Today I’m chatting with Laurel Pantin — writer, editor, curator of Earl Earl by Laurel Pantin , and one of the rare people whose taste isn’t just good, it’s grounded. Laurel has lived entire lifetimes inside the fashion world: from the magazine trenches to the front-row circus to building a space online that actually reflects who she is, not what the industry expects. Her shift from the safety of a masthead to the uncertainty of freelancing wasn’t just a career pivot — it was an identity rewire, a moment of asking who she is when the title drops away.
We’re talking about all of it: the ego death and freedom of leaving magazines, how she built her Substack and now her store, the challenges of motherhood, and how different things look when you stop pretending it’s all linear.
And we’re going deeper into the truth behind reinvention: the pivots, the risks, the “am I actually doing this?” moments you never see on Instagram. Laurel’s story is proof that you can walk away from the version of yourself everyone recognizes and land somewhere better, stranger, and much more you. If you’re in your own “something needs to change” era, this is the conversation you want to listen to.
Besos,
Victoria
*Tap the heart (it helps more people find this) — and send it to a friend who’d get it.*
