single call that we have and every month I start off before we even get to the book discussions with book huddles values and my expectations for the call. There are people who show up on every single call. They probably heard me say it about 100 times, maybe even more.
But I say that our values are to be kind and respectful to other people, to be comfortable with sharing your opinion, even if it's different to be yourself and to participate as much or as little as you feel comfortable to and to really just unabashedly share your passion for books. So those are my values I go through every single time. I also make it really, really clear that I am very open to feedback.
I recognize that I'm a human being. I might use incorrect language. I might not be viewing things through a lens that is correct. And I really, really want to do better and grow as a human being and as like an ally to all people. So I also make sure to make it clear that I anyone is welcome to teach me things on ways that I can do to be better.
Chandresh
Yeah, you kind of answered the next thought I had about the ego management, like your ego management as you be the leader, the teacher, the mentor to everyone in addition to what you have shared, is there anything effective that works to manage your ego? Let's say a feedback comes and that feedback is relevant but it, it just hits your system. You're like this is uncomfortable to hear. How do you handle that?
Lauren Moore
I have forced myself to learn that not all opinions are equal. Yeah, I get the majority of comments that are positive and wonderful and lovely and sometimes I get comments that really, really hurt my feelings. Two days ago, someone actually went as far as going to my website filling in my contact form and sending me an email telling me to stop posting on Instagram that what I post is shit and that a reader isn't a personality type that I like need to grow the F up.
It was at 245 in the morning. It was not nice to receive, but I needed to remember that this person, first of all, doesn't know me. They don't know the real me as much as I bring my authentic self to my content. And as much as I try to be open hearted, the people who know me are like my family and my partner and my friends like they know the real me. And so I need to take all feedback with a grain of salt accordingly from anyone. And the other thing too is that I am trying to remind myself that in
this phase of my life, I can control and make decisions based on what I think is right? Because I've built this community based on my vision and my personality and people might have opinions and I want to hear them. But at the end of the day, I get to decide how much of those I absorb and I can feel comfortable with not necessarily seeing eye to eye to people while still having a forum for discussion and for ideas.
Chandresh
You know, when you speak like this, I see the energy shifting to the leader Lauren. Really? I love that. Yeah, I love that. I've seen so many shades of you in the last, you know, 40 50 minutes. It's, it's beautiful. Yeah. Last and a fun question. What's the vision for the future of book huddle any new themes locations you're excited about?
Lauren Moore, Chandresh
And where do you think your role will evolve into in the next, I don't know, two years, five years, I am not completely sure about the vision of Book Huddle just yet.
Lauren Moore
There's basically a few different directions that I can take things and I'll share them with you because I'm open with that and I'm not totally sure I need to experience it. So, the first thing that I wanna do is kind of wrap up my current and strategy and consulting role and really, really focus on book huddle with 100% of my attention right now.
Book Huddle has been getting about 15 to 20% of my energy up until this point. And I need to just really immerse myself and feel it with 100% maybe 80% so I can have some weekends off. So for next year, for 2025 I'm hoping to do eight retreats total and I'd like one of them to be in Europe because I've got a really big community out in the UK. And I would love to be there with them and also just be in a historical setting.
That would be absolutely, yeah. I also want to start creating local events because again, I want to create opportunities where people can participate in book huddle without necessarily having to commit to a full retreat. My whole kind of driving mission behind Book Huddle has been to help avid readers find new books and new friends and so that community and that opportunity for connection is really, really important to me.
So I want to figure out how to have local events where I'm torn is whether I should be keeping book huddle events to be around eight times a year and I'm at all of them. Or if I can figure out how to grow this to the point where retreats don't necessarily need my presence. And I'm a little torn on that just because I recognize that I'm also the face of the brand.
And so I do feel a sense of responsibility that I should be at all of the events. This is definitely a many years away thing for me to work out. But there's one side of me that could really see retreats happening every weekend around the world with trusted Hudler who are, we have been to retreats before leaving them in my absence.
And we're creating more opportunities to support local economies, to help readers find it, to promote books from publishers. But at the same time, there's also something really cool about having the retreats be very sparingly occurring and that I'm at all of them. So I'm not totally sure yet.
Chandresh
I love they're called Hurdlers. And I, I remember reading this on your website.
Lauren Moore
This is not a cult, it's not a cult, but I will say now 10 people have gotten the book huddle logo tattooed permanently.
Chandresh
I saw that picture somewhere. I think it was on your Instagram. Maybe I saw the tattoo. I'm like, this is so, so amazing. Now, final question invitation. I know many people would want to join your retreats or connect with you. Can you let them know where they can find you?
Lauren Moore
Yes. So my website is Book huddle.com, bookhuddle.com. My tiktok is at Book Huddle and my Instagram as of right now is let's book Huddle because someone with an inactive account already has book huddle. I messaged them about 1000 times. I think my last message was like, how much money do you need to give me this user name, please?
But they haven't logged in. So they haven't seen it. So anyway, I'm hopefully one day I will have book Huddle because quite frankly, the inconsistency keeps me up at night, but I have to learn, but it's ok. They can be different for now.
Chandresh
So if the real book Hurdler on Instagram is listening to this, Lauren is offering quite a good chunk of money, please.
Lauren Moore
I'll give you whatever whatever you want. Give me that handle.
Chandresh
I know. Right. Awesome. Lauren. Thank you for sharing this so generously. I know I felt every bit of it. I know you have given it with your sincerity and love. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Lauren Moore
Thank you so much, Chandra. You are so inspiring to me and I just think that we'll be friends forever.
Chandresh
Honestly, that's the plan. May the teachings of Dra continue to guide you and heal you. And I hope Leila GK helps you to unlearn the old and embrace the unknown mystical possibility unfolding for, to support this podcast, share it among the seekers who are ready for the next step in their future.
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